Paul
Merson believes Maurizio Sarri's replication of his strategy at Napoli seems
"lazy" at Chelsea.
Sarri's Chelsea were beaten 2-0 at Stamford Bridge by Manchester United on
Monday night, meaning they have lost five of their last 10 games in all
competitions.
Sarri, who has never won a major trophy but did finish second on two
occasions with Napoli in Serie A, signed Jorginho from his former club, as
well as taking forward Gonzalo Higuain from Juventus on loan, having scored
36 goals in 35 games under Sarri in 2015/16.
Merson said on The Debate: "Chelsea haven't got the money to do what Pep
Guardiola did at Manchester City, to say: 'My full-backs aren't good enough
so I'm going to pay £50m for one, £50m for another one.'
"As a Chelsea fan, it looks lazy to me. 'I was manager at Napoli, Jorginho
was good for me, I'm going to buy Jorginho. I need a forward, Higuain scored
a load of goals for me.'
"People are saying he was successful [at Napoli], he's never won anything in
the game. Yeah, he got more points at Napoli, I've never played for a team
in my entire life where we'd be happy winning nothing but getting more
points. You play to win."
Chelsea now face Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday, live on
Sky Sports Football.
After losing 6-0 at champions City just over a week ago, Merson is eager to
see how Sarri approaches the game, insisting it will be the same result if
tactics aren't altered.
"I can't wait until Sunday. Not as a Chelsea fan thinking: 'We could win
here,' I just want to see what he's going to do.
"He tried to go toe-to-toe, tried to press Man City, and it's hard to do
that because the goalkeeper is so comfortable on the ball, so when you try
to squeeze, it doesn't work.
"What's he going to do on Sunday? Please don't tell me he's going to do that
again at Wembley. Now I hope he's going to sit back, say: 'Let's soak this
up.'
"I can't wait to see how he sets up. If we play the same way, we're going to
get the same result, and it won't be far off six!"
top