Just my insigfificant thoughts here...
From a "face-saving" perspective, I'm not sure an away game in Sweden will be as important as the two non-Euro matches that come after: a massive FA Cup match v ManU at HOME and a swift opportunity for redemption against City at HOME in the League Cup. Malmo isn't exactly a powerhouse, which brings me to my next point.
Well, not exactly a point, but to suggest an idea...
Could Sarri have it in his mind to bench some players who performed particularly poorly in the embarrassing City loss? Maybe he thinks he can make a point here by sitting a few regulars (particularly on defense) and get away with it versus inferior competition. We already know defender Marcos Alonso is resting Loftus-Cheek is out with injury. Alonso was probably responsible for allowing City's opening goal on Sunday. Azpilicueta has been particularly poor on defense and it showed big time against City, but he is a
vocal team leader, so who know's how Sarri will decide to handle his time on the pitch or how the rest of the defense will react if he sits. As much as I've enjoyed his tactics in recent years, Sarri has always seemed stubborn to me as a manager, but some of his quotes below provide interesting insight into his thinking coming out of the weekend disaster...
?It has not been too easy, of course. But I think, after a match like Manchester City, it is normal,? Sarri said. ?We talked all together for one hour the day after the match. I think that it?s better to work, better to react on the pitch.
?It?s not easy to play on Thursday after a 6-0, but we have to play and we have to play well. We want to win. In my opinion, the last game was not a problem of motivation. We were not able to react to the first difficulty during the match because, in the first four or five minutes, we'd actually started well.
?Then, after the first goal, we were not able to react. So, the problem is different. But it?s always a mind problem, a mental problem, so we need to solve them.?
?I think, sometimes, as the match we lost at Tottenham in the Premier League [showed], we had not the right approach, not the right determination. The match at City, in my opinion, was different. We had very good training sessions during the week. We arrived at the match with the right level of motivation. Then we conceded a goal after five minutes and were not able to do anything.?
?Tomorrow is the most important. We need to have short-term targets. Tomorrow, the target is to qualify or have a good result.
?On Monday, the target will be to get into the quarter-finals. Then to win the League Cup. It?s very strange to say it after a 6-0, but we want to win. We need short-term targets and then a dream in the long-term.?
Furthermore, with their drop out of the top 5 in the EPL, they may be looking at the Europa leauge as a means to get into the Champions League next season. From the British tabloids, it seems that his job is somehow under threat just a half-year into his tenure as Chelsea manager, but when is that not the narrative with the local press? Anyway, it sounds as if a 6th place EPL finish and poor Europa showing all but guarantees Sarri's ousting.
Here are some quotes from Pedro on the mindset of the team:
The forward Pedro insisted the players had grasped the tactical nuances Sarri has been impressing on them. ?Press really high, stay compact, create chances with good possession, a lot of the ball,? he said. ?We can do this as a team. But sometimes it?s so difficult to play in this way depending on the opponents. City played very well, so it was so difficult to press, create between the lines, and to defend.?
?It?s been a difficult week, probably the worst of the season. I have never lost 6-0 before in my career, but that is in the past. The mentality in the team is good,? he said.
?The most important thing is to recover our best feeling. This is an opportunity for us, a new competition. This changes the mentality so quickly if we win.?
It does seems that the players are saying the right things and the manager has is trying to encourage the mindset of focusing on one match at a time rather than looking ahead. But given what is on deck domestically, how can the players not look past the vastly infererior Malmo? From one perspective, it doesn't help that this game is on the road, because the team would seemingly feel more pressure to turn it around immediately in front of the home fans. On the other hand, maybe it is a good thing for the team to get out of town and away from all the scrutiny, if for just one match, to regroup. It certainly does not inspire confidence that Sarri seems to believe this is a mental problem for the team. Most of the time, it is those mental problems that are the hardest to resolve, whereas a tactical or player issue can be solved with a quick switche or two.
My suggestion would be to sit back and watch this one early to see how Chelsea come out of the gates as well as who is in/out of the lineup. We know that Sarri will not alter his tactics, as that is his M.O. How the team responds to the first sign of adversity should spell how the rest of the match plays out for Chelsea. We all know they have the talent to overwhelm Malmo, but maybe the manager is correct in that thier success is just a matter of having the right mentality and solving whatever it is in the player's heads that went wrong in Manchester.
