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The Italian questioned the team's mentality after losing out to Arsenal. Chris Radburn

'It is very risky to criticise your players in public' - Chelsea legend warns Sarri

The Blues boss should choose his words carefully in future, according to Ruud Gullit.

MAURIZIO SARRI SHOULD think twice before going public with criticism of his Chelsea players, Ruud Gullit has warned.

The Italian questioned his team’s mentality after last weekend’s 2-0 loss at Arsenal, but Thursday’s penalty shoot-out victory over Tottenham in the EFL Cup semi-final represented a telling response.

After that game, Hazard was asked about Sarri’s comments and insisted “I don’t care”, with Gullit suggesting it was a bad idea for a manager to speak negatively about their squad. 

Writing in his BBC Match of the Day column, Gullit said:

It is very, very risky to criticise your players in public like Sarri did this week – even if you know you are right.”

“Sometimes as a manager you really want to be open about what you are thinking, good or bad, and for the right reasons. You are hoping your players respond in the right way.

“But if that openness is misinterpreted by them, then you have more problems.

“What you really don’t want is a situation that plays out in the media like the one we have just seen at Chelsea. The only people who benefit when that happens are the newspapers.”

On the subject of Sarri’s specific criticism of star man Hazard and the Belgian’s response, Gullit said:

Sarri spoke about Hazard, calling him an individual and not a leader, and then Hazard responded by basically saying he does not care what his manager thinks, he is still going to do his thing – so shut up,” he said.

“That is already a sign of what can go wrong when you call your players out.

“I have never really felt like Sarri’s job was at risk through all this but, if they keep talking about each other then, as a manager, he is in trouble.

“That has nothing to do with the power of the player involved, either.

“Yes, Hazard is Chelsea’s best player, and they rely on him too much, but it is the whole dressing room that Sarri has to handle here and keep happy, not just an individual.”

Chelsea host Sheffield Wednesday in the FA Cup fourth round on Sunday and will take on Manchester City in the EFL Cup final next month. 

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    Mute Eddie Hekenui
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    May 29th 2019, 10:08 AM

    Tough blow to lose so many important players. Molony and Penny were two of the stars of the 6 Nations while Byrne and Hackshaw were key playmakers at 10 and 12 with Hacksahw being the captain. I’d fancy Allison to come into the backrow instead of Molony without too much drop off in quality as he might have started if he’d been fit for the 6 Nations. Replacing Penny is nigh on impossible but Healy and French/Moore will do a fine job coming in at 10 and 12. The issue will be the lack of depth now we’re down some big players and guys having so many big games in such a short period of time.

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    Mute Anthony
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    May 29th 2019, 10:06 AM

    Its concerning the amount of serious injuries in a young squad like that already

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    Mute Exiled Dub
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    May 29th 2019, 9:43 AM

    One “IQ” player is that a good return should there be more

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    Mute Stephen Elliott
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    May 29th 2019, 10:01 AM

    @Exiled Dub: why should there be more?

    also Iwan Hughes is a IQ rugby product who is with Ulster now.

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    Mute Martin Quinn
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    May 29th 2019, 1:06 PM

    I wonder how the other home countries are getting on, say England next week ?? Do we have the worst list ???)

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    Mute Glenbower
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    May 29th 2019, 1:39 PM

    @Martin Quinn: A few injuries and also the unavailability of #10 Marcus Smith because he’s playing for England development XV vs the Barbarians ! A disappointing priority for the rest of the squad, I imagine.

    See https://www.englandrugby.com/news/england-men-u20s-squad-update/

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    Mute Glenbower
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    May 29th 2019, 1:46 PM

    @Martin Quinn: No mention of Australian injuries here:

    https://www.rugby.com.au/news/2019/05/07/world-u20-championships-junior-wallabies-squad

    They beat NZ 24-0 in a final recently !

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    Mute Glenbower
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    May 29th 2019, 1:57 PM

    @Martin Quinn: Italy had to omit 3 injured players who were “more or less important”. See:

    https://www.federugby.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=112&Itemid=427

    So my guess is that our missing 5, 6, 7, 10 and 12 represent the greatest omissions in our group.

    Ah well, cometh the hour, cometh the man …

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    Mute Eddie Hekenui
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    May 29th 2019, 2:21 PM

    @Martin Quinn: https://u20rugby.wordpress.com if you’re interested keep an eye on this

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    Mute Martin Quinn
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    May 29th 2019, 4:53 PM

    @Glenbower:

    Thanks for that :: Glen

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    Mute Martin Quinn
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    May 29th 2019, 4:55 PM

    @Eddie Hekenui:

    Thanks for that :: EDDIE

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