- Gary Neville feels Chelsea will sack boss Maurizio Sarri in the next 18 months
- The Italian manager is under increasing pressure after turning on his players
- Defeat by Arsenal has put their position in the top four in doubt once more
- Neville feels Sarri is already showing traits that got previous managers sacked
Gary Neville feels there is a growing inevitability that Maurizio Sarri will be sacked by and the former defender believes it will be in the next 18 months.
The Italian manager is under increasing pressure at Stamford Bridge after the dismal weekend defeat by Arsenal leaves their top-four position in jeopardy once more.
For Neville, he is already beginning to see character traits in Sarri that saw his predecessors in the Blues hotseat sacked.
Turning on his own players after the 2-0 loss at the Emirates Stadium, Sarri could soon face a war with his players and for Neville, that could only shorten the Italian’s spell in charge.
Speaking on his Sky Sports podcast on Sunday, Neville said: ‘(Maurizio) Sarri knows he’s going to get sacked at some point in the next 18 months or two years, that’s inevitable at Chelsea.
‘He may as well call it how he sees it in the first six months when he’s got a little bit of control. It’s just a dressing room which can turn it on and off like a tap, it’s been able to do that for years.
‘Sarri has probably thought he’s an experienced guy, he’s been around the block, and thinks he doesn’t need to take it.
‘I have to say normally I would always say it’s not right to call out your players. But we’re going to see more of it, there’s no doubt in the next five or 10 years.
‘I think it’ll become the norm, because it’s us or them.’
Both Antonio Conte, the man Sarri replaced, and Jose Mourinho saw the Chelsea dressing room turn on them and their positions quickly became untenable.
Tensions will heighten on Thursday if Chelsea fail to overturn the 1-0 deficit against Tottenham in the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final.
Sarri was so angry with his players after the Arsenal defeat that he pulled no punches, questioning their motivation for success.
Speaking in Italian, he said in defeat: ‘I’d prefer to come in here to talk about the tactics, about why we lost from a tactical point of view, but the fact is it appears this group of players is extremely difficult to motivate.
‘It seems to me that, as a group of players, they’re not aggressive from a mental point of view.
‘They don’t have a ferocity in their mentality. That’s down to their characteristics. It’s difficult to change.’
Source: Dailymail
