Chelsea: Gianfranco Zola tries some motivation of his own amid FA Cup clash

Another test faces the under fire Maurizio Sarri and his “Sarri-ball”. Chelsea welcomes common rivals Man United in their fifth-round, FA Cup clash at Stamford Bridge.

It’s been pretty much everything but smooth sailing for the Italian in the Chelsea hot seat. After some big and crucial matches went against them during the turn of the year and the start of the new year, Sarri’s struggled to get his team back to their best.

Well, hopefully, that all could all change soon if they put a shift in their performances and try to knock out United from the oldest English cup in the game. It will not happen easily with the Old Trafford side only losing one game of their last 12 outings.

Sarri’s men have experienced a run of games, winning only three of their last five fixtures across all competitions. During their inferior run of games, they managed to drop out of the top four and have had a number of incidents off the pitch, between the manager and players.

The sluggish displays on the pitch must change if they are to save their Champions League hopes. They still have a backdoor route with the Europa League, but that’s a long shot. To end below your rivals for consecutive campaigns will be a major pain.

Since Sarri’s Squad Struggles

All the drama happening at Stamford Bridge has forced Chelsea’s assistant Zola to come out and speak on behalf of the team. Maurizio criticised his men and took them to the cleaners. Reports broke that Sarri was savage enough to let Marcos Alonso know, football’s not for everybody, especially him.

“Unable to motivate this Chelsea squad” That’s what got the boss ticking. However, his second in command Zola spoke highly of the squad and argues they are ready for the fight.

Taken from Sky Sports 

More from Chelsea

• “600 days” Fans make SHOCK Chelsea revelation – They really are poor
• Chelsea injury news: Most expensive midfielder is a doubt vs Aston Villa
• Chelsea: Mauricio Pochettino mandates a “ridiculous offer” to sell defender
• When should Chelsea start to panic about Mauricio Pochettino?
• Chelsea: HUGE boost as Pochettino starts “world-class” midfielder today

"I think this group, like in the one I had in my time, didn’t like losing. Maybe they are showing it in another way but it’s wrong to make comparisons like that. We believe that we didn’t like (losing to City) and they reacted yesterday and they continue to react.It would be good if we could react more as a team rather than as individuals. Against Manchester City we reacted, yes, but reacted individually. There were players taking the responsibility and they wanted to change the situation on their own."

Just the words “It would be good if we could react more as a team rather than as individuals” is the perfect sentence to describe this Chelsea squad for past few years, in a nutshell. When the team plays as a team, the difference in delivery is remarkable.

Zola’s constructive criticism of the boys in blue is far better than the bosses savagery, it has to be said. Saying they weak individually and stronger as a unit, is the right way to go about it.

"But what we are building here is a philosophy of playing and we need to learn to react altogether. It’s not enough that just one player gets the ball and tries to beat two players. That’s not the way we try to win games.But if you ask me, I don’t believe that this group doesn’t care. They care. They just need to get this understanding of working together."

It was surprising to see Chelsea start the season off so extremely well, and actually perfect. Yet, equally surprising to see them fall out of the top four so drastically. They set the bar high, eventually making it too difficult to reach, or maintain the same heights.

Zola’s called for a response, let’s see if the players can make it two wins from two.