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Chelsea "right in the midst of a massive change" - Pat Nevin

Chelsea's form over the last few weeks has hit a bump on the road. Flying under Maurizio Sarri at...



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Chelsea "right in the midst of a massive change" - Pat Nevin

Chelsea's form over the last few weeks has hit a bump on the road.

Flying under Maurizio Sarri at the start of the season, the 2-0 defeat at Arsenal has them sitting precariously on the edge of the Top 4.

They're only three points clear of Arsenal and Manchester United. But Sarri's public criticism of the players' attitudes also pointed to something.

It was always going to be a season of transition under Chelsea. But the way things are at Stamford Bridge, it always seem to be a form of transition. Sometimes like Antonio Conte's first season and Jose Mourinho's time in charge (not his disastrous last campaign of course!), it can work out spectacularly. And when it goes wrong, the club act swiftly and remove the manager.

It all leads to a slight sense of "soullessness" from a neutral perspective. Joe Molloy put that point to former Chelsea winger Pat Nevin, who joined us as always on a Monday night.

Galacticos

"They're not a Galacticos type club but they're as close to that as you'll get in English football," said Pat.

"So when you get a group of Galacticos who are big stars together, they're not pulled together generally by a manager but just shoved together.

"You don't know how the personalities are going to go together. But every manager has got to fight that. Oddly enough, Ancelotti was one who seemed to be liked a lot by just about everyone.

"Funnily enough, Rafa [Benitez] was taken on well by most of them. But what the club could throw back at you quite easily is, 'Oh yeah, we've had all these managers, we've had all these problems but we've also had all these trophies as well.'

"It might not be the cheeriest and it might bomb every two or three years. But then it'll start up again. At the moment, it looks like they're right in the midst of a massive change.

"Obviously, they've brought in Pulisic. I wouldn't be surprised if tomorrow morning, they had another striker in and one or two other changes. I think you have to look if they are coming in from the manager or from the club."

You can listen to the full chat with Pat above, including his thoughts on an interesting March for Liverpool. 

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Alvaro Morata Chelsea Christian Pulisic Eden Hazard Football Gonzalo Higuain Manager Maurizio Sarri Off The Ball Pat Nevin Premier League Roman Abramovich