Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying every critic or criticism of him is wrong, it’s more just a general observation about the comments and reaction to him on social media and the like; it feels like people have to be in the camp of wishing him all manner of vile things to show how much they hate him and think he’s a cnut, and if not then you’re in some kind of cult where he can do no wrong. I get that nowadays this kind of polarised and extreme opinion isn’t unique to Chelsea, Sarri and football, of course, but it does seem like rational debate is getting rarer (all the more important this site stays live as it keeps me off having to venture into the depths of Chelsea Twitter!) Why are people wishing death on a bloke who they think is not doing a good job managing their football team?
The vitriol I’ve seen aimed at him at times is staggering. I’ve not been a lot this season but some of the anger and hate I heard at the Arsenal away game just felt crazy to me, and I know from speaking to non-Chelsea fans (many of whom aren’t necessarily admirers of Sarri) they find the actual hatred, surprising and bizarre as well.

Again it all comes back to the same point, for me. The resources available aren’t what they were. The club is drifting. We’ve only qualified for the Champions League one of the last three (maybe now four) seasons, this is not the same club as a lot of fans still think it is anymore. Gone are the days when even runners-up was deemed failure. And there are things outside of the club’s control that have contributed to that fall from grace too.
For all Sarri’s flaws and faults, City are on a different level to what we ever were, in terms of spending power, and they also happen to be well-run enough to have put a proper plan in place to get one of the very best coaches in the world on board and involved in a project. Our board hired a project/philosophy manager, however you want to label it, with little or no thought given as to how they could help him best achieve those longer term aims. Why bother? If you wanted a pragmatist, don’t treat Conte or Mourinho like cnuts like they did when they were here, and give them the backing they asked for and earned.

Liverpool (and Spurs, relative to perhaps where they ‘should be’) haven’t just become the teams they are now overnight, they’ve invested time and money in projects and backed managers who have yet to deliver silverware despite years at the helm. They’re clubs (generally) pulling in the same direction and we’re years behind them and City in terms of building a team, despite only being a point behind Spurs!
If the plan was to carry on as we have been for the past few years, with a Frankenstein's monster of a squad and trying to squeeze some sense of it all (as Conte sucessfully did but only in the short term before last season went the way this one's has - something which too many people forget) they should never have hired Sarri. That’s not his fault, he’s just doing the job anyone who paid any attention to what he did in Italy would know he was going to do (and presumably those who employed him did their research!) As cfcww has alluded to, the transfer policy has changed for the most part so much from the early Roman era, it’s clear that they’ve wanted so much to get away from the style of football that actually earned us all the success and try to win things a different way. That was never going to happen overnight. Or in one season. Or without a major squad upheaval. Basically, without a coherent plan in place for the club to point to and follow! It may never happen at all with this manager and on the whole, performances haven’t been good enough for too long now, but to blame him for everything instead of just the valid criticisms that should be aimed at him, helps nobody IMHO.