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Simon Jordan has laid into Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri, branding him ‘a joke’ and saying his reaction to Kepa Arrizabalaga’s mutiny in Sunday’s Carabao Cup final was ‘pathetic’.
Sarri practically erupted with rage on the sidelines after the Blues goalkeeper refused to be substituted towards the end of the clash against Manchester City.
Kepa had been struggling with cramp and Sarri was ready to replace him with number two Willy Caballero, only for the number one to refuse to leave the pitch and decide he was okay to continue.
City eventually won a penalty shoot-out to lift the cup, but their win was completely overshadowed by the extraordinary scenes in the Chelsea dugout.
Sarri was furious at Kepa for disobeying his orders, and was seen stomping around his technical area, gesturing to staff, tearing at his shirt and even threatening the walk down the tunnel, only for him to change his mind and return to his seat.
And in a scathing rant against the Italian, Jordan slammed Sarri’s behaviour and insisted he is the only one to blame for not being able to control his players.
Speaking to talkSPORT host Jim White, the former Crystal Palace owner said: “Most of the reaction after the game was empathy towards the manager, but I thought his behaviour on the touchline was nigh on pathetic.
“If the player doesn’t come off when he hooks him, who’s that down to? That’s down to the manager!
“If the player doesn’t respect the manager, who’s that down to? That’s down to the manager!
“When I watch him parading around the technical area, pulling his shirt open, storming down the tunnel and then coming back, all because he can’t get a player to do as he’s bloody told – I thought to myself, you’re a joke!
“And then I see him having to be held back by Rudiger – who’s the boss here?
“If I’m that manager and I want that player off, I don’t care where I am, I’m going to march down the touchline until I’m directly parallel to where he is and if I have to get a shepherd’s crook I’m going to hook that player off and he’s going to come off.
“I’d rather that than the ridiculous histrionics, where he’s got Stan Laurel in Gianfranco Zola as his sidekick sitting there going, ‘well I don’t know Ollie, I don’t know Ollie, what are you going to do?’
“I felt it was all very, very poor across the board.
“The bottom line is in all this is, if your manager doesn’t have control over the players in the first place, it isn’t actually the players’ fault, it’s the manager’s fault.
“He’s the person who has got to make sure these players understand that he means what he says and he says what he means.”