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Gianfranco Zola would make THIS change if he replaced Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri - pundit
GIANFRANCO ZOLA would immediately make one change if he replaced Maurizio Sarri as Chelsea manager, claims Liverpool legend Steve McMahon.
Zola is current assistant manager to under-pressure Sarri at Chelsea.
The former Blues striker has been hospitalised this week due to a gallstone problem.
Zola missed the FA Cup defeat to Manchester United on Sunday and will once again be absent for the Europa League last-32 second leg against Malmo on Thursday.
It is not known when the Italian will return to work but he is the favourite to become the next manager at Stamford Bridge if Sarri was to get sacked.
The first thing he’ll do is put Kante into holding midfield. That’s what he’d do
And McMahon, who thinks Sarri could be sacked after the Carabao Cup final against Manchester City on Sunday, says Zola would straight away move N’Golo Kante back into his preferred defensive midfield role.
Sarri has often been criticised for moving Kante further forward to accommodate summer-signing Jorginho.
“You know what would happen? I’ll tell you what will happen,” McMahon said on Sky Sports.
“I think he’s loyal and he’s a good guy, Gianfranco.
“You know what happens if he takes control of that football club?
“The first thing he’ll do is put Kante into holding midfield. That’s what he’d do.
“So he’d say ‘yeah I’ll stick by Sarri and say ‘I’m your assistant and I go with what you’re saying’.
“But first thing you’d do if you had any sense is say ‘Kante, you’re going back into your best position, this is how I’m going to shape the team’. That would be the right thing to do.
“He wouldn’t just be sticking with the same team because everybody has got a different opinion on where players should be playing and how the team should play.
“And Gianfranco will have his opinion on how the team should play, whether it’s right or wrong.
“But I’m sure if he took over tomorrow, he would say ‘Kante, you’re now back into where you should be as holding midfield player’.
“And the fans would go straight away: ‘that’s what we’ve been wanting, that’s what we should have had from the start’.”