The Chelsea board, fans, and perhaps even players are all in on Maurzio Sarri. There is a level of expectation that he cannot possibly satisfy.
Antonio Conte won the league just a season ago and the FA Cup this season. But he also saw the club finish fifth for the second time in three seasons. Unsupported by the board, he went after them. The relationship deteriorated, the squad became weaker, and the club suffered.
So Chelsea have begun to look elsewhere. The top targets the Blues have looked at have all been attacking minded managers. Pep Guardiola’s and Jurgen Klopp’s success in the last season has made “beautiful football” the only thing many around Chelsea can see. The Blues were thus linked to the man who created Europe’s most entertaining side: Maurzio Sarri of Napoli.
Fans wanted Sarri as they grew tired of Conte’s perceived “defensive” and “negative” tactics. The board clearly wanted him as they pursued him for the last few weeks. The players may even want him as well, having grown tired of Conte’s grueling and methodical training sessions and a perceived lack of freedom on the pitch. Many see Sarri as the man who will save Chelsea and make them appointment viewing to boot. The Italian cannot possibly meet those expectations.
The board have clearly focused on Sarri. Laurent Blanc has supposedly agreed to be the fallback, but Sarri is the only one the board has eyes for. Roman Abramovich has supposedly wanted Chelsea to play attacking football for years. Sarri may be his best chance yet.
But what will the board expect of Sarri? Likely want they have expected from every other manager: success. And that is going to take patience, something the board and fanbase sorely lacks. Sarri’s Napoli did not happen overnight. It took almost a season and a half before Europe took notice of what he was doing there. Chelsea have not given that kind of time to any manager, and that is unlikely to change with Sarri.
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The other thing the board wants is to see a return from the academy. Chelsea has one of the best academies in the entire world but only one first team player to show for it. Conte was supposed to use youth, and though he did use them more than most Abramovich era managers, it was not enough. And despite the howling of “Sarri used youth at Empoli!”, he very much failed to do so at Napoli. In fact, he focused heavily on a small set of players and rarely deviated from them during his three years there.
Fans want youth more than anyone, but Sarri’s record really does not hint at him being fond of playing the kids. Napoli’s academy may be poor, but a manager willing to use youth would have found a way. He did not and it is unlikely that he will magically change his ways at Chelsea. He used youth at Empoli because that was his only option, not because he wanted to blood them into the side.
The players may also want Sarri to free them up and have them play attacking football. But Sarri is just as much of a disciplinarian as Conte. The players may like the way they are on the pitch, but little will change off of it. How long will it be before they tire of Sarri?
The fact of the matter is that Sarri cannot live up to the myth being created around him. Chelsea may become a beautiful attacking side, but there is no guarantee they will become a winning one. Many think he will be the one to break the barrier to the academy, but Sarri’s lack of rotation and use of youth in recent years offers little hope there.
Sarri can be a success at Chelsea, but Chelsea may not allow him to be. The Blues have a history, and a pattern of behaivor, that clashes with Sarri. The Italian would need time to get Chelsea up to speed. He would need trust from fans, players, and the board that the process will come good eventually. But he is unlikely to be given that time. Chelsea need winners now, and as Antonio Conte is soon to find out, that must be immediate and constant.
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Anything less and this same situation will play out again in short order. Chelsea will once again look for a manager to solve all of their problems while ignoring that they may have created a system that prevents sustained success.