Chelsea Tactics and Transfers: Examining a future under Maurizio Sarri
Chelsea shouldn’t fire Antonio Conte. It would be a negligent, shortsighted and self-defeating move. But since they probably will, we should discuss a potential future under Maurizio Sarri.
Maurizio Sarri has been most likely to replace Antonio Conte for some time. The Italian is undoubtedly a phenomenal manager and a visionary, someone who would make a lot of changes to the Blues. But Chelsea’s issue really isn’t the manager. That Chelsea are changing managers again is symptomatic of the larger and more serious issue faceing the west London side.
Chelsea are too turbulent. As a Chelsea supporter even I acknowledge I find few truly redeeming reasons why a world-class player would want to spend any of their professional life at Stamford Bridge. To never grow with a coach? To never build a relationship with teammates? To consistently face teams with more of a class approach to football and the very philosophies on which the game itself is built? Yeah, that sounds truly terrible.
Sarri will be walking into a peculiar situation, but not one completely foreign. The waters are rather choppy in Italian football, and Sarri knows that. It is not uncommon in Serie A for clubs to cycle through managers and Sarri has been born into that culture.
What will be new to him is taking charge of a side that has underperformed for several years, and not for any short-comings of talent.
Chelsea’s players have repeatedly stabbed managers in the back with poor performances, unprofessional behavior and an inability to focus on the task at hand. That will make things hard for Sarri. Just as players need to trust their manager, he will need to trust them as well. It takes friction to make fire, and rather than staying in the moment to build a tenacious fire-brand football team, Chelsea’s players are more likely to cut and run.
Sarri is not that different from Antonio Conte. Both are known for their massive personalities, tempers and tactical knowledge. Both require a lot of work from their players and a dedication to a philosophy. Those who classify Conte as a defensive coach are most likely suffering from some sort of debilitating neurodegenerative disease and unlikely to remember that simply a year ago Chelsea were every bit as buccaneering as Manchester City and Pep Guardiola praised their approach. This year, the players played poorly and without commitment. Conte was not the one who changed.
If Sarri becomes the manager a lot of things need to change at Chelsea. He will probably start off well, as he is an exciting enough name to grab the players attention. The club’s leadership, though, must be firm that this will be the last managerially change for a long time. Sarri will struggle. His team is not as good as the others in the division. It will be November when things begin to slow down, and then over the winter period they’ll get worse. This is when Chelsea players start mouthing off and acting like children.
Sarri will struggle to bring them under control, because as modern an approach to coaching as he has his mentality on discipline is indisputably old-school and Italian. Much like, say, this other manager, Antonio Conte, who is a genuine phenomenon. Oh well, I digress.
During this time Chelsea will need to decide what they want to do. They will stand to likely lose Thibaut Courtois and Eden Hazard if things go poorly, but maybe that’s not that bad of a thing. Both players carry the intense black mark that comes with being stars of the only Chelsea team to miss the Champions League in almost two decades – and do it twice. Maybe Chelsea will need them to leave.
They probably do. But instead, maybe if those two start doing their traditional media rounds, the board will choose them over the manager. Again. Meanwhile, I’m sure Conte will be off being fantastic someplace, improving not only the physicality but character of those around him through sheer charisma and force of will. Darn, I digressed again.
Then Chelsea will pick up because they should. They are roughly the third-best team in the division on talent and they will probably finish there.
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If Sarri is manager Chelsea will need to think of what about themselves they want to change. The core principles of the club are poor at the moment, and these superficial changes of manager and staff do nothing. If Sarri is manager he should have three years without question. Not a single one. He should immediately make examples of Chelsea’s turncoats, promote youth and qualify for the Champions League.
In his second year Chelsea should give him all the financial backing in the world. In year one they should not spend any money (I’ve gone on about that). This squad is more than good enough to qualify for the Champions League without investment. The second year, though, Chelsea should double down and it should be Sarri who picks. Not some one else. Maurizio Sarri.
Chelsea need to start letting football matter again. Too much else around the club seems to come first. Winning football matches will fix all the other issues. Every. Single. Time.
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That, or Chelsea can remain in this insipid purgotory until they have fully destroyed the progress they’ve made in football. While Conte is off dominating whatever league he’s in then. Darn, I digressed again.