Maurizio Sarri used the word “fun” more in one press conference than Antonio Conte did in two years. Fun football can make difficult times more palatable, but Chelsea will demand wins sooner than Sarri may expect.
Old and busted: We must be prepared to suffer with or without the ball. New hotness: “Ours is not a sport but a game… It is fun.” Unless he had arrived on time and lighted a cigarette while listening to the first question, Maurizio Sarri could not have done more to draw a contrast with the latter days of Antonio Conte’s time at Chelsea.
Sarri kept coming back to the word “fun” in describing his philosophy and approach to football. He spoke of the importance of fun to himself, his players and the fans. Sarri said “it is better to enjoy” football than to focus on winning, suggesting the best case scenario is to win trophies while having fun.
Maurizio Sarri’s words fully supported the “Sarri-ball” on display at Napoli, the style and approach that attracted so many Chelsea fans and – ultimately – the club. His teams are dynamic, fluid, entertaining – yes, fun. The football he delivered at Napoli and intends to bring to Stamford Bridge, like its underlying philosophy, is antithetical to that of Antonio Conte and Jose Mourinho. Mourinho, more than Conte, was a pragmatist. But both men were result-oriented. Ends, not means, and certainly not fun, were the priorities of Chelsea’s winningest managers.
This is where Maurizio Sarri will ultimately face his biggest test at Chelsea. Fun football will be a welcome change for a decent portion of Chelsea’s supporters. Antonio Conte lost his job over results, lost the board over his demands and lost the fans (some of them, at least) over his style.
Fun football may mean fewer 1-0 games. But this means fewer 1-0 wins as well as fewer 1-0 losses. One-goal wins against Crystal Palace, Southampton and Cardiff City could become three-goal routs. But one-goal losses against Manchester City and Manchester United could become three-goal routs going the other way. More games like those against Stoke City at the risk of more like those against AS Roma and Barcelona.
An entertaining style of play may blunt some of the criticism and mitigate the pain of losing… at first. Eden Hazard may have less to complain about as a No. 10 in a fun side with 60% possession than as a false-nine in a side defending deep with 35% possession. But fun won’t put the Champions League trophy on his shelf, nor will the Ballon d’Or voters take it into consideration. Fun football will cover the transition from Conte-ball to Sarri-ball. But it can only stand in for silverware temporarily.
Winning clubs talk about their style of play in passing, because the style is a means to the end. Clubs who talk primarily about their style of play and self-congratulate on their philosophy do so because that is all they have up in north London.
For Chelsea fans, fun is an extra raucous chorus of “Blue is the Colour” following a home win. Fun is a Twitter video of players spraying beer on each other singing “Campeones, campeones, ole ole ole ole!” Fun is taunting Tottenham fans about keeping the pressure on, Harry Kane’s latest individual award and the upcoming commemorative DVD.
Chelsea thankfully have a culture of winning, and everything flows from there. Fun football is not incompatible with winning football, but it is secondary.
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Chelsea sack winning managers. They may not know what to do with a fun manager if results are mixed. Maurizio Sarri may win a few hearts and buy some time with fun football, but unless he wins games and trophies he will learn what many managers already know: his is not a particularly fun job.