Chelsea must be ready to deal with the wide open spaces of Sarri-ball

Chelsea must get used to having wide opens spaces completely exposed on their flanks and in the middle of the pitch as they develop under Maurizio Sarri. Such beautiful football comes at a price.

The pitch in Dublin seemed especially large and green on Wednesday evening. When Chelsea were attacking or transitioning into defence, the areas along the touchline and in the centre of the formation were almost in a pristine, natural state. At least until Arsenal moved the ball into those areas and Blue and red jerseys converged on it.

After years of Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte – and the inter-Mourinho era, which was still defined by the Portuguese – such openness is quite jarring for a Blues side. The earlier managers arranged their players and tactics to absorb space, rather than permit it. Maurizio Sarri, on the other hand, spreads the play out across the entire pitch, isolating players and activities in small areas while leaving others wide open.

In Conte’s 3-4-3, the biggest vulnerability was the space behind the wing-backs. Tottenham were the first team to exploit this in 2016/17 when they ended Chelsea’s unbeaten streak. By getting in behind Marcos Alonso or Victor Moses they were able to serve perfect crosses to split Chelsea’s centre-backs. The rest of the league followed their example, and it was an important turning point in Chelsea’s two seasons under Conte.

Now that Chelsea are back to a four-man defence, the Blues have nothing preventing an attack up the flanks. The pocket of space behind the wing-backs in the 3-4-3 is now an expanse of space in a 4-3-3. A quick-moving opponent will be beyond the full backs and completely unresisted in with a few touches and two passes, The centre-back pair will then have to read the ball-carrier and his on-rushing support, hopefully with a defensive midfielder ahead of them but potentially on their own.

The amount of space Chelsea allowed in these areas against Arsenal on Wednesday reminded everyone why Conte switched to the three-man defence. The Blues looked like the kind of team that would set Eden Hazard, Willian and Pedro salivating at the thought of a counter-attack down the touchline with a sharp cut-in for a shot from the top of the box.

Similarly, when his teams turn over the ball in the final third, Sarri employs a full press involving his wingers, the striker and midfielders. Several times against Arsenal this brought four Blues in an arc across the top of the play, with Callum Hudson-Odoi (of all people) staying deepest out on the left, while Ross Barkley pressed high and hard.

This left a circle of space open in the midfield. Jorginho knew how to handle this situation, given his years under Sarri. But without N’Golo Kante to rush around and break up any play that beats the press, the Blues left an easy escape up the middle.

To Chelsea’s credit, they organized well once they were defending in their defensive third. The players quickly fell back into a standard 4-4-2 once Arsenal brought the play over midfield. The defence did not produce anything notable, but it was at least organized and coherent.

The open spaces on the flanks and in the centre on transition are the price of Sarri’s expansive football. His teams cannot send the ball fizzing from one corner of the pitch to another without having empty spaces in between, the flyover country of Sarri-ball.

N’Golo Kante’s return will settle some of these issues, as he will slow any moves through midfield and will be able to come over to meet plays along the sides. He will single-handedly shut down the space in the centre of the pitch.

But even Kante can only do so much, particularly if the opponent sends the ball over or otherwise past the full backs.

This will put Chelsea’s centre-backs on the spot, particularly if Kante or Jorginho are not able to come back in time to support. Andreas Christensen was vulnerable against Arsenal in his second-half appearance. Alexandre Lacazette beat him too easily several times. Sarri will need Antonio Rudiger’s and Gary Cahill’s physicality and presence, and Rudiger’s pace to blunt the initial attack. But Rudiger does not look fully in the swing of Sarri’s system, and Cahill has not yet begun training with the team.

Ultimately, Chelsea’s full backs are going to need to refine their role under Sarri. Marcos Alonso excelled as a wing-back last season on offence by using intelligent positioning to compensate for his lack of pace. He will need to do the same but on the other side ball this season. He will want to bomb forward on overlapping runs with Eden Hazard or Callum Hudson-Odoi. But without Cahill or another left centre-back behind him on defence, Alonso will only be able to do so much without giving away the store going the other way.

Cesar Azpilicueta is much less likely to make a long run up on offence. His assists to Alvaro Morata last season came from the midfield half-spaces. If he takes a similar approach on offence this season, he will be able to do what he does best and defend.

Like life, football is about trade-offs. Expansive play on offence means unattended expanses on defence. Chelsea fans need to acclimate to such openness in both directions, and Sarri and the team needs to strike the right balance. If they do not, the beauty on the pitch in one direction will result in a rather ugly sight on the scoresheet from the other.