Chelsea has a distinct culture that has existed since Jose Mourinho’s first stint. Maurizio Sarri wants to change it but needs the same well of desire.
There are two distinct pillars of Chelsea’s culture. Both were erected when Jose Mourinho first arrived at the club. Use those pillars and the squad will sing. Try to put up a new one or replace an old one and the roof collapses.
The first pillar is an “us against the world” mentality. Mourinho is still famous for it (or at least in his attempts to implement it). The second pillar is being able to take a punch and respond with a blistering, relentless, and speedy counter punch.
The first is so ingrained that a manager need merely play into it. The second takes work and a desire on the part of the players. When the desire is there, Chelsea can succeed. When it is not, the whole structure comes crumbling down. Sarri needs to find the well that Antonio Conte drew from in 2016/2017 and Jose Mourinho in 2014/2015.
The “us against the world” mentality will almost always be there. Spend even an hour on Twitter during or after a match and that becomes clear to see. But the desire bit is hard.
Players have to want to defend with a ton of organization, something Chelsea has been known for over a decade now. There can be no individuals when the opponent has the ball. Players also have to want to attack with the ferocity Chelsea needs. With the ferocity that Sarri needs.
Sarri’s system is not set up on possession; it is set up on winning the ball back as quickly as possible and moving it towards the opponent’s goal as quickly as possible. There is a reason why Sarrismo/Sarriball has been called “vertical tika-taka”. But if the players do not have the desire to move the ball quickly, to sprint in the 90th minute as hard as they did in the 1st, then the system falls apart.
Both Mourinho and Conte saw this desire in their title winning campaigns. When Chelsea won the ball back, the team (not an individual) attacked as quickly as possible. One on one shots were common and the goals flowed.
But both Mourinho and Conte saw that desire disappear in the following season. The fast attacks gave way to slow, prodding and probing efforts that often went nowhere. The opponent need only park the bus (ironically given Chelsea criticisms) to stop a Chelsea without desire.
Sarri has to fix this because his entire style depends on it. Chelsea is not suddenly going to become a possession for possessions sake team. They have never succeeded like that. Sarri wants them to move the ball which requires desire on the part of the players. They need to move, create space, offer themselves, and be unselfish. That is not something that characterized Chelsea last season or two years before that.
If Sarri does not find the same well of desire as his predecessors, his time will be short. If he can find it, he must maintain it, something no manager has been able to do at Chelsea since Mourinho’s first stint. Sarri will need patience, but the sooner he finds the source of what makes Chelsea tick the better. If he can break precedent and keep that will flowing, he can truly become great at Chelsea.