Two players in Chelsea’s Community Shield loss to Manchester City reveal the different options open to Maurizio Sarri. He must think carefully as he weighs Ross Barkley’s and David Luiz’s roles.
Chelsea failed to lift the Community Shield to start a season, yet again. David Luiz and Ross Barkley were at opposite ends of performance scale, and their continued place in the XI would lead to greatly different outcomes this season.
If Maurizio Sarri relies on David Luiz to lead Chelsea’s back-line, he will fail. David Luiz, emotionally, has a very good history with everyone around the club. However, as a footballer, he is on far shakier ground.
During the Community Shield, the Chelsea back-line looked disorganized and was easily broken too many times. In fact, it only took a long ball for chaos to break loose. The Brazilian international was to blame in nearly every instance.
Luiz has a tendency to forget his defensive duties and track the forward. Whether that player is in front of him or behind him, Luiz will lose him. Sergio Aguero exploited this for his two goals. Luiz looked like he was waiting for the ball to reach him, rather than moving to intercept it. Luiz also lacks the ability to cover for his fellow team-mates. Instead of dropping and covering certain angles to back-up the other centre-back or the full-backs, he completely gives up on the play, expecting others to do the job.
Although it takes some time to adapt to a new manager’s style of play, Luiz is not the best qualified for Maurizio Sarri’s. There is a reason why Antonio Conte dropped him from his squad, besides the injuries.
David Luiz was exposed as a liability for the team. If Sarri wants to succeed at the club, the very first thing he needs to do is sort out the back line. This ultimately means David Luiz cannot be trusted.
On the other hand, Maurizio Sarri has hinted at Ross Barkley taking on an important one, and with good reason. On Sunday, Barkley was always looking to get forward with the ball, almost playing like a box-to-box midfielder. Chelsea have not fully utilized that position for a while, and Barkley showed what it could look like in Sarri’s wide-open play. And with N’Golo Kante soon joining the squad, Barkley will have more freedom and fewer defensive responsibilities.
During the Community Shield there was no real connection between the attackers and the midfield. Having Cesc Fabregas, Jorginho and Barkley defend was not the best of plans, but Sarri had nothing else to work with. Fabregas is not exactly defensive material given his lack of pace and physicality, which made everyone’s job more difficult.
Ross Barkley was arguably the most effective player the entire game against Manchester City. He used his body to shield the ball and move forward, rather than just pass it back. And, when needed, he bullied players to retrieve possession for his team. His only real short-coming was his lack of “killer passes,” but with Kante soon available, all the pieces of the puzzle could connect for Chelsea.
Maurizio Sarri has a difficult project ahead of him and he will need the right balance in every aspect. New tactics are never easy to adopt, and if the players want to play attractive football they must be spotless in all of the areas of the pitch.
In the defense, David Luiz cannot be an option. If Sarri proceeds with him, he will soon regret it. As for the midfield, Ross Barkley not only has a promising career ahead of him, but fits all the criteria for the style of play the head coach wants.