Chelsea held on and eventually defeated the new look Arsenal. It was not pretty but it was exactly what Maurizio Sarri’s Chelsea needed to improve.
Ask any of the world’s best managers what type of result teaches the most and the answer will likely be the same. Almost to a man, they will say that they learn more from a loss than they do from a win. Winning, after all, does not show a team’s weaknesses and therefore the manager does not know what needs to be worked on.
Occasionally, there are other matches that end in a win or a draw that are equally as informative as a loss. They are rare and should be paid great attention to due to their nature.
Chelsea just had one of those matches against Arsenal. After roaring to a two goal lead, the Blues conceded twice (and could have conceded even more) to enter halftime level. They regained control in the second half and won. It was the best kind of kick in the teeth that Maurizio Sarri could have asked for.
The first thirty minutes went exactly according to plan. In fact, the Blues were more dominant against Arsenal than they had been in years. With the Blues at 2-0, it seemed like the match would end in a blowout. But then Arsenal showed Chelsea’s weaknesses and that is where Sarri’s lesson begins.
Counters will destroy Chelsea if they are smart. Both of Arsenal’s goals came from exploiting Chelsea’s high line and overlapping fullbacks. Sarri’s system, not unlike Antonio Conte’s, leaves a large gap behind the more defensive wide player. If teams can find that gap, they have a free run into the final third.
But that alone did not undo Chelsea. The other half of that counter equation was how uncomfortable Chelsea was with zonal marking and cut backs. When Arsenal made it clear on the flank, they looked for a cutback. None of the defenders were clear as to who should track the ball or the men in the box. So several times Arsenal had an uncontested shot on goal in the box because of the confusion.
Ironically, this is something Sarri’s Chelsea look to exploit on the other end as well. But they were missing a player willing to stay wide and cross over. Both Pedro and Willian wanted to cut in.
Sarri’s solution was to bring on Eden Hazard and Mateo Kovacic to reestablish control. It worked perfectly. Hazard provided the spark that has been missing under Sarri’s Chelsea. The Belgian would make the run towards the goal line before cutting the ball back, causing Arsenal tons of issues. Kovacic, meanwhile, was able to break in between the lines as well as cover for Marcos Alonso’s overlap. That helped to shield Chelsea’s most vulnerable section and it stopped both the counters and the Arsenal cutbacks.
Sarri would have learned from Arsenal that the defense is still a work in progress. He would have also learned that Kovacic (and by extension, Kante) should be covering more for the fullbacks overlaps.
Sarri is still making small tweaks to his set up at Chelsea, but the near embarrassment against Arsenal would have progressed his knowledge a great deal. It was not a loss, but it taught as many lessons as one. That means Chelsea will be much farther along than they would have been in Sarrismo otherwise. And, the bonus is the Blues did it without dropping any points.