Maurizio Sarri’s toolbox: Winger-strikers or 4-3-1-2 at Chelsea
By Travis Tyler
One of the biggest take aways from Chelsea’s loss to Tottenham was the lack of a plan B. Outside of new players, what is in Maurizio Sarri’s toolbox?
“Sarrismo” at Chelsea has yet to look like Sarrismo. The squad is still unbalanced and a work in progress. The team is much better at possession than they were, but they still lack the speed and verticality frequently associated with Maurizio Sarri’s tactics. Furthermore, if Jorginho is taken out of the game, the Blues struggle to get anything going in the match.
As it is still a work in progress, it would be surprising to see Sarri hit the eject button on the current set up. But Tottenham fully exposed the lack of a plan B. If Chelsea cannot play through Jorginho or maintain possession, they do not have anything else to fall back on.
The most likely solution is to find a solution in the market that helps Chelsea in the current framework. But that is a month away and Sarri prefers to coach the players he has rather than look to the market for answers. Which raises the question; what is in Sarri’s toolbox if he needs a plan B right away?
The first plan B is the one Sarri briefly tried against Tottenham; moving a winger into the forward position. Sarri did this at Napoli when Gonzalo Higuain departed for Juventus by putting Dries Mertens into the spot. Many have claimed this is a use of a false nine but it shared very little in common with the traditional use of the role.
Instead, the winger in a striker role played very much like a striker capable of swapping with a winger cutting inside or serving as a halfspace option for a pass. That is really all there is to it.
Sarri tried this against Tottenham by putting Eden Hazard into the role briefly. It did not change very much nor would it really fix the current issues Chelsea is having.
A second option is a return to the 4-3-1-2 that Sarri used at Empoli and in the early days of Napoli. It fact, at times this season Chelsea has taken the shape to increase build up play.
The way Sarri’s Chelsea has flirted with it is by having Hazard drop in between the midfield and the strikers while the other winger tucks in higher up the pitch. This takes some, but not all, the pressure off Jorginho but also makes Hazard a target point.
A different way to use it from the start would be to keep Hazard higher up the pitch and put on another midfielder. Ruben Loftus-Cheek or Ross Barkley ahead of the current starting midfield three would add a dynamic player to the lineup that could move and help play make. Hazard would be able to stay higher up or drop in to add yet another option in buildup (not unlike a 4-3-2-1).
The only downside would be the narrowness of the formation which is an issue Chelsea already faces on the buildup. Neither fullback is capable of providing width by themselves so they would be unable to stretch the pitch.
But it may just take little changes time to time to cope with a match that Jorginho is marked out of. Napoli had other players in the 4-3-3 who could take up the slack but Chelsea lacks that. So while putting Hazard central or swapping to a 4-3-1-2 may not be ideal, it may be just different enough to pull Chelsea over the line on the days they need it.