Chelsea is undergoing a bold evolution culturally and tactically with Maurizio Sarri. But they must not forget how to win ugly as they look to play pretty.
When Jose Mourinho came to Chelsea the first time, he completely entrenched a culture. He made the team feel like the constant underdog, punching above their weight and winning against all odds. The reality was that the team quickly became one of the best in the world but the culture of the club was so entrenched that they never felt as such.
This allowed the Blues to win even when it felt impossible. And when they had fallen away from the best in the world, they still had that mentality that they could beat anyone through sheer force of will.
Chelsea rode that culture all the way through the tenure of Antonio Conte. Then the board, perhaps seeing that what Mourinho built was fading more and more, opted to bring in a manager to build a new culture at Chelsea. Maurizio Sarri was brought in to create something new. But he must not allow the Blues to forget the method that got them this far.
Sarri is an attack first type of manager. His tactics are built from the attacking (or possession) phase down. Since it is such a radical departure from what Chelsea has done, it will take time to implement. In the meantime, some matches will look completely awful as Chelsea rack up passes without point or pleasure.
It is in these moments that Chelsea needs to keep the mentality Mourinho put into the side; ugly wins are still wins. The Blues may want to play beautiful, attacking football but an ugly scrappy goal counts just as much as a well worked one.
Chelsea would not have beaten Bournemouth in the League Cup without an ugly goal. The Blues dominated possession and were able to attack often, but they had no penetration with all their possession. It was not a case of “Eden Hazard bails Chelsea out again” as seems to be the media narrative. It was a case of bobbles in the box and someone (in this case Hazard but it really could have been anyone) directing the ball into the net.
It was ugly, it was unplanned, and it worked. Sarri did not draw that one up and Chelsea did not practice it on the training ground. It was merely the reemergence of a mentality over a decade in the making; score no matter what and go home with the points.
As Sarri develops Chelsea into his image (no, they are not close yet), he must not throw out all the foundations that were there when he arrived. Beautiful football has its place, but so does ugly football. Recent weeks have shown Sarri is willing to rely on the latter if the former cannot work.
He must continue to foster that attitude going forward. Not every match can be a clinic and how the result is achieved is less important than the result itself. Sarri has the tools; he need only keep them in the toolbox for when they are needed.