Maurizio Sarri’s blueprint to save Chelsea (and himself) from Maurizio Sarri

Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri has put all his cards on to the table by challenging the players. But what can he do to save the club and himself from Sarri?

Adaptability became a dirty word since Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City frolicked to the title in historic fashion. For some reason, there is a notion that Guardiola stuck with what worked in 2016/2017 and it eventually paid off in 2017/2018. That is not entirely true.

In Guardiola’s first season, he nearly exclusively had his fullbacks invert like he had at Bayern Munich. It worked so long as it was novel but then it became easy enough to solve. Instead of persisting, he had the fullbacks invert based on the situation in season two. Of course, part of that was having a new set of fullbacks to work with.

Furthermore, the way his side attack changed. Instead of luring the opponent into a flank before switching it to an open flank, he had his side lure an opponent into the midfield. That would create vertical space for the fast and technical wingers to exploit, much like the same tactic did at Napoli under one Maurizio Sarri.

So to say that Guardiola merely stuck with the same tactics is false. He adapted his tactics, while staying true to his philosophy (tactics and philosophy are not interchangeable terms). So too must Sarri to survive.

Simply put, Sarri needs to get out of his own way. He has his philosophy, but only once this season has he adapted the tactics to cope with the opponent (ironically, against Manchester City). Sarri needs to get out of his own way and reflect on himself. His post match presser after the Arsenal loss had shades of Jose Mourinho’s “they betrayed my work” (sacked soon after) but also Antonio Conte’s “they had a bad attitude” (adapted with the 3-4-3 after).

What can Sarri do to save not only Chelsea, but himself from himself?

Rotate, rotate, rotate

Only two sides have rotated less than Sarri’s Chelsea. So it should come as absolutely no surprise that some players feel they cannot break in no matter how well they train. This creates a culture of starters knowing their spot is not in jeopardy and bench/reserve players knowing they cannot prove anything. This causes some players to consider moves (such as Cesc Fabregas and Callum Hudson-Odoi) and others to phone it in (as Eden Hazard has the last few matches).

Now, Sarri does not have to make sweeping changes every match. Unai Emery has rotated too much and his squad has been unable to create a solid foundation. But some players have deserved to be dropped this season and others have deserved more playing time. There has to be a carrot and a stick, and so far Sarri has offered neither.

Sarri has never been much of a rotational manager. At Napoli, he stuck by his XI and there was little deviation. Regardless of why, Sarri has to break from that habit at Chelsea. The club has too many young hungry players losing minutes to older complacent players. Everyone loses in that situation.