Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri has said he used to pressure and thrives on it. Serie A may have been the pressure cooker he needed to prepare for Chelsea.
Once upon a time, Serie A was the league to be in. It had the best managers, the best coaches, the best everything. But the Premier League, La Liga, and the Bundesliga all caught up in their own unique ways.
What remained of Serie A was multiple historic clubs all desperate to return to the pinnacle of what they once were. This has created a league where only the most tactically astute can survive for long periods and where even the slightest failure is a sackable offense.
Maurizio Sarri has only ever known this environment. And whereas Chelsea is an incredible pressure cooker in of itself, Sarri appears unphased. While there are many drawbacks on Sarri coming from Serie A, it is hard to deny that the pressure there is a good set up for taking over at a club like Chelsea.
Sarri himself attributes the greater pressure at Napoli to being the only team in the city. And while that is likely true, it is not really why the pressure is so great in Italy. The owners and fans are notoriously quick to turn when things go south.
Take Aurelio De Laurentiis for example. There was no indication whatsoever that he was ever unhappy with Sarri. But as soon as he left Napoli, the knives came out, slamming him for (among other things) going trophyless.
Now many will point towards the Juventus monopoly as the reason why Sarri could not win anything. Juventus fans themselves would likely not care for that argument.
See, Juventus are currently running away with Serie A again. They are in the Champions League round of 16 still. But they just lost 3-0 to Atalanta in the Coppa Italia and followed it up with a 3-3 league draw to Parma. Massimiliano Allegri has won the last four Serie A titles with a fifth almost guaranteed to be on the way. But those two matches, coupled with a perceived boring style of play, has created a sizable campaign of #AllegriOut.
Imagine having a dynasty like that but still wanting the manager out for falling out of one cup and being “boring”. For many Chelsea fans that hold Sarri on a pedestal, it would make perfect sense.
But even in the context of Juventus running rampant in the league, three of the top five teams in the league have considered sacking their manager this season. AC Milan had considered sacking Gennaro Gattuso over the winter break. Inter Milan has their finger on the eject button for Luciano Spalletti if they do not win silverware this season with Antonio Conte waiting in the wings. And Eusebio Di Francesco of Roma appears to be on his last legs with the club.
Serie A is ruthless and cut throat when managers do not live up to the call. Sarri not only survived in this environment but thrived in it with Empoli and Napoli. There is a fair and strong argument to be made that his tactics worked much better in Serie A than the Premier League and he needs to adjust them to come out on the right side.
But the pressure he feels with Chelsea right now? He is unphased because he has had it before. That could be good in the sense he will not make changes for changes sake. But it could also be bad if he feels too cool on the hot seat.
Sarri is a good coach with a good philosophy. It is good that he can survive the pressure of the Premier League because of Serie A. But he needs to keep in mind that he cannot completely ignore the pressure he feels. Other clubs are figuring him out and he needs to show the ability to adapt his tactics (not his philosophy) to cope with the new pressures he faces.