Jorginho talked about his development in his first season at Chelsea while on international break. His acknowledgment of the Premier League’s uniqueness is another sign of him moving out from Maurizio Sarri’s shadow.
Listening to Jorginho talk about his first season in the Premier League, you come away thinking he recognizes that the Premier League is quite a different beast – tactically and physically – than Serie A. One of his Chelsea teammates must have tipped him off and started him on this journey of football discovery, because he certainly did not get it from his mentor Maurizio Sarri.
Jorginho gave high marks to his first season at Chelsea, saying “I think I had a fantastic first season and it was fundamental for my growth process.” He went on to say “I am stronger in defence now, I go into challenges with more determination and control the game.”
“Fantastic” might be overstating things a bit, but at least he acknowledged his progress by saying he is “stronger” “now” defensively, rather than saying he was or is strong – in absolute terms – in that aspect of his game.
For as much stick as we give Jorginho (as recently as the preceding paragraph, in fact) these comments show a willingness to grow, learn and let himself be challenged. This tracks with his first public comments of the post-Sarri era, where he talked about the expanded role and freedom he had under Frank Lampard. To whatever extent he realized it in four years working with Sarri at Napoli and Chelsea, he now knows how much more there is to his game – let alone the game as a whole – then executing rote circuits from the base of midfield at a 4-3-3.
Like most his teammates, Jorginho is making his share of mistakes this season, many of which crop up in new and unexpected situations.
For Jorginho, the idea of an “unplanned mistake” is, itself, new. The regularity of Sarriball left no room for errors in judgment: you either knew the circuit or you didn’t. Errors in execution were rare for a team of Chelsea’s or Napoli’s calibre, unless someone just had one of those random flubs. And errors in tactical mismatch occurred at predictable points in the game when such mismatches could manifest themselves in overloads or vacating a space.
Jorginho understands the different conditions of the Premier League “forced me to develop different skills.” Again, the extent to which he has developed those skills is debatable, and whether he has those skills to a greater extent than his teammates and therefore deserves a recurring spot in the starting XI is debatable. But he at least knows he must continue to develop his game if he is to thrive at Chelsea.
Maurizio Sarri never understood or cared to understand how the demands of the Premier League differed from Serie A. As a result he never adapted Chelsea throughout last season, with the notable exception of the two games against Manchester City that Chelsea did not lose 6-0. Beyond those anomalies, he was incurious about the English game, which would have ultimately led to his departure if he had not run off to Juventus at the first sign of real adversity in west London.
The best thing Jorginho can do is move out of Maurizio Sarri’s smoke cloud, er, shadow. He can be grateful for Sarri bringing his career to this point, but he must evolve in ways his mentor would not countenance.
He is saying the right things. Too often on the pitch, he is not doing them. He is hardly lacking for midfield mentors at Stamford Bridge. Hopefully he puts the intent behind his words so he can be the player his fans imagine he is.