Sarri’s Blue World
Officially, Sarri came to Chelsea this season. Symbolically, he was already destined for the blues long before, perhaps since March 4, 2018, when Antonio Conte’s Chelsea lost to Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City by only 1-0. But the scorecard was not important; the passing was what caught the attention of the whole world: 976 attempted and 902 completed (92%) by the Citizens, against only 303 from Chelsea (77%). At the end of the game, the great blue star of the London team, Eden Hazard, said: “We watched City play football, what we did is not football.” For a team like Chelsea, to be widely dominated in such way is bad for their image, and the search for a “new Guardiola” was inevitable.
Maurizio Sarri at Chelsea for Antonio Conte is a perfect sample to understand an important football issue: globalization has finished the closed “schools” of the game. A less attentive fan would say: “To exchange one defensive Italian and catenaccio adept on the other?”
Conte is not an adept of catenaccio, much less Sarri. Conte won the Premier League in his first year in England with a very competitive and efficient way to play. His way was not wrong, yet he feels the game in his own way and the exchange for Sarri says more about Chelsea wanting to look for the aesthetics that seem to be currently more valued: those related to the pass. Sarri arrives to implant his philosophy, not necessarily to win in the short term. This teaches us a lot about a common trend in this decade, where large teams around the world have become increasingly concerned about the good circulation of the ball. For critics and fans alike, there is a sense that by controlling possession you are controlling the game, thus overpowering the opponent at your mercy. Despite the boom of pressing teams and the emergence of a more direct game, such as that employed by Klopp’s Liverpool, Zidane’s Real Madrid and even Didier Deschamps’s France, the kind of game that most pleases the critic and public is still the more paused one, that featuring a more elaborated attack.
Napoli left an image of a rather orthodox positional game, and in fact, some analysts say it is even more orthodox than Guardiola’s Juego de Posición. In fact, the possession and preparation of plays with pauses was the main focus of Maurizio on his journey through southern Italy. Playing at home, and even in many games outside of their domains, the napolitano team averaged around seven hundred passes per game, and always with 90% or more accuracy. This, however, does not necessarily make this style orthodox. There is variation in Sarri’s game. There was pressure on the opposition’s field as well as more direct play at certain times. Even the buildup was not always slow and elaborate. Against teams that chose to play a high block, Napoli used to play with Elseid Hysaj employing long passes, as well as direct passes to the forwards. He is a methodical and pragmatic technician, but far from being orthodox and imprisoned in closed ideas.
At Chelsea, Sarri has started his career with a huge asset: Jorginho. According to OPTA, the Italian-Brazilian was the most successful short-passer in the Italian Serie A. He’ll be some sort of technical assistant in the field, plus the manager-passer-pivot that everyone’s waiting for in London. All facilitation is important for Sarri to achieve success with the Blues, and after all, we are talking about a somewhat immediate-results-needed club. Winning the UEFA Champions League in 2011–12 with an interim coach is a great illustration.
With patience, support and a lot of work, Maurizio Sarri can be this season’s highlight in the land of the queen. And that is what we hope for the good of football.
