kellzfresh

A detailed guide by a Napoli fan on how Maurizio Sarri might operate as Chelsea manager There's been a lot of talk about "Sarriball" recently and how Chelsea will operate under Maurizio Sarri. Now that Sarri has officially been appointed, I wanted to give some insight into Sarri himself and how Sarri may operate while in charge at Stamford Bridge. I started following Napoli the season before Sarri took over. I have watched almost all of Napoli's matches for the past 3 seasons under Sarri. I do follow Chelsea and the rest of the Premier League, but I may make some errors regarding Chelsea's players — please feel free to correct me if I've made any mistakes or misjudgments. Sarri: The Man He was born in Napoli, which is one of the reasons he was so beloved while Napoli manager. He actually began his professional life as a banker, a vocation he practiced for 10 to 15 years. He worked in London for some of this time, but I do not know how fluent he is in English. He started coaching for fun after work, and gradually transitioned to becoming a full-time manager in his 40s. He's a really cool customer and can often be seen smoking and drinking coffee during training sessions. Although he may look cold and aloof, many of the players who worked under him have described him as a fatherly figure. He is a bit of a sore loser and does his fair share of complaining after losses. As a native napulitano, he of course hated Juventus and even showed Juventini the middle finger on Napoli's bus journey into Turin. Like most old Italian men, he is casually profane, and is known for swearing in press conferences (probably won't do this in England though, unfortunately). Sarri: The Manager Managerial History Empoli He first came to attention in Italy when he became manager of Empoli in 2012. After 2 seasons in Serie B, he took Empoli to Serie A for the 2014-15 season. Despite being expected to go straight back down, the Tuscan side defied expectations to finish† in 15th. Napoli's owner Aurelio de Laurentiis was impressed by him during Empoli's 2-2 draw with Napoli during that season, and approached him to manage his hometown club after Rafa Benitez's departure in summer 2015. Here are 2 videos by the official Serie A YouTube channel that discuss Sarri while he was Empoli manager: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPXhXPhN1CQ, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNAg1brmgJw Napoli It took a few matches for Sarri and the Napoli squad to settle into a rhythm and set formation, but eventually Sarri settled on the 4-3-3 in this formation. This lineup and formation was essentially the same throughout his three seasons in Naples, with the exception that Gonzalo Higuaín was the main striker in Sarri's first season rather than Mertens or Milik (who wasn't at the club). This lineup was very successful, and put up a strong but ultimately futile fight against Juventus last season. Managerial Style Disclaimer: I'm not very good at tactical analysis so this might not be the best summary. Feel free to pick this apart. How Sarri might operate as Chelsea manager I see a lot of similarities between Napoli's and Chelsea's squads, which is one of the reasons I think Sarri will be successful for Chelsea. My expectation for the formation he will play (X# are unknowns): Hazard - X1 - X2 X3 - Jorginho - Kanté X4 - Christensen - X5 - Azpilicueta X6 X1: For Napoli, Sarri really only had 2 options for the striker role: the more mobile, creative Mertens and the target man Milik (when he wasn't injured). Who he started mainly depended on the circumstances (i.e., strength of opponent, European competition or not, etc.) From what I've seen, Milik is kinda similar to Giroud, but I can't say for sure who he will prefer. X2: With Barcelona's reported interest in Willian, it's hard to say who this might be. I see a lot of people writing off Victor Moses as a benchwarmer, but I could actually see him being the starting right-winger considering his defensive ability. If Sarri intends to mirror his tactics from Napoli, Moses would be a great fit for a winger willing to run his legs off in attack and defense. Pedro seems to have regressed so probably won't be him. X3: I have no idea who this will be — Loftus-Cheek, Barkley, even Golovin (have only seen each of them play once or twice) and Fàbregas could all make this spot their own, it's a tossup. X4: Apparently Marcos Alonso is a terrible defender so idk if he can play this role. From what I've seen of Emerson when he played for Roma, he is a pretty good defender so it will probably be him. X5: Will probably be Rüdiger. I've read that Cahill has regressed a lot, but I don't know enough to say if he will be a starter or not. And who knows if David Luiz is going to stay or leave. X6: If Courtois stays, it'll be him, otherwise it'll be whoever Chelsea sign as his replacement. Note on Rugani Juventus' Daniele Rugani has been linked to Chelsea. Despite falling down the pecking order for Juventus, Rugani played his best when he was on loan at Empoli under Sarri, so there is a strong chance he can improve a lot under him again. Note on Jorginho He is such a humble and nice guy. I strongly recommend you watch this interview he did with the official Serie A YouTube channel, he is really genuine and comes across strongly about his values. Also follow him on snapchat/Instagram because his laugh is contagious!

Fantastic signing. We've been looking for a controlling/creative midfielder for years that is not a defensive liability like Fabregas and we've finally got one just because we got an attacking coach. Hopefully many more signings like this to come

Fantastic signing. We've been looking for a controlling/creative midfielder for years that is not a defensive liability like Fabregas and we've finally got one just because we got an attacking coach. Hopefully many more signings like this to come

Napoli Lineup: Reina Hyzaj - Albiol - Koulibaly - Ghoulam Allan - Jorginho - Hamsik Callejon - Mertens - Insigne Chelsea Lineup: Courtois/Allisson Azpi - Rugani/AC - Rudiger - Emerson Kante - Jorginho - Barkley Pedro/Willian - Morata - Hazard Pedro gets the nod ahead of Willian for me. Not because he is better than Willian but because that Callejon role for Napoli is for endless running with players willing to make runs off the ball consistently. Willian prefers ball to feet a lot, unless Sarri can change him. And Callejon is two footed like pedro so he can use his left to shoot, Willian rarely uses his left to even pass. Where i'll even love to see Willian is in the Hamsik role, it will be a masterstroke if Sarri can convince him to play there, his excellent ball control will be put to good use there. Alonso is too slow to play in a back four. He can get away with it in a back five, because Cahill/Rudiger covered for him but im not sure now. Emerson is faster and a dribbler like Gholam so he fits the bill more.

Good. Honestly i didnt really want him here. I was not impressed with any match he played at the worldcup. He doesnt look like he'll score a lot of goals, his passes were under-hit a lot, and he is not as good a dribbler as I thought. A fit barkley is as good as him IMO.

Honestly this would be a very good signing if we can get this done. He will blend into Sarri's philosophy much quicker than TBO because Alisson passes out from the back, and maintains a high line as a sweeper keeper. TBO on the other hand is a better shot stopper and good against crosses but will boot the ball into throwing/pick the wrong pass when pressured and is too slow to play the sweeper role.

Incredible piece of play there. As good as Barcelona in terms of passing out of the back.... If he is able to accomplish that with us, that would be fantastic.

Dont sell Hazard. Top ten world class player among this bracket of players in no order (Ronaldo, messi, modric, Neymar, kroos, Hazard, Ramos, Lewandoski, Cavani, KDB, griezmann, suarez) I dont think we will get anyone from that bracket to replace hazard, so selling him is a no. But if Hazard forces the move or doesn't renew before his last year of contract, (I doubt this would happen but if it does,) sell to Madrid, for 100mil + Kovacic. Buy Hirvin Lozano of mexico and hope for the best.

GoloKantinho

Legal battle it is.... Probably by the same legal counsel that lost to Eva cavaneiro.... Loool The state of our club

https://www.football-italia.net/124401/conte-continues-chelsea-fight

Hasn't scored 15 goals in a season in his career. Anytime/period he's our best player, Chelsea as a team are under-performing. He's 30, he can only decline from here, were not selling him to a rival, sell rather than let another malouda situation happen.

Sarri would love that

Leon Bailey

Perfect explanation of Hazard's style of play. How i wish Eden was just a little more direct, with all his talent, people like Neymar, suarez won't be anywhere close to Hazard in ratings. Chelsea will probably never have another talent as good as him. But he is what he is, a dribbler that gets his team playing well but hopes Lukaku/Kdb have a good game too so that they can convert the performance to goals.

I cant blame him, he loves Madrid, but has no chance to compete with them so far with Chelsea. There is a chance he might still go there, with Ronaldo looking like he's going to Juventus, and Neymar and Mbappe trapped in PSG, Hazard/Salah are the next best options especially with Madrid's manager Lopetegu who likes players with hazard's ilk (Isco, Asencio, silva, iniesta) instead of direct wingers for spain. Hazard could suit his philosophy easily.

If we get both Jorginho and Sarri, that would be incredible. But I doubt we can beat another club (Mancity) to a signing.

The board should admit they've lost the battle of ego's with De laurientes and pay the release clause for sarri. Just imagine if Conte stays, that means Hazard, RLC and definitely willian are all gone. Our board don't know how to get good replacements so we'll always get lower quality than them. I'm beginning to get concerned now....

Hazard had so many opportunities in attacking positions yesterday, one on one against the fullback and as a great player he is, he rarely took advantage of the situation by shooting he chose to pass to less talented players who obviously spoiled the chances. When you know you're better than everyone you should take the bull by the horn and win games for your team. He's a great player, the best in Belgium but just dribbling and contributing less than 40 goals + assists a season is not enough to be compared to the 2nd top scorer for Brazil, just behind Pele (Neymar). Hazard is as talented as Neymar but they're worlds apart in mentality. Belgium and Brazil have similar level of players, so lets see how they perform.

Even if they are legally able to keep two managers at the same time, what happens after Ancelloti is officially unveiled as taking Sarri's job, trains the players and the Sarri then brings a resignation letter? Will Napoli still be able to have legal grounds to reject Sarri's resignation letter then?

Hazard now has the chance to prove that against brazil. Both Belgium and Brazil are attacking teams Mertens-lukaku-kdb and willian-Jesus-coutinho are probably the same level (i even think belgium is better in that area) The determinant to push the tie will be if Hazard outshines Neymar or vise versa. Hazard had so many chances to impact the match with a goal against Japan but refused to shoot. And when Hazard finally shot, he couldnt put any bend on the ball to put it in the corner like coutinho/cavani the other day did so he shoots straight to keeper and only impacts the match with dribbling. We'll see, I'm not yet convinced hazard is better than Neymar but a strong showing against a team the same level as Neymars team could change my mind.

Please who has any idea when napoli's preseason officially starts? Both the training and matches. I want to see who will train them for preseason, if they can get away with Ancelloti training Napoli and still not accepting a resignation letter from Sarri. Or they sabotage their own season by still not officially unveiling Ancelloti and use some assistant coach to train the Napoli players to prepare for the season.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">At this point Sarri to Chelsea feels like only a matter of time &amp; considering that Napoli aren’t likely to let any of their players join him at Stamford Bridge, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of his other former players linked to the Blues</p>&mdash; David Amoyal (@DavidAmoyal) <a href="https://twitter.com/DavidAmoyal/status/1013713742826278913?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 2, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> https://twitter.com/DavidAmoyal/status/1013713742826278913 http://<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">At this point Sarri to Chelsea feels like only a matter of time &amp; considering that Napoli aren’t likely to let any of their players join him at Stamford Bridge, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of his other former players linked to the Blues</p>&mdash; David Amoyal (@DavidAmoyal) <a href="https://twitter.com/DavidAmoyal/status/1013713742826278913?ref_src=twsrc^tfw">July 2, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> How do you embed tweets, its not working lol