Sarri But Not Sarri Thread

[Bosnian Blue 2,471]

Another issue is that Sarri has made it clear to everyone that he only selects from a small crop when it comes to the League. It has created an environment where virtually half the squad are participating in training knowing there is little chance of a start at the weekend. It is not exactly a motivational tool.

One player was heard joking that he was not sure Sarri “even knows what my name is”. 😂😂😂

The grandpa's losing it big time.

[Special Juan 27,439]

This place will lose it's shit if Higuain signs tomorrow in time to face Spurs and Sarri comes out with "He's not ready to play our style of football yet"

[kellzfresh 7,229]

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The problem facing Sarri-ball

Why isn't Sarri-ball working the way it's supposed to?

 

Chelsea aren't playing very well. Maurizio Sarri warned everyone back in September that he felt Chelsea were a year or two behind their rivals and it looks like he had a point.

 

Former manager Jose Mourinho summarised things nicely on a rare TV appearance over the weekend: "I'm not saying Chelsea's an easy team to play against... but it's an easy team to analyse".

 

With that in mind, what's going wrong?

 

How Sarri-ball works As has become all too apparent in recent weeks, Chelsea are predictable and easy to shut down. Sarri's team lineup in a 4-3-3, play a high defensive line and patiently wait for opportunities to score by passing, then passing some more, then passing even more, then passing even more than that.

 

The whole thing is structured around a deep lying playmaker, or 'six', acting as a link between centre-backs and midfield. On either side of him are two central midfielders - 'eights' - who play from box to box and operate in the halfspaces. The wingers are instructed to move inside the pitch, full-backs play high and overlap and the striker has to be able to attack crosses, run onto through balls and link play.

 

In defensive phases the shape can change to a 4-5-1 if the wingers do the defensive work required. The setup is very structured and depends on players who understand the tactical demands and are suited to their individual roles. Everyone knows how Chelsea play now.

 

Marking Jorginho

**In the first phase of build up, everything goes through Jorginho. He acts as the link in all Chelsea's passing, dropping between the centre-backs, offering a safe diagonal pass backwards for the two eights and able to switch play from deep to an advancing full-back to get Chelsea up the pitch.

All anyone need do to suss out how influential Jorginho is look at Opta passing statistics.

The solution is to mark him. In teams that play a 4-2-3-1, the 10 is the obvious choice for this because of the strata that Jorginho plays in ("between the lines"). Arsenal changed their formation to a 4-4-2 diamond for the win on Saturday, with Aaron Ramsey assigned the task of following Jorginho wherever he went. Ramsey stayed close to Jorginho throughout the match, tethered to him to disrupt Chelsea's buildup play

Everton were one of the teams who worked this out early (Man Utd the first) and apply their analysis successfully, having Gylfi Sigurdsson stay next to Jorginho or stand directly in his cover shadow, making a pass to him risky. Everton secured a 0-0 draw, Spurs marked Jorginho in the next match and won 3-1. Chelsea scored an average of 2.25 goals per game before the Everton match in November, and since, they've managed only 1.18 per game.

Jorginho was an essential part of Sarri's Napoli team too. He allows Chelsea to maintain this shape and these passing lanes:

If you remove that one link, all of Chelsea's play is forced into wide areas, as you can see from the average positions.

Arsenal vs Chelsea average positions Isolate Jorginho and Chelsea's first phase of buildup is ruined. There's no way Sarri isn't wholly aware of this but why would he compromise the system and shape that brought him so success he was offered the Chelsea job in the first place?

 

Curbing Chelsea's creativity The arrival of Sarri was good news for David Luiz, who has become one of Chelsea's most important creative players. Centre-backs aren't usually man-marked, which means they are free to distribute the ball as they wish - Luiz's long range passing is superb.

David Luiz is one of Chelsea's most important playmakers This exact pass put Pedro clean through on goal, played onside by Arsenal's left-back Sead Kolasinac. A possession-based side like Chelsea would usually depend on the creativity of the attacking midfielders to find openings, but a midfield of N'Golo Kante, Mateo Kovacic and a man-marked Jorginho needs a bit of help from someone with ideas.

Luiz is perhaps the only footballer in the team prepared to hit direct, vertical passes to catch out teams defending against Chelsea's never-ending horizontal passing. The solution to this is obvious too: force Chelsea to pass the ball to their right flank, away from Marcos Alonso and Luiz, towards Cesar Azpilicueta, Antonio Rudiger and Kante, who are less artistic distributors of the ball. That's exactly what Arsenal did.

Possession without penetration Opposition teams are entirely happy to let Chelsea have the ball because that's the best way to defend against them. With buildup play spoiled because Jorginho is marked and without a striker capable of causing damage, they're so predictable in the final third that teams can defend patiently behind the ball until Chelsea run out of ideas, try a shot from 20 yards or cross the ball into nobody, turning over possession. Chelsea's attacking shape leaves them vulnerable to counter-attacks, which makes sitting deep and waiting for the ball a safe option for success.

Eden Hazard is best when allowed to roam from his starting position on the left of a forward three but when stationed as a false nine, doesn't see enough of the ball. When he drops deep to get involved, Chelsea are left without a player to aim crosses to in the box and his natural inclination to drift to the left side means the centre of the pitch is left vacant.

And so, Chelsea work the ball wide either by choice or forced to by the defending team, reach the end of the corridor and then have no option but to pass backwards, then sideways, then backwards.

Chelsea's players are being marked out of the game, which means the most creative are being neutered by the entire team's predictability.

We've seen this happen to other managers in recent seasons. Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool employ the same shape as Chelsea, but move the ball through the lines more quickly and employ a more frantic forward press. It took Klopp several transfer windows and three seasons of coaching to get his side looking the way he wanted.

In the days before Naby Keita and Virgil van Dijk Liverpool had similar struggles in the Premier League, with teams like Burnley sitting back, denying space and coming away with 1-0 wins. With time Sarri can construct a starting XI in his own image too but that in itself is a problem to fix - will he be given time and money to buy new players to fit a system, or does he need to change the system to fit the players?

Is N'Golo Kante out of position? Kante is one of the world's great midfielders. He won the Premier League with Leicester and Chelsea as a central midfielder in a midfield two, running around the pitch with such energy and making so many tackles and interceptions that Claudio Ranieri remarked it was like there were two of him on the pitch.

Sarri's midfield three fundamentally needs a player who to set the passing tempo and who is able to receive the ball in tight spaces, turn a corner and bring others into play, hence Jorginho. The two eights must be in position to link passing through the middle, cover in defence and attack the halfspaces in the final third. Kante can't play as a six so he has to be an eight.

The thing is, Sarri cannot drop Kante because he is one of Chelsea's very best players. But Kante isn't the best at either of these roles...

Kante can play the box-to-box role asked of him in Sarri's system but creates chances by winning turnovers and barging his way past players. Without another midfielder on the opposite side of the pitch capable of unlocking a defence and with Hazard's creativity absent due to his positioning, there's no cutting edge in the final third.

This fundamentally alters the passing lanes and options for build up that Sarri wants. The 4-2-3-1 is a great counter-attack formation (Liverpool use it often this season) but Sarri wants control of the game by having possession of the ball. Switching to two sixes and a 10 doesn't suit this.

Most obvious weakness is that by moving a player from six to 10, buildup play cannot go through a central pivot and instead must be shifted wide or vertically.

Teams tend to defend against this shape by sitting at halfway or slightly deeper, crowding out the 10 and forcing passes out wide... sound familiar? Vertical passes often result in turnovers of possession, which means the attacking team doesn't have total control of the ball, which means a manager has less control over the outcome of a match. Sarri wants to limit variables since that's how his teams gain an advantage, never relying on the luck of a dice roll.

The system is fine, the players are at fault "This defeat was due to our mentality, more than anything else," said a furious Sarri in his post-match interview. "This is something I can't accept. This group of players are extremely difficult to motivate."

Arsenal were quicker to close down Chelsea, and from kick-off showed more energy and aggression all over the pitch. Without maximum effort or at least a matched desire to win, tactical setups can have little effect on the outcome of a match between two groups of hugely talented players.

When teams play with a high defensive line as Sarri's does, the first line of press is crucial but too often Arsenal were able to escape the attentions of Pedro, Willian and Hazard. Arsenal stayed narrow in their own half and had a striker stay wide to offer an out-ball - Sarri shouldn't have had to explain to his players how important it was to cut this pass out:

When players were caught out of position others failed to react and fill the gaps. Without that burning desire to hunt and win the ball back, Sarri-ball doesn't function as it should. The attacking shape leaves the defence vulnerable in transition - if the attackers don't defend with the right intensity in the right places, the building falls down.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2019/01/21/chelseas-tactical-headache-deconstructed-problems-facing-sarri/

[Unionjack 7,531]

1 hour ago, Special Juan said:

This place will lose it's shit if Higuain signs tomorrow in time to face Spurs and Sarri comes out with "He's not ready to play our style of football yet"

Needs help in the defence phase!

[Jase 43,479]

9 hours ago, gdlk said:

Well but you forget that Sarri won vs City and luck saved Liverpool to win there twice! 

Kudos to Sarri not trying to take City/Liverpool with an open attacking approach but ironically, we drew with Liverpool and beat City with a Mourinho/Conte-esque approach.

[Jase 43,479]

Meanwhile at Napoli...

 

[Tomo 21,733]

48 minutes ago, Jason said:

Kudos to Sarri not trying to take City/Liverpool with an open attacking approach but ironically, we drew with Liverpool and beat City with a Mourinho/Conte-esque approach.

We were maybe more cautious in approach but bar maybe the last 20 minutes vs Liverpool it wasn't the same from a tactical POV as Jose/Conte.

After the Liverpool game the Pool fans i was with that night and who's opinions i saw on forums and social media were widely full of praise with how we played with the ball and that we were probably the best team they have faced under Klopp to date in terms of how well we coped with their "gengen" pressing, a system that has even blown away Pep's finished product for perspective.

[Vesper 28,976]

37 minutes ago, Jason said:

Meanwhile at Napoli...

 

Ancelotti is one of the all-time great managers, one of only three to win 3 European Championships, along with Paisley and Zidane. Enraged me when we sacked him.

[Magic Lamps 11,668]

33 minutes ago, Vesper said:

Ancelotti is one of the all-time great managers, one of only three to win 3 European Championships, along with Paisley and Zidane. Enraged me when we sacked him.

Me 2. I think he was our best coach of the Abramovich era. We were really close 2nd that season and would  have easiöy won if Lamps and Drogs had not been injured for half of it, which the club failed to make amends for in any transfer window instead replacing Deco and Ballack with Ramires and Zhirkov in midfield. Add to that the torres disaster when drogba was already fit again.

[Henrique 9,133]

5 minutes ago, Magic Lamps said:

Me 2. I think he was our best coach of the Abramovich era. We were really close 2nd that season and would  have easiöy won if Lamps and Drogs had not been injured for half of it, which the club failed to make amends for in any transfer window instead replacing Deco and Ballack with Ramires and Zhirkov in midfield. Add to that the torres disaster when drogba was already fit again.

Debatable. Definitely the 09/10 team is by a country mile my favorite of the Abramovich era, but I think its really hard to go against Mourinho as the best coach of Abramovich era, as much as I hate the man.

[Vesper 28,976]

30 minutes ago, Magic Lamps said:

Me 2. I think he was our best coach of the Abramovich era. We were really close 2nd that season and would  have easiöy won if Lamps and Drogs had not been injured for half of it, which the club failed to make amends for in any transfer window instead replacing Deco and Ballack with Ramires and Zhirkov in midfield. Add to that the torres disaster when drogba was already fit again.

He also has the 3rd highest win percentage (less than 1% point behind Mourinho, and of course behind Fergie) in EPL history. Had Mo stayed at Manure, Carlo would have passed him up, I am absolutely positive.

I so so hope we don't draw Napoli in the EL until perhaps the final.

[Vesper 28,976]

49 minutes ago, Henrique said:

Debatable. Definitely the 09/10 team is by a country mile my favorite of the Abramovich era, but I think its really hard to go against Mourinho as the best coach of Abramovich era, as much as I hate the man.

I still am partial to the 2004-5 first Mo team. But, yes, loved that 2009-10 squad. Great football.

[Vesper 28,976]

Chelsea boss told to drop star and stop ‘wasting’ talent in squad

https://www.lovesportradio.com/news/love-sport-exclusives/chelsea-boss-told-to-drop-star-and-stop-wasting-talent-in-squad/

Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri must drop Jorginho to rectify their struggles in the biggest games, according to one former Blue.

Chelsea were beaten 2-0 by Arsenal on Saturday with the lack of defensive cover offered by Jorginho pinpointed as one of the key downfalls of Sarri’s side.

However, the former Napoli boss has always insisted that N’Golo Kante lacks the requisite technical quality to play the holding midfield role in his team.

But former defender David Lee reckons with Jorginho struggling for form, it’s time for Sarri to consider a change.

“He is a brilliant holding midfield player who breaks play up and can get up forward,” Lee told Ian Stone’s Comedy Breakfast (weekdays 6.30am-10.30am).

“I think may be he should play him in there. Don’t waste him by playing him on the right.

snip

[Bosnian Blue 2,471]

These pundits are really clueless. Kante on the right is not even in the top 3 of our issues at the moment. 

I do agree he needs to drop Jorginho though. Why not play Kova there? He's just as good, if not even better technically and can also put a shift in defensively. I've never seen such a rigid manager.

[Blue Armour 4,300]

10 hours ago, Jason said:

 

As much as I disklike watching Sarri's football at the moment,

Articles like these are an even bigger bore.

An 'insider' claims training sessions are dull and monotonous. What 'creative genius' came up with this crap?

Rubbish article. Don't wont another season Chelsea in the doldrums, and certainly don't want to read crap like this from the gutter press. Its like on an annoying loop.

[Clockwork 1,794]

6 minutes ago, Bosnian Blue said:

These pundits are really clueless. Kante on the right is not even in the top 3 of our issues at the moment. 

I do agree he needs to drop Jorginho though. Why not play Kova there? He's just as good, if not even better technically and can also put a shift in defensively. I've never seen such a rigid manager.

I am not understanding the logic behind benching Jorginho. I see no reason to bench our most important player in our buildup and distributor, by benching him you basically make the job easier on our opposition now they don't have to worry about him. Kovacic is on the pitch for great amount of time Jorginho is. If he can distribute and build our attacks than he should have no reason for not doing it at the LCM role when Jorg is on the pitch and man marked. 

Jorginho is fine, defensively he is solid. At the moment he is stretching himself more offensively leaving himself more exposed defensively mainly because of our struggle to score goals. 

[Tomo 21,733]

Quote

Chelsea needs more offensive minded players for Sarris system. In Napoli last season he had Mertens, Insigne, Callejon, Allan, Hamsik these are all players which present goal threat. Also fullbacks who can get involved in attack easily. 

In Chelsea at times it seems like nobody on the pitch is a goal threat. 

Sarris system of vertical movement attacking and exploiting space doesn’t really work when defenders don’t even want to cover players because they are not scared of them scoring. Stop Hazard, Willian, and Alonso and all of a sudden Chelsea can’t score anymore. 

Obviously some players in Chelsea team are not that comfortable attacking and they need to adapt to attacking system. 

But also Chelsea need more players who score goals, that midfield is really toothless and between Kovacic, Kante and Jorginho there is no goal threat at all. 

If Chelsea had a striker who actually scores goals instead of Morata/Giroud, and one goal threat midfielder instead of Kovacic/Barkley they would be fighting for the title now.

One post from a Napoli fan, reading the link below they they seem fairly confident that our current problems are personnel more than structural.

https://www.reddit.com/r/sscnapoli/comments/ahqt5a/questions_about_sarri_and_jorginho/#ampf=undefined

[communicate 2,703]

3 hours ago, Vesper said:

Ancelotti is one of the all-time great managers, one of only three to win 3 European Championships, along with Paisley and Zidane. Enraged me when we sacked him.

Was awful with Bayern though. That team was an absolute machine under pep, Jupp Heynckes need to came in and save that season.