He landed England and lit the English Premier league with a game plan; SarriBall.
The beauty and flair that hit fields across England was so clear that all and sundry believed SarriBall had come to stay.
Few months in, what happened to SarriBall?
I'll say Maurizio Sarri's stubbornness is responsible for Chelsea's downward turn in recent weeks. Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United Tottenham Hotspur (and Bournemouth!) have all had a chop at the cake that Chelsea had become.
Many say the tobacco chewing Italian doesn't have an answer to Chelsea current woes but I disagree.
N'golo Kanté.
The petit French man excelled in the defensive midfield position in the last two seasons. He was key to Leicester title winning season before being snapped up by The Blues.
On arrival, he was instrumental to Chelsea title win. Sarri however, came with Jorginho and managed to convince nobody but himself that Kanté should move forward for the ex Napoli man to sit in front of the central defenders.
Calamity.
Jorginho is a great passer of the ball with great vision. Playing in front of the defence however, asks for someone good in the air and physically imposing. He lacks both. His frame makes it easy for opponents to muscle him out most times. One may ask, what of Kanté seeing as he is not physically imposing? What he lacks in size, he makes up for, in tackling ability. Kanté is the midfielder you'll bet to retrieve a pass he misplaced. He gets into players and with relative ease, wrestle the ball from them.
Returning Kanté to his normal position in front of the defence may be key to Chelsea's resurgence. If Sarri delays, he may well see SarriBall turn to GarriBall and that, is one thing Roman Abrmovich will not like. The Russian billionaire is known to act accordingly.
Photo Credit: FootyToonz (Twitter)
Follow Ikenna on Twitter @ikenna005
Spot on!
ReplyDeleteIt's as simple as ABC lastman! You're spot on in the analysis, however there's that other matter of reporting three other personnel... Marcos Alonso, the laziest and weakest left wing back I've ever seen in my life, the Kovacic/Barkley preference over a more prolific Loftus Cheek and the preference of Pedro/Willian who are tired/demotivated in that order. The same way you shouldn't change a winning side, you shouldn't keep a loosing side. Sarri's stubbornness is his greatest undoing... Then there's the case of Marina Granovskaia a secretarial studies graduate with no prior football experience running a club like Chelsea! Check out her story, thank me later...
ReplyDelete