When the news broke out that Chelsea was hiring former Napoli manager Maurizio Sarri, this was received by mix reaction from the large fan base of Chelsea football club. While some questioned the rationale behind hiring a manager who has never won a trophy other said it was a welcome development considering his type of football philosophy. Despite all odds, the Chelsea board decided to hand him over the job with the hope that he will rebuild the team that was crumbling under Italian coach Antonio Conte.
The arrival of the new manager was greeted with enough enthusiasm as well saw Chelsea quick transformation under him with the Sarriball coming into full glare after hitting 17 matches unbeaten run. The man at the center of the football style Jorginho was tipped to be an asset brought to the bridge with his touches at the midfield but they were a lot of things lacking in his game nobody saw then.
Few months down the line everything seems to wrong with sarriball and his pattern. The tiki taka style has evaporated as more games passes by with a mix of direct ball. Some questions now come to mind where Maurizio Sarri got it wrong.
Weak Attack
It is no doubt that Chelsea has been having a very hard time with their forward line since the controversial departure of Diego Costa which saw Conte brought in formal Madrid striker Morata in a big money move. The arrival of the Spain international has turn from blessing to curse at he has failed to live up to expectation despite given all the necessary support to turn things around. Sarri gave Morata enough playing opportunity to prove himself but it seems the Spanish seems to be getting worst by the day which resulted to his relegation to the bench.
Giroud on the other hand who has proven to be a super sub has not contributed enough to help the team. His lack of goal at the FIFA World Cup as French top striker is an example of how he has being to Chelsea. Even though Sarri pattern doesn’t favour Giroud's aerial ball style but the little times it has come resulted to poor utilization of the ball. In all, we can say that the lack of capable striker has limited Sarriball style of play.
Using Hazard As False 9
Eden Hazard has been known to be player that loves to express himself with the ball and likes penetrating from the left or right wings. He is such a player that hate to many physical contact and Sarri deploying him top as a striker has not really favoured Hazard style of play. This position gives him little time to hold the ball as well as having tough time with the able bodied defenders to battle for position up front. The game against Arsenal last weekend was quite evidence that Hazard position was a disadvantage to the team in general as Chelsea lack the bit to try the arsenal keeper.
Hazard would have been deployed to his natural position with Giroud to support him and I believe, hazard stood a better chance to score from such formation.
Flop Jorginho
The arrival of Jorginho naturally altered the Chelsea midfield with Sarri preferred to play Jorginho as number 4 as against the king of EPL defensive midfielder Ngolo Kante. Sarri now deployed kante up the pitch to give room for Jorginho to operate and his position has not really being fantastic for Kante as his contribution to helping the defence as marking the ball was reduced. Jorginho who has been trusted with this position has contributed little to help foster the sarriball style.
He can’t run.
He can’t assist
He can’t score
So, I can say that Jorginho is very lazy player and dull with the ball. His vision is poor likewise his defence is shit.
Conclusion
The fight for the top four is getting tougher by the day with Manchester united really forcing themselves up the log. Maurizio Sarri season target may not be to lift the EPL considering this is his first season in England but the top four finish is a must achieved goal if his season is to be considered successful. He should go back to the drawing board to look deep into his formation to get the best of the players and the condition at the moment while having in mind that Chelsea fc doesn’t tolerate failure of any disguise to wield the hammer on coaches.
Comments