Sarriball and the Snake Pit of Chelsea

Following Chelsea’s defeat in the Carabao Cup Final to hands of Manchester City, Chelsea now face a crucial moment in their recent history to either rectify the culture of the club or bow to the tides of pressure that has been heaped on the club by their fans.

Chelsea have become synonymous with hiring the newest and shiniest managerial appointment only to ultimately sack the manager after a successive run of poor performances. Of course, at some points this has been advocated, but at others it possibly should have been avoided. Short termism has been at the bedrock of Chelsea football club over the past fifteen years. The revolving door policy had no right to work but through the foundations from the influential Jose Mourinho and an abundance of wealth, has led Chelsea to numerous silverwares.

However, that era is coming to end. With Abramovich on the brink of selling the club, the best player inevitably leaving for Real Madrid in the summer and now the current manager coming under heavy criticism, Chelsea are at a cross roads. Do they sack Sarri and scout for a new appointment with a two-window transfer ban looming, or hold their ground and back the current manager. History would dictate the former but I believe the latter has to be implemented.

Many have howled at the inept style of ‘Sarriball’ – a phrase attributed to the aggressively progressive style Sarri teams play – and since the turn of 2019, Chelsea have endured a rotten run of form. Crushing defeats from Bournemouth and Manchester City in the Premier League, eliminated from the FA Cup at the hands of Manchester United and now losing the Carabao Cup final on penalties have seen Chelsea win 7 from 13 games in all competitions this calendar year.

It appears that two months of poor results equals the sacking of the manager, as is the culture embedded at Stamford Bridge. Yet, Chelsea need to stick with Sarri. A wealth of variables, ifs, buts and maybes, arise at the potential sacking of Sarri. Who is the next manager? What is the transfer policy? Replacements for Hazard? Style of play? Will youth be given a chance? Potential takeover?

All these variables meshed together are not conducive for a positive, title winning side. Only if Chelsea could miraculously conjure an Allegri or Zidane appointment. But after the treatment of Sarri and the collection of uncertainties at the heart of Chelsea, neither would go anyway near that job. Even if they took a chance prying Rodgers away from Celtic, the transition of playing style and recruitment would still be fundamental issues to resolve in a short space of time.

Through a problem of their own making, Chelsea have practically backed themselves into a corner. Elite managers will now see the snake pit of Stamford Bridge. As the money has appeared to have dried up, only if a potential buyer with vast amounts of billions to invest could they attract the top echelon of managerial and playing talent. What a manager must be ensured, if requisite funds are not in place to buy ready made talent and quality, is time. Something Chelsea fans, ironically enough, have no time for.

Sarriball may have hit a wall over these past few months but we have seen the potential of the style of play, with an electrifying start of the season and the second half against Manchester City at Stamford Bridge being a particular highlight. He simply needs time to build with the current squad, adding appropriate talent across the team with the Hazard money and bleeding in young prospects of Hudson-Odoi, Loftus-Cheek and Ampadu, who can understand, develop and master the manager’s idiosyncratic system.

Sarri has been criticised for his lack of tactical diversity, but as seen yesterday, Sarri adopted a deeper low block approach with aggressive, quick and vertical counter attacks with Hazard as a false 9 – exploiting the space in behind City’s full backs of Walker and Zinchenko. A similar method used by Crystal Palace in their win at the Etihad earlier this season. Additionally, praise for Kante who was easily Chelsea’s best player with a plentiful of pressures, tackles and interceptions in the heart of midfield, once again proving his worth as a right sided ‘free-eight’ in Sarri’s system.

Again, for this to thrive with only limited arrivals of top quality this summer, this will take time out of the title race but ultimately a long-standing system that can be adopted by new players and youth team set ups able to be graduated into the first team.

Because in no uncertain terms, the ‘Chelsea way’ is dead. The days of a strong spine to a Chelsea side playing counter attacking, nasty football is a thing of the past. In moments they may recapture that spirit but overall, to win the Premier League you need more than that. Pragmatism is a facet of success, not the fulcrum. Expansive, proactive, high pressing sides are the ones reaping the rewards on domestic and European fronts.

Manchester City and Liverpool (potentially Manchester United) are not going anywhere. They continue to have the financial might to obtain elite quality in the transfer market as well as imbuing the club with a sense of direction. I would add Tottenham to the list given their unbelievable stability, but even with a new, state of the art stadium on the horizon, their project does appear to have an end date. Pochettino will leave either this summer or next, as will Eriksen, and then Alli and then Kane. Potentially and unfortunately leading to Tottenham meandering below the top 3, like Arsenal once they moved to the Emirates.

Chelsea have to act smart. They cannot go out and buy the best talent, Mourinho style and bundle them together into an impressive outfit. They need to be savvier with their business. And that starts with the manager. Sarri was never a quick fix and Chelsea must be aware of that. The board must stick by him and his philosophy for the following season. Given that he has only been in the job for 7 months, with only a few weeks of pre-season and a handful of new signings, Sarri was never going to mount a title challenge or implement his style coherently throughout this season.

Admittedly, the season started like a house on fire in terms of form and style, similar to Guardiola’s opening 18 wins at Manchester City, but with the amount of games through the winter period, lack of squad rotation (a gripe aptly thrown at Sarri) and his first season abroad from Italy, there were always going to be hiccups in his opening season. The expectations of Chelsea fans are impressively ludicrous, and while many may turn to the heights of Conte’s first season in the Premier League, a hugely successful and deserved title win, the lack of European football was a factor so crucial in their title push. I guarantee if Sarri had no European football to contend with this year, they would be comfortably in fourth place only a few points behind Tottenham. As they would have more time on the training ground to perfect the methods of Sarri’s system as well as gain adequate rest between fixtures.

Chelsea, in my view, need to change their culture and double down on Sarri as manager. There will be bad games, and bad patches of form, but there is a goal in sight. A direction of playing attractive, expansive and attacking football, with a group of young players. Something akin to Dortmund and Monaco, Chelsea need to adopt a similar model if they are to succeed. There are bigger fish in the pond now and Chelsea need to find a way to survive and thrive in the top 6 battle for silverware.