For the Italian to work as manager would take time and there have always been doubts as to whether he will get itHow bad is too bad? What level of defeat forces a club to change its long-term plans? Is there even a long-term plan at Chelsea? Chelsea’s worst defeat in 28 years cannot but lead to serious questions and all precedent suggests those inquiries will end with the departure of the manager, Maurizio Sarri.There always seemed something a little uncomfortable in Chelsea’s appointment of Sarri. This, after all, is an impatient club that has thrived on chaos in recent years. Sarri is the 11th permanent or semi-permanent manager Chelsea have had in the 11 years since the end of...
Going public can have an adverse effect and Sarri’s candour is surprising given recent Chelsea managers’ experienceChelsea started their season with five successive league victories and went unbeaten until late November. There was a lot of positive talk about the impact of Maurizio Sarri and how his successful style of football at his previous club Napoli was being transferred so quickly to Chelsea. In these early weeks of the campaign Jorginho was dictating matches from a deep-lying midfield position while N’Golo Kanté scored on the opening weekend, appearing to relish a modified and less defensive role. Related: Gonzalo Higuaín: ‘infernal machine’ ready to relaunch career at Chelsea | Marcus Christenson Related: Gonzalo Higuaín quiz: how well do you know Chelsea's...
Manchester United’s trip to face Maurizio Sarri’s Chelsea offers a clash of styles on and off the pitch and starts a defining run of matches for Mourinho One reason put forward to explain why the great plague did not just keep on ravaging the human race forever is that it ran out of people to kill. The vulnerable succumbed. Those who were resistant grew stronger. Meanwhile the plague remained the same, stuck in its old plague ways, scowling on the periphery, reduced to the odd destructive burst.There are of course many points of difference between José Mourinho’s approach to winning at football and the bubonic plague. But like the great plague Mourinho’s voracious early success has been followed by a...
A centre-forward who works hard but doesn’t score is still a costly luxury for any clubThere was a moment in Maurizio Sarri’s post‑match press conference on Saturday when, having eulogised Eden Hazard and spoken of the way he has challenged him to score 40 goals this season, the Chelsea manager was asked about the danger of being dependent on one player. Pedro and Willian, he replied, could score 10.Which is fair. Pedro has three league goals this season and Willian one. There is no reason at all why one, or both, couldn’t get up to double figures in all competitions (which was, Sarri had stressed, what he was talking about; he was not anticipating Hazard scoring 40 in the league)....
Saturday’s league meeting offers another chance to see two sides with similar setups but Jorginho’s arrival has pushed N’Golo Kanté out of his comfort zonePress against press, 4-3-3 against 4-3-3, wide forwards who cut in against wide forwards who cut in, attacking full-back against attacking full-back: Chelsea against Liverpool on Saturday, Maurizio Sarri against Jürgen Klopp, will be a meeting of two very similar conceptions of football. Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup meeting, even with significantly altered line-ups, highlighted those similarities, and also the fact that the main difference lies in midfield. Chelsea may have won at Anfield, but it is in the centre that Liverpool perhaps have an edge. Related: Chelsea’s Eden Hazard fires spectacular winner to knock out Liverpool...