It’s only been one month and a half of Maurizio Sarri’s reign as Chelsea boss, and it cannot be denied that there have already been some changes in the team. Chelsea have played four games so far, and has won all of them. So just how much has our Italian tactician brought to Stamford Bridge?
SARRI-BALL
For years now, Chelsea owner, Roman Abramovich has longed to see beautiful football at Stamford Bridge. He brought in Luis Filippe Scolari to do the job and transition the team from Jose Mourinho’s defensive style to attacking football, but the Brazilian coach failed at the task. Andre Villas Boas was the next man for the job, but when he couldn’t quite it, he too was fired, and for a while, Roman shelved his dream of seeing attractive football at Chelsea. Of course, we were winning titles and games, but we could never be hailed like the likes of Barcelona of Spain as a team that played great football.
However, Sarri’s arrival seems to have brought with it some great football. In fact, it is probably part of the reasons he was hired.
During his time at Napoli, he was hailed as a master of possession football even by men like Pep Guardiola. His reign at Chelsea thus far has seen us average 70% possession in our last four games. That is very much higher than where we were. It’s not even about the possession, honestly, Sarri has also changed the team from one that liked to sit and defend to one that likes to start the attack from high up.
GOALS
Last season, we suffered very much from a lack of goals. That cost us points against the likes of Arsenal, Burnley, Watford, etc, and contributed to our finish. When Morata and Giroud were lacking in providing, the rest of the team could barely muster up anything, but this season, we have seen a shift in that regard. Not only are we scoring goals, we’re getting them from every department of the team. The defence is providing, as are the midfield and attack. So far, we have scored 10 goals from our four this season.
MOODS
You don’t need a soothsayer to tell you the mood around the dressing room of Chelsea last season was bad due to the poor way Antonio Conte managed relationships with the likes of Diego Costa and David Luiz. It affected the way the team performed, and we lost games because of it.
So far this season, we have seen an entirely different side. The mood is one of joy and happiness, and it’s reflecting in the way we perform on the pitch.
Perhaps this could be because Sarri has a good man-management skill, or the players are just happy to be winning games and playing well. Whichever it is, it’s turning out positive.
It’s still very early in the season, but we can all agree that Maurizio Sarri has done a hell of a job at Stamford Bridge. Does this make him the right man for Chelsea in the long run, will he break the second season curse, and stay beyond the next campaign. It’s hard to immediately say so, but things look positive, and on behalf of all well meaning fans, we all hope so.