Chelsea seemed to have turned the corner under Maurizio Sarri - or have they?
With two important victories against Tottenham and Fulham that had followed a good performance against Manchester City at Wembley, there ...
https://www.chelseadaft.org/2019/03/chelsea-seemed-to-have-turned-corner.html
With two important victories against Tottenham and Fulham that had followed a good performance against Manchester City at Wembley, there is opinion amongst some Chelsea fans that Maurizio Sarri has turned the corner and should be left to get on with his job until the end of the season. I am wondering if you feel the same?
I posted my latest Vlog on my YouTube channel yesterday asking pretty much the same question:
So moving forward to today and thinking about things with the difference in our performance in the Manchester City game followed by Tottenham, to that of the one we watched on Sunday in the second half against Fulham and I really don't think that it's just that simple yet.
Toni Rudiger spoke at the weekend after the victory over Fulham of the manager adapting his tactics of late and adjusting to life in the Premier League after what happened to us against Manchester City losing 0-6. He said:
“I think everyone has adapted to new things – also the coach. You saw
the way we played against Tottenham and Manchester City. It was
different to the way we played in the first three months. Everyone needs
to adapt, everyone needs to learn and it is good that it has happened
in this moment.”
In life, you need to adapt to things. This League is different to
Italy, you have to adjust a bit. The coach learned from that game
against Manchester City. There we went high, we went to press, we wanted
to win the ball and everyone knows what happened.” - Source: The Telegraph.
Don't get me wrong here, I commend Sarri for being able to adapt his tactics to suit our league when let's face it, he point blank refused to do it initially. The problem I have and can see at the moment is that there is still a real temptation to try and implement his original style against the so-called lesser teams in the Premier League and that's where it begins to unravel or fall apart. Fulham in that second half forced Kepa into THREE excellent saves in addition to having a goal disallowed for offside in the final minutes!
I have written a second post which as been published at the same time as this one talking of the race for the top four being back in our hands as we find ourselves two points behind with a game in hand, in addition to favourable games coming up. The problem is what happens if we drop points or lose to the likes of Wolves, Everton, Cardiff or West Ham before we then take on Liverpool? Would the pressure turn back onto Sarri again? Where would that put us in the League and would our top four hopes take a massive dent?
For me, no matter who we play against from now until the end of the season, we MUST take the same tactical approach from Manchester City at Wembley and Tottenham into EVERY single game to give us the best chance of three points week-in, week-out because anything less could be a disaster for our season, our top four hopes and for Maurizio Sarri.
The message here - let's not get too carried away just yet. Maurizio Sarri still has plenty of work to do!
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