Six weaknesses beginning to show in Sarri's Chelsea

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After an unbeaten start, Maurizio Sarri’s Chelsea were brought back down to earth with a crash by their humiliation at the hands of rivals Tottenham Hotspur.

Though the score was only 3-1, the Blues were fortunate not to have been on the receiving end of a greater beat-down at Wembley as Spurs exposed the problems of Sarrismo in a way no side had yet truly managed to do.

Having taken over from Antonio Conte in the summer, Sarri has seen this Chelsea side performing considerably above expectations, going unbeaten in their opening 12 Premier League games. This is a record for a new manager.

And while the Blues have been playing good football, they have also ridden their luck on occasion, thanks to a combination of weaker opponents and poor finishing.

But against Spurs, every weakness of Sarrismo at Chelsea was exploited to the full extent, with the Blues unable to create anything of note until Olivier Giroud’s late consolation.

The defeat, of course, is certainly not the end of the road, nor the season, for Chelsea. And it does now present them with the opportunity to show what they are made of by bouncing back at home to Fulham next Sunday.

But in order to do so, they must address the cracks that have emerged in Sarri’s playing style, starting with…

EXPLAINED: How to play like Maurizio Sarri’s Chelsea on FIFA 19 Ultimate Team

1. Not utilising N’Golo Kante’s skillset

Kante is a wonderful defensive midfielder and fully deserving of his new contract at Chelsea, reportedly seeing him become the club’s top-earning player at £290,000 ahead of star man Eden Hazard.

In the past three years, the Frenchman has helped Leicester City and Chelsea to Premier League titles before sending Les Bleus on their way to World Cup glory in Russia. But the problem is, Kante hasn’t been playing as a defensive or ‘holding’ midfielder this season, and he is becoming increasingly ineffective in certain respects for Chelsea.

The arrival of Sarri and Sarrismo at Chelsea has seen Kante shifted to a new role he is not yet used to. Within a three-man midfield, Jorginho sits as the deepest player of the trio where he can dictate the play, becoming the connecting man between defence and further forward.

As a result, Kante has been shifted to the right and expected to pick up some more attacking responsibilities as opposed to being the brilliant hatchet man he is.

Though he does occupy the more defensive role of the two more advanced central midfield positions, Kante is required to behave almost as a box-to-box midfielder without seeing too much of the ball. Kante often holds back while Ross Barkley or Mateo Kovacic pushes forward, to stop opposing players from breaking through. But at the same time, he is expected to get forward himself, moving into positions yet to be truly taken advantage of by the Frenchman.

Compared to last season, Kante is some way off performing at his maximum ability, suffering with fewer defensive requirements. In the Premier League last campaign, Kante averaged 2.31 tackles won per 90 minutes in the holding role, while this year he has just one per 90.

The Frenchman also averaged 2.55 interceptions per 90 compared to just 1.31, though Kante has managed slightly more blocks with 0.23 to 0.12

Remarkably, despite the more advanced role, Kante has also completed fewer passes per 90 this season at 50.31 compared to 57.61 under Conte last year.

At the weekend Spurs made the most of this weakness, allowing Kante space further up the pitch, knowing he could not hurt them in attack and focusing their marking on the other side of Chelsea’s midfield.

2. Building around Jorginho

Just a day after Sarri was announced as new Chelsea manager, the club showed immense faith in their new head coach by securing the signing of Jorginho, who had been pivotal to Sarri’s style of play at Napoli.

And at the start of the season, Jorginho had been great in the holding role for Chelsea, with the Brazilian-born Italian amazing fans with his record-breaking passing abilities.

But, of late, clubs have found out how to shut Chelsea down by keeping Jorginho quiet.

Manchester United were the first to do it successfully, with Juan Mata dropping deeper to man mark the Italian in their 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge in October, while Everton’s Gylfi Sigurdsson did the same impressive task in a goalless draw before the international break.

And Spurs clearly took note of this, with Dele Alli giving Jorginho very little space to breathe, seriously hampering the Italian’s influence which appeared to frustrate the midfielder.

But, more than this, Jorginho has shown his weaknesses defensively throughout the season, leaving Chelsea’s back four exposed on many an occasion.

Compared to Kante, who did the role so well last season, Jorginho is some way off helping his defenders enough in a fast-paced league like the Premier League.

In his 13 appearances so far this season, Jorginho has averaged just 0.72 tackles won per 90 minutes compared to Kante’s 2.31 last year, while also averaging 0.8 interceptions to the Frenchman’s 2.55.

Naturally, Jorginho has completed more passes than Kante did on average, at 88.32 per 90 to 57.61, but in the holding role, Chelsea need a defensively strong player; Jorginho is not.

3. A lack of a clinical striker

At Napoli, Sarri moved winger Dries Mertens into a central position and played him as a false nine. Many expected Sarri to have similar designs for Eden Hazard. But, after revealing he had no intentions of doing so, the Italian has stuck with either Alvaro Morata or Olivier Giroud as the striker.

Morata may have hit some form recently, with four goals in four games during October and November, but the Spaniard is still some way off the level required.

The Spaniard is largely ineffective for a lot of time in matches and still looks unable to deal with the physicality of the Premier League and its defences, going down far too easily looking for fouls without luck.

Morata has also struggled with confidence, due to off-pitch issues, as a result of which the forward has admitted he has sought help from a psychologist but it is hurting Chelsea at the moment.

Whether it is due to confidence or a failure to acclimatise to the league, Morata is also drifting offside far too often, more times than any Premier League player so far this season, in fact. That’s four more offsides than Morata has managed shots on target.

His alternative, Giroud, looks to be unfavoured by Sarri as late, though he does add the target man presence Chelsea have missed while Morata is on the pitch. But the Frenchman only scored his first league goal of the season during the defeat to Spurs, on his 10th appearance.

Giroud has chipped in with four assists in the league, but Chelsea need goals from a central position for Sarrismo to work, which could see them look into the transfer market as former Chelsea player Pat Nevin recently suggested.

4. Eden Hazard slowing down already

One key factor behind Chelsea’s good start to the season was the form of Eden Hazard who had returned to the club after a very good World Cup and continued for the Blues.

So impressive were his performances, that Sarri had backed the Belgian to score 40 goals this season. But Hazard has been stuck on seven league goals for four games, while also having to deal with an injury problem.

Like Jorginho, teams this season have once again realised they have a good chance of stopping Chelsea if they keep Hazard quiet, and that is what has happened in recent weeks.

In his past four games, against Manchester United, Crystal Palace, Everton and Tottenham, the Belgian has been directly involved in just one goal – an assist – despite taking nine shots and creating 15 chances.

Against United in particular, the tactic of the opposition was to foul Hazard, with the Belgian completing just two of his seven attempted take-ons and being fouled five times.

But the issues go deeper than Hazard’s performances alone. The 27-year-old is yet to spark an understanding with striker Morata, preferring to play alongside Giroud. Hazard is yet to score in the Premier League with Morata on the pitch, with all seven coming in the presence of Giroud – including two being assisted by the Frenchman.

5. Defensive lapses

Spurs ripped Chelsea apart in the first half at Wembley and really could have been 4-0 up before half-time, but for some poor finishing and good goalkeeping from Kepa Arrizabalaga.

But the game highlighted the weaknesses in Chelsea’s defence which had not truly been exposed at the start of the season, though signs have always been there.

David Luiz received much criticism for his part in the defeat, most notably for moving out the way of Harry Kane’s goal, when it would have been an easy block had he put his body on the line.

Speaking prior to the Spurs defeat, Sarri had admitted Luiz surprised him with his footballing intelligence and awareness after having been cast out to the sidelines by Antonio Conte.

But the Brazilian’s tendency to try and over-read the game has left Chelsea caught out defensively at times, including in the 2-2 draw with Manchester United in the build-up to Anthony Martial’s second goal.

Luiz is likely to continue at centre-back, however, given Sarri’s apparent lack of trust in young Andreas Christensen. And it isn’t just Luiz. There seems to be a problem with Cesar Azpliciueta, too.

The Spaniard is usually Mr. Reliable for Chelsea and has been since joining the club in 2013, but this season the vice-captain has looked below his typical standards at right-back, having to fulfil both attacking and defensive responsibilities with little help on the right.

6. Lack of rotation

For the first 12 games of the season, Sarri had the unbeaten formula for Chelsea and was unwilling to make major changes even with the Blues also competing in the Carabao Cup and Europa League.

And it appears this has finally caught up with the Blues, as slow starts have come back to bite them, a problem Sarri pointed out in the build-up to the defeat against Tottenham.

Including the Community Shield at the start of the season, Chelsea have played 20 games, with Sarri using 25 players in those matches.

But, only 14 have seen more than 500 minutes of action across all competitions, including 10 playing over 1,000. The worst case of the bunch comes in the form of Willian, who is yet to have a rest this season, playing 1,280 minutes in 20 appearances, 16 of which have been starts.

The Brazilian is clearly a favourite of Sarri’s, but being overworked has only hampered his performances with Willian creating just four chances in the past two matches.

Sarri’s lack of rotation has also bred a lack of confidence in players on the bench, with the Blues lacking serious game-changers when matches aren’t going their way.

The post Six cracks beginning to appear in ‘Sarrismo’ at Chelsea appeared first on Squawka News.



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