The 'Sarri Ball' Philosophy

What exactly is meant by Sarri Ball?

Recently, David Luiz said that he liked the 'Sarri ball' philosophy that Maurizio Sarri brought to Chelsea. He believes that is the right way to play football.

"I think he has done extraordinary things because in the past people said 'Chelsea don't control the game, Chelsea don't play with many balls, Chelsea only plays counter-attack',"

"Now we control the game and sometimes they criticize us because we don't win the game even though we have a lot of ball. I think his philosophy is extraordinary, he is trying to play football. " David Luiz said as reported by metro.uk.

Early last season, Chelsea fans were busy with the term Sarri ball. This sounds very reasonable considering Chelsea will start a revolution with the appointment of a former Napoli tactician, Maurizio Sarri to be the team captain of the 2018/19 season.

Broadly speaking, this tactic is a concept promoted by the former Napoli coach with a fast attacking style of football, which combined short and fast passes. So that players continue to move dynamically on the field as fast as possible.

If you pay attention, this strategy is almost similar to tiki-taka. So what distinguishes Sarri ball from the usual strategy carried by Pep Guardiola?

If Guardiola's tiki-taka style of play requires players to open up space by relying on playmakers such as David Silva or Kevin De Bruyne, then not with Sarri. The trainer who is attached to the cigarette butts is able to create a new, more vertical version of the Tiki Taka.

He will instruct the players in the position as close as possible to do fast passes by forming a small triangle pattern and rely more on the figure of deep lying midfielder like Jorginho. Jorginho, who is in a position between the defender and the midfielder, can release the bait piercing into the attacking midfielder or attacker towards the opponent's defense.

In this situation, the role played by Jorginho reminds us of the figure of Andrea Pirlo who is able to adjust the tempo and rarely loses the ball at critical moments despite getting pressures from several opposing players.

Even so, dangerous bait flowed by Jorginho is still relatively minimal. It happened because the Chelsea strikers were considered unable to maximize opportunities properly.

In contrast to Andrea Pirlo who almost every game he always makes deadly dangerous bait, which is often converted into goals.

In a defensive position, the Sarriball scheme which requires the players to grab the ball immediately can change to 4-5-1 and force the opposing team to play wide. In a pressing position, one forward in the middle so that the pattern can change to 4-4-2.

Sarri pulled David Luiz back into the main squad because he was considered to have the ability to defend the ball well. In duet with Antonio Rudiger, David Luiz is flanked by Azpilicueta and Alonso.

In addition, Sarri also instructed his players to make movements without the ball, two full-backs, Marcos Alonso and Cesar Azpilicueta, often piercing the central area of ​​the field.

Then, the second place is filled by midfielders who move wide. This is what ultimately allows their attacking trio without difficulty performing dangerous maneuvers in the half-space area.

Because many use the mastery and fast passes, this strategy often makes the players minimal drible. By moving in the triangle format, short passes are put forward. The Blues players are required to play simpler and more short passes.

In the first half of this season, Sarri ball was quite effective. Chelsea only swallowed three defeats in the English League. They were even able to show their strength when facing a strong English League team. They won over Arsenal and even successfully broke Manchester City's unbeaten record in Week 16.

Tottenham Hotspur became the only top team to beat Chelsea in the first half. When dealing with Liverpool and Manchester United, Chelsea were only able to festive draw.

But when entering the second half, this strategy began to meet a point of inconsistency. The climax is when they lost 0-6 to Manchester City. Those who doubted this strategy like Pedro Rodriguez finally opened their voices.

Pedro considers that Sarri ball is not very suitable for most Chelsea players. Because of playing dominant ball control and fast ball flow, every player is required to be active both when defending and attacking. In the end, it certainly requires the energy of players who must always be fit in every match.

The age that is not young anymore becomes a bit of a problem for Pedro and several other players who have stepped on the head 3.

In addition to the age problem, Chelsea's playing style is also familiar with the pattern of pragmatic-defensive. According to Italian journalist, Gabriele Marcoti, coaches like Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte have such a mentality. In fact, according to him, it has been embedded since almost the last decade.

Since Chelsea was taken over by Roman Abramovich, according to Marcotti, Chelsea practically handled the majority of coaches who have the mentality to survive.

"Sarri is the second manager who is attacking rather than pragmatic in the Abramovich Era. One other manager is Andre Villas Boas who we both know is also not successful, "said Marcotti.

Although there are those who disagree with Sarri's strategy, please note that the Italian coach has just started his first season. It takes time to develop the game as desired.

Share this post