Maurizio Sarri told Chelsea that if they want to emulate the successes of Liverpool, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur, they must show the "patience" necessary to support his philosophy as a coach.
Speaking about the success of these three teams, the best English football teams in recent years, Sarri said they wanted to support their coaches in the long run. The Spurs were named Mauricio Pochettino in 2014, Liverpool won Jurgen Klopp in 2015 and City signed Pep Guardiola in 2016.
The three men arrived with a clear idea of how they wanted to play football, which they put in place. These three teams placed in the top four in 2016-17 and 2017-18 and are now first, second and third.
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Sarri is currently imposing an idea, trying to change a team and a group of players to shape them. This turns out to be very difficult. Chelsea sank 4-0 at Bournemouth this week and took just 10 points in seven league games.
But while Sarri arouses more and more doubts among fans of Chelsea, he cites the examples of the best teams in the country. If you want to be like them, he explained, you have to give the manager time. Even if it means a difficult learning period at the beginning.
"I want to point out that in their first season, Tottenham and Liverpool were in the middle of the table," said Sarri, nominating the Spurs in 2014-15 (fifth) and Liverpool in 2015-16 (eighth). At present, Liverpool has five points ahead at the top and the Spurs in third place, outperforming their payroll again. He did not even mention City's struggles in 2016-17 when they did not win any trophies and came in third.
For Sarri, it was the club's patient support for the manager's ideas, his refusal to be distracted by the poor short-term results, which ultimately led them to reach his goal.
"The situation in England is very clear. There are three teams above the others. In one, the coach arrived five years ago [Pochettino at Tottenham], Four years ago [Klopp at Liverpool]and three years ago [Guardiola at City]. So the situation is very clear. English football is in the hands of these teams.
"They had a plan and were really patient. So we have to change mentality and continue. The situation for me is really clear. "
Maurizio Sarri was angry at his team's performance in Bournemouth (Reuters)
Sarri is repeatedly asked to change tactics to adapt to English football, but he has no chance to do so. For Sarri, the goal is for the manager to implement his ideas to the fullest.
That was Guardiola's approach, remember, when he arrived in English football. And his eventual triumph in winning the Premier League title last year has never prevented him from meeting his critics halfway.
"Why, first of all, I want to do Plan A very well," said Sarri, "I do not want to change some things that, for the moment, do not work very well. I want to see my football played very well and then we can go change something. "
Again, Sarri cited the example of his mentor Guardiola, not to City but in his first senior job in Barcelona. When Sarri thought of the strength of his ideas, it was what made him so popular, winning three Spanish titles and the Champions League twice.
Guardiola has never changed philosophy, any more than Sarri. That's why there is no chance that Sarri deviates from his Plan A. "Everyone knew Barcelona very well 10 years ago, and Barcelona won everything because he played his football very well. So, first of all, I want to play my football very well. So I can change.
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