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W When Claudio Ranieri arrived in the Premier League, he caused a little stir because of his inability to speak to the media in English. "Ranieri finds trouble in the translation," headlined the Guardian after Chelsea's defeat against Everton in November 2000, which shows how much the Italian affable was hard in his early days as a foreigner in a strange and suspicious country
. The man who would eventually lead Leicester City to the title was the Manuel Fawlty basilica of English football, raising the shackles with his inability to communicate with players and supporters. Yet, Ranieri's insistence on speaking to the media in Italian has given rise to one of the major comedy episodes. The story goes that when Ranieri had finished giving a detailed three-minute answer, his interpreter nodded his head and said, "It's a game of two halves" in English
It does not matter. is not entirely clear if it's an urban myth. But let us agree that this really happened because the story came to mind when the Chelsea media team had to correct some translation errors after the unveiling of Maurizio Sarri at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday. Sarri was presented to the English media in Italian, just as Ranieri had done in the daytime, and the interpreter had made one or two small mistakes
Item # 1: when the new Chelsea's manager revealed that he wanted to add "a pinch of quality" in central defense, he had indeed mentioned the central midfielder. I have the impression, I thought, of coming back to the February evening when Tiémoué Bakayoko played as if his laces were tied in a 4-1 defeat to Watford on the night of January where Antonio Conte was watching Ross Barkley as if it were a pineapple piece on a pizza and the evening of September when Chelsea ended his shot of Danny Drinkwater.
By the way, point # 2 referred to the time when Sarri seemed to suggest that entertaining defeats could be more enjoyable than boring victories. It was a reminder of the importance of language, how a slip of the tongue can change our impression of a manager even before he has taken charge of his first game. This was the kind of comment that could get Jose Mourinho to add Sarri's name to his big book of Poets, Philosophers and other Romantic Losers. In red ink and capital letters.
What Sarri had really tried to make clear was that having fun and winning had to go hand in hand. Yet even that seemed strange, if only because football can be such a serious matter. In fact, there have been many times when I had to check my earphones to make sure I heard correctly, especially when Sarri announced that the transfer market was bothering him and that I was not sure. He preferred to develop his players with good coaching. A check with Chelsea's press officer confirmed that the former director of Napoli had not required Roman Abramovich to buy Neymar for £ 500m and a pair of gold shoes.
Sarri is different. The 59-year-old is a former banker who has never played professionally and, even though he has not won a trophy yet, he has developed good friendships with Pep Guardiola and Arrigo Sacchi. "Our sport is not a sport but a game," he said. "Anyone who plays a game has started to do it as a child to have fun and the child in us has to be fed because it often makes us the best." Creating a fun game is the first thing to get a style for a high-level team. "
This beautiful refreshing feeling has not been said for the purpose. Sarri meant every word, proof that he was not afraid to stand out from the crowd. Conte liked talking about the need to work hard. Certainly this can make Sarri sound like an enthusiastic childrens entertainer whose sunny world view is about to be crushed by a screaming room and tired parents, while there is a strong chance that a slow start would make him vulnerable to being dismissed as a too cheerful fraud that must adopt a winning mindset at all costs. Look how Guardiola was received after his first year in England
Refusing to comply can make people feel uncomfortable and it is questionable whether a manager with Sarri's track record will succeed in his quest to clear up the problem. Atmosphere in Chelsea. On the one hand, it could be an inspired appointment. On the other hand, we could be at six months of damning articles about where everything went wrong. "In the beginning, Maurizio had a smile on his face every day," says an internal source. "But we could see that he was losing the will to live when David Luiz continued to respond to everything he said by sticking his fingers in his ears and shouting" La La & # 39; . "
Chelsea, who has an uncertain summer, may have to accept that his reinvention as Funtime Sarris will take time. It is encouraging, however, that the tone of the conversation is changing. Mistrust has become less fashionable than the willingness to engage new ideas, empathy a more desirable and modern quality than the abrasiveness of the attention seeking.
More than anything, the reaction to the World Cup shows that people are looking for a connection with their team. . Nearly 20 years after laughter at the expense of Ranieri, English football is prepared for a new way of speaking. Listen carefully and this could make you smile.
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