It was “like watching the old Manchester United teams”, according to Phil Neville, as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s simple but effective strategy was enough to undo the mythical ‘Sarri-ball’ in just 45 minutes of football.
Meanwhile, the Independent are among the sources stating Chelsea players are confused by Maurizio Sarri’s overload of tactical instructions as they were dumped out of the competition they won just nine months earlier under Antonio Conte – another manager they seemed to stop playing for.
Both top coaches with very different but effective philosophies, and both – most likely at this point – set to be sacked just months apart from each other at Chelsea, who just don’t seem to know what they want.
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A look at last night’s opponents Man Utd might be a decent starting point for them, with Solskjaer not exactly arriving at Old Trafford as a big name with any particular philosophy. Ole-ball, if there is such a thing, is simply a continuation of the DNA set by United in the glory years under Sir Alex Ferguson: committed workers all over the pitch, quick counter-attacks, playing with belief and conviction in every position.
It’s been an extremely effective tonic to the restrictive tactics of Jose Mourinho, who just couldn’t get going at MUFC despite once being such a hero at Chelsea.
With United embracing their past in a bid to build a brighter future, might Chelsea also take a look at what once made them great instead of chopping and changing from one approach to another year on year?
After all, it’s not just at United where this has worked wonders – Real Madrid went through similar under Zinedine Zidane, a former player without any experience going into the job, who simply spoke to that group of players and inspired them to simply be the best versions of themselves, with no reinventing of the wheel required.
In these strange times in modern football, we so often hear about how hard it is for managers to really build football clubs like they used to, due to the lack of time and patience awarded them. That’s not completely true, of course, as Sarri took some time before his philosophy bore fruit at Napoli – a club without the same kind of pressure to simply win at all costs like at Chelsea or Real Madrid.