Maurizio Sarri’s tactics and why he is still relevant in modern-day football | OneFootball

Eventually starting out as a banker, Maurizio Sarri bloomed into football quite late and reaching the upper echelons of the football pyramid in a short span of time. Idolising a pioneer Arrigo Sacchi, Sarri, much like his idol, went against the ways of the tactical landscape in Italy and played a style designed to entertain but win games for his side. His first big job in Serie A came at Empoli and in the 2014/15 season he finished 15th playing intense attacking football with a low budget getting the attention of clubs higher up the order. Eventually touted to take the job at Milan, Berlusconi declined to appoint owing to political differences with Sarri and in the end he was snapped up by Cristiano Giuntoli to Napoli to replace Rafa Benitez.While he did not win any trophies at Napoli, Sarri brought financial stability, entertainment and a title challenge to Napoli eventually getting the call from Chelsea, whose then owner Abrahmovic having a liking for Italian coaches. Taking over after a tumultuous season under Antonio Conte, Sarri appointed Chelsea legend Gianfranco Zola as part of his staff. But the job was not easy. Conte played a contrasting style of football compared to Maurizio and it took a bit of time for the Italian to settle before results arrived. Even though he won the Europa League with Chelsea, he left to the calling of Juventus as it was his dream to win the Scudetto, the most prized possession of Italian soccer. After disagreements with players and management, Sarri won the Scudetto but left taking a sabbatical eventually joining Lazio. A second place finish in the 2022/23 season added a feather to his cap but the 2023/24 season saw Sarri leave following poor results, disagreements with players and a bad relationship with the Biancocelesti higher-ups.With this article, we intend to take a look at why potential suitors for his services can be rest assured they are getting a tactically innovative coach with a mission to entertain fans.BASE FORMATIONSarri plays a 4-3-3 formation that consists of a Regista and 2 mezzala’s. The regista is used as a deep lying playmaker to help build attacks from the back while the center backs need to have ball playing and ball carrying abilities to help with the ball playing activity. Sarri requires a modern-GK in the form of a ball player to help evade the press as well as to build out from the back. BUILD UP AND CHANCE CREATIONWhen building out from the back, the 2 no.8’s are encouraged to push up while the Regista stays back to create an overload while passing out from the back. The Regista forms a passing triangle with the CB’s. With fullbacks, Sarri allows one of them to join the attack while one full back stays behind to keep the 3 at the back structure. At Chelsea, Cesar Azpilicueta was the one who stayed back while Emerson Palmieri went forward. At Lazio it was Elseid Hysaj who stayed back while Adam Marusic or Manuel Lazzari stayed back. In the midfield he wants his players to play quick and short one touch passes to advance the ball and quickly verticalise the play and not waste possession with lateral passes. The midfielders are expected to be intelligent and find pockets of space between the lines and overload them. Sarri likes his LW to tuck inside while the RW stays wide to stretch the defense. The LW stays inside while the LB pushes up and with the Left side Mezzala, they interchange passes and try to reach the by line and cross. The RW as I mentioned would stay wide to ping on crosses or incase there is playing occurring on the left wing, would tuck inside and act as a second strikerOUT OF POSSESSION Sarri uses a 4-5-1 or a 4-1-4-1 when out of possession. But what is most important is how his teams’ press. He instructs his players to cut off passing options by having his players adopt a position with a tactical advantage where they cover 2 options at once. While the Wingers cut off the FB’s and their options the Mezzala’s are placed behind them as backup.Pressing traps are employed where they would block the centre to push play out wide and then the player on the ball would be pressed with intensity.CONCLUSIONSarri plays an exciting brand of football combined with trophies and this makes it hard for teams to ignore him for a while. With Sarri eager to get back into management again by his own admission teams who want a change reportedly like Milan would give a hard thought about employing him. Sarri, with Napoli, also showed how he is ready to work with youngsters if they are ready to believe and adapt to his philosophy but if anything he has shown that he can be very difficult to work with for Sporting Directors and Owners as sometimes he can be very demanding for the types of players he wants. But nonetheless he is a very attractive proposition and cannot be ignored for long.

Rohit Rajeev I GIFN