Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri is coming under all sorts of pressure at Stamford Bridge, with many fans feeling underwhelmed by their new Italian coach. The Blues are actually not performing too badly in all competitions, they are still in the Europa League, FA Cup and League Cup final whilst they are still well in contention to finish in the top four in the Premier League.
The Blues bounced back from that horrific 6-0 defeat to Manchester City with an away win in the Europa League against Malmo, which looks like it will secure their progress into the next round. You can see the fans’ frustration as that was Sarri’s first away win and incredibly, the first goals Chelsea have scored away from home in 2019.
But how does Sarri compare to another Italian, previous boss Antonio Conte? Sarri’s predecessor had a flying start to life in London and during his first season, he remarkably scooped the Premier League title, romping to victory with an incredible 93 points. In that season, Chelsea set a record for the most wins in a Premier League season with 30, only to be beaten by the spectacular, record-breaking Manchester City the following season.
However, in the second season, things began to go downhill for Chelsea. City had all but won the title in December and Chelsea limped to a fifth-place finish, missing out on Champions League football. That was a huge factor in the Italian losing his job, despite winning the FA Cup with a 1-0 win over Manchester United at the end of the campaign.
In fact, that pressure to qualify for the Champions League seems to also be on Maurizio Sarri’s shoulders, with The Times reporting that he will be sacked when it becomes impossible for Chelsea to qualify for the Champions League, whether that be via the Europa League or the Premier League.
However, all things considered, Sarri can still be considered as an upgrade on Antonio Conte, as bizarre as that sounds. During his time at Chelsea, over all competitions, Conte achieved an impressive win percentage of 65.1% and scooped two major trophies.
They are also favourites to win the Europa League, which would obviously achieve their main goal of getting back into the Champions League. If they can beat Manchester United in the FA Cup on Monday night, they are in with a serious chance of winning that competition too and could conceivably end the season with three trophies, which would mark an incredible season. If they did achieve this ‘treble’ they would replicate Liverpool in 2000/01, who had a very successful season under Gerard Houllier.
So, look on the bright side of things Chelsea fans. There is a long way to go in the season and although Sarri may not be the most popular man in London right now, he could lead Chelsea to one of their most successful seasons in years.