Chelsea manager, Maurizio Sarri has grown familiar for his willingness to stick to his policies than his proposed brand of football in West London lately. The manager has been heavily criticized by Fans and Media alike for making like-for-like substitutions(notably between Kovacic and Barkeley), under utilizing World Cup winner N’golo Kante at the expense of Brazil born Italian midfielder Jorginho and not affording enough opportunities to Academy graduates in the squad.
Sarri experimented with the Fans choice in the last 20 minutes of the game as Chelsea chased the game after Jimenez goal. The Italian tactician switched tactics as Jorginho made way for Willian as Chelsea kept pressure on Wolverhampton Wanderers. Callum Hudson Odoi and Ruben Loftus Cheek made replaced Pedro and Kovacic respectively.
Chelsea were at times ponderous and unimaginative in their approach play, unable to pierce a well-organised defence which was protected by a deep midfield, until Sarri cut loose from his tactical shackles for the first time. Jorginho and threw on attackers, finishing with a back-four, N’Golo Kante and Ruben Loftus-Cheek in midfield and four up front, although Loftus-Cheek played as an auxiliary striker, often alongside Gonzalo Higuain.
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The home crowd cheered the decision to replace Jorginho, still winning few fans despite his match-winning goal at Fulham a week earlier, still seen as the personification of an unpopular style of football. ‘Jorginho, if the other players don’t move without the ball, is in trouble,’ said Sarri. ‘He is very able to play at one touch, but if you want to play one touch you need movements from the other players.”
‘In the end, we changed for the first time in the season the system, and played 4-2-3-1 for the last 20 minutes. But it’s not easy, because the problem wasn’t the system, but our way of playing. We need to move the ball faster. We cannot play five or six touches in that situation. ‘Jorginho is not suitable for 4-2-3-1. So it was only a consequence of the change of system, not the performance. I know him very well. He is a very strong character and a professional.’
Sarri put his decision to abandon his 4-3-3 system down to a lack of adventure from Wolves. ‘For the first time, we were playing against a team who didn’t want to play,’ said the Chelsea manager. ‘They didn’t counter-attack in the last 20 minutes. So we had to try.’ Hazard eventually found the equaliser in the second minute of stoppage time, collecting a short pass from Willian, jinking inside from the left and curling a low shot past Patricio from the edge of the penalty area.