Maurizio Sarri insists Chelsea must be ‘really patient’ and follow examples of Liverpool and Tottenham to succeed

The Italian is under pressure after Bournemouth thrashed the Blues 4-0 midweek but the former Napoli boss believes his philosophy will prove successful in time

Maurizio Sarri has told Chelsea that if they want to emulate the successes of Liverpool, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur then they must be “really patient” in backing his philosophy as coach.

Pointing to the successes of those three teams, the best sides in English football in recent years, Sarri said they were a vindication of backing their coaches over the long term. Spurs appointed Mauricio Pochettino in 2014, Liverpool got Jurgen Klopp in 2015 and City signed Pep Guardiola in 2016.

All three men arrived with clear ideas of how they wanted football to be played which they implemented. Those three teams finished in the top four in 2016-17 and 2017-18, and now they are first, second and third.

Sarri is currently going through his own difficult process of imposing an idea, trying to change a squad and a group of players to mold them his way. It is proving very difficult, Chelsea lost 4-0 at Bournemouth this week, and have only taken 10 points from their last seven league games.

But while Sarri is increasingly doubted by Chelsea fans, he pointed to the examples of the country’s best sides. If you want to be like them, he argued, you have to give the manager time. Even if it means a difficult learning period at the start.

“I want to remember that, in their first season, Tottenham and Liverpool were in the middle of the table,” Sarri said, pointing to Spurs in 2014-15 (fifth) and Liverpool in 2015-16 (eighth). Now Liverpool are five points clear at the top and Spurs are third, again outperforming their wage bill. He did not even mention City’ struggles in 2016-17 when they won no trophies and came third.

For Sarri, it was the club’s patient backing for the manager’s ideas, their refusal to be distracted by short-term bad results, that got them there in the end.

“The situation in England is very clear. There are three teams above the others. In one, the coach arrived five years ago [Pochettino at Tottenham], in one four years ago [Klopp at Liverpool], and in the other three years ago [Guardiola at City]. So the situation is very clear. The English football is in the hands of these teams.

“They had a plan and were really patient. So we need to change mentality and go on. The situation for me is really clear.”

Maurizio Sarri was angry with his team’s performance at Bournemouth (Reuters)

Sarri is being repeatedly asked to change his tactics to suit English football, but there is no chance of him doing that. For Sarri, the point is for the manager to implement his ideas to the utmost.

That was Guardiola’s approach, remember, when he arrived in English football. And is eventual triumph winning last year’s Premier League title never involved him meeting his critics half way.

“Why? First of all, I want to do Plan A very well,” Sarri said. “I don’t want to change some things that, at the moment, don’t work very well. First of all I want to see my football played very well. Then we can go and change something.”

Again, Sarri referred to the example of his mentor Guardiola, not at City but in his first senior job at Barcelona. When the strength of his ideas, in Sarri’s mind, were what made him so successful, winning three Spanish titles and the Champions League twice.

Guardiola never changed his philosophy, and nor will Sarri either. That is why there is no chance of Sarri departing from his Plan A. “Everybody, 10 years ago, knew very well Barcelona, and Barcelona won everything because they played their football very well. So, first of all, I want to play very well my football. Then I can change.”