Knowing What Sarrismo Is, Football Philosophy Ala The Cigarette Addict

Maurizio Sarri (Instagram @ maurizio-sarri_)

JAKARTA - Maurizio Sarri has been officially appointed as Lazio coach with a two-year contract duration. Sarri's appointment was announced via a video showing his Sarrismo football philosophy. What is that?

Sarrismo is nothing but the managerial philosophy used by Sarri, which made Napoli dream of their first Scudetto of the 2017-18 season since the days of Diego Maradona. To understand Sarrismo, we need to understand the people behind the philosophy.

Early Career

Born in Naples, Italy, Sarri played as a center back for various non-league teams and never made it into a professional footballer. Sarri works as a banker in the morning and trains in the evening. At the age of 40 he swerved into the world of coaching following the same routine he had followed in his playing career.

Managerial Career

Sarri first coached in 1990. His first club was USD Stia, since then he has led 18 clubs in 28 years. Of the 18 clubs he manages, 16 of them are in the lower leagues of the Italian football pyramid.

He often changes clubs after a year or so for various reasons. It took him 20 years to climb the pyramid when in 2013 he guided Empoli promotion from Serie B to Serie A after waiting for 6 years.

The following year, he managed to keep Empoli in Serie A by securing 15th place.

Impressed by his tactical acumen at Empoli, he was offered his first elite job: Napoli. Yes, Sarri has finally achieved his dream by joining his hometown club. It was here that he caught the attention of the football world as a tactician.

Philosophy

Sarrismo's philosophy works on two basic principles; possession and movement of the ball. This philosophy rests on an attack that starts from the defense zone, with short, sharp passes.

His Napoli team lined up in an orthodox 4-3-3 formation, switching to 4-5-1 in defense and 2-1-4-3 in attack. Sarri trusts every member of his squad as a footballer. With the ball, Napoli always try to apply the triangular passing method with master passing Jorginho at the heart of everything.

Without the ball, Napoli pressed high with a defensive line that was also high causing opponents to pass back or make mistakes. This helps them attack at whip speed.

Most of Napoli's attacks came from the left flank, initiated by left-back Faouzi Ghoulam, who then teamed up with Marek Hamšík and Lorenzo Insigne to produce some scintillating footballing action that also allowed Jose Callejon to showcase his opening skills.

Having left mainstay Gonzalo Higuain to Juventus and Arkadiusz Milik through injury, Sarri's magnum opus arrived as he turned little Belgian winger Dries Mertens into a prolific centre-forward.

Mertens almost always scored one goal in a game. This of course strengthens the Partenopei attack and confirms the effectiveness of Sarri's philosophy.

Cigarette addicts' Napoli finished second in the 2017-18 season, just four points behind eventual champions Juventus. Scored almost two goals per game and was considered to be playing the most exciting football in all of Europe.

Chelsea

Maurizio Sarri then replaced Antonio Conte as Chelsea manager, signing a three-year contract under Roman Abramovich. He brought along Jorginho who slid into the heart of the midfield as a long-term replacement for the aging Cesc Fabregas.

At Chelsea, the coach who admits to smoking 60 cigarettes a day is changing the tactics applied by his predecessor, Conte. The Blues were transformed into a team that played based on possession more offensively than ever before. Not to mention his fantastic passing.

Chelsea managed to adapt to the philosophy of a former banker who didn't manage a top club until the age of 55. He has also successfully retained star players such as Eden Hazard and Thibaut Courtois.

Sarri became the first Chelsea head coach to take the team unbeaten in 12 Premier League games, until 24 November when they fell to Tottenham 1-3.

Despite failing in the domestic league, on 29 May, Sarri won his first major trophy as a manager after Chelsea beat Arsenal 4-1 in the 2019 Europa League Final in Baku.

Sarrismo actually means a wave of attacks without stopping, so that the opposing players are like being rolled in by the waves. Sarrismo also demanded the players in his squad to make 11 passes in the space of 7 seconds to break the opponent's concentration.

Evidently, through this philosophy, Chelsea managed to win the title with the title unbeaten throughout the entire Europa League season.