Whatever Maurizio Sarri is trying to do, it’s clearly not working – Chelsea look lost

ETIHAD STADIUM, MANCHESTER — It was hard to tell if Manchester City were sensational, or Chelsea abysmally bad. Probably a meeting of the two spectrum ends, in the end. By the time City notched up their fourth on 24 minutes, with Ilkay Gundogan’s low shot, they had only been one ahead in their 7-0 and 9-0 thrashings of Rotherham United, in the FA Cup, and Burton Albion, in the League Cup, respectively, and though it did not quite reach those margins, they still knocked in six.

Around midway through, viewers at home could be forgiven for thinking they had accidentally flicked over to the Six Nations. And, the worst part about it for Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri, it could’ve been so much worse.

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Had Sergio Aguero not missed a tap-in at the back post after eight minutes, for example, that would’ve been one more. City manager Pep Guardiola threw himself on the floor and covered his head with his arms in disbelief, mirroring what everyone else watching was feeling at that moment.

Aguero: Simply stunning

Guardiola did not know, of course, that Aguero would bang one into the top right corner from 25 yards five minutes later, nor that he would add a second, another six minutes on, to make him City’s outright leading scorer of league goals, or that he would complete his hat-trick with a penalty on 54 minutes. As a further example of how much worse it still could’ve been for Chelsea, the striker also headed onto the crossbar, five minutes into the second half.

The match, nonetheless, ended with a second hat-trick in the space of eight days for the Argentinian, following his treble against Arsenal here the weekend before, and an 11th in the Premier League, equalling Alan Shearer’s record. He left to a standing ovation and with a record of 43 goals in 64 games against Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur. Simply stunning, and evidence of a 31-year-old player determined to take the crown as the top-flight’s greatest striker before he eventually bows out.

For Chelsea, this was more “Terry-ball” than “Sarri-ball” (I recently became a dad, I’m allowed to make dad jokes now). This concept that has had reams of articles and pundits’ analysis devoted to it since the Italian arrived in England in the summer boasting a style of play which was supposed to be like none we’d ever seen before. The tactics — also known as “Sarrismo”, apparently — involved pressing high and keeping compact. Which, when you think about it, sounds exactly like Jurgen Klopp’s gegenpressing, or the nameless style Mauricio Pochettino has demanded of his players since he took over at Southampton, five years ago.

Chelsea look look

Whatever it’s supposed to be, it’s not working. There was no doubt about the second-half penalty, as Cesar Azpilicueta chopped down Sterling for Mike Dean to award the spot kick in his trademark theatrical style.

Chelsea’s defence looked lost from virtually the first kick, and, as though a sign of things to come, they were behind within four minutes. If ever a goal was made in the quickness of thought, it was City’s opener. While the attention of Chelsea’s defence was focussed inside the penalty area, expecting Kevin De Bruyne to deliver the ball there with his heat-seeking right foot, the Belgian instead spotted team-mate Bernardo Silva, lurking on the right. De Bruyne’s quick pass went that way, leaving Chelsea’s players all over the place. Silva carried the ball in from the right and crossed low, it deflected off David Luiz but Raheem Sterling followed up to lash in.

Chelsea’s Ross Barkley continued a frustrating season with an unwanted contribution for Aguero’s second. The ball was half-cleared by Luiz only for Barkley — occasionally brilliant this season, enough to earn an England recall, often inconsistent, yet handed a start in a big game — to loop a header back into his own penalty area, straight to Aguero, who tucked the ball past Kepa Arrizabalaga. Barkley was substituted for Mateo Kovacic on 52 minutes to much mocking by Chelsea supporters seeing a tired exchange of players repeated over and again. Ruben Loftus-Cheek also came on, for Pedro, with 25 minutes left to play. He was surely delighted about that. Chelsea looked exactly the same: confused.

Failing to cope

When Guardiola made changes, though, City added more. Aguero off for Gabriel Jesus. Riyad Mahrez for De Bruyne. David Silva for Fernandinho. There were still 15 minutes to play — it felt almost unfair they were be able to inject new dynamism against a Chelsea side failing to cope with the first lot.

David Silva’s incisive pass to play Oleksandr Zinchenko inside from the left flank made the sixth, although the Ukrainian earned the official assist with the ball across for Sterling to score his second.

So Chelsea slotted behind Rotherham and Burton in City’s top three demolitions this season. Only, the other two are in the Championship and League One, not supposedly challenging for the Premier League title.