Sarri faces acid-test of new regime

Is Maurizio Sarri facing his Jose Bosingwa moment at Chelsea? Bosingwa was a dynamic, attacking right-back who was a key signing for Luiz Felipe Scolari when he was Chelsea manager in 2008.

There was a game against Aston Villa in October that year which finished 2-0 to Chelsea but could have been triple that scoreline. Villa had arrived at Stamford Bridge with hopes of going top of the Premier League, but were taken apart by Scolari’s system of using Bosingwa and Ashley Cole as attacking full-backs in an attractive, expansive style that had owner Roman Abramovich’s seal of approval. It was champagne football.

Except, other teams eventually rumbled it. Block off those full-backs and you stop Chelsea. Teams worked it out. Admittedly, it took a few more weeks, but it did happen and, unfortunately, Scolari had no answer and was gone by February as Chelsea dropped out of contention.

Sarri is a very different coach and will certainly work far harder than Scolari did. But he needs to find a solution after Everton and, now, Tottenham Hotspur worked out that smothering his key signing, the deep-lying playmaker Jorginho, stops Chelsea. Jorginho’s lack of pace has been exposed, as has the wisdom of moving N’golo Kante to accommodate him in a 4-3-3.

What will Sarri do? Chelsea are suddenly only a point ahead of fifth-placed Arsenal and the Italian has a job to do. Given the purity of his principles, it will be fascinating to see whether he adapts or believes he will simply succeed with his approach.