4 reasons why Chelsea should stick with Antonio Conte and not appoint Maurizio Sarri

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The rumours of Antonio Conte getting sacked have been making the rounds for a very long time. From the opening day defeat to Burnley up till the FA Cup final last season, there have been constant rumours that the Italian will be sacked.

The front-runner to take up the job at Stamford Bridge is seemingly the former Napoli manager Maurizio Sarri whose position has been taken over by former Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti.

Even after a month of winning the FA Cup, the former Juventus manager is still in charge at Chelsea. There are a lot of issues regarding the sacking of Conte and the matter gets further complicated due to Sarri’s release clause with Napoli.

Conte is refusing to take another job, and if Chelsea sack him they will have to pay him and his staff full compensation of one year left on his contract. While Sarri is still contracted with Napoli as they have not sacked him, Chelsea will have to pay Napoli for Sarri, which they are not willing to do.

Thus amidst all this complexity, some have suggested that Roman Abramovich might just give Conte another chance. Here are 5 reasons why Chelsea should stick with Conte and not appoint Sarri.

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#1 Serial winner

Like it or not, but the truth is Conte is a serial winner and he knows how to win. His record at Juventus and Chelsea speaks volumes. With Juventus, he won 3 straight Serie A titles and laid down the foundation of their domestic domination which they enjoy till date.

At Chelsea he won the Premier League in his first season in charge and the FA Cup the following year.

While Sarri who is 59 years old is yet to win anything with all the clubs he has managed so far. Despite being 10 years older than Conte, he does not know how to win trophies whereas Conte knows what it takes to win titles.

Also, Sarri only promises beautiful football, while Conte promises trophies and Chelsea have been all about trophies and never about style.

#2 History

Luiz Felipe Scolari, the former Brazil manager also took over the hot seat at Stamford Bridge in 2008 and due to poor results he was eventually sacked after being in charge for seven months.

Many claim that he had lost the dressing room, and he could not speak fluent English which was one of the reasons why he was sacked.

But one of the biggest reasons as to why he was sacked was because of his tactics as he preferred to play attacking football and Chelsea players were not accustomed to play that way, as a result they struggled.

In the big games Chelsea never really turned up and lost most of the matches as they played attacking football.

While Sarri also prefers to play attacking football, this Chelsea team is not used to playing such football. Like Scolari, he might also struggle to get the best out of this team and make matters worse than they already are right now at Stamford Bridge.

#3 DNA

Since Roman Abramovich took over at Chelsea in 2003, they have arguably become the most successful club in the United Kingdom since 2003, Winning 5 Premier League trophies, 5 FA Cups, 3 League Cups, 1 Champions League and 1 Europe League.

All these trophies which have come to the Stamford Bridge were courtesy of the defensive style of football which the club played. It is in their DNA to play such football which was instilled by Jose Mourinho during his first spell in England.

This style of play might not be very beautiful, but it is very effective and the trophies which Chelsea have won are a testament to that.

It gives Chelsea the uniqueness which other clubs don’t have. Every other club plays attacking football; Arsenal, Tottenham, Man City, Man United (before Jose), defensive football gives Chelsea its uniqueness and it’s in their DNA.

Sarri is not a manager who has Chelsea’s style of football DNA in him, in fact he is totally opposite, he plays attacking football.

Thus Antonio Conte is the manager who has Chelsea’s style of football DNA embedded in him, and the club knows how to win trophies even if they defend for most of a game.

#4 Conte deserves another shot

Many would say he should leave, but there are many reasons why he deserves one more chance at Stamford Bridge.

The decision to sell Diego Costa was made back in January, and it was Diego’s troublesome behavior that led to his departure.

At the start of his first season, Costa came to him and bluntly told him that he wants to leave, It was Costa who publicly declared that he received a text message that he no longer was needed – although there was no need for that.

Also, the decision to sell Matic was not his, but rather of the Chelsea board. Some would say that he publicly criticised the board, but another way of looking at it could be asking what made him do so? It was clear that the board was not given him the financial backing he needed and still expected him to deliver. 

He only missed out of the top 4 by five points, and Champions League exit was not due to his poor tactics but due to individual errors.

He wanted to increase the squad depth but the board did not help him out in any way. Considering all of this, he should be given another chance, if not Roman might make the same mistake he made with Jose in 2007.