By Daily Sports on December 11, 2018

Chelsea’s manager Maurismo Sarri celebrated the final whistle of his club’s 2-0 drubbing of high-flying Manchester City in a calm way. No fist pumping, no chest beating and no hand in the ears. You know who I'm thinking about.

But make no mistake about it, it was a huge win for Sarri and his style of football popularly called Sarriball and sarismo.

Man City had looked unbeatable with their exciting brand of football and under Pep Guardiola, they have really flourished into a feared machine, crushing anything that came their way.

City would strangulate oppositions with sleek passing and finish ruthlessly l. They were looking a sure bet of going unbeaten this season until they met Chelsea.

The manner in which Chelsea beat City came as a surprise, especially seeing how Chelsea struggled in their 1-3 loss away at Tottenham Hotspurs recently.

The worry for Chelsea was that Sarri’s tactics had been found out, and that fear skyrocketed amongst the fans of The Blues even more when the team were handed a defeat in their penultimate game against Wolves away.

But Chelsea put their acts together and Sarri kept faith in his tactics style and outplayed and outfought Man City.

The result and the fantastic performance of Chelsea showed how good a manager Sarri is. How many managers can boast of beating a Guardiola side by going toe to toe with them and showing a willingness and ability to come out to play nice passing football and then defending intelligently when they had to. 

That’s what Sarri’s men did at the Bridge on Saturday.

The talk about Kante being unfit for the new advanced role Sarri has detailed him to play this season will also likely cool of after the Frenchman put in a spectacular offensive performance, with a goal to his name to add.

Chelsea’s win over City has thrown the English Premier League wide open, and anyone of Liverpool, Chelsea, Spurs and Arsenal can dream of the title.

These teams in their own ways have shown a real determination and ability to challenge for the title and it makes for an interesting race.

                                                                           ***

IB Champions Cup starts with a shocker for the Warriors

My club Benin Warriors were handed a heavy defeat by Chimosky FC of Delta State in the ongoing IB Champions Cup competition for grassroots clubs which kicked off in Benin City on Monday.

Chimosky raced to a shock 3-0 first half lead as we looked stunned by what was happening.

The tactical shape I approached the game at the start was not the right one as the 4-2-3-1 offered us unfortunately no much defensive balance unlike the 3 at the back system we have deployed recently.

We were struggling with a number of absent players who have been regulars for years, and though we brought in a couple of players at the last minute to supplement the shortfall, the lack of enough work in the training ground inevitably showed.

Moving back a 3-4-3 system helped in the second half as we pinned Chimosky back, but it proved to be a mountain too high.

We pulled one goal back and then shot ourselves in the foot by conceding a careless 4th goal.

The theme of the game for us was, as much as it was about a poor tactical shape at the start, also poor individual errors which was difficult for me to explain.

But credit must go to Chimosky FC. They were ruthless upfront and took their chances. And they defended quite solidly even when we seemed to be in the tactical ascendency in the second half.

For us now, we need to pick ourselves up and fight till the end. That’s what I have told the players. Play for pride, give it all. There will always be days to suffer and you must take them on the chin and work for the brighter days that will surely come.

In other games Ine Stars, former Edo State FA Cup champions had a tough game but overcame Dreams FC of Bayelsa 2-0 in the end.

Eagles Wings, a fast-rising team, beat Rolly FC of Benin 3-1.

The organisers, IB Sports, deserve a pat in the back for organising the competition which makes the football space in Edo State exciting.

Source Daily Sports

Posted December 11, 2018

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