Sarri’s tactical revolution at Napoli: Will it lead to a new era of winning?
Italian clubs have always been on the cutting edge of tactical innovation. Whether it was the dreaded catenaccio of the 1960s that made Inter Milan great to the zonal marking of the ’80s that led to AC Milan’s domination, Serie A clubs are not immune to influencing the game. In the cases of Inter Milan and their city rivals AC Milan, both those decades led to domestic domination and European glory.
After years of stagnation (where English, Spanish and German clubs dominated the continent), Italian soccer seems relevant again. A lot of that is due to Napoli, the southern Italian club that have emerged as the most-entertaining side in Europe. Most of the credit lies with coach Maurizio Sarri and the tactical revolution that has taken place in this sprawling metropolis of 3.2 million soccer-rabid residents.
Two months into the season and Napoli are currently alone atop the standings, two points ahead of Juventus and Inter Milan. Whether the Partenopei can remain consistent for the next seven months, and win their first league title in 28 years, remains a huge question mark. The team have been here before, only to falter when they needed the points most.
Sarri, a 58-year-old former banker, was named Napoli’s head coach in 2015 after three successful years at Empoli, helping the tiny Tuscan club earn promotion in 2014 after six seasons in Serie B. Sarri was born in Naples, where his father worked in the now-shuttered industrial complex Italsider in the Bagnoli district on the edge of the city’s outskirts. Sarri was raised in Tuscany, where his parents were originally from, and he split his time between being an amateur soccer player and a banker. It was in 1999 that Sarri decided to devote himself to coaching full time.
Sarri’s decision would forever change his fate and the Napoli’s fortunes.
“I worked in London, in Germany, Switzerland and Luxembourg. Then I chose the only career that I would have done for free,” Sarri said of his switch to coaching in an interview with the Italian daily La Repubblica in 2014. “I have played [soccer], have coached my entire life, therefore it is not by chance that I am where I am. They still call me an ex-banker. Like as if there’s something wrong with having done that!”
Past glory and failure
Napoli were in a period of transition and growth when Sarri arrived. Rafa Benitez had coached the club for two seasons, helping the team win the Coppa Italia in 2014 and reach the final 16 in the Europa League.
The club, founded in 1926 and winners of two league titles (in 1987 and 1990) and the UEFA Cup in 1989 with help from Argentine legend Diego Maradona, saw themselves once again contesting for the title alongside traditional giants Juventus, Inter Milan and AC Milan. The battle between the biggest team in the rural south of Italy taking on the powers of the industrialized north was once again on full display. It’s a mix of sports and politics that has dominated Serie A for decades.
The post-Maradona years had not been good ones. Like the Argentine star, who was suspended in 1991 for doping, the team had a fall from grace. Maradona had been the team’s spiritual leader and fulcrum when it came to identity and success. Without him, they steadily slipped in the standings.
They were also increasingly plagued by growing financial issues. Forced to sell off quality players throughout the 1990s — including striker Gianfranco Zola (who would later star at Parma and Chelsea) and defender Ciro Ferrara (who joined Juventus) — Napoli were eventually relegated at the end of the 1997-98 season. Years of mismanagement, falling attendance and poor spending had taken their toll.
The situation got worse. Transformed into a yo-yo club, Napoli’s financial problems finally got the best of them in August 2004. The club declared bankruptcy and were automatically relegated to Serie C1, the country’s third division. The team were stripped of their official name, SSC Napoli, and renamed “Napoli Soccer.” Under new owner and noted film producer Aurelio De Laurentiis, the club got a much-needed infusion of cash and the rebuilding process began. In a span of four years, the team were back in Serie A.
Start of a new era
By 2008, the team were relevant again and competing in Serie A for spots in European competition. The rabid fanbase was happy and dreams of a league title seemed increasingly realistic. While Napoli have yet to win that title (Juventus have dominated domestically, winning the last six Scudettos), they have been at the forefront of a tactical movement that’s taken Europe by storm.
This sort of innovation is nothing new to Italian soccer. The catenaccio style of coach Helenio Herrera came to define the sport in Italy for decades. His 4-4-2, which had its origins in Austria during the 1930s, was predicated on a defensive system that relied on the use of the counter-attack. Arrigo Sacchi led a one-man revolution when he took over AC Milan in 1987, introducing a pressing game and zonal marking. This allowed for the team to play as a unit and for the offense to flourish. It resulted in numerous titles, including back-to-back European Cups in 1989 and 1990.
Likened to Barcelona for its beauty and Bayern Munich for efficiency, Napoli’s style of play under Sarri involves playing a high defensive line, with lots of possession and constant ball movement through the use of both triangle and vertical passing. With quick and precise passing, Sarri’s 3-5-2 (that often seems like a 4-3-3 with an unorthodox offensive approach) formation is a blend of styles never-before-seen in Italy or elsewhere around the world. It’s a hybrid of several already-established tactical formations, but one that is so deadly offensively the team have scored at least three goals in every game this season.
How exactly does Sarri’s style work? It’s quite simple. It’s all about intelligent movement. Plays usually start deep in their own half with defenders Kalidou Koulibaly and Raul Albiol, both comfortable enough on the ball to soak up pressure and play it out to the midfield. The use of triangles and short passes, an integral part of their possession game, allow Napoli to move the ball swiftly and quickly. This allows the midfield and attack to link up. The series usually results in an attacking play. All this passing also tires out opponents, who find themselves having to chase around for the ball and disrupt their own shape.
“Sarri is a tactical maniac,” Koulibaly admitted in an interview last year with the French publication So Foot. “With him I improved my game greatly, most of all because of his methods and how he prepares the defense.”
The team’s midfield maestro is Slovakian-born star Marek Hamsik, one of several Napoli players who are underrated throughout European soccer. Hamsik prefers to move the ball to the left side through the use of vertical passes, where players like winger Lorenzo Insignie or left-back Faouzi Ghoulam are often waiting to pick up the play. That’s done either in the form of a cross or long-range attempt. If neither player sees an opportunity, the ball usually returns to Hamsik, who then attempts to orchestrate another approach. Opponents have become wise to this and often make sure the left flank is covered.
The genius of Sarri’s tactics, however, is that no area of the field is safe. On the right side, the team is just as effective offensively. Jose Callejon is a speedy winger who can draw defenders and create space for either Brazilian-born midfielder Allan or Elseid Hysaj, a right-back, to get the ball. Either player usually gets the ball back to Callejon, effective at covering large swaths of the field, with the use of vertical passes. That play often culminates with a scoring attempt. Belgian international Dries Mertens, who took over the mantle as the team’s biggest offensive weapon after Gonzalo Higuain left for Juventus at the end of last season, is free to patrol the middle. His ability to score from all angles and distances makes him this team’s biggest asset in the attacking third.
Place in history
Alessandro Vocalelli, editor-in-chief of the sports daily Corriere dello Sport, recently wrote a column praising Sarri, saying he prefers the style of play to that of Sacchi, the architect of those winning AC Milan teams of the 1980s and early ’90s. Sacchi would end up employing that same style with Italy when he took over the national team and guided them to a second-place finish at the 1994 World Cup, a game the Azzurri lost on penalties to Brazil.
“There’s no doubt that Sacchi transformed the mentality of Italian soccer, always putting together proactive teams,” Volcalelli wrote on Sept. 21 in a page-one editorial. “All this, however, he was able to do with a team of superstars, grabbing the best from the national and international transfer market of those days: from [Franco] Baresi to [Paolo] Maldini, [Roberto] Donadoni and [Carlo] Ancelotti, from [Frank] Rijkaard, [Ruud] Gullit and [Marco] van Basten, all were phenomenal. Sarri certainly has a good team but one that has lots of players, that thanks to him, have either matured or have become individually reinvigorated.”
Those players include the aforementioned Hysaj, a 23-year-old Albanian right -ack Sarri had coached as a youth player at Empoli and brought with him to Napoli. At the same time, Albiol, a veteran Spanish defender who had once played with Valencia and Real Madrid, appeared to be coming close to ending his career. Instead, Albiol found new life under Sarri’s style. The center-back is now one of the best defenders in Serie A.
As a result, the Partenopei finished third last season (behind Juve and Roma), but scored 94 goals, 17 more than Juventus. This season, the team have scored 25 goals in seven matches for an average of 3.57 goals per game. Twelve different players have scored this season, another sign of the strong team ethic Sarri has impressed on his side. It’s also a byproduct of Sarri’s passing game and willingness to have all players involved with supporting the attack.
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If all goes according to Sarri’s plan, Napoli will continue to pile on the goals. And the wins? That’s the big question. Napoli plays Roma on Saturday when the season resumes following the international break. Napoli then take on Manchester City on the road in the Champions League three days later and host Inter Milan on Oct. 21. Whether Napoli can win those big games (their shock loss last month in their opening Champions League match versus Shakhar Donetsk revealed some warts and an inability to win games when they matter most), remains to be seen. Sarri’s tactical revolution will have suffered a major setback if he can’t win trophies.
Hamsik hopes the team can keep playing this way, but told reporters after the 3-0 win against Cagliari on Oct. 1 the “the road is still long, there are lots of games and October will be decisive.”
“[AS Roma and Inter Milan] are our rivals,” he added. “It will be a tough week.”
For now, Sarri and his men are the darlings of Italy. Only time will tell if this tactical revolution currently playing out on a weekly basis will result in a Scudetto come spring.
“In order to be competitive we must be consistent for 10 months,” Sarri said. “There are signs that we are growing, but only being consistent will tell us whether we have actually grown.”