Chelsea, Sarri and the Willian question

Life is good at Stamford Bridge right now. After the upheaval that characterized Antonio Conte's final season, Chelsea's 2018/2019 campaign has gone swimmingly so far. Under Maurizio Sarri's tutelage, the team is unbeaten in all competitions. This has been achieved with an exciting, attacking style of play a.k.a Sarriball.

However, not everything has been brilliant. Despite being given lots of chances, Brazilian winger William has not been brilliant. In a system that depends a lot on fast passing and constant movement, his decision making has not been the best. His dithering on the ball and running into defenders has been frustrating to watch. Sadly, this has been a feature of his game despite the good work he has done for the club.

Too often, attacking moves have broken down as a result of his bad decision making. This cannot have gone down well with Sarri. In his Napoli team, the front trio was quick and incisive in movement and decision making. Jose Callejon, Dries Mertens and Lorenzo Insigne (even Arkadusiz Milik despite his relative lack of pace compared to the others) were players who were very good at the pass-and-move style; a central tenet of Sarriball.

Sarri's system emphasizes qualities Willian has not shown

Given his role under Pep Guardiola during his Barcelona days, it's a principle that Spanish winger Pedro, is very comfortable with. The World Cup winner has played fewer minutes than Willian this season due to injuries. Yet, in the games he has played in, he has been more effective than the Brazilian. Pedro has delivered 3 goals in the 6 Premier League games played so far (2 games as a sub). His percentage of successful passes is 89% per game.

Willian has featured in all 8 Premier League games so far recording one goal and one assist. His passing reads at 84.8% per game. Eden Hazard is obviously undroppable as in Sarri's system, he has been majestic. He has taken to the new manager's style like a fish to water, delivering goals, assists and world-class performances.

It goes without saying that when fit, Hazard and Pedro will start ahead of Willian. There was the talk of playing the three together a la the Napoli front three of Callejon-Mertens-Insigne. This may still happen given the patchy form of Chelsea's strikers; Alvaro Morata and Olivier Giroud. However, it is doubtful that the aforementioned trident could deliver the numbers the Napoli trio did.

Unlike Willian, Hazard has been majestic in Sarri's system

While Sarri is renowned for his work at improving players, at the age of 30, Willian may be too set in his ways for even the former banker to fix. With the January transfer window approaching, Sarri and Chelsea's transfer guru Mariana Granovskaia may dip into the market for talent to help maintain the team's title push.

Given the new regime of selling before buying which exists at the club, Willian might be one of the players who could be offloaded. There were times when the Brazilian winger was a shining light for Chelsea (the dark days of Jose Mourinho's final season for example). However, with the new regime and style of play, his time at the club may be numbered.