Chelsea’s victory over Manchester City shows Maurizio Sarri’s new mentality is founded on club’s old spirit

This was like the good old days of Chelsea, the old mentality, when they used to dig in, put their bodies on the line and grind out results if they had to

Maurizio Sarri always talks about changing the mentality at Chelsea and yet this, his greatest moment in charge here, relied on summoning the club’s old spirit.

Everyone knows how Sarri likes to play: high pressing, dominating the ball, intricate and incisive football. This was a great performance, but it was not that.

This was like the good old days of Chelsea, the old mentality, when they used to dig in, put their bodies on the line and grind out results if they had to. That was a different generation of players and managers but it is sometimes the best way of winning a game. And it is the only way that has managed to beat City in the Premier League this season.

More than six years ago Chelsea beat Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona here 1-0 in a Champions League semi-final first leg. Guardiola thought that this was his team at their absolute peak, and they cut through Chelsea with some wonderful passing but they could never turn their dominance into goals. Sure enough, Didier Drogba popped up at the end of the first half, sweeping in Ramires’ pull-back after Frank Lampard’s diagonal, to give Chelsea the lead.

Roberto Di Matteo was the Chelsea manager back then but that win owed more to the spirit of the club and its players than it did to the planning of the coach. It was classic Chelsea, encapsulating the qualities that won them the Champions League that year.

But that was four managers ago now and Chelsea is a very different place. All of those inspirational players have left and Sarri is trying to take the club in a different direction. He wants to impose the values that made his Napoli side so effective, values in keeping with those of Guardiola. They are not exactly traditional Chelsea values and at times this season it has looked odd to see these players in these shirts trying to play in a way that is so unfamiliar.

That is why some Chelsea fans are uncomfortable with football that looks more like Arsenal’s football than their own. Especially after a spell in which they lost at Spurs, lost at Wolves, and started to show tactical and mental vulnerabilities that few previous Chelsea managers would have entertained. Sarri even complained on Friday that his team go into “blackout” when anything goes against them.

It is no secret how to play against Chelsea now. You can sit back, defend, and lure them onto you. Wait for the full-backs Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso to both push on at the same time. And then counter-attack into the gaping spaces either side of the two center-backs, David Luiz and Antonio Rudiger. Especially given that we know now that Jorginho will not put up much of a fight.

When Tottenham took Chelsea apart at Wembley two weeks ago they posted Dele Alli on Jorginho, effectively squeezing him out of the game. Heung Min Son ran riot in the spaces outside Luiz and with slightly sharper finishing, Spurs could have scored six or seven.

It was tempting, going into this game, to wonder whether City could deliver that sort of high single digits humiliation to Chelsea. The prospect of this City attack playing into that much space sounded like a recipe for goals.

And maybe it would have been, but that is not how the game panned out. Yes, City were monstrously dominant for the first 40 minutes, right up until N’Golo Kante scored Chelsea’s opener against the run of play. But they never had as much space as they needed to take the lead. City’s pressing was so relentless, in fact, that they pinned Chelsea much further back in their half than they would ever choose to play themselves. But in doing so they restricted their own space to attack. City missed the chances they did have, complacency crept in and City lost their edge.

Maurizio Sarri wants to change the club's mentality (AFP/Getty) (AFP)

Just like that famous humbling of Guardiola here in 2012, Chelsea struck at the perfect moment, just before the break. Another long diagonal, another cut back, another emphatic finish past a striken goalkeeper. Again, Guardiola saw all of his passing reduced to nothing, his intricate house of cards knocked down by one thumping counter-attack.

That night Chelsea only won 1-0 but this time they grabbed a second, thanks to David Luiz’s towering header from a corner. Another classic Chelsea goal, the type that had almost gone out of fashion here during Sarri’s four months in charge. He was heroic throughout the second half, throwing himself in front of everything, winning his physical battles with Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus.

Leadership, physical bravery, counter attacks and set pieces, not losing your nerve even when the opposition has you pinned. Maybe not exactly what Sarri is trying to implement here, but probably exactly what his tenure needed.