Maurizio Sarri
Sarri is seriously thinking to false nueve.
It could not be otherwise. His curriculum, at least that one written in Serie A, tells how he played with 2 to attackers in Empoli in a 4-3-1-2, and one striker in Napoli, in the tried and tested 4-3-3. But reading again all his history, there has never been a false nueve.
In fact, such an attack has never seen by choice,by no team in the world, or almost. In Italy we remember the first Spalletti‘s Roma, that of 10 years ago, which also fought against Mourinho‘s Inter. The italian coach found a cure to the absence of a central striker, his 4-2-3-1 had Totti offensive end. That team produced good play and lots of goals. But its attack formation was different compared with Napoli.
Actually, according to the football historians
the “invention” of the false nueve is by Guardiola. His Barcelona used to have a massive ball possession, the famous tiki-taka. If you have the ball, the ball is not possessed by the opponent. Simple but brilliant the intuition of Pep. This type of football has brought to the constant renunciation of strikers, and the employ of fast players, able to enter into the defenses. So it was born the idea of the false nueve, a footballer who starts from the midfield and does not give any reference point to the opponent’s defenders. This midfielder is able to score but also can provide the last pass, thanks to his play vision. In the past, Messi has been a player like that, but now, with a different coach who trains Barcellona … Messi is still a footballer like that. We can’t forget that in order to not to spoil the team playing, Guardiola renounced even to the great Ibrahimoic who stayed just one year in Spain.
Napoli is not Barcellona, Insigne, or Mertens, or Callejon, whoever will be the falso nueve, he is not Messi. But this idea of play may also give good results a bit more to the south of Spain.
So, let’s give space to Manolo Gabbiadini, but regard to the falso nueve,