I've never been sure what to make of Maurizio Sarri, in the sense that he speaks so passively. For instance, in the moments after giving an awful Salernitana their first win in fourteen league matches dating back to last season, Sarri proclaimed that "the team have lost personality, initiative."

He sounds like a bystander-- isn't he the coach?

There are two possibilities: as in Tolstoy's discounting of Napolean's supposed military genius, perhaps coaches don't have as much influence as is routinely assumed, and Sarri is one of the only coaches in the world honest enough to dispense with the bull crap when speaking to the press; or, he's the kind of coach who shirks responsibility.

Either way, a change of module would help. He'd rather "go back to the bank" than not be able to impose his ideas on the game-- but a change in shape would produce more fluid football, because we could get all of our best players on the field at the same time, while also putting them into their most natural habitats. For instance:

4-2-3-1

Immobile (Castellanos)

Zaccagni (Pedro) - Alberto (Kamada) - Anderson (Isaksen)

Guendouzi (Vecino) - Rovella (Cataldi)

Pellegrini (Hysaj) - Romagnoli (Gila) - Casale (Patric) - Marusic (Lazzari)

Provedel (Sepe)

I assert that neither Alberto nor Kamada can drive the team consistently towards victory, playing the mezzala in a 4-3-3-- they are both trequartistas by trade. This shape would immediately boost goal scoring by having them perform their "bread and butter" roles, dumping some of their defensive responsibilities on the pair behind them.

Rovella is the next Andrea Pirlo, of that I have little doubt. But like Pirlo, he is a light weight and is effective when he has a fighter alongside him, as Pirlo had in Gattuso both at Milan and with the Italian team for many years. Both Guendouzi and Vecino are feisty, combative players with good physique, who can free Rovella to orchestrate the passing.