Eden Hazard, centre, Cesar Azpilicueta, left, and Jorginho are all integral parts of Maurizio Sarri's Chelsea side. AP Photo
Eden Hazard, centre, Cesar Azpilicueta, left, and Jorginho are all integral parts of Maurizio Sarri's Chelsea side. AP Photo
Eden Hazard, centre, Cesar Azpilicueta, left, and Jorginho are all integral parts of Maurizio Sarri's Chelsea side. AP Photo
Eden Hazard, centre, Cesar Azpilicueta, left, and Jorginho are all integral parts of Maurizio Sarri's Chelsea side. AP Photo

Chelsea's Jorginho represents shift in philosophy Maurizio Sarri has brought to Stamford Bridge


Richard Jolly
  • English
  • Arabic

Perhaps Nemanja Matic was 12 months ahead of his time. The Serb’s move to Manchester United last summer was a cause of some irritation to Antonio Conte.

“A great loss for us,” the Chelsea manager said at the time, suggesting the Serb was sold against his wishes.

If a robust, experienced defensive midfielder feels both a personification of Jose Mourinho’s ethos and the manager’s closest ally in a dressing room that scarcely seems packed with believers, the possibility he may miss Saturday’s reunion with a back injury feels another blow for the beleaguered Portuguese.

But it looks rather different from a Chelsea perspective.

Matic would have been integral for Conte last year. He could have been superfluous for Maurizio Sarri this season. His replacement Tiemoue Bakayoko is gone, loaned out to AC Milan, and largely forgotten.

Chelsea have less need for a hulking bulwark in front of their defence. A team with a tradition of winning the league in a manager’s debut season have been revived, but also reinvented. “The biggest change I ever saw in such a short space of time. Wow,” Jurgen Klopp said last month.

Chelsea were a couple of minutes from beating the German’s Liverpool then.

If Eden Hazard, another remnant of Mourinho’s reign and one who said this week that he would happily play for the Portuguese again, is the face of a side relishing a more attacking remit, the brain is a successor of Matic’s.

Jorginho feels the anti-Matic. He is 14 centimetres shorter and 18 kilograms lighter.

It may be a simplification to brand them a constructive and destructive midfielder respectively – the Serb’s passing skills helped him register seven assists in his last season at Stamford Bridge – but only one dictates play. Matic is no regista, no modern-day equivalent of Andrea Pirlo.

Jorginho is Chelsea's fulcrum, their classy constant. But as Sarri said when he unveiled his first signing: "Jorginho is not a physical player, he is a technical player."

Tellingly, given the criticisms that Matic can be too slow to pass forwards, Sarri said of Jorginho: “The most important quality is that he is very quick in the mind. So he has the ability to move the ball very quickly.”

He moves it very often. Jorginho set a Premier League record by attempting 180 passes against West Ham United.

It is not merely that he has had played more passes than anyone else in the division; he is already 111 clear of Aymeric Laporte in second and 224 ahead of Antonio Rudiger in third. Four of the top seven are Chelsea players whereas last year Cesar Azpilicueta was their lone representative in the 12 most prolific passers.

Chelsea played the fifth most passes last season, ahead of only Mourinho’s United among the top six. Now they have had even more of the ball than Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.

It shows the scale of the makeover. Sarri previewed the campaign by saying: “I expect in the first part of the season some problems.”

Few have materialised. Perhaps he was simply downplaying expectations but it is understandable if he is surprised.

A 3-4-2-1 formation has been jettisoned for Sarri’s 4-3-3, a cautious counter-attacking side reimagined as a possession team.

Matic’s old sidekick N’Golo Kante forged a reputation as the premier defensive midfielder in the world, but now spends more time in the final third. He is averaging more shots and fewer tackles and interceptions than before.

“I try to find the striker, to be more offensive, to cause problems for the opponents,” Kante said in August. “I need to adapt in this role.”

But his industrial reserves of energy have equipped him for box-to-box duties.

___________

Read more:

Marcos Alonso: Chelsea offer full-back new contract but Christensen is running out of patience

Ross Barkley: England's Chelsea midfielder ready to 'kick on' and says his best is yet to come

___________

Manchester United's Nemanja Matic, formerly with Chelsea, would not have fit in with the kind of football Maurizio Sarri wants played at Stamford Bridge. Getty Images
Manchester United's Nemanja Matic, formerly with Chelsea, would not have fit in with the kind of football Maurizio Sarri wants played at Stamford Bridge. Getty Images

And the other position Matic perhaps could have filled, on the left of a midfield trio, was Marek Hamsik’s in Sarri’s Napoli and the Serb is scarcely a duplicate of the goalscoring, playmaking Slovakian. Perhaps Mateo Kovacic, a slight passer, and Ross Barkley are not either.

But the rejuvenated Merseysider, a player Conte either ignored or criticised, showed his quality as he served as one of the architects of England's victory over Spain.

Each has the mobility of a Sarri-esque No 8 in a way Matic does not. Mourinho’s fondness for supersized midfields, for picking more than one defensive midfielder, distinguish him as Sarri feels more in touch with the times.

For all the animosity between them, Conte was more of a tactical soulmate. They both wanted Matic. Sarri perhaps would not have done.

It is a reason why he represents a break from Chelsea’s past as the Italian orchestrates a revolution in the midfield.

WOMAN AND CHILD

Director: Saeed Roustaee

Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi

Rating: 4/5

Scoreline

Saudi Arabia 1-0 Japan

 Saudi Arabia Al Muwallad 63’

Company name: Farmin

Date started: March 2019

Founder: Dr Ali Al Hammadi 

Based: Abu Dhabi

Sector: AgriTech

Initial investment: None to date

Partners/Incubators: UAE Space Agency/Krypto Labs 

Labour dispute

The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.


- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law 

THE CLOWN OF GAZA

Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah 

Starring: Alaa Meqdad

Rating: 4/5

The Specs:

The Specs:

Engine: 2.9-litre, V6 twin-turbo

Transmission: 8-speed automatic

Power: 444bhp

Torque: 600Nm

Price: AED 356,580 incl VAT

On sale: now.

LAST-16 EUROPA LEAGUE FIXTURES

Wednesday (Kick-offs UAE)

FC Copenhagen (0) v Istanbul Basaksehir (1) 8.55pm

Shakhtar Donetsk (2) v Wolfsburg (1) 8.55pm

Inter Milan v Getafe (one leg only) 11pm

Manchester United (5) v LASK (0) 11pm 

Thursday

Bayer Leverkusen (3) v Rangers (1) 8.55pm

Sevilla v Roma  (one leg only)  8.55pm

FC Basel (3) v Eintracht Frankfurt (0) 11pm 

Wolves (1) Olympiakos (1) 11pm 

Tips for SMEs to cope
  • Adapt your business model. Make changes that are future-proof to the new normal
  • Make sure you have an online presence
  • Open communication with suppliers, especially if they are international. Look for local suppliers to avoid delivery delays
  • Open communication with customers to see how they are coping and be flexible about extending terms, etc
    Courtesy: Craig Moore, founder and CEO of Beehive, which provides term finance and working capital finance to SMEs. Only SMEs that have been trading for two years are eligible for funding from Beehive.
Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Another way to earn air miles

In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.

An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.

“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.

VEZEETA PROFILE

Date started: 2012

Founder: Amir Barsoum

Based: Dubai, UAE

Sector: HealthTech / MedTech

Size: 300 employees

Funding: $22.6 million (as of September 2018)

Investors: Technology Development Fund, Silicon Badia, Beco Capital, Vostok New Ventures, Endeavour Catalyst, Crescent Enterprises’ CE-Ventures, Saudi Technology Ventures and IFC

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Living in...

This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home. 

The Bio

Favourite holiday destination: Either Kazakhstan or Montenegro. I’ve been involved in events in both countries and they are just stunning.

Favourite book: I am a huge of Robin Cook’s medical thrillers, which I suppose is quite apt right now. My mother introduced me to them back home in New Zealand.

Favourite film or television programme: Forrest Gump is my favourite film, that’s never been up for debate. I love watching repeats of Mash as well.

Inspiration: My late father moulded me into the man I am today. I would also say disappointment and sadness are great motivators. There are times when events have brought me to my knees but it has also made me determined not to let them get the better of me.

Ferrari 12Cilindri specs

Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12

Power: 819hp

Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm

Price: From Dh1,700,000

Available: Now

While you're here
How to invest in gold

Investors can tap into the gold price by purchasing physical jewellery, coins and even gold bars, but these need to be stored safely and possibly insured.

A cheaper and more straightforward way to benefit from gold price growth is to buy an exchange-traded fund (ETF).

Most advisers suggest sticking to “physical” ETFs. These hold actual gold bullion, bars and coins in a vault on investors’ behalf. Others do not hold gold but use derivatives to track the price instead, adding an extra layer of risk. The two biggest physical gold ETFs are SPDR Gold Trust and iShares Gold Trust.

Another way to invest in gold’s success is to buy gold mining stocks, but Mr Gravier says this brings added risks and can be more volatile. “They have a serious downside potential should the price consolidate.”

Mr Kyprianou says gold and gold miners are two different asset classes. “One is a commodity and the other is a company stock, which means they behave differently.”

Mining companies are a business, susceptible to other market forces, such as worker availability, health and safety, strikes, debt levels, and so on. “These have nothing to do with gold at all. It means that some companies will survive, others won’t.”

By contrast, when gold is mined, it just sits in a vault. “It doesn’t even rust, which means it retains its value,” Mr Kyprianou says.

You may already have exposure to gold miners in your portfolio, say, through an international ETF or actively managed mutual fund.

You could spread this risk with an actively managed fund that invests in a spread of gold miners, with the best known being BlackRock Gold & General. It is up an incredible 55 per cent over the past year, and 240 per cent over five years. As always, past performance is no guide to the future.

Dust and sand storms compared

Sand storm

  • Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
  • Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
  • Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
  • Travel distance: Limited 
  • Source: Open desert areas with strong winds

Dust storm

  • Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
  • Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
  • Duration: Can linger for days
  • Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
  • Source: Can be carried from distant regions
The burning issue

The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.

Part three: an affection for classic cars lives on

Read part two: how climate change drove the race for an alternative 

Read part one: how cars came to the UAE

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
SCHEDULE

Saturday, April 20: 11am to 7pm - Abu Dhabi World Jiu-Jitsu Festival and Para jiu-jitsu.

Sunday, April 21: 11am to 6pm - Abu Dhabi World Youth (female) Jiu-Jitsu Championship.

Monday, April 22: 11am to 6pm - Abu Dhabi World Youth (male) Jiu-Jitsu Championship.

Tuesday, April 23: 11am-6pm Abu Dhabi World Masters Jiu-Jitsu Championship.

Wednesday, April 24: 11am-6pm Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship.

Thursday, April 25: 11am-5pm Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship.

Friday, April 26: 3pm to 6pm Finals of the Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship.

Saturday, April 27: 4pm and 8pm awards ceremony.

How to avoid crypto fraud
  • Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
  • Use an offline private key, a physical device that requires manual activation, whenever you access your wallet.
  • Avoid suspicious social media ads promoting fraudulent schemes.
  • Only invest in crypto projects that you fully understand.
  • Critically assess whether a project’s promises or returns seem too good to be true.
  • Only use reputable platforms that have a track record of strong regulatory compliance.
  • Store funds in hardware wallets as opposed to online exchanges.
The Bio

Name: Lynn Davison

Profession: History teacher at Al Yasmina Academy, Abu Dhabi

Children: She has one son, Casey, 28

Hometown: Pontefract, West Yorkshire in the UK

Favourite book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Favourite Author: CJ Sansom

Favourite holiday destination: Bali

Favourite food: A Sunday roast

Specs

Engine: 51.5kW electric motor

Range: 400km

Power: 134bhp

Torque: 175Nm

Price: From Dh98,800

Available: Now

Global state-owned investor ranking by size

1.

United States

2.

China

3.

UAE

4.

Japan

5

Norway

6.

Canada

7.

Singapore

8.

Australia

9.

Saudi Arabia

10.

South Korea

The specs
  • Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
  • Power: 640hp
  • Torque: 760nm
  • On sale: 2026
  • Price: Not announced yet
Results

Stage seven

1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates, in 3:20:24

2. Adam Yates (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers, at 1s

3. Pello Bilbao (ESP) Bahrain-Victorious, at 5s

General Classification

1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates, in 25:38:16

2. Adam Yates (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers, at 22s

3. Pello Bilbao (ESP) Bahrain-Victorious, at 48s