Unpopular Opinion: Sarri pulled off a miracle in 19/20 with a washed squad, and he deserves way more credit
I’ve been thinking back to the 2019/20 season lately, and I honestly feel Sarri doesn’t get anywhere near the credit he deserves for what he pulled off. That scudetto win was practically a miracle when you look closely at what he had to work with, and the narrative around that year is completely skewed.
First off, people used to say Dybala and Cristiano Ronaldo couldn't play together, but Sarri was the only manager who actually figured out how to make them mesh. He unlocked Dybala by giving him freedom as a roaming false nine, which opened up the exact spaces Ronaldo loved to attack from the left. That was easily Paulo's most mature and complete season. He carried the team in big games, deservedly won Serie A MVP, and Ronaldo put up his best scoring numbers in Italy with 37 goals. Offensively, it was a masterpiece.
The real issue wasn't the attack or the manager. It was the fact that the rest of the squad was completely washed and overrated.
Look at that midfield. Pjanic was completely spent and playing in slow motion. Khedira and Matuidi were legends of the previous cycle, but they were running on empty, and there is a reason Matuidi went to MLS right after. Ramsey was a total ghost on massive wages, Rabiot had a dreadful first year, and Bentancur or Emre Can simply lacked the quality and fit for that style of play. Add an awful Alex Sandro on the left and a defense that couldn't push high anymore, and you realize how broken the spine of that team actually was.
Sarri basically won a title relying purely on Szczesny making big saves, individual brilliance from Dybala and CR7, and his own ability to squeeze every last drop of fuel out of a dying engine.
The fact that we collapsed into barely scraping fourth place in the years right after proves that the squad was already at the end of its life cycle in 2020. Sarri masked those massive flaws and delivered a title anyway, and it is a shame how underrated that season still is.