El P.

I am sad when I read that someone thinks that he was the best LWB/LB in the league in season 2016/17. No, he wasn't. He just had great season, but it was more a result of great circumstances for him, not because of his qualities. Through history a lot of shitty players had great seasons. We all know Kalou and Bertrand won f*cking UCL as starters in final. Same shit here. Shallow perception of football is one of the big things that are holding us down. He needed to be replaced long time ago. Conte knew that, hence he pursued Sandro for two seasons straight.

Exactly. I actually blame Kante to some extent. I saw many City's counters and he was nowhere to be seen. Sarri said himself - Kante needs to sit deeper when we are attacking on the left side. I have feeling in general that Kante isn't balancing his attacking and defensive duties well. But no one will criticise him, because he is Kante. He is always the best, no matter what he does.

If we had great sporting directors, well built board and all around good politics at the club, I would be for sacking Sarri. Now, it seems that we only have Marina. Feeling is that if we sack another manager club will turn into complete mess. I would rather give Sarri the power and put trust in him. This goes way beyond one ruined season. We NEED stability!

I think Kovačić would have been better for game like this, where it's clear we will suffer without ball. And Emerson is always better option than Alonso. What was Sarri thinking? Azpi should rest a bit too. Give Zappacosta a chance. No untouchables.

I think we should all report or put some negative feedback in any way to posts like that. After all - they are following the market. I'd happily unlike CFC facebook page on account of this post, maybe if they see enough of negative reactions they will stop.

WHAT IN THE GODS NAME IS THIS?!?! F*CKING AMATEURS.

Glad to see Sarri sees Kovačić as his replacement. Mateo actually can cover all three midfielder positions of ours, and is neither great nor bad on either of them.

Was not good today. Milan was really poor, only Donnaruma was from another world...

He is top 5 striker in the world, he has his "usual goal" against most of teams.

Yeah, didn't thought of it that way... if shot wasn't on target ti would have been own-goal I guess.

Yes, it's fine, but for me even better with playing with one more static mid. Matić or Busquets would be perfect with Kante in counter-attacking 4-2-3-1 od 3-4-3.

*** in some imaginary event... Host: "Hello Vesper, thanks for coming to dinner! Would you like some soup?" She: "Yes, sure, thanks! BUT THAT ALONSO ONE THE OTHER HAND DEAR GOD SH*T FU*K Host: "..."

Well, I was always AGAINST that consensus. I am sure Kante is the best as box-to-box player, he is just too wild and energetic to be playing at the pivot. And Sarri has nothing to do with that, I'd play Kante as box-to-box in any setup. Or in 4-2-3-1 with one more static DMF, like Matić was. For me, he should never be the last man in the midfield. And even 4-2-3-1 and 3-4-3 for example have on paper TWO DMFs. But I don't think that's the case - there's always one that goes more forward. And Kante is exactly that one for me.

Kante is such a beast going forward on the counter. He is great carrier, and that assist for Pipita, dear lord. And what is best - it's not a coincidence, it's becoming regular thing. Ok, his new role have deficiencies here and there when opponent catches us on the counter and he is a bit higher on the pitch. But other than that, it's pure advantage having him there. He can press high whole day, disrupt their build up and win balls. And on top of all that - he pulls some great dribbles or bursts of pace here and there, and also adds some assist and goals. Amazing player.

His second goal was good (deflected a bit), but that first one is just what we need. That first goal is everything, that's why you sign the great Gonzalo Higuain. True strikers' finish that fills all attackers with confidence that when you provide him with a ball he will fucking bury it. His overall game was good too, he can still dribble and is stronger on his feet than Costa, for example. Really good body balance. Few misplaced passes here and there.

They sacked him in THIRD season, lol. What was Mourinho like in first season? Like Sarri here. They dealt with it. And after that they had great second season, only out-of-this-world City stopped them from winning the league.

Exactly this. I don't like any of our players enough to pick them as my favourite. That's why I wrote Drinkwater.

It's his job, yes, and it's players' job to apply those tactics. Like ones at Napoli did, and ours just can't. Pedro played his fair share, but is too inconsistent, like he showed yesterday. When it's not his day he cannot control the ball properly. I agree that RLC should play more, but I cannot blame Sarri for not playing such an undefined player in the beginning of the season and was unprepared tactically (Conte said that himself too), and we gotta take into account that he got injured twice for now (if I recall correctly), that made him missing/unfit for about what, 6 weeks?

No, some of you did. Mourinho was much at fault, but not to a degree that we should have been 10th positioned. I was only for Mourinho leaving because we were close to relegation, and I was blaming him to a degree, but even then I was 51-49 for him leaving. And for Conte - I never blamed him in the first place, as many others didn't too. Players blamed him, players like Willian and Luiz, both world-class, and of course atmosphere got toxic.

Well, he might have smiled with his colleagues, but we all know how mad he was at post match conferences and with talking with players. That's more important. You can always see that he is very very upset, like he was yesterday. One thing is for sure to me: What we expect from our coach great teams have in their best players, in their leaders. They are the motivators and source of mental strength.

Exactly! But from whom do you expect pride and passion? From player that are in the club 3+ years and have won decent trophies in that time, or from the manager (who btw. only just got in)?

Conte may not be brilliant, but what he did in season 2016-17 was pure brilliance. Full stop. (I guess when I write "full stop" I am more right then.)

Ok, believe what you want. Point is that almost everything got our way in those seasons. Considering that we had no European competitions and no injuries in 2017, and that slump at 2015 was 12 wins from 19 (I meant whole second half of the season, not just last 15 games), with not-so-good Man City as our competitor, I think I have a point. And I don't think we were bad in those seasons. I think we were very good. I just think we have won those titles by our talent, and great managers' ideas. Not by being mentally strong.

Do you not remember our post January slumps for both of those seasons? And getting away with those only because our competitors were exhausted pre-Guardiola Man City and Spurs (no need to say more about them)? Also, let's take into account that we had JOHN TERRY at the squad for both of those. In 2015 there was even Ivanović. No, it wasn't Hazard or Azpi that mentally-lead this team to success. Sarris' fault - 30%, players fault - 70%.

Nope, I have never saw that with this group. I saw a lot of talent, but never strength. In 2015 and 2017 everything went like we wanted and needed. No true competitors, no injuries, heck, even no UCL in 2017. We have won the leagues in easiest possible ways. I am not counting that as a strength. Also, just look at our UCL record past 2012. That shows our real mental strength. And don't get me wrong - Sarri is not perfect too. But his only main disadvantage is being too stubborn with tactic (with playing the same and only using like-for-like changes). But it's arguable if that's really that bad. Also, he changed under-performers. Alonso, Willian, Morata, Barkley is not playing, you name it. He may not be top-class manager, but he is sure very good one. It really seems like we need to have a perfect manager for this squad to be good.