Clockwork

Kante has been a trainwreck himself from the opening minute of this game.

Absolutely on RLC, he has so much more intelligence and awareness too. Ability to make quick one touch passing and very decisive.

Luiz and Rudigar play and communicate like they have never played together.

He is playing well, but on a another note fans tend to have little expectation for the role Kante plays in. When we concede goals they blame it on Jorginho, if we fail to score goals the LCM tend to get criticized and others. But yeah this is the role i have been arguing for Kovacic since September, he is just not the offensive midfielder to play that advanced as Sarri had him.

Honestly my biggest qualm is RLC not starting, someone tell me what does Kovacic and Bakley do when they start on a regular basis?

My #1 choice to fill the LCM void would be Lyon's Aouar. I think Sarabia is better than Dross Barkley and Kovacic. But i would prefer someone with a higher potential.

I think for some of us, posting in the match day thread is a good way to deal with our frustration. You are right this is who Sarri is, acceptance is quite hard even though i know what is coming. As the comedian Jeff Jeffries said, hope is the biggest cause of depression.

The whole Alonso and Emerson situation is extremely strange, the latter fits the type of football Sarri wants to implement so much. For example arguably our best oppertunity came from a combination play that started with Emerson. This type of combination was enormously important to the football Napoli enjoyed, the duo of Alonso and Azpi are just not capable of it.

I think the concern for most is a statement that implies that Sarri rates Alonso, and that is concern. Alonso should be binned as soon as possible imo, he has been one of Chelsea weakest link. Sure managers can overrate their players or sing bigger praise, i don't think anyone would care for the praise if Alonso was actually at Chelsea standard.

Having Azpi as your captain is seriously flawed, imagine trying to implement a new style and mindset of attacking football. While your current captain is so poorly conditioned in that type of football. It is equivalent of the blind leading the blind, actually it is worse in fact.

I am not exactly sure what conclusion he is attempting to draw. KDB could have a shit game or not even play like he has for roughly most of the season and City would still be fine. In fact KDB has started in 5 PL games this season, and 2 of them were losses. He has been involved in 3 of out of 4 City league losses. Their record is astonishingly better without him.

From my perspective it looked like Hazard was tasked with the job of marking Fernandinho, thought he did a good job. I look at the amount of touch and pass the Brazilian complied on this day it was considerably less than he regularly enjoyed.

I would be quite happy with someone like Laurent Blanc tbh.

That was quite Kaka esque.

Regardless if the club is going to back Sarri or not long term, this was not acceptable and he should be punished. If you allow him to escape punishment you set a bad precedent.

Can't wait for Azpi hollow words and more fist pumps on the pitch.

Azpi is just a freaking cheerleader, he is no captain. Where is he in this mess with Kepa?

RLC pace, strength, and first touch could be devastating if used right.

This is Kovacic type game, our best midfielder against the press should be on the pitch.

I have never understood why Sarri has not played Kante in the LCM role, clearly the opposition exploiting the left side has been an issue.

Any idea what kinda playing style should we expect from Holland? i am not very familiar with him.

Sarri please do not play the same lineup that got thrashed 6-0.

I think he should play much more. Neither Luiz or Rudigar are doing so hot nowadays. But i fully expect the usual lineup though.

I think there is merit to both sides of the argument, I thought in a game like this when the opposition played more open than Kante qualities can be successful in attacking sense. But games like this is not the norm, teams play much deeper and more opportunistic on the counter. That is also not considering the quality of Malmo who are not on par with the standard teams we play. I do not think either role is really fitting for kante, i would agree he is best as a B2B. But on a team that is more reactive and play on the counter. But in a team that dominates possession and are valuranblhe to the counter i would rather see Kante as the deepest player in midfield. I really like what Laurent Blanc did with Verratti, before him he was used like Jorginho. He placed him higher on the pitch, and played Thiago Motta as the deepest midfielder, and allowed Verratti do what he does best. I think similarly Sarri needs to adjust his system, because you are much more exposed on the counter than in Serie A.