Sideshow Luiz

There was at least 1 passage in the first half where we played a little triangle and Pedro made a great run down the right, but the ball didn't go forwards, Kovacic dawdled on the ball, then turned around and laid it off 5 yards backwards. It's a strange cycle. No on makes runs, so no one looks to make the pass to runner, then guys don't make runs because the ball isn't coming, etc., etc.

Somewhere on the spectrum between shit/useless and Ballon D'or favourite. I'd say decent to pretty good. Better than he's shown recently. I also think Hazard is better than he's shown recently. Willian about the same. David Luiz pretty consistent (but his lows are terrible). Azpi hasn't been very good lately either, but I still think he's pretty good too.

Vesper and I had a conversation about this. I'm alluding to him not being shit or useless.

Higuain will move CHO further down the depth chart. That's Willian or Pedro to the bench. We need a CF and any CF will do the same, but there's a domino effect to other areas. Now, CHO to 4th choice winger isn't bad in itself, it's very easy to explain that there's room on the bench for 1 winger. IF Sarri rotated more, that would mean it's CHO's spot just as much as Willian or Pedro. But....

Create an account. There are tons of matches on there.

I was all over that site when we were getting Sarri. And this one to watch matches: https://footballia.net/ (you have to register, but it's free) I didn't want to just see highlights of Napoli's play. I wanted to watch full matches to see what their play looked like when it wasn't all Harlem Globetrotter-esque highlights.

Right now, man-marking with a diamond is killing our build up. When players start moving off the ball better, teams won't really be able to do that consistently. https://spielverlagerung.com/2016/12/03/sarris-napoli-in-rampant-home-victory/

I'm actually reading "The Jordan Rules" right now. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jordan_Rules_(book) There's this part in it where a player is telling the author about a conversation that he was having with Jordan about a particular shot and MJ says "You just hang in the air for 3 seconds and after the defender goes past you, it's an easy shot" (or something to that effect)

No, I don't think that YOU think he's useless (I've seen him in your 'meh' category). It's more like a statement against some of the narrative going around that are saying he's useless. Like rio Ferdinand saying "I don't see what he offers". I mean, it's funny. If he could see it he'd be a coach like some of his other peers. But, he's just using his name to get a TV gig (fair play). don't confuse me for saying that I think he's been stellar. But, I think he'll look like a decent player (what he is) when all of the moving pieces are working properly.

Those guys are super rare.

Sure, but just because it's not one extreme, doesn't mean it's the other. As always, it's probably somewhere in the middle. And what I'm saying is that he's clearly not useless. If he were useless you could leave him alone and sit back waiting for him to misplace a pass. They are clearly trying to take his time away. I don't think he's regressed, I just think he's not playing that well right now. I think he, along with the rest of the team, will look better when we are moving off the ball. It's much easier to man mark when everyone is just standing around and it's much easier to pass the ball when the receiver isn't just standing next to his marker. He could also use a day off too. This is his first season with a second useless cup and no winter break.

So, when Herrera marked Hazard out of the match a couple of seasons ago, are we saying the same thing about Hazard? He's not capable of overcoming it? As in most sports, if you want to change the whole shape of your defence and make 1 player spend the whole match following another, that other player is going to have a tough time and he will need team mates to move in to the space and help out because there are gaps now. It's the same for Jorginho. It means that he has to get some help in the build up. Our 2 worst matches were against a a 442 diamond midfield. 2 strikers mark the CBs, man marking in midfield. The space is down the wings where we can actually create a overloads. But teams don't mind giving us the ball out wide, because we can't cross and have no one getting in to the box anyway. That's on Sarri to fix. But, having your game reduced because you've got a player acting like your shadow has happened to a lot of players who are better than Jorginho and it does suggest that he will pose you problems if he's left alone (or so these opposition managers believe).

Saw a post in the comments on WAGNH If he's so useless and shit, why is every team trying to man-mark him out of the match?

No one. Let the players pick themselves. They can vole on a captain every week who picks the team. Or they can just vote on an XI and the captain picks the formation.

Used to be 9M apart. Now we're 20M apart. Sigh

None of the pundits ever seem to remember this. We'd be asking him to do less running and more passing. He's a good passer, underrated by many IMO. But, he's battery powered, his motor is unrivalled.

Yeah, I find this an odd narrative as well. Conte tried him at the base of a 3 man midfield and he was neutered, IMO. His tackling and energy are his best attributes, The thing is, he's still playing the role of a ball winner. It's just further up the pitch and not right in front of the CBs now.

The board isn't going to do shit. We all know this. I think Luiz is critical right now. When teams want to man-mark Jorginho, he becomes our deep lying playmaker (I'd also argue that he was fantastic in our CL run, but going in to the future, no). It comes back to the direction of the club. Do you want to bring through young players, or do you want to spend the mega-money for the players you need to challenge? Can't have it both ways. You either want to develop a Pulisic and CHO, or you want to keep playing Willian/Pedro because they give you a better chance to win now. Even young teams need some older players around, you can't have a dressing room full of 19 year old multi-millionaires. You need Azpi/Pedro/Fabregas types to show them what it takes to be a pro.

I'm kind of curious as to how long people thought it was going to take to get this team playing in the image that Sarri wants. I get the impression from reading many of the posts that a lot of people think that what we are doing now is what "Sarri-ball" was supposed to be or what he would like to see. It's got elements, but it terms of movement and speed, it's nothing close. People don't really think that what we are seeing now is the type of football that has Sacchi calling up Pep asking him if he's seen this? It's currently boring and sideways and toothless. No one besides Pedro seems interested in making a forward run. Willian, Hazard, Kovacic, all want to come deep and receive the ball to their feet. This team is dribbling through midfield far more often than Napoli did. That's not how "Sarri-ball" is supposed to move the ball vertically. For anyone who thinks it's boring and slow right now (I agree), I think Sarri would agree with you too and it's not what he wants either. Now, I'm open to the possibility that it will never work here, sometimes things just don't work. I'm just a little surprised that people are so willing to abandon it after 6 months.

Me four

Forgot that it was FA Cup next weekend and not the Premier League. You're right, Hazard is going to play. I'd imagine that may well mean that Kovacic will start again for Barkley (and, probably Alonso too). Shit, I thought it was PL and we needed to rotate.

I think CHO, AC, and Barkley are going to start. Giroud and Emerson, I'd rate as probable.

CHO - Giroud - Pedro Barkley - Jorginho - Kante Emerson - Luiz - AC - Azpi Personally, I'd rotate a bit more, but that's who I think he'll go with. Marina can bring in Jorginho's back-up any time now...

a bit

Happy viewing everyone.