Sarri But Not Sarri Thread

[!Hazard! 3,394]

Look at clips of Napoli under Sarri and then look at clips from our recent games. Several things are currently still lacking in this Sarri Chelsea such as runs in behind from the player in the Hamsik role (Barkley and particularly Kovacic play far too defensive), technically capable right back, a striker that scores goals, quality left back and in-form Jorginho. Most importantly, the tempo you seen in Napoli games is galaxies apart from what you seen in our games. With the proper tempo and intensity also lacks runs from third players that would allow more direct and quicker transitions from central midfield to attacking third. Why are still playing so slow football? You'd think the players would have already learned each others' positions by heart and could therefore also play quicker one-touch football. Players like Kante, Azpilicueta, Willian, Kovacic, Barkley and Alonso never play one-touch passing and instead always hog the ball for a while and turn promising attacks in to nothing. Neither does Jorginho though at the moment, which is weird considering that's his biggest asset. He only does one touch pass when passing sideways or backwards and avoids those quick vertical passes he got famous for at Napoli.

Higuain will undoubtedly give some much needed confidence and could potentially save our season and secure finish in the top4. However, it's clear that changes have to be made and several new players have to be bought both this window and particularly during the summer. Sarriball is still far away from reality and will remain so as long as these current players keep playing. Back-up to Jorginho (who has been playing far too many games this season and without proper competition), another playmaking and free-scoring CM/CAM like Coutinho/James, RB and LB need to bought as soon as possible. Perhaps some players of the loan army or youth academy (Aina/Baba/Reece James, Mount etc.) could fill some of those positions?

[OneMoSalah 8,783]

30 minutes ago, !Hazard! said:

Look at clips of Napoli under Sarri and then look at clips from our recent games. Several things are currently still lacking in this Sarri Chelsea such as runs in behind from the player in the Hamsik role (Barkley and particularly Kovacic play far too defensive), technically capable right back, a striker that scores goals, quality left back and in-form Jorginho. Most importantly, the tempo you seen in Napoli games is galaxies apart from what you seen in our games. With the proper tempo and intensity also lacks runs from third players that would allow more direct and quicker transitions from central midfield to attacking third. Why are still playing so slow football? You'd think the players would have already learned each others' positions by heart and could therefore also play quicker one-touch football. Players like Kante, Azpilicueta, Willian, Kovacic, Barkley and Alonso never play one-touch passing and instead always hog the ball for a while and turn promising attacks in to nothing. Neither does Jorginho though at the moment, which is weird considering that's his biggest asset. He only does one touch pass when passing sideways or backwards and avoids those quick vertical passes he got famous for at Napoli.

Higuain will undoubtedly give some much needed confidence and could potentially save our season and secure finish in the top4. However, it's clear that changes have to be made and several new players have to be bought both this window and particularly during the summer. Sarriball is still far away from reality and will remain so as long as these current players keep playing. Back-up to Jorginho (who has been playing far too many games this season and without proper competition), another playmaking and free-scoring CM/CAM like Coutinho/James, RB and LB need to bought as soon as possible. Perhaps some players of the loan army or youth academy (Aina/Baba/Reece James, Mount etc.) could fill some of those positions?

We were never going to be anything close to that this season. It took Sarri 2 pre seasons and a full season of Serie A to get Napoli to a good level. People expect him to work miracles, as if hes jesus himself and can turn water into wine. Lack of rotation has killed our momentum but it is also key to building patterns and relationships on the pitch which is needed to execute "Sarriball".

[Vesper 28,976]

Gary Neville surprised at Chelsea player power after Maurizio Sarri outburst

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/29326/11613188/gary-neville-surprised-at-chelsea-player-power-after-maurizio-sarri-outburst

 

Gary Neville accused Chelsea's players of "turning it on and off like a tap" after Maurizio Sarri's criticism of his squad, and revealed more about the level of player power at Stamford Bridge.

Sarri fumed at his side after they floundered to a 2-0 defeat at Arsenal on Saturday, their fifth loss in their last 12 games, and accused them of being difficult to motivate during an explosive rant translated from his native Italian.

Neville said the number of previous Chelsea managers who had revealed problems in the Stamford Bridge dressing room was too much to ignore - but added Sarri may not be around long enough to fully address the problem.

snip

[Sideshow Luiz 2,310]

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.

[Vesper 28,976]

27 minutes ago, Sideshow Luiz said:

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.

I think many are losing their patience based off the shit board not backing him.

We have, overall, turgid players.

exceptions

Kepa

Rudiger (a good 2nd CB, but not truly WC)

Luiz ( a specialist at long ball but zero chance a rock you can win titles and CL's off of)

Kante (criminally misused)

Hazard

all the rest (yes, Jorginho fanboys, I am tossing him into the meh pit, along with 2019 version of Azpi)

are simply not up quality needed or are shit indeed

CHO (leaving anyway probably) and Ampadu are too young to judge

if Higs shits out, we are well and truly fucked, and it will get worse if/when Hazard leaves

I trust the board ZERO to sort it

 

[Jase 43,479]

 

[Laylabelle 9,373]

47 minutes ago, OneMoSalah said:

We were never going to be anything close to that this season. It took Sarri 2 pre seasons and a full season of Serie A to get Napoli to a good level. People expect him to work miracles, as if hes jesus himself and can turn water into wine. Lack of rotation has killed our momentum but it is also key to building patterns and relationships on the pitch which is needed to execute "Sarriball".

Nah didn't expect it straight away. Just didn't think be playoff this badly of late. Not really scoring many. Keep dropping silly points and it's not coming together. 

Maybe just ditch Sarriball till have the right players for it. Only so long this season can keep trying. It's not working. 

He's not wrong in critising the players or performance but if he does that then stop playing the same poor performers! 

[Vesper 28,976]

2 minutes ago, Laylabelle said:

Nah didn't expect it straight away. Just didn't think be playoff this badly of late. Not really scoring many. Keep dropping silly points and it's not coming together. 

Maybe just ditch Sarriball till have the right players for it. Only so long this season can keep trying. It's not working. 

Sarri will not drop the 4 3 3 . It is in his DNA.

[DDA 9,689]

21 minutes ago, Vesper said:

Kante (criminally misused)

Kante is  box to box midfielder. He was at Leicester, he was under Conte and he is now??? 

Or am I getting this wrong?

Why am I seeing pundits saying he is being misused and should be in the DMF role!? He can't play there in this system. If you put him where Jorginho is then it would actually be a waste of his stamina and ability to get from box to box.

[Sideshow Luiz 2,310]

2 minutes ago, Vesper said:

I think many are losing their patience base it off the shit board not backing him.

We have, overall, turgid players.

exceptions

Kepa

Rudiger (a good 2nd CB, but not truly WC)

Luiz ( a specialist at long ball but zero chance a rock you can win titles and CL's off of)

Kante (criminally misused)

Hazard

all the rest (yes, Jorginho fanboys, I am tossing him into the meh pit, along with 2019 version of Azpi)

are simply not up quality needed or are shit indeed

CHO (leaving anyway probably) and Ampadu are too young to judge

if Higs shits out, we are well and truly fucked, and it will get worse if/when Hazard leaves

I trust the board ZERO to sort it

 

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.  

 

[Vesper 28,976]

Just now, DDA said:

Kante is  box to box midfielder. He was at Leicester, he was under Conte and he is now??? 

Or am I getting this wrong?

Why am I seeing pundits saying he is being misused and should be in the DF role!? He can't play there in this system. If you put him where Jorginho is then it would actually be a waste of his stamina and ability to get from box to box.

I am absolutely NOT convinced he couldn't play the Jorginho role. I think that's Sarri gaslighting. Jorginho is slowly being exposed as a fraud IMHO, when it comes to the EPL style of footie. He is incredibly weak defensively and his passes are now embedded into a paradigm of negative football.

[Fernando 6,479]

6 minutes ago, Vesper said:

Sarri will not drop the 4 3 3 . It is in his DNA.

In the article that Jason put Sarri said this: 

“I think it is different because Conte was using a four-man defence and changed to a three-man defence,” Sarri said. “But he was used to doing that anyway, so it wasn’t quite the same, whereas this is the football I have. I am a good teacher of this football. I don’t think it would be a good idea if I try to teach my players a different type of football. There will be some changes perhaps but there will be no massive upheaval.”

 

 

[DDA 9,689]

2 minutes ago, Vesper said:

I am absolutely NOT convinced he couldn't play the Jorginho role. I think that's Sarri gaslighting. Jorginho is slowly being exposed as a fraud IMHO, when it comes to the EPL style of footie. He is incredibly weak defensively and his passes are now embedded into a paradigm of negative football.

We need to give Jorginho some time. It is his first season and he is wrecked. We really could have done with Paredes. 

[Vesper 28,976]

2 minutes ago, Fernando said:

In the article that Jason put Sarri said this: 

“I think it is different because Conte was using a four-man defence and changed to a three-man defence,” Sarri said. “But he was used to doing that anyway, so it wasn’t quite the same, whereas this is the football I have. I am a good teacher of this football. I don’t think it would be a good idea if I try to teach my players a different type of football. There will be some changes perhaps but there will be no massive upheaval.”

 

 

Get him the correct players or sack him.

It isn't rocket science

[robsblubot 3,528]

8 minutes ago, DDA said:

Kante is  box to box midfielder. He was at Leicester, he was under Conte and he is now??? 

Or am I getting this wrong?

Why am I seeing pundits saying he is being misused and should be in the DMF role!? He can't play there in this system. If you put him where Jorginho is then it would actually be a waste of his stamina and ability to get from box to box.

Agreed. It's only a slight tweak that is needed there. Perhaps his focus needs to shift back to being a destructor and the 3rd cm move up a a bit, which might be more easily done with Ross rather than Kavacic, who looks too much like Jorginho type in my telly.

I totally agree with Sarri. The attitude was the biggest problem, and only a few players showed desired in that match (one who shall not be named did). Take Hazard for ex, I know he gets a free pass for the sheer love fans have for him, but his body language was all wrong against Arsenal.

* can't talk about the lack of a striker though

 

[whats happening 1,531]

5 hours ago, petre.ispirescu said:

Agree mate and I honestly believe that worse than the current state of this club is the fans' levels of expectations. Apart from a few players that you can count on one hand the others are Europa League stuff and no league title material. The cruel reality but it is the truth. 

Klopp had Clyne, Moreno, Lovren, Milner at left back, Emre Can, Lucas Leiva, Origi,Lallana,Alberto Moreno. Got rid of them all from the starting line up and improved on them. Guardiola the same, improved on the likes of Clichy, Kolarov, Sagna, Toure, Zabaleta etc.

It's a process and it needs time, Sarri only got one outfield player to fit his tactics (Jorginho) and a loanie that personally I don't see why Chelsea would buy. Others are from the Mourinho and Conte times and I don't think they can be polished anymore, there are big levels of complacency in this squad, the club simply needs to let go of a lot of them and bring new blood in. 

why are you surprised that the fans expectations are high? we are winning the league once in 2-3 years basically. of course there will be high expectation from the team, especially most of these players won the league twice in three years.

[Laylabelle 9,373]

4 minutes ago, Fernando said:

In the article that Jason put Sarri said this: 

“I think it is different because Conte was using a four-man defence and changed to a three-man defence,” Sarri said. “But he was used to doing that anyway, so it wasn’t quite the same, whereas this is the football I have. I am a good teacher of this football. I don’t think it would be a good idea if I try to teach my players a different type of football. There will be some changes perhaps but there will be no massive upheaval.”

 

 

Changes are good! Need the changes. I don't know atm what football we're trying to play. See how close to goal we can get before we lose the ball? It's not happening. 

Wait till have the players in then implement it. For now work with what we have. 

[Sideshow Luiz 2,310]

Just now, DDA said:

Kante is  box to box midfielder. He was at Leicester, he was under Conte and he is now??? 

Or am I getting this wrong?

Why am I seeing pundits saying he is being misused and should be in the DF role!? He can't play there in this system. If you put him where Jorginho is then it would actually be a waste of his stamina and ability to get from box to box.

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.