Sarri But Not Sarri Thread

[Vesper 28,976]

Matt Law's Chelsea briefing

Will Bournemouth duo move to London? By Matt Law Football News Correspondent

Signing Ake would fill a place on Chelsea's home-grown quota (credit: Getty Images)

Chelsea will not need to read up too much on Bournemouth ahead of their next Premier League game at the Vitality Stadium at the end of the month, as head scout Scott McLachlan has been a regular visitor. McLachlan has been spotted in the stands for Bournemouth games on numerous occasions, with Callum Wilson and former Chelsea defender Nathan Ake of particular interest. Chelsea hope the loan signing of Gonzalo Higuain will solve their striker crisis for now, but it is believed the club are only committed to signing the Argentine permanently if they win the Europa League or finish third or higher in the Premier League. That means the Blues will continue to watch Wilson as a potential long-term replacement to Alvaro Morata, along with central defender Ake, for the remainder of the season. Bournemouth value Wilson at well over £50 million and the 26-year-old has no intention of forcing his way out this month and risking upsetting his club’s season. But he could try to force his way to Stamford Bridge in the summer if Chelsea follow up their interest on McLachlan’s recommendation. Chelsea have a gentleman’s agreement with Bournemouth that would allow them to re-sign Ake for around £40 million and, crucially, he would fill a place on their home-grown quota. The expected departure of David Luiz at the end of his contract in the summer would free up a place in Maurizio Sarri’s squad for Ake, but that still leaves a question mark over Andreas Christensen. Christensen is highly rated by Chelsea, but has lost his place in the team since Sarri’s arrival. Despite being frustrated, the Dane agreed to stay this month, but he could look to leave if a defender is parachuted in ahead of him in the summer. It leaves Chelsea in a tricky situation, as Ake would also want first-team assurances to move back to the club he quit in 2017 in search of more regular football. Wilson and Ake will have the chance to show Sarri that McLachlan’s regular trips have been worthwhile, when Bournemouth host Chelsea on January 30.         btw, this comes as an email, no links

[Vesper 28,976]

Chelsea's tactical headache deconstructed: The problems facing Sarri-ball - and why N'Golo Kante will not be moved

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2019/01/21/chelseas-tactical-headache-deconstructed-problems-facing-sarri/

Chelsea aren't playing very well. Maurizio Sarri warned everyone back in September that he felt Chelsea were a year or two behind their rivals and it looks like he had a point.

Former manager Jose Mourinho summarised things nicely on a rare TV appearance over the weekend: "I'm not saying Chelsea's an easy team to play against... but it's an easy team to analyse".

With that in mind, what's going wrong?

How Sarri-ball works

As has become all too apparent in recent weeks, Chelsea are predictable and easy to shut down. Sarri's team lineup in a 4-3-3, play a high defensive line and patiently wait for opportunities to score by passing, then passing some more, then passing even more, then passing even more than that.

The whole thing is structured around a deep lying playmaker, or 'six', acting as a link between centre-backs and midfield.

On either side of him are two central midfielders - 'eights' - who play from box to box and operate in the halfspaces. The wingers are instructed to move inside the pitch, full-backs play high and overlap and the striker has to be able to attack crosses, run onto through balls and link play.

https://i.gyazo.com/7b2c116f5c63cc7f5cd56538a8010907.mp4

In defensive phases the shape can change to a 4-5-1 if the wingers do the defensive work required. The setup is very structured and depends on players who understand the tactical demands and are suited to their individual roles. Everyone knows how Chelsea play now.

 

Marking Jorginho

In the first phase of build up, everything goes through Jorginho. He acts as the link in all Chelsea's passing, dropping between the centre-backs, offering a safe diagonal pass backwards for the two eights and able to switch play from deep to an advancing full-back to get Chelsea up the pitch.

All anyone need do to suss out how influential Jorginho is look at Opta passing statistics.

 

snip

 

superb article

 

much more at the link above

[Henrique 9,133]

22 hours ago, Vesper said:

I still am partial to the 2004-5 first Mo team. But, yes, loved that 2009-10 squad. Great football.

My favorite Chelsea was the one from 07 to 10, right after Mourinho left. My favorite games (Barcelona and Bayern in 2012 UCL aside) are all from that period. The team had more freedom, and really loved that heavy midfield with Lampard and Ballack. Not a big fan of direction the club went after that, buying light midfield players like Ramires, Kante, Jorginho, Fabregas, Juan Mata and Oscar. 

[OneMoSalah 8,783]

20 hours ago, Clockwork said:

When Sarri was appointed i was a bit surprised to see Barkley in midfield, i thought his attributes fitted as a forward much more. At Everton he was known for his diagonal runs, attacking instincts, and ability to finish off goals. Do not like him in midfield just doesn't have the IQ to play there, you can clearly see he is thinking too much. 

RLC on the other hand i am not sure; he is great with his back to the goal and holding the ball. Just not sure about his finishing and movement off the ball. 

I hope your joking? He had created the most chances at Everton for about 3 seasons in a row when playing regularly.... thats what his game was under Martinez, Koeman and whoever else, sure he scored goals too but the majority of them were probably from outside the 18 yard box. 

 

[Clockwork 1,794]

1 hour ago, OneMoSalah said:

I hope your joking? He had created the most chances at Everton for about 3 seasons in a row when playing regularly.... thats what his game was under Martinez, Koeman and whoever else, sure he scored goals too but the majority of them were probably from outside the 18 yard box. 

 

Creating chances falls in line with attacking instincts in that sentence, where he was deployed more like a second striker behind Lukaku. The chances he created was from quickly passing to the striker, cross, dribbling, etc. It wasn't slow and deliberate passing from midfield.

 

Maybe i didn't phrase that properly in the original post, and maybe you read that to your own liking. Point of that post was Ross Barkley game mirrored more of a forward than a midfielder. His movement, run into space, aggressiveness when receiving, etc. 

Barkley is a terrible fit for 3 man midfield, his technical and physical ability is much better fit as a forward. He simply does not having the intelligence or the consistent passing to thrive as a midfielder.

 

 

[!Hazard! 3,394]

37 minutes ago, Clockwork said:

Creating chances falls in line with attacking instincts in that sentence, where he was deployed more like a second striker behind Lukaku. The chances he created was from quickly passing to the striker, cross, dribbling, etc. It wasn't slow and deliberate passing from midfield.

 

Maybe i didn't phrase that properly in the original post, and maybe you read that to your own liking. Point of that post was Ross Barkley game mirrored more of a forward than a midfielder. His movement, run into space, aggressiveness when receiving, etc. 

Barkley is a terrible fit for 3 man midfield, his technical and physical ability is much better fit as a forward. He simply does not having the intelligence or the consistent passing to thrive as a midfielder.

 

 

If you look how Hamsik played at Napoli under Sarri, he was basically playing as a second forward at times, running into space etc. Barkley in theory should be a good fit to play that LCM position but for some reason it just isn't happening

[Sideshow Luiz 2,310]

Just now, !Hazard! said:

If you look how Hamsik played at Napoli under Sarri, he was basically playing as a second forward at times, running into space etc. Barkley in theory should be a good fit to play that LCM position but for some reason it just isn't happening

And back on defence.  That guy has a serious motor.  Converted winger too, if I'm not mistaken (in his younger days).  I think he's seriously underrated and getting someone like him is difficult, IMO.  I thought Kovacic might be, but he doesn't come close to what Hamsik provides in the final 3rd.  

And yes, I also thought Barkley would be able to do the role as he has the needed physical qualities and his improvement at the start of the season had me really hopeful.  

[Clockwork 1,794]

6 minutes ago, !Hazard! said:

If you look how Hamsik played at Napoli under Sarri, he was basically playing as a second forward at times, running into space etc. Barkley in theory should be a good fit to play that LCM position but for some reason it just isn't happening

Hamsik is a proper midfielder though, much more well rounded player. He has quite bit of experience as pivot midfielder, 3 man midfield and as a #10. Lampard esque in ability. 

[kellzfresh 7,229]

3 hours ago, !Hazard! said:

If you look how Hamsik played at Napoli under Sarri, he was basically playing as a second forward at times, running into space etc. Barkley in theory should be a good fit to play that LCM position but for some reason it just isn't happening

Why dont our midfielders run into space? I notice this a lot, they have no football intelligence to notice they have space to run into in attack. Thats why we have few bodies in attack all the time.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

I found this article on our problems in attack.

Quick edit : This post might seem like a low-key Luiz & Jorginho Love-in.

It

Isn’t

You can make anyone look good, or terrible by taking snapshots of their 90 minute performances. What I’m trying to get at below is an issue with this team as a whole. Luiz looks amazing on the ball facing forwards with time and space ahead of him. Huge difference to the rest of the team in that aspect. Keep that in mind.

I started to write this after the Newcastle game.

Too many touches. Too much hesitation. Too slow, and all around quite boring. A win against Newcastle, yeah, but it highlighted the worst of our forwards and advanced midfielders. At times there’s a distinct lack of awareness from our attackers as to how much time and space they really have. And that was only exasperated against Arsenal when things went from bad to… bad.

We can’t pretend that the signs weren’t there before this weekend’s game at The Emirates™. After a ‘heroic’ loss at Wembley the lads took their foot off the pedal. Again. Putting in one of their worse showings in recent times against Newcastle Arsenal.

But we should be more concerned with the mentality of the team as a whole. Not so much in the cliché ‘machismo’ sense, but more in terms of being positive on the ball, taking responsibility, and showing some semblance of awareness. It’s a process. Sure. But with the risks we take playing the way we do, and margins in a game of professional football so thin, we need more in the 'final 20 metres' to make it worthwhile.

For example

https://gfycat.com/ReliableScaredHaddock

We see some quality on the ball from Luiz. These types of passes are useful because:

· You just might get in behind and create a chance or at the least unsettle their defensive shape

· At worst you’ve lost the ball very high up the pitch meaning little danger to yourself

But we don’t see enough of these sort of risks from other players further forwards. Maybe Jorginho. It sticks out like a sore thumb when Jorginho tries to pick a similar sort of run, but the key thing is at least he is trying to be incisive.

To get back to what I was talking about above. These passes from Luiz and to some extent Rudiger serve a clear purpose. And outside of the obvious poor finishing we’ll see there’s more that we’ve failed to take advantage of in these moments.

https://gfycat.com/WildUnsteadyAmericanbobtail

This time it’s only just behind the run. Pedro and Azpi recover possession. The failed attempt has disrupted Newcastle’s previously disciplined and solid shape, and gaps have formed in front of their defence.

We’re now back to the issue spoken about above. Too many touches. Slow and ponderous play that ultimately leads to very little.

Couple things that annoy me about how this all pans out.

It might be harsh to be looking at this frame by frame and bashing them for it, but as professional footballers in the top flight of the English game this is the speed at which they have to make their decisions. Margins are thin. The tempo of passing has to be quick in order to unsettle defences. The game has moved on from 15-20 years ago when the 10 had space and time to dictate and make decisions between lines.

Most of the gaps we create in defences last less than a second. And when no one takes responsibility throughout the entire move we get the same boring and frustrating tippy-tappy nonsense without a true end goal in sight.

https://gfycat.com/EmptyThinFly

It might seem like the above move was all for naught, but it actually created what it was supposed to. Space and time for a forward in a dangerous area.

https://imgur.com/a/XqMbyBA

Willian made a decoy run on the left and ended up offside. When he drifted back on, Jorginho spotted how much space he was in and played him the ball.

To receive the pass and turn into the box Willian's body shape was all wrong. He wasn't aware of the sort of space he had. But once again one of our wingers in space to turn and drive plays a passive pass backwards. He even has Alonso on his outside pinning their RB. This is a proper half-chance in my eyes.

An obvious issue then. The need for invention and to move the ball quickly. All while getting bodies into the box. It doesn’t always have to work out. It's more that the previous incision and will to force things to happen has been slowly slipping out of our game.

I’m sure Sarri is alright with his players losing the ball while playing at a high tempo. It’s better than the alternative of taking more touches for a safety first approach (that poses more of a danger to us in the long term). We’re living with the worst of both worlds. Risky build-up play without the end product to make it worthwhile.

That's a lot for one Higuain to solve, but with Hazard moving back out wide and having a threat in behind...

A lot of maybes. It's on to Sarri to sort this.

[mccg 1,528]

'I WANT HIM OUT' 

Angry Chelsea fan on talkSPORT wants to see ‘stubborn’ manager Maurizio Sarri sacked

Blues supporter tells The Sports Bar he 'can’t stand’ the Italian and compares him to former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger

https://talksport.com/football/479914/angry-talksport-caller-chelsea-maurizio-sarri-sacked/

[Unionjack 7,531]

The three flaws of Sarri-ball and how the signing of Gonzalo Higuain can fix Chelsea's system

https://www.football.london/chelsea-fc/news/three-flaws-sarri-ball-how-15717053

[Special Juan 27,439]

"I prefer Hazard when he speaks with his feet"

Well said Maurizio.

[mccg 1,528]

Maurizio Sarri adamant Chelsea players AGREED with him over public skewering

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/maurizio-sarri-adamant-chelsea-players-13899315

[mccg 1,528]

Sarri: Chelsea players agree with me on motivation comments
https://www.fourfourtwo.com/news/sarri-chelsea-players-agree-me-motivation-comments

[mccg 1,528]

Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri keeping squad in the dark with unusual tactic ahead of Spurs

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/755475/Chelsea-Tottenham-Carabao-Cup-news-Maurizio-Sarri-tactics-update?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+daily-star-football+(Daily+Star+%3A%3A+Football+Feed)

Should deffo tell Alonso he aint playing until he bucks up his ideas!

[Special Juan 27,439]

They train on a match day? Is this correct? If so I find that unusual on a match day

[Laylabelle 9,373]

'' Chelsea do seem to have the same season every two or three years.

They either win the league or sack their manager and finish about seventh''

So true! Hopefully this year.. Something different