The Sarri Thread

[Jase 43,479]

15 hours ago, manpe said:

Goals - We lack firepower up front: Our midfield is more a provider than a scorer, our strikers stink so there is not much to whom to provide to. Our wingers also far from clinical, even though Hazard was carrying us earlier. Willian hopeless, a fucking center-back (JT) scored more than him in almost the same amount of games, Pedro old and injury-prone but by far the better option between the two. That's all we have to offer in terms of attacking prowess, it looks pretty bleak if you ask me, so the managers may look towards anything they can find that can produce goals. Alonso has proven that for a defender he scores more than average + his free-kicks are always potential game-changers.

This point would have been a strong one if Alonso was scoring regularly but that's not the case. If he isn't scoring, what exactly does he contribute to the team offensively? I would argue that his goals can be offset by having a more dynamic full back who creates chances regularly for others to score. Heck, if our full back creates more chances, maybe our front attacking players would have gotten more goals!

15 hours ago, manpe said:

Defending - Yes, he is much slower than Emerson, but his positioning, anticipation, tackling, marking etc. might be better than Emerson's. I'm not a professional football coach to fully understand all the intricacies of defending, I see only the basic stuff (like pace, slide tackles, clearances, blocks), but perhaps over the course of 90 minutes he IS the better defensive option?

Problem with Alonso is his severe lack of pace and because of that, he can't position himself too far forward and in case of turnover and he can't get back in time. As a result of that, it also hurts us going forward because we sometimes have one less option attacking wise and not to mention, Alonso can't beat players one-on-one, meaning we always have to play him into space etc to get him going.

[Vesper 30,185]

19 hours ago, kellzfresh said:

I don't know how sarri will do it, but he has to find a way to play emerson and zappacosta more. They provide the width that Alonso and Azpi could never dream to provide. The amount of forward runs they make and crosses they put in reminds me of Ashley cole and prime ivanovic. Sarri has to at least try emerson once in the first team lineup with Hazard. There is a reason why Guardiola spent 150mil on fullbacks and went on to win the league in record points, you can't have slow or defensive fullbacks in the modern game anymore.

CHO's performance in his first start for sarri just shows how much willian is limited as a player. He was better in his end product and even dribbling, I just hope the Sarri experiment to test CHO on the right wing was in view to play him more regularly from the bench on that right wing.

Giroud is by far better than Morata and it has been proved once again. Morata can cut his hair or change his jersey number all he wants but we cant rely on a moody striker to step up for us.

great post, totally agree

[Tomo 21,751]

What i am loving the most so far with Sarri is how open he is about the need to improve on the defensive phase and how much work still needs to be done on it. How many times down the years have we seen a manager with an attacking philosophy arrogantly look down their nose at defense play like it was beneath them and bang on about their principles or whatever bolax after a defensive horror show? To say im relieved Sarri isn't of that mould is a massively misguided understatement.

[manpe 10,861]

5 hours ago, Jason said:

This point would have been a strong one if Alonso was scoring regularly but that's not the case. If he isn't scoring, what exactly does he contribute to the team offensively? I would argue that his goals can be offset by having a more dynamic full back who creates chances regularly for others to score. Heck, if our full back creates more chances, maybe our front attacking players would have gotten more goals!

Problem with Alonso is his severe lack of pace and because of that, he can't position himself too far forward and in case of turnover and he can't get back in time. As a result of that, it also hurts us going forward because we sometimes have one less option attacking wise and not to mention, Alonso can't beat players one-on-one, meaning we always have to play him into space etc to get him going.

 

5 hours ago, Vesper said:

Alonso has ONE GOAL all year, all comps

Emerson's positional defensive play is equal to Alonso's and he has far better pace.

Alonso is so slow that he is even shit on overlapping runs oft-times. Emerson FINALLY looks to be getting back to pre-Roma injury pace, which is explosive compared to La Tortuga.

Yeah, agree with everything. But I have a feeling that this goalscoring/free-kick thing comes into their thinking when choosing him or Emerson. Another thing that probably comes into the manager's mind is his physicality and usefulness in the air... but that is sooo Mourinho. I really don't see compelling reasons why Alonso is so strongly ahead of him.

[Vesper 30,185]

Why a shift to 4-2-3-1 could solve Chelsea’s midfield woes

https://eurofantasyleague.com/news/2018/11/29/why-a-shift-to-4-2-3-1-could-solve-chelseas-midfield-woes/#.XAKar9tKjIV

In truth, last Saturday’s 3-1 loss to Tottenham Hotspur flattered Chelsea. The gulf in class between the two teams at Wembley was much vaster than a two-goal margin would suggest, as Spurs comprehensively outplayed their London rivals to climb above them and into third place in the Premier League table.

Chelsea were exposed defensively against Mauricio Pochettino’s men, with David Luiz particularly shaky up against a lively front three of Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Son Heung-min. The post-mortem has focused more on the makeup of the Blues’ midfield, though, after Jorginho was effectively shackled by Alli and N’Golo Kante again looked uncomfortable in a No.8 role.

There have been many calls for Maurizio Sarri to return Kante to his favoured position in front of the backline for this weekend’s clash with Fulham, but while there is no doubt that the Frenchman does his best work when stationed in a deeper midfield berth, there is no chance that Jorginho will be moved from that position any time soon.

Sarri was only installed as Chelsea’s next manager after pre-season had begun in the summer, and the Brazil-born Italy international was the sole outfield signing he was permitted to make before the start of his debut campaign in English football. Jorginho had previously been linked with Manchester City, but the chance to hook up with his former Napoli boss at Stamford Bridge tipped the balance in Chelsea’s favour.

His importance to the cause was evidenced in the opening weeks of the season, as Jorginho quickly established himself as the most prolific passer in the division. Chelsea’s build-up play flowed through the 26-year-old, who was also noticeably vocal in instructing his team-mates to take up the type of positions he knew his manager liked. Jorginho’s presence in the heart of the side certainly helped Sarri get his ideas across quickly, and a 12-game unbeaten start was more than most fans were expecting.

Opponents soon recognised how fundamental Jorginho was to the Chelsea system, though, and Everton duly nullified him in a 0-0 draw at Stamford Bridge, before Tottenham did the same last time out. Nevertheless, swapping the ex-Verona man and Kante is not the solution to this issue.

 

snip

 

much more at the link

[manpe 10,861]

@Mana ^ We are now truly in transition. If you expected an easy ride and that we'd be blowing away established teams like United, Spurs and Pool, then you were wrong. No, not comparable to Arsenal's transition, as they already had the players fit for this style, style which in its core is the same as Wenger's. They were always going to get better, Wenger was so clueless, Emery is making them play to their full potential. We got Sarri in to shift us from ultra-defensive counter-attacking side to his possession based quick attacking style, but handed him square pegs to fit into round holes. It is a process that needs time and several transfer windows to take us up some levels.

Why are you always so negative? One loss to a strong team that finished 7pts above us last season, and it's December. I expected WAY worse considering this is our biggest transition in Roman era. It is a work in progress, not the end result.

[Special Juan 28,141]

I don't think we will buy anyone in January, it's also not a window to cover our problem areas, the players we need won't be available mid season.

 

[whats happening 1,615]

maurizio 'no plan b' sarri

[!Hazard! 3,394]

Yeah I get, we are in the middle of poor run but can we spare the comparisons to Arsenal? Ok, they have improved in recent months but they had an established style of play for decades and this new manager isn't going to revolutionize that unlike Sarri. Also, they've got Lacazette and Aubamayang banging in goals for fun. Makes a big difference for the morale of the team when you have attackers that can actually score goals on a regular basis.

January can't come soon enough. I hope the board understands how important it is to back Sarri and get couple players in.

[Alabama 1,992]

3 minutes ago, !Hazard! said:

Yeah I get, we are in the middle of poor run but can we spare the comparisons to Arsenal? Ok, they have improved in recent months but they had an established style of play for decades and this new manager isn't going to revolutionize that unlike Sarri. Also, they've got Lacazette and Aubamayang banging in goals for fun. Makes a big difference for the morale of the team when you have attackers that can actually score goals on a regular basis.

January can't come soon enough. I hope the board understands how important it is to back Sarri and get couple players in.

While I am same page with you as regards your perspective but can Sarri please drop Morata Willian and Alonso for good...we have absolute better players on bench and even rotting away in God knows where due to his stubborn nature to try and atleast change some few things up...

[Jase 43,479]

I don't want to be overreacting but where is this Sarri-ball that we've been hearing? What's the point of having more possession and playing more passes than anyone else (ha!) if there's no attacking cohesion to create chances and score goals? Our football right now is not so much different to what we saw under Conte or even Mourinho. No doubt we have some poor attacking players right now to make his football work but if he can't adapt for the time being and make what we have work, then Sarri won't last long here. We have had managers like this in the past - they have grand ideas on how to play beautiful football but are inflexible tactically and only know one way of playing - and we all know what happened to them in the end.

[Laylabelle 9,535]

2 minutes ago, Jason said:

I don't want to be overreacting but where is this Sarri-ball that we've been hearing? What's the point of having more possession and playing more passes than anyone else (ha!) if there's no attacking cohesion to create chances and score goals, then what is the point? Our football right now is not so much different to what we saw under Conte or even Mourinho. No doubt we have some poor attacking players right now to make his football work but if he can't adapt for the time being and make what we have work, then Sarri won't last long here. We have had managers like this in the past - they have grand ideas on how to play beautiful football but are inflexible tactically and only know one way of playing - and we all know what happened to them in the end.

That's it. We had 70%....we lost that's the thing that matters. 17 shots and only 3 on target. No point playing pretty football and having sod all to show for it. If not working it needs to be fixed before he's off elsewhere and the cycle continues 

[Vybzkartel 284]

2 minutes ago, Jason said:

I don't want to be overreacting but where is this Sarri-ball that we've been hearing? What's the point of having more possession and playing more passes than anyone else (ha!) if there's no attacking cohesion to create chances and score goals, then what is the point? Our football right now is not so much different to what we saw under Conte or even Mourinho. No doubt we have some poor attacking players right now to make his football work but if he can't adapt for the time being and make what we have work, then Sarri won't last long here. We have had managers like this in the past - they have grand ideas on how to play beautiful football but are inflexible tactically and only know one way of playing - and we all know what happened to them in the end.

I stopped taking him seriously the moment he kept insisting on starting Azpi, Willian and Alonso. For me that was enough 

[Jase 43,479]

Just now, Vybzkartel said:

I stopped taking him seriously the moment he kept insisting on starting Azpi, Willian and Alonso. For me that was enough 

The least Azpi brings to the team is defensive stability. He's had some dodgy games at the start of the season but overall, he's been solid and can see why Sarri starts him. People over-exaggerate his supposedly bad form only because of his attacking play. But the other two? Wolves targeted Alonso tonight and got plenty of joy out of it. And Willian's pathetic attempt to keep the ball (if we can call it that) for the second goal sums it all up. But Sarri, for some reason, remains blind to obvious issues.

[Tomo 21,751]

9 minutes ago, Jason said:

I don't want to be overreacting but where is this Sarri-ball that we've been hearing? What's the point of having more possession and playing more passes than anyone else (ha!) if there's no attacking cohesion to create chances and score goals? Our football right now is not so much different to what we saw under Conte or even Mourinho. No doubt we have some poor attacking players right now to make his football work but if he can't adapt for the time being and make what we have work, then Sarri won't last long here. We have had managers like this in the past - they have grand ideas on how to play beautiful football but are inflexible tactically and only know one way of playing - and we all know what happened to them in the end.

I would say AVBs ultimate downfall is because he did "adapt", as soon as he showed willingness to revert to default mode the players stopped listening and he was done. We could probably park the bus on Saturday and get a smash and grab point or 3 but what would really be the point? We will just end up back in the cycle of pragmatic football that lets be honest is past it's sellby date in todays game.

[Alabama 1,992]

Can someone please comprehensively explain how Emerson can be so bad in training that makes him automatically frozen out of match day squad...

[Vybzkartel 284]

2 minutes ago, Tomo said:

I would say AVBs ultimate downfall is because he did "adapt", as soon as he showed willingness to revert to default mode the players stopped listening and he was done. We could probably park the bus on Saturday and get a smash and grab point or 3 but what would really be the point? We will just end up back in the cycle of pragmatic football that lets be honest is past it's sellby date in todays game.

I think its more adapt by taking out out of form players. Alonso had no business starting today especially after he gave such a disaster class on Sunday. He needs to be willing to drop out of form players. 

[Jase 43,479]

8 minutes ago, Tomo said:

I would say AVBs ultimate downfall is because he did "adapt". As soon as he showed willingness to revert to default mode the players stopped listening and he was done. We could probably park the bus on Saturday and get a smash and grab point or 3 but what would really be the point? We will just end up back in the cycle of pragmatic football that lets be honest is past it's sellby date in todays game.

Nobody is asking Sarri to make a 180 degrees turn on his football but if he can't make minor tactical adjustments to make things work for the time being, then he won't last very long. You know well enough that inflexibility won't get managers far in the Premier League and Sarri is certainly showing that now, with his tactics and team selection. Plus, where is this Sarri-ball that we have heard so much of? Where is the cohesive, combination play in the attacking third? We've barely seen it. Only thing we have gotten from his football so far is more possession and passes but really, what's the point of that when we don't create enough or proper goalscoring chances? It was the same under Conte and Mourinho. And seeing us bossing some of these smaller teams is not really different to what we saw under Conte, Mourinho etc as we tended to dominate those games as well in the past.

[Vybzkartel 284]

1 minute ago, Jason said:

Nobody is asking Sarri to make a 180 degrees turn on his football but if he can't make minor tactical adjustments to make things work for the time being, then he won't last very long. You know well enough that inflexibility won't get managers far in the Premier League and Sarri is certainly showing that now, with his tactics and team selection. Plus, where is this Sarri-ball that we have heard so much of? Where is the cohesive, combination play in the attacking third? We've barely seen it. Only thing we have gotten from his football so far is more possession and passes but really, what's the point of that when we don't create enough or proper goalscoring chances? It was the same under Conte and Mourinho. And seeing us bossing some of these smaller teams is not really different to what we saw under Conte, Mourinho etc as we tended to dominate those games as well in the past.

The best football we have played is arguably in Mourinho's first season back. To hell with this philophy crap. Just talent and hard work. 

[Jase 43,479]

1 minute ago, Vybzkartel said:

The best football we have played is arguably in Mourinho's first season back. To hell with this philophy crap. Just talent and hard work. 

I'm all for playing good football but IMO, we are at our best when we're tough to beat and flexible tactically. It's those qualities that have made us successful over the last 15 years. Maybe we have too many average players now, the manager isn't instilling that never-say-die attitude or maybe we'll get there again but I'm certainly not seeing those qualities right now in the team and it's painful to watch.