The Sarri Thread

[Laylabelle 9,535]

1 hour ago, Fernando said:

Blame it on the board. 

Dont blame it on the sunshine... 

 

 

[MoroccanBlue 5,382]

We are genuinely at a time where we won't be competing for the title for a while. The sooner people grasp that, the better. It has been an accumulation of poor transfers and club decisions that's been going on since Gourlay left. We are Liverpool of 2012. What makes it even more frustrating, is that we are the ones that pay the price. Not the board as their job security is unbreakable. 

Half of our starting XI aren't good enough. Bench is terrible. Transfer ban looming. Hazard destined to leave. Roman can't enter the country. With our without Sarri, we need to take the bull by the horns and ride this through. It will take some while. Least this will get rid the plastics. 

[Laylabelle 9,535]

10 minutes ago, Mana said:

The plastics will return as soon as we win the league again though.

Also, I’m sure many of us know we are not going to be title contenders for a while. But get at least top 4. We need that top 4. Another season in the EL will make the club less and less attractive to go to when we need players.

Liverpool, United, Arsenal can still be attractive even years out of the CL because of their well known history. We don’t have that (yet anyway).

Unfortunately looks more and more unlikely we'll get top 4. Gotta rely on others to drop points now... Arsenal have 6 to play.. Spurs and Man U 5 and us 4. Then again Man U have City to play and us.. Spurs have City and we have Man U but haven't beaten a top side away... Yipeee... 

Maybe Watford will help us.. Then again should be capable of getting our own points. We were so ahead at one stage then bammmm loss loss draw

 

[MoroccanBlue 5,382]

First order is a DoF. Sorted before the summer preferably.  

[Nicco 927]

1 hour ago, Mana said:

I’m struggling to find out why you’re not even slightly bothered with this loss today.

By playing Hazard as false 9, you are giving the opposition a great advantage. The world knows bar Sarri that Hazard is near useless in that position. So we were playing with 10 men until when we were 2-0 down.

The only positive is that CHO, RLC and Emerson were out there today. This is probably why I’m not fuming like I usually am.

The false 9 was the best solution for us. Our strikers are absolute shit. I don't understand how anyone can blame Sarri for today's game showed exactly the difference in quality of the 2 teams.

The only thing he could've changed is let Hazard play on the wing with Willian and put Pedro as the false 9 yet again I don't think he tried this yet and knew Hazard as a false 9 was succesfull before.

[Superblue 6,372]

I am by no means Sarri's biggest fan and the jury is still very much out on him for me and whether he gets next season here.

However I have sympathy for him today. A few weeks ago we tried going toe to toe away at City and got royally embarrassed. He changed our tactics for the league cup final which went infinitely better and rather than being stubborn and sticking to his principles (which he has been ridiculed for at times this season) he changed the tactics to keep us in the game as long as possible. When Liverpool's biggest creative threat comes from their full backs, I can also understand Sarri wanting to move Hazard away from a wide position so he wasn't expected to keep dropping back to track the Liverpool full backs. 

In the first half we were pretty solid for the most part and also offered a threat on the counter, and the tactics seemed to be working. Keep Anfield as quiet and nervous as possible for as long as possible and then potentially have a go in the last 20-25 minutes. 

Some faith was finally shown to the likes of CHO, RLC and Emerson in a huge game too.

The game today showed how much more clinical the teams at the top are at present compared to us, and currently we're just not good enough at present.

[!Hazard! 3,394]

3 hours ago, Special Juan said:

How the mighty have fallen. 

Doesn't mean it will always be like this. Maybe 5 years from now Liverpool are shit again and we're at the top. For now, we just gotta suck it up and continue to improve.

I liked the starting XI and the general approach to this match. In my opinion it is was only approach worth taking considering how far Liverpool are in their project cycle, how dangerous they are in attack and how solid they are in defence.

It wasn't the best performance for sure, quite far from it. I'm probably one of the biggest supporters of Jorginho at this forum but I though he was poor today. Azpilicueta kept showing why is either past it, fatigued or simply not good enough for this type of football at all. Higuain showed why Sarri decided to go with false 9 in the first place – the man looked out of shape and out of place on the pitch. Still we got few chances and in some other game we would have buried those. Either way, Liverpool created more chances and they deserved to win. Clearly the better team at the moment and there's no shame in admitting it. There's plenty of good things, however, to take onboard from this weekend. No less that three academy players featured today. Mason Mount scored a hattrick on Friday. Reece James keeps on impressing at Wigan. Better times are ahead and the future doesn't look that bad at all.

[Tomo 21,751]

23 minutes ago, !Hazard! said:

No less that three academy players featured today. Mason Mount scored a hattrick on Friday. Reece James keeps on impressing at Wigan. Better times are ahead and the future doesn't look that bad at all.

It's quite funny that Sarri has done what everyone's wanted for months and it's being swept under carpet, possibly because only 1 of the 3 wanted trio actually performed today.

[Henrique 9,133]

5 hours ago, bakayokofan said:

😅

I must surely have watched a different game. I thought we were very good. Could easily easily have been 2-2

 We got beaten by 2 great goals. We defended really well. And created some good chances. 

I have had a lot of issues with sarri but calling him a fraud for today's performance seems downright stupid.

We cannot respect the opinion coming from a dude called Bakayoko Fan.

[robsblubot 3,595]

8 hours ago, Mana said:

False 9 with Hazard up top is NEVER the best solution for us. Hazard being successful as false 9 only happened once, and all other times failed.

While I agree with that, we have no other choice. Go there with an immobile striker and we play with 10 men from the get-go. Had we done that, I'd be concerned with another city fiasco. 

The only choice he had was to drop Cho, and that would make it worse because Cho is obviously more dynamic than either one of the strikers. He does run a lot and can cover the flanks. He also wanted to have Willian doing the hard work on the left, like Superblue wrote above, another sensible tweak likely agreed among the coaches.

Emerson, who shall not be criticized , even had the protection of Willian, a hard worker, in front of him to try to contain their right side. I know it's difficult because Salah is a great player and IMO edges over Eden in that final pass, touch, finish. Still that's where they won the game. However, Emerson getting outmuscled out of plays happens way too often for me.

Honestly, I think folks are barking at the wrong tree today. Our team is simply not good enough to play toe-to-toe against Liverpool over there. It is the manager's responsibility to attempt to give us a chance, and that has to be speculative with counter attacking.

The feeling I have around here is that some are fans of certain players, not the team. I don't care if Hazard looks good or bad, if Cho can do his step overs. Ultimately this is about winning games and silverware, and IMO the manager did his job today.

[Henrique 9,133]

The game was actually decent. In the first half William thad the best chance of the game. After Liverpool scored 2 goals in a space of few minutes, Sarri reacted quickly and introduced Higuain. Hazard lost two goals in front of the goal, and thats unusual coming from him. Liverpool is the stronger side. So I would say that was a decent effort from Sarri. He wasn't even afraid to put Odoi in the game, even though its clear the kid is not ready for this kind of game. 

[1905didierblue 748]

2 hours ago, Henrique said:

We cannot respect the opinion coming from a dude called Bakayoko Fan.

And we can respect the opinion of someone who even on my short time here on the forum just pops up to ridicule the team when we lose?

I like baka, and the guy is showing his worth this season .

 

[Fulham Broadway 17,313]

13 times we've conceded a goal between 45-56mins.

Sarri's half time team talks working well then.

[Strike 7,489]

7 hours ago, Tomo said:

It's quite funny that Sarri has done what everyone's wanted for months and it's being swept under carpet, possibly because only 1 of the 3 wanted trio actually performed today.

Still consider this as a positive. 

[Laylabelle 9,535]

2 hours ago, Fulham Broadway said:

13 times we've conceded a goal between 45-56mins.

Sarri's half time team talks working well then.

So true! Carragher and guy said before half time.. All going well but so was Everton. Then look what happened. 

Then out we come.. And look. My worry also. Is we go a goal down. That's it. We came back against Cardiff that's pretty much it. Any other game gone behind we haven't won

[Fulham Broadway 17,313]

1 hour ago, Laylabelle said:

We came back against Cardiff that's pretty much it. Any other game gone behind we haven't won

I like Azpi, but as captain he doesn't seem to have the motivational clout to get them going when it get's tough. I just hope the bigger picture of Abramovich not being allowed in the UK, rumours of the club being sold, new ground cancelled, isn't the start of a big rot setting in. 

[Superblue 6,372]

10 hours ago, Tomo said:

It's quite funny that Sarri has done what everyone's wanted for months and it's being swept under carpet, possibly because only 1 of the 3 wanted trio actually performed today.

Ironically the job he has done with RLC and CHO this season has been a huge positive for the club as both have come on leaps and bounds as the season has progressed and are now both arguably first choice options.

Sarri's style is such a culture shift away from what a large contingent of players are used to under Mourinho and Conte before him and that would be an extremely difficult thing to change within the more experienced older players. 

Even with a transfer ban, if Sarri was to keep his job, I think he needs to look at the progression of RLC and CHO and realise that some more trust in younger players may be needed, who he can mould into his ideology and style having been fairly unexposed to anything in particular yet in their careers. There are 3 or 4 players we could easily integrate into this squad, plus Pulisic coming in next season to start the process of refreshing and rebuilding this squad.

If the club are to go 'all in' with Sarri and are prepared to take a couple of steps back initially to make bigger progress moving forwards then they should also be taking this opportunity to get some of the younger players coming through too.

[Tomo 21,751]

15 minutes ago, Superblue_1986 said:

Ironically the job he has done with RLC and CHO this season has been a huge positive for the club as both have come on leaps and bounds as the season has progressed and are now both arguably first choice options.

Sarri's style is such a culture shift away from what a large contingent of players are used to under Mourinho and Conte before him and that would be an extremely difficult thing to change within the more experienced older players. 

Even with a transfer ban, if Sarri was to keep his job, I think he needs to look at the progression of RLC and CHO and realise that some more trust in younger players may be needed, who he can mould into his ideology and style having been fairly unexposed to anything in particular yet in their careers. There are 3 or 4 players we could easily integrate into this squad, plus Pulisic coming in next season to start the process of refreshing and rebuilding this squad.

If the club are to go 'all in' with Sarri and are prepared to take a couple of steps back initially to make bigger progress moving forwards then they should also be taking this opportunity to get some of the younger players coming through too.

Yeah Sarri is the only one who has really focused on improving RLC. Mourinho, Conte and even Roy just shoehorned him in places they believed hid his weaknesses the best. Earlier in the season Sarri was calling Ruben over in game at every opportunity to give him instructions and it looks like his persistence is starting to seriously pay off, something Loftus has mentioned himself.

I think this is a perfect time to get Mount and James in the squad even if the ban gets overturned, I think we need to spend all our budget on serious quality at ST and LB and with Azpi declining and the LCM spot being open, this is the perfect chance for both.

[Antonio8 736]

2 hours ago, Laylabelle said:

So true! Carragher and guy said before half time.. All going well but so was Everton. Then look what happened. 

Then out we come.. And look. My worry also. Is we go a goal down. That's it. We came back against Cardiff that's pretty much it. Any other game gone behind we haven't won

that demonstrates what sarri said several times. besides the technical problems, this squad lacks also in mentality 

[Superblue 6,372]

1 minute ago, Tomo said:

Yeah Sarri is the only one who has really focused on improving RLC. Mourinho, Conte and even Roy just shoehorned him in places they believed hid his weaknesses the best. Earlier in the season Sarri was calling Ruben over in game at every opportunity to give him instructions and it looks like his persistence is starting to seriously pay off, something Loftus has mentioned himself.

I think this is a perfect time to get Mount and James in the squad even if the ban gets overturned, I think we need to spend all our budget on serious quality at ST and LB and with Azpi declining and the LCM spot being open, this is the perfect chance for both.

Fully agree. I've always been a huge fan of RLC because he has enormous potential particularly given his size and strength in the middle to just hold players off with ease. But similarly, it was a struggle to see where exactly he would fit into a team but Sarri should be given a lot of credit for his work with him because he's now looking at being a very promising player in that attacking midfield spot and I think he has enough goals to his game to back that up also.

I've also noticed with CHO that he didn't play particularly well against West Ham and Liverpool but he did a lot of tracking back and the hard work that not many attacking players are willing to do. This is what Sarri has suggested held him back earlier in the season and again, this appears to be paying off now. 

Reece James for me is a must next season to come back. I would agree with Mount too, he can essentially replace Kovacic in the side although I'm not sure which player Sarri will look to use as the deeper midfielder if Jorginho is unavailable. Maybe Ampadu gets more opportunities next season as a utility centre back/defensive midfield option?

I would also bring Tammy back next season too. I think this summer will be a case of now or never for him and if Higuain goes back in the summer we need another striker (potentially two if Giroud doesn't sign a new contract).

I'm not sold on him being good enough to become our first choice (although there were question marks over RLC doing the same as recently as weeks ago), but he has a higher upside than Bats and I think could develop to be a good second choice striker for the club, leaving us to concentrate on just needing to bring in one top drawer goalscorer down the line, rather than a whole new strike force.