It gets worse. Sarri’s post-match quotes through a translator are something else. "This group of players is extremely difficult to motivate. As a group of players they are not particularly aggressive from a mental point of view, they don’t have the ferocity. This is a team that is never going to be a team well known for its battling and fighting qualities .. these are not characteristics we have.” Higuain isn’t going to solve this.
Sarri was livid in the post match. But he is right. These group of players only play when they want to, be it under any manager.
Those were my thoughts as I was watching the match.. Outside of Dave and occasionally Luiz, we got very little fire.
Is a lack of competition for spots ruining this team? These guys know they’re basically all untouchable. They lose motivation really easily.
Glad we can send Kovacic back... really doesn't offer a lot of threat from midfield. Alonso needs a break, Emerson looks great when given the chance. We need a striker, but I won't harp on about that. We are so far off where this club needs to be.
It also sounds like a little bit of a cop out for a manager. “My system is great, the players just don’t play hard enough.” I’ve never understood playing players out of position. Kante was one of the 1-2 best players on two PL winning teams and a WC...at defensive mid. Jorghino is really good at passing sideways and fouling people. Hazard is stifled up front. Play your best players in their best positions. I think I’m just more of a fan of coaches who take the players they have and make them great. Sarri seems like a system guy. When it doesn’t work, it will always be the players fault.
I don't think that Jorghino is even good at passing back or sideways when he is not passing to the opposition he is providing hospital passes to his teammates. He then proceeds to point out what they should have done.
Sarri has a point but then again he plays the same 11 every match in the same way, in the same wrong spots regardless of any other factors. If you need to drill in a hex head bolt, its the craftsman not the tools at fault if every time you pull out only a soft mallet and hit the bolt only on the side gently over and over. Funny the players were lauded as battlers in Jose the sequel season 1, and Conti Season 1, then not at all in each season 2 so they bear a lot of blame as well We do need to add some fire and physicality in several spots. Has the page gone out to Guus yet
While I agree with the general sentiment, all coaches have their own style of play and favorites. Even pep needed 500M dollars to get where he is now. Which coach would you say can adapt 100% to his players? They are coaches, not magicians. We have had no top goal scorers for 4-5 years now. When we had Costa and Hazard, we won the league. No matter the system, we need people who can score. For people questioning Hazard's commitment, the guy has 10 goals and 10 assists. It would be good if somebody else can at least support him. That said, we really should scrap this Hazard as false 9 experiment. Maybe Morata's head wasn't in place yesterday but at least Giroud should have started. Kante, while not his WC best has been slowly adapting to his new role. He did mention Jorginho has been struggling recently but he has no one to replace him with. He needs to start dropping under performing players though. Emerson has been decent every time he has come on. Why does Alonso start over him every time? Odoi needs to get more than his customary 10 mins. Our problem has been the same as every other year. No competition and players get complacent.
Here’s a wild idea-play our two world class players in their actual positions instead of this square peg-round hold nonsense. At this point I’m willing to try out the old Carlo diamond with Kante at the base, Kovacic on the left (preferably a healthy RLC instead), Barkley on the right, Jorginho up top, and Hazard and and striker up top.
I was thinking this a few weeks back. We don't have the right players for a 433 but a diamond we have perfectly.
Interesting article on Sarri-ball https://www.telegraph.co.uk/footbal...i_FPM_New_ES_2019_01_21&utm_campaign=DM927479
There’s a difference between having preferences, or a theory about how to play football and being a system guy. Mark Dantonio is a system guy. Rich Rodriguez was a system guy. They will live or die by their system no matter what players they have. It’s a fair point about Pep. Maybe after 1-2 windows (if we get them), Sarri will have the pieces in place and everything will be hunky dory. I honestly don’t know which kind of coach he is, but playing guys out of position and rarely rotating the squad makes me nervous.
i think a proper striker makes up 80% of the fix for us. a lot of things still look good about this side until they get in the final third. not having scoring threat basically kills the entire process and system and how the other team can play. i'm not entirely sure Higuain is the answer, but if he can be a threat, it at least makes the other team think about things more, maybe doubt their aggressiveness, etc. it changes the entire dynamic of how a game can actually play out. people are playing a diamond against us because all they have to do it pack the middle.
The best thing it will do is at least get Hazard to a more natural spot, but even if Hig is the real deal (and that would help a fair bit) we still have a tired sussed out man marked Jorginho the ball has to go through, and two more midfielders who are not scoring threats. A great striker will turn some draws into wins, a very good thing, covering some flaws, but defensively and overall the team and System still will need a lot of fixing