Chelsea vs Bournemouth

said "most" and for the good or bad, here and there never accused you of being like most...

I really never watched Napoli but I have yet to see a hint of where the "attacking" is in Sorri-Ball

 

There are two things in conflict here.

1. If you read about Sarri, he won't change his way of playing. He has one way and that's it. Chelsea/Roman knew this when they hired him. He's not going to switch tactics or formations to suit players. Players have to switch to him.

2. The players at his disposal are not doing this; yet one thing Roman loved about Sarri was that he was apparently content with the players he was given. That said, he would only come with Jorginho and now he begged for Higuain (both in the summer and now).

So, we know he won't change his system. The question is - will Sarri be able to change this group of players to get them playing the way he wants? So far, Sarri has said the players haven't grasped the basics. That shows on the field. They've been terrible. And I don't think Chelsea are going to buy Sarri much more of his personal favorites after Higuain. He's very expensive. And old. Chelsea backed him big time there.

A lot of people are comparing this situation to Pep's first year at City. "Give him time." I agree - managers do need time. But there hasn't been improvement. The opposite. Also, Pep had won things before. Sarri has not won anything besides Serie A promotion.

 

I disagree with this.

If we want to go back to the old way of changing the system for the players, then we should never have let go of Conte. The majority of players aren't really built for attacking play and it shows when Sarri says they can't grasp the basics (not sure about Jorginho though). If Chelsea aren't going to buy Sarri who he wants (or at least players in his vision) why did we hire him in the first place? Higuain has been here all of 4 days. Give it a rest before bashing him. Also, Sarri has spent 3 months in a brand new league. He also needs time to adapt (hopefully he will)

What we are seeing on the pitch is a culmination of some really bad transfer windows. Nobody wanted Drinkwater, Barkley, Zappacosta, etc yet the club spent millions on them expecting the manager to turn them world class. I can't fault the Morata and Bakayoko transfers as they seemed astute at that time but that was a failing for everyone.

Pep had a vastly superior team when he came to City. He still struggled heavily in the first year with some big losses (I think 0-4 to Everton). Yet he was backed to the hilt and he delivered. If we don't do that, we will go back to square one - new manager, play some good games, coast the rest, sac, repeat. At some point, the players will need to shoulder the blame.

 

He ain't no Pep, and Pep adjusts, from dull but very controlling effective Barca, to a similar but more purposeful Bayern, to an even more purposeful attacking City with a new defensive scheme

I don't see who or how new players would improve the scheme, or the defensive end much even Bournemouth one of the leagues crap defenses, and other bad D's shut us down This is a deeper top to bottom league than Italy, though Juve is good.

Why try and build future around a failed system. A system that he says he will never change here.

And we need players but they won 2 recent titles and have adjusted to many systems, not like he is trying to build with Huddersfield

 

Devils advocate - I would only say that Roman liked Sarri's style of play and especially his willingness to "coach up" the players already at his disposal. His hatred of the transfer window is well documented and one of the reasons Roman hired him, as well; to keep his nose out of transfers.

Sarri knew our roster. And Chelsea surely knew that he wasn't going to use certain players.

 

Napoli won 91 points playing great football. And they struggled initially as well. It is not like his system has always been a failure. They were very good in the CL as well as far as I remember.

 

It all depends on if Roman wants to sacrifice CL for Sarriball. Yesterday should have been 3 sure points. As should this weekend.

 

Main worry is his guy, Jorginho, has not at all looked the part. If there is anyone who should be doing decently, it's him.

 

Also, Klopp's team were 8th in his first season. He was backed well and look where they are now.

 

Was planning to watch the second half tonight, but the Two Robbies podcast headline spoiled the result.

Don’t we have a bad enough reputation with coaches? Dumping Sarri after he dipped out of the top 4 in year one would hardly endear us to future gaffers. I doubt anyone but the fans and press are really thinking this way.

I’m really not sure I’m much of a fan of Sarri, but let him at least have a couple of windows (tho since he hates the transfer market, so how does he propose to make things better?). And is it just me or does it seem like it’s getting harder to attract the top talent?

The big red flags for me are the blind adherence to the system and his penchant for blaming the players (we used to KILL Jose for doing that). These are all professionals, many of them experienced with many systems. Are they just dumb? Lazy? Un-motivated? ...or maybe you’re not a great teacher? Maybe the system isn’t as miraculous as you think?

 

If you remember...sure there was beer, wine grappa, mysterious powders and ointments...was there more player movement, especially in, to/around the box, with more dangerous purpose, intent etc

I like moving the ball around quick with some side to side, but our lack of any real player movement kills me, all mostly rooted to their spot, with an occasional juke before it gets passed backwards, so the other team does not have to really move much, tire out, or risk players getting pulled out of position

 

agree with a good some of that, but proper coaches at 5-10 million pounds a year I don't think give a fk about reputation and are confident/arrogant enough to not give a fk and at 50-150 million pounds riding on CL spots each year, patience has a huge cost if misplaced

 

Just like Conte before him, he's going to get himself fired.

 

Personally I think Sarri should at least drop Jorginho against smaller teams that target him. He is very easy to bypass when the opponents win the ball in the midfield which leaves Luiz 1 on 1 which he is terrible at.

I would play Kante in the middle, RLC on the right and Willian on the left. Willian frustrates as a winger (some people disagree) as he has no end product but he is great at getting past players with skill and can dribble well. Kovacic doesn't offer as much in the mid for me. Front 3 with Pedro/Hudson interchanging would be ideal.

It has just been too easy for teams with Jorginho.

 

"Willian [start]on the left. Willian...he is great at getting past players with skill and can dribble well. "

The pod people have taken Wrath