Socrates

Wow. Not sure how we’ve made top four with a game to spare. I suppose we just hung in while all our rivals imploded. Nice to have the pressure off for the last couple of games. It doesn’t paper over the cracks in what’s been a bumpy season. But top four and a trophy would be a credible outcome. Losing Hazard is going to be a hell of a blow. We need to spend any income from his sale wisely. At least the belated emergence of Loftus-Cheek and Hudson-Odoi is good news.

Just a couple of points. Apparently, we prepared for Burnley's threat from set pieces. We really did. Not sure Sarri understands that Kovacic is not a direct replacement for Kante. Sarri has no tactical imagination. When you need to win, he doesn't know what to do to make that more likely to happen. It's just more of the same. Hazard is the only reason we're not in the bottom half of the table. We're stuffed when he leaves. Not sacking Sarri earlier was a big mistake. Not as big a mistake as hiring him in the first place though. The new manager needs to be identified quickly. We just need to move on from this season as soon as possible.

Don't know what Sarri tells the players at half time. Clearly we'd be better off having one of the groundstaff giving the half time team talk. Liverpool stepped it up and we couldn't cope. Sarri finally put Hazard back on the left and had two great chances. But this time couldn't rescue us. The damage was already done. In the end, Sarri was forced to say that a few months ago we'd have lost by more than two goals. That's progress, folks. Sarri style.

Then Sarri should stop picking the same players every week and give some others a chance. Give Emerson a few games over Alonso. Recall Cahill who might not be technically gifted but is at least mentally strong. Start Hudson-Odoi over Willian. Stop bloody picking Kovacic. And just stop playing Hazard and Kante out of position. And call me old fashioned, but try playing a striker. It’s not bloody rocket science.

Well that was a horror show. Sarri picks the same eleven that isn’t working, throws them on the pitch, regardless of the opposition, watches them implode from the first minute. Then makes the same predictable changes, which make absolutely no difference. Then blames the players for not being motivated! WTF is he talking about? I have no idea what he’s doing. I doubt the players do either. It was like watching a car crash in slow motion. If I was his employer I’d think I’d employed a fraud. That wasn’t football management out there. It was like what you’d expect from a precocious 10 year old shuffling random players into a formation, then thinking he’s a genius. And then blaming everybody else for the disastrous result. Christ, that was utterly disjointed, pointless rubbish, masquerading as team tactics. We’re in serious trouble.

Not optimistic about this at all. He’s been laboured and ineffective the last couple of seasons and that’s in the much slower Italian league where he gets more time and space than he’ll get in England. Given that he’s presumably going to spearhead our forward line for the rest of the season, this is a terrible gamble by the club. This deal is surely at Sarri’s request, so if this turns into a disaster he’ll have nowhere to hide.

This doesn’t look good. Pity because I thought Hudson-Odoi was one of our best performers in pre-season. He looked like a star in the making. It’s inexplicable that he had to wait for so long to get a start under Sarri. If Sarri had given him more opportunities earlier, he might have been more willing to stay. Sarri managed the situation badly in my opinion. Now we look like losing a very very promising player.

What did Sarri mean by Jorginho was in trouble? Was he injured? And why can’t Kante play there if needed?

Thought we controlled the game but without a recognised striker we weren’t very convincing upfront. Relied mainly on long range efforts. Christensen probably had the best chance but made a real mess of it. Don’t know where Morata was but we really needed a focal point. Hazard did his best and CHO was bright but Hazard desperately needs more help. He didn’t get it from Barkley and Willian who were really disappointing. Defence was solid though.

That was hard to watch. Players were predictably tired thanks to Sarri’s incomprehensible lack of rotation. We really didn’t threaten until Fabregas came on. But it was all just a bit desperate by then. Meantime we had to endure the spectacle of Azpi and Alonso doing a poor impression of attacking full backs while Zappacosta and Emerson sit on the bench. God knows what Fabregas is thinking from the bench while we pass ourselves sideways and into oblivion. Even Ross Barkley has been infected by the pass sideways or backwards bug. Poor Kante looks anything but a world-beater these days. What a bloody mess Sarri is making of things.

Desperate, if true. But I guess we’re desperate enough. Why buy Higuain at his age and not Aubemeyang when he was available but deemed too old? It’s just nonsense. Giroud was supposed to be a short term fix. Now this. A short term fix for a short term fix. Our Board stumble around in the dark, no plan, no vision, just making it up as they go along. Incompetence doesn’t come close.

Shocking result. This false nine experiment got us a freak win against Man City, now Sarri thinks he's re-invented the wheel. Saying that, we had lots of possession, three clear chances for Willian, Alonso and Hazard. All wasted. They score from one incisive break. Vardy doing his job. Meantime we faff about passing it to nowhere, with full backs who can't cross – and who are they going to cross to anyway? Hazard? Kante? Poor Kante just looks lost. Pedro and Willian are running into dead ends while two deadweight strikers can't get a start. Bizarre how Loftus-Cheek and Hudson-Odoi don't get a look in with all the chaos on the pitch. Sarri is in danger of screwing up if he's not careful. If he's not going to use his squad and the players he trusts aren't performing, then we're in trouble unless the Board comes to his rescue in January. I'm not holding my breath.

Awful first half. But I didn't think we'd blow it so spectacularly after the break. We're in worse shape than I thought Willian had a terrible game. Blew our best chances. Screwed up for the first goal. Morata is looking like a lost cause. Giroud not much better. Kante looked hopelessly lost. Azpi and Alonso were all over the shop. We really screwed up being lumbered with a pair of mediocre strikers and an ageing pair of wingers. Christensen's confidence looks shot. Cahill is off. Luiz is an accident waiting to happen. The team is broken. Sarri has got a huge job on his hands just to stop us sliding down the table. Never mind trying to mould this lot into an attractive footballing side. What a mess.

We'd have been better off keeping Tammy Abraham and Batshuayi. Problem is we blew so much money on Morata that the Board and manager feel obliged to stick with him. Feel we need to bite the bullet in January and cut our losses on Morata. But we won't.

Despite our first half lead we’d created little of note. Morata was reaching a new level of awful and Willian was playing like he’d left his brain at home. Two bad calls from Sarri. Giroud and Pedro start and we win that game comfortably. Credit to Barkley for being in the right place at the death and Luiz for the header, somewhat making up for going AWOL for their first goal. Good point in the end but Sarri needs to bite the bullet in future. Not sure he can just keep starting Morata and hoping he’s turned a corner. He hasn’t and he won’t. I’d start Pedro and Hudson- Odoi over Willian too.