Just discovered a brief piece in the Telegraph that focuses on Sarri "freezing  out" Gary Cahill both in terms of team selection but also in the dressing room. Not clear why this is coming up now but it could be a sign of discontent amongst our senior players about how Sarri deals with a long serving player.

1 minute ago, carrickblue said:

Just discovered a brief piece in the Telegraph that focuses on Sarri "freezing  out" Gary Cahill both in terms of team selection but also in the dressing room. Not clear why this is coming up now but it could be a sign of discontent amongst our senior players about how Sarri deals with a long serving player.

Cahill has been great for the club, but he could've just left in January. Just seems like another media dig at sarri because they sense blood. 

On 15/02/2019 at 08:19, abramovich said:

I'm wondering, would Sarri insist on this particular style of football if he got a job at Huddersfield or Fulham? Whenever asked, he keeps repeating the same mantra about sticking to his principles of how football should be played. I also keep reading from his fans here this argument about square pegs and round holes. Well, my question is, does he even know how to play any other way? And if he does, why not try modifying it a bit here and there, until you get the pegs you need to fill the holes you've got? Even if you're such a purist and perfectionist, surely you live in a real world and should know by now that you may not get another opportunity at a top club if you insist on this suicidal tactics with players that aren't suited to them?

Can he play more direct instead of passing everyone into a coma? Why is our buildup so slow and predictable? Why do we create so few goalscoring opportunities per game? Why do we look like conceding every time we lose the ball? I'd love to know who's in charge of coaching defence in this Sarri's staff because this man is stealing a living. And isn't Sarriball, among other things, supposed to be about pressing the opposition in their own half and forcing them to turn over the ball so that we could pounce and ideally score? I keep seeing the opposite of that. So once again, either those players aren't coached properly or don't follow his instructions or aren't suited to that style of football. Whatever it is, after watching this for months, shouldn't you as a manager draw some conclusions and try another approach? After all, one thing we know about this group of players is that aside from being flaky and prone to turn on their managers on occasion, they do win trophies fairly regularly, so they must have some characteristics you could use to help you in a winning column. Why not use that, at least to protect yourself from getting sacked until the right players arrive and make your job easier?

Going back to what I started with, I remember Sam Allardyse and his Bolton from 2005 or so, seems like a good example. If you google 'long ball football' you'll probably get his ugly face among search results. That team was big, physical and nasty. No team enjoyed going to Bolton and facing those bastards. And it's not as if they didn't have a couple of technically gifted players like Okocha, but the manager knew how to use the players at his disposal to the fullest of their abilities. If Sarri got the Bolton job back then, he'd probably get them relegated in his first year.

He went to Empoli and played his way so i'd imagine so why would he fare much worse with those two? You may say look at their squads but i imagine Sarri would have recruited a lot better than Jokanovic/Kahn and Wagner has.

On 15/02/2019 at 22:48, wallosh said:

On 15/02/2019 at 11:32, RMCM said:

Kante has always been a box to box player, he's just less deep now. This obsession people have with him sitting in the middle midfield position is really grinding my gears. 

Maybe because he was rated as one of the best midfielders in the world when he played under Conte as a defensive midfielder.

He played 6 games under Conte as a defensive midfielder and it went so well he overhauled the entire system.

Just now, Argo said:

He played 6 games under Conte as a defensive midfielder and it went so well he overhauled the entire system.

Yup. Has always played next to a deeper player. Drinkwater, Matic, Fabregas. 

So ofc everyone just says we played with two DM's.

This was a exert of an article I read a while ago which was really interesting, even more so now when people talk of his stubbornness. 

This was a man who had only recently become accustomed to any level of media attention in his role as a manager, and has always preferred to provide thought-provoking answers to any discussion regarding football. Shortly before he left Empoli, he was asked if he was angry about his position as the lowest paid coach in Serie A. He replied: “Angry? Let’s not joke. They pay me for something I would have done for free after work. I’m lucky.”

From Sarri’s first three league games with Napoli, he acquired just two points. The criticism from Diego Maradona, almost a symbol of glamour and flamboyance in the city, left the chain-smoking, bespectacled, and far from well-groomed tactician with a sizeable task to overcome the doubt surrounding his appointment. But there was no sense of panic – Sarri had slowly but surely worked his way through the leagues in over 25 years as a coach, and with that had come a necessity for patience. His early training sessions at Napoli were exhaustive in detail, in order to ensure that every aspect of his 4-3-1-2 system was ingrained into his players.

Napoli’s results soon picked up, and accompanied by often electrifying displays of swift, attacking football, they were crowned Serie A’s winter champions. Any critics that remained were dwindling in numbers. There had been a drastic change from the previous season, Benítez’s side looking almost tepid in comparison. Sarri had taken the talented players at his disposal, the likes of Marek Hamšík, Lorenzo Insigne and Gonzalo Higuaín, and created a team full of attacking expression while also supremely well organised.

Higuaín had been prolific and would end the season with an incredible 36 Serie A goals, but it was Insigne’s improvement that was the most notable influence Sarri had in attack. The diminutive Italian was a player with undoubted potential, although having played predominantly as a winger, he had yet to reach a level of consistency to be considered a top player. “He is talented, but hasn’t got the best out of himself yet,” Sarri said before the season had started. “According to Arrigo Sacchi, he’s the most talented Italian player right now.”

Insigne was eventually utilised on the left side of a front three and performed superbly as Sarri opted to change to a 4-3-3 system. Insigne was given the freedom to roam inside, becoming a virtual trequartista, and allowing for the overlapping runs of Faouzi Ghoulam at left-back. He benefitted from the unerringly clinical Higuaín – as did all of his team-mates – but this was more than just a team relying on a good striker.

Napoli eventually missed out on the Scudetto, finishing nine points behind Juventus, who secured their third successive title. There was certainly not a sense of disappointment, however. Napoli had excelled and played phenomenal football throughout an entertaining and surprising season. Only Roma scored more goals than the 80 of Sarri’s side, while Juventus could only better their defensive record of 32 goals conceded. Most notably, Sarri had led Napoli to a finish 19 points better off than their total of the previous season.

The 2016/17 season at Napoli began with the sale of Higuaín to Juventus for €90 million, a blow for Sarri but one which proved to be unavoidable. He was now without the player who had scored over 40 percent of the club’s total goals last season, who had been the spearhead of almost every breathtaking attacking move they had created.

A disappointing 2-2 draw against Pescara on the opening day was followed by a rather more satisfying 4-2 victory over AC Milan. Napoli’s form during the first months of the season was steady, but three league defeats in October left them some way off the pace and seemingly struggling to maintain the consistency of the previous season. Since a 2-1 defeat at league leaders Juventus in late October, however, Napoli were irresistible, embarking on one of their best runs in recent history.

Sarri was left with the dilemma of finding a solution to the loss of Higuaín, and what decided to do has proved nothing less than a masterstroke. Arkadiusz Milik suffered a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament and faced a long spell on the sidelines, while Manolo Gabbiadini struggled to adapt to Sarri’s methods and was subsequently sold to Southampton. With his options limited, Sarri chose to try Belgian winger Dries Mertens in a false nine role, and it worked brilliantly. The former PSV wide man has adapted with consummate ease to his new central role, scoring more goals than many would have ever imagined from the 30-year-old.

The positional switch of Mertens brought with it a subtle but noticeable change in Napoli’s style. Without a traditional number 10, there has been an increase in short passing and interplay between the front three of Insigne, Mertens and José Callejón, and less crossing as a result. Hamšík has also benefitted greatly from Sarri’s use of Mertens, pushing forward from the midfield trio and often occupying the space left by the retreating Belgian.

These tactical nuances were all apparent in what was perhaps Napoli’s most impressive victory since Sarri took control. In February 2017, they travelled to Bologna, unbeaten in 11 games and having beaten Torino in a thrilling encounter that ended 5-3. The hosts were in mid-table, certainly not a pushover by any means, but what followed was an exhilarating, breathtaking display of attacking football.

Napoli were 4-1 up at half-time – even with Callejón sent off – and in the second half added three more goals in a 7-1 rout. Hamšík scored a hat-trick from midfield, as did Mertens – his third of the season – in a perfect demonstration of the aesthetically pleasing yet meticulously planned football that Sarri aims for.

Sarri had been asked earlier in the season whether he had any intention of changing from a 4-3-3 system and replied: “One of my coaches used to tell me that people who speak about formations don’t know anything about football. We already play with Marek [Hamšík] between the lines, then with the forwards between the lines. Maybe you can also change too much, causing you to lose the certainties of the team.”

It may sound pretentious but Sarri is simply a devout student of the game. Tactically, he has earned comparisons with the likes of Pep Guardiola, with some claiming that he is in a way dogmatic. In reality, he is, like Guardiola, simply determined to adhere to his own philosophy, but always willing to adapt it how he sees fit.

Sarri’s time at Napoli so far has been exciting, progressive and inspiring, and he is certainly no longer a coach struggling to get recognition. “For me, it has been gratifying to have had a long career starting from the bottom,” he said. “It’s been educational, particularly because certain levels teach you more and make you grow more. I think it’s a path which, generalising, everybody should do, but then there are big exceptions.”

Perhaps the biggest compliment for Sarri is that even Maradona has now offered his apology. “I said what I thought of him, then he changed and I recognised my mistake. I really like how his Napoli plays.” High praise indeed, although for Sarri, it’s likely that he will only feel fully gratified when he has led Napoli to silverware.

Edited February 17, 20197 yr by enigma

On 16/02/2019 at 12:22, bisright1 said:

You write some nonsense. 

Who would join us!? Anyone who did would have to assume they'd be sacked within 24 months - sounds like the exact type of coach we would want. 

We would still attract top managers, we are basically a risk free club in terms of reputation damage to men in the dugout due to the stigma that Roman is a impatient maniac and our players are rebels. You only need to look at how AVB and Jose walked into clubs that finished above us in the season they were sacked, could you see Emery getting a job on par or better than Arsenal if he balls it up there? Me neither, Sarri however could quite easily walk into Spurs as Pochettino's replacement if we sack him and the latter is finally tempted away.

Take the Chelsea job worst case is you fail, get sacked, no one blames you and you still get offered similar level jobs.

Edited February 17, 20197 yr by Argo

@enigma It seems he is flexible to change his formation. Maybe he had more adaptable players at Napoli. The role of Insigne seems so similar to Hazard but we don’t have a player as effective as Hamsik. No idea how good Callejon was but Willian & Pedro aren’t exactly covering themselves in glory this season.

The more I read about him the more I just want us to be patient. This guy will have us playing incredible football by next season i’m really confident of it.

Edited February 17, 20197 yr by rtwelch

29 minutes ago, rtwelch said:

@enigma It seems he is flexible to change his formation. Maybe he had more adaptable players at Napoli. The role of Insigne seems so similar to Hazard but we don’t have a player as effective as Hamsik. No idea how good Callejon was but Willian & Pedro aren’t exactly covering themselves in glory this season.

The more I read about him the more I just want us to be patient. This guy will have us playing incredible football by next season i’m really confident of it.

Perhaps he made a promise to Jorginho about not dropping him to get him to come to the UK and that is stopping the change. Misplaced loyalty?

28 minutes ago, rtwelch said:

@enigma It seems he is flexible to change his formation. Maybe he had more adaptable players at Napoli. The role of Insigne seems so similar to Hazard but we don’t have a player as effective as Hamsik. No idea how good Callejon was but Willian & Pedro aren’t exactly covering themselves in glory this season.

The more I read about him the more I just want us to be patient. This guy will have us playing incredible football by next season i’m really confident of it.

While Insigne is a very good player, Hazard is big upgrade on on him. The problem is, the other attacking positions are severely lacking compared to what Sarri had at Napoli

Hamsik has always been quite underrated IMO Great technical ability, movement, great passer and a great finisher. Barkley and Kovacic are no where near his level of ability. He also had a peak Higuain and then revolutionised Mertens into a false 9 who could score and create simultaneously. We've had a goal shy, zero confident Morata and a 30 something Giroud for most of the season. Callejon was a very effective wide attacker, who had great movement, scored goals and was extremely hardworking, Pedro has similar qualities but is past his best and Willian lacks the movement, finishing ability and quick passing to be truly effective

The fact is, our attack is actually very poor. Take away Hazard and we haven't got one truly great player in our attacking positions. Compare it to the rest of Europe and you'll see just how far behind we are. 

On 15/02/2019 at 14:45, Osgood is Good said:

Sorry Nibs, AVB managed 40 games and Scolari 36 and Sarri 40, so I don't see how he can get worse when the comparison is for similar/same amounts of games

Statistically, based on either win percent or "points per game" (counting cup games as 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw, same as league) Sarri is currently at #2 in the Manager list in the Roman era, behind only Avram Grant, and a country mile ahead of Scolari and AVB.

4 hours ago, Argo said:

We would still attract top managers, we are basically a risk free club in terms of reputation damage to men in the dugout due to the stigma that Roman is a impatient maniac and our players are rebels. You only need to look at how AVB and Jose walked into clubs that finished above us in the season they were sacked, could you see Emery getting a job on par or better than Arsenal if he balls it up there? Me neither, Sarri however could quite easily walk into Spurs as Pochettino's replacement if we sack him and the latter is finally tempted away.

Take the Chelsea job worst case is you fail, get sacked, no one blames you and you still get offered similar level jobs.

That used to be the case but is it anymore? Would it be the case if Sarri gets sacked. The only managers that follow that view are ones fully expecting to be sacked after 24 months. We cant attract the top anymore as they don't see the point. 

We wouldn't get anywhere near Zidane despite any media reports. We weren't able to get Pep. We wouldn't have got klopp. We wouldn't get Poch. Or Simeone. I think ancelotti wouldn't bother and I question whether Allegri would see the point. 

Who does that actually leave? Maybe tuchel when PSG get bored? We'd probably end up getting lampard in but theres no guarantee he would be interested. Imagine how depressing that would be as well if he joined and we realise (again) it's not the manager...

15 minutes ago, bisright1 said:

That used to be the case but is it anymore? Would it be the case if Sarri gets sacked. The only managers that follow that view are ones fully expecting to be sacked after 24 months. We cant attract the top anymore as they don't see the point. 

We wouldn't get anywhere near Zidane despite any media reports. We weren't able to get Pep. We wouldn't have got klopp. We wouldn't get Poch. Or Simeone. I think ancelotti wouldn't bother and I question whether Allegri would see the point. 

Who does that actually leave? Maybe tuchel when PSG get bored? We'd probably end up getting lampard in but theres no guarantee he would be interested. Imagine how depressing that would be as well if he joined and we realise (again) it's not the manager...

Your logic is good yet overlooks the pay factor, if we offer above market rates someone reasonable is likely to come though agree unlikely to be the best as they will look more closely at the squad and spending arrangements.

57 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

Statistically, based on either win percent or "points per game" (counting cup games as 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw, same as league) Sarri is currently at #2 in the Manager list in the Roman era, behind only Avram Grant, and a country mile ahead of Scolari and AVB.

Sarri currently has 15 wins in the league, 5 draws and 6 loses - that's currently a top 6 placement.
Last season we had 21 wins, 7 draws and 10 loses - that was enough for a top 5 finish.

Only if Sarri manages to lose less than 5 games in the Premier league till the end of the season will we be able to say that he did better than Conte last season and that is not counting Conte's FA Cup title.

The percentage of his wins are much higher due to the Europa league games where he won 5 and drawn 1 in the group and playing Forest and Wednesday in the FA cup.
Good win was against Liverpool in the EFL cup which fairly boosts the percentage rates so I won't say that it was easy to pick up wins that competition.

But so far, we lost 4:0 vs Bournemouth, 6:0 vs Man city and if we by any chance don't win Spurs at home they would have beaten our team twice in the league this season.

In short, those win percentages don't mean anything just yet.

 

 

9 hours ago, carrickblue said:

Just discovered a brief piece in the Telegraph that focuses on Sarri "freezing  out" Gary Cahill both in terms of team selection but also in the dressing room. Not clear why this is coming up now but it could be a sign of discontent amongst our senior players about how Sarri deals with a long serving player.

Convenient time to report on it, the narrative at the moment is Sarri has lost the dressing room, he's the new scapegoat now Mourinho is gone. 

Be yesterdays news if we win tomorrow however if not it will run a bit longer.

You get the sense it’s a massive 3 games for Sarri - United, City and Spurs. I think it will be the manner of the performances that count. If we perform badly like City and Arsenal then I think he could be out. 

More rumours of Zidane in today’s papers. Saying he would want Hazard to stay and £200m to spend. 

You get the sense it’s a massive 3 games for Sarri - United, City and Spurs. I think it will be the manner of the performances that count. If we perform badly like City and Arsenal then I think he could be out. 
More rumours of Zidane in today’s papers. Saying he would want Hazard to stay and £200m to spend. 

200m? We don't need him please.

Three new players -£70 mil each = £210m not exorbitant though of course we would expect to sell a few, like Bakayoko, Bats, possibly CHO.

5 hours ago, JM7 said:

You get the sense it’s a massive 3 games for Sarri - United, City and Spurs. I think it will be the manner of the performances that count. If we perform badly like City and Arsenal then I think he could be out. 

More rumours of Zidane in today’s papers. Saying he would want Hazard to stay and £200m to spend. 

It would be great if we could come through these three games with 3 wins (+ a win in the 2nd leg against Malmo this week). That would silence his critics (including me) and secure his job until the end of the season at least.

Bad results and/or performances and things will mount and he will find out what pressure and the British media are all about.   

You get the sense it’s a massive 3 games for Sarri - United, City and Spurs. I think it will be the manner of the performances that count. If we perform badly like City and Arsenal then I think he could be out. 
More rumours of Zidane in today’s papers. Saying he would want Hazard to stay and £200m to spend. 

Zidane would be a disaster....I don't see what the hype is around him

22 minutes ago, Brutos said:

I don't see what the hype is around him

He won three European Cups in a row. 

Just now, ForeverCarefree said:

He won three European Cups in a row. 

IN A ROW! 

On 17/02/2019 at 05:13, carrickblue said:

Just discovered a brief piece in the Telegraph that focuses on Sarri "freezing  out" Gary Cahill both in terms of team selection but also in the dressing room. Not clear why this is coming up now but it could be a sign of discontent amongst our senior players about how Sarri deals with a long serving player.

Here's a "rebuttal" of sorts to Matt Law's viewpoint on this.  Alex Goldberg called Law out on twitter and Law basically ignored the question.  The theory then, was, since he didn't outright deny that Cahill was his source, then it is quite possible that it is Cahill.

https://chelseaecho.com/2019/02/17/gary-cahill-club-legend-or-club-mole/

It's all quite interesting, to say the least, as both Law and Simon Phillips (creator of chelseaecho but didn't write the article) usually post solid content.

22 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

He won three European Cups in a row. 

With the greatest squad ever assembled and arguably the greatest footballer to have lived. Can he do the same with the sh*t show we have? Doubt it.