5 hours ago, JM7 said:

I do worry that Sarri is not utilising the squad to its fullest. We are likely to burn out much like Liverpool did/have done. Napoli burnt out as well. It doesn’t feel like he has learned his lessons. 

Out of the top 6, Sarri probably rotates his team more than anybody. Giroud and Morata, Barkley and Kovacic, Pedro and Willian, they have all shared their positions. Fabregas, Cahill, Christensen, Zappacosta and Emerson have played the Europa League and League Cup games. The key players are probably getting less minutes on the field than other key players at top clubs.

@Scott Harris you make a good point re rotation yet I never see Kante being rested (perhaps once in a cup match) I would like Kante to be rested against some of those teams we are expected to be beat easily (does that really happen in the EPL now) and give it a go with Barkley and Kovacic either sore of Jorginho to see if that gives us better balance.

I think it might and with extra creativity though sure against some sides you would want Kante back.

 

 

 

12 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

Out of the top 6, Sarri probably rotates his team more than anybody. Giroud and Morata, Barkley and Kovacic, Pedro and Willian, they have all shared their positions. Fabregas, Cahill, Christensen, Zappacosta and Emerson have played the Europa League and League Cup games. The key players are probably getting less minutes on the field than other key players at top clubs.

I believe you are wrong - I read somewhere that Poch has played the most players this season in the EPL - I believe Graeme Le Saux said it best on the US broadcast of the match vs spuds - he said that maybe Sarri needs a plan B because he felt that Poch found Sarri out & a way to deny Chelsea success - one thing is for sure, Poch got the better of Sarri in the match at Wembley - hopefully Don Maurizio can come up w/ a plan B or it won't be pretty in Big Matches

Edited November 29, 20187 yr by robdog

1 hour ago, robdog said:

I believe you are wrong - I read somewhere that Poch has played the most players this season in the EPL - I believe Graeme Le Saux said it best on the US broadcast of the match vs spuds - he said that maybe Sarri needs a plan B because he felt that Poch found Sarri out & a way to deny Chelsea success - one thing is for sure, Poch got the better of Sarri in the match at Wembley - hopefully Don Maurizio can come up w/ a plan B or it won't be pretty in Big Matches

Yup......that Poch have a habit of doing this time and time again vs us......did it to Jose.....Conte and now Sarri.

I think MU have rotated most but that's not a good story! A manager knowing his first team is a positive I think.

3 hours ago, robdog said:

I believe you are wrong - I read somewhere that Poch has played the most players this season in the EPL - I believe Graeme Le Saux said it best on the US broadcast of the match vs spuds - he said that maybe Sarri needs a plan B because he felt that Poch found Sarri out & a way to deny Chelsea success - one thing is for sure, Poch got the better of Sarri in the match at Wembley - hopefully Don Maurizio can come up w/ a plan B or it won't be pretty in Big Matches

He may have used more players, but I bet those players haven't had as many minutes on the field as our squad players have had. When it comes to rotation, pretty much all clubs are the same. Key players will start pretty much every Premier League game, squad players will play in early cup games and Europa League games. We have currently rotated well enough this season so far. I wouldn't want anybody but our best players starting Premier League games right now, especially when the competition for the top 4 is so strong. You can't take a risk by leaving them out.

 

17 hours ago, robdog said:

I believe you are wrong - I read somewhere that Poch has played the most players this season in the EPL - I believe Graeme Le Saux said it best on the US broadcast of the match vs spuds - he said that maybe Sarri needs a plan B because he felt that Poch found Sarri out & a way to deny Chelsea success - one thing is for sure, Poch got the better of Sarri in the match at Wembley - hopefully Don Maurizio can come up w/ a plan B or it won't be pretty in Big Matches

Sarri made it clear that it was the players attitude against Spurs that was the issue, not the system.

44 minutes ago, Kentonio said:

Sarri made it clear that it was the players attitude against Spurs that was the issue, not the system.

In any case it was a brutal watch.......could easily have scored double that, vs stinking spurs. Why werent they motivated.......how and why could the whole team just shut off knowing we are undefeated and up against a bitter rival......Sarri was just as much to blame as the players in that game......imo.

3 minutes ago, atomis said:

In any case it was a brutal watch.......could easily have scored double that, vs stinking spurs. Why werent they motivated.......how and why could the whole team just shut off knowing we are undefeated and up against a bitter rival......Sarri was just as much to blame as the players in that game......imo.

The manager is always going to carry responsibility, but he's not wrong about how fecking weird our players are sometimes. They just seem to shut down some games. Can you imagine the 2003/2004 generation putting out a performance like that?

Sarri this and Poch that. Anyone would think the managers kicked every ball, made every tackle and scored the goals.

38 minutes ago, Kentonio said:

The manager is always going to carry responsibility, but he's not wrong about how fecking weird our players are sometimes. They just seem to shut down some games. Can you imagine the 2003/2004 generation putting out a performance like that?

Modt def....weird weird stuff.

12 minutes ago, Ewell CFC said:

Sarri this and Poch that. Anyone would think the managers kicked every ball, made every tackle and scored the goals.

So a manager carries no blame at all? Thank god your not Roman then.......or we would have kept the likes of AVB and Scolari etc.

40 minutes ago, atomis said:

Modt def....weird weird stuff.

So a manager carries no blame at all? Thank god your not Roman then.......or we would have kept the likes of AVB and Scolari etc.

Who said the managers blameless?

44 minutes ago, Ewell CFC said:

Who said the managers blameless?

I thought that was what your meant....if not, my bad. Of course players need to take the game by the horn....have some responsibility and fight for the badge, but equally the managers must take care of their bit.

18 hours ago, atomis said:

Yup......that Poch have a habit of doing this time and time again vs us......did it to Jose.....Conte and now Sarri.

First one to beat Pep too in Peps first season at Man City.

1 minute ago, jack_super_class said:

First one to beat Pep too in Peps first season at Man City.

Didnt know that......seems he has a habit of doing it.......thanks god they win f**k all, otherwise they would have been insufferable.

1 hour ago, atomis said:

I thought that was what your meant....if not, my bad. Of course players need to take the game by the horn....have some responsibility and fight for the badge, but equally the managers must take care of their bit.

Obviously the manager carries the can and in an ideal world chooses the players that are bought, but I sometimes think they are too much of a figurehead regarding results. It wasn’t long ago during the José and Fergie years that it was thought you had to be a horrible bastard to succeed, then hey presto Old Cutie Pie Ranieri managed a title winning team.

 

1 minute ago, Ewell CFC said:

Obviously the manager carries the can and in an ideal world chooses the players that are bought, but I sometimes think they are too much of a figurehead regarding results. It wasn’t long ago during the José and Fergie years that it was thought you had to be a horrible bastard to succeed, then hey presto Old Cutie Pie Ranieri managed a title winning team.

 

Footy tend to be weird now and then........managers will always take the blame even when its not entirely their fault........

What i am loving the most so far with Sarri is how open he is about the need to improve on the defensive phase and how much work still needs to be done on it. How many times down the years have we seen a manager with an attacking philosophy arrogantly look down their nose at defense play like it was beneath them and bang on about their principles or whatever bolax after a defensive horror show? To say im relieved Sarri isn't of that mould is a massively misguided understatement.

Edited December 1, 20187 yr by Argo

7 hours ago, Argo said:

What i am loving the most so far with Sarri is how open he is about the need to improve on the defensive phase and how much work still needs to be done on it. How many times down the years have we seen a manager with an attacking philosophy arrogantly look down their nose at defense play like it was beneath them and bang on about their principles or whatever bolax after a defensive horror show? To say im relieved Sarri isn't of that mould is a massively misguided understatement.

I'm not sure, I think he's wrong about Kante tbh. 

I think his comment on Kante was much more to do with defending Sarriball than having a go at Kante. Fair enough too.

On 30/11/2018 at 01:10, Zola said:

I do not like his Kante comments - he must be high. 

It is true that Kante does not have the technical skills of Jorginho or Cesc Fàbregas 

That was a decent win, but i'll be buggered if i know how he wants us to play, it was more like a testimonial, no Oomph, direction or real endeavour, Hazard has dropped off a bit and we suffer with a distinct lack of real creativity

3 hours ago, Ballack & Blu said:

That was a decent win, but i'll be buggered if i know how he wants us to play, it was more like a testimonial, no Oomph, direction or real endeavour, Hazard has dropped off a bit and we suffer with a distinct lack of real creativity

The lack of pre season with numerous key players is starting to bite now and in my opinion thats the main problem of late, since September we have not had a free midweek which has equated to no time to really work on the training ground with patterns and shapes, which is a killer when learning a totally new system.

In many ways Bournemouth dumping us out of the cup and freeing up our midweeks in January could turn out to be a good thing for us.

53 minutes ago, Argo said:

In many ways Bournemouth dumping us out of the cup and freeing up our midweeks in January could turn out to be a good thing for us.

 

I would rather Sarri won the first major trophy of his career.

1 minute ago, Davey Baby said:

 

I would rather Sarri won the first major trophy of his career.

Don't get me wrong i don't actually want us to lose to Bournemouth but if the worst happened it can be a negative turned into a positive situation with the free weeks we would have on the training pitch to become further intergrated into Sarri's tactics.