I apologize for starting a new thread, but I just wanted to concentrate on what needs to be done IN DETAIL in order for this current team to perform to the best of its abilities. This is not about Sarri, but rather what WOULD YOU CHANGE in the current starting eleven and how they  order for us to get out of this mess with as little damage as possible until we can start a massive overhaul in the summer.

Who needs to play and where and what system?

My first move would be to send Jorginho to the bench and move Kante back to his natural spot. That would improve things immediately. The question is, who's to play with Kante in midfield and in what role. 

Our fullbacks need to play a whole lot better. Alonso and Moses were effective in Conte's first season, but that was the setup with two wingbacks and three centerbacks. Would we be better off if we switch back to that system now, at least temporarily? Certainly from the defensive point of view we'd get much more solid, although it would turn us into a counter attacking team once again, so that's a goodbye to possession style football. On the plus side, wiith numbers at the back wingbacks would feel more secure going forward and even Luiz could afford to play closer to midfield where his vision and forward passing would be more effective.

I'd give CHO a run of games at the expence of Pedro/Willian, with Hazard on the left and Higuain upfront. Giroud would be a decent option from the bench if we were to switch to the long ball model on occasion.

Any suggestions?

 

Reece James is better than Zappacosta. 

Mount is better than Barkley 

Tammy is better than Giroud

Da Silva can't be worse than Emerson/Alonso

Apart from that, the club have been targeting average players for a long time now. The odd Costa, Fabregas, Kante signing just masks the situation. Kepa was bought as we sold Courtois, so not exactly like we went crazy. Jorginho was a necessary signing for the system. Kovacic was a loan. Higuain is also a loan. We currently have spent around £100m on two players, one of which needed replacing. We let Fabregas go (god knows why) and never considered paying out for full backs. If research had been done, the club would have known for a system like Sarri's, fullbacks are incredibly important. The club sat on their hands, then they went and spent almost £60m on Pulisic, when they could have strengthened other areas. I just don't get it. 

4 minutes ago, enigma said:

Reece James is better than Zappacosta. 

Mount is better than Barkley 

Tammy is better than Giroud

Da Silva can't be worse than Emerson/Alonso

Apart from that, the club have been targeting average players for a long time now. The odd Costa, Fabregas, Kante signing just masks the situation. Kepa was bought as we sold Courtois, so not exactly like we went crazy. Jorginho was a necessary signing for the system. Kovacic was a loan. Higuain is also a loan. We currently have spent around £100m on two players, one of which needed replacing. We let Fabregas go (god knows why) and never considered paying out for full backs. If research had been done, the club would have known for a system like Sarri's, fullbacks are incredibly important. The club sat on their hands, then they went and spent almost £60m on Pulisic, when they could have strengthened other areas. I just don't get it. 

Guessing you haven't watched much Derby this season?

Now? Move Kante to a base with Kovacic starting instead of Jorginho (however rotate in Jorginho and Ampadu). Replace Alonso with Emerson. Experiment with having Pedro / Willian / Hazard all playing behind Higuain - one of them playing centrally. Play CHO from 50 minutes in some games, see how he does. Get RLC fit. 

Next season? Abraham and Reece James in the squad. Sign a world class attacking midfielder - I don't know who, I am not a scout. Sign a leader in the defence and sell Luiz and Willian. Otherwise blood youth into the squad. 

 

 

Just now, RIP Mourinho said:

Guessing you haven't watched much Derby this season?

Yeah agree, Mount isn't ready for PL. 

Reece James and Abraham deserve their shot, Mount needs another season on loan. 

KEPA

ZAPPA    CHRISTENSEN   LUIZ    EMERSON

KOVACIC

KANTE         R L-C

C H-O     HIGUAIN     HAZARD

BENCH: BULKA / AZPI / RUDIGER / JORGINHO / AMPADU / PEDRO / WILLIAN

 

3 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Guessing you haven't watched much Derby this season?

Mount hasn't been playing well then? 

3 minutes ago, bisright1 said:

Yeah agree, Mount isn't ready for PL. 

Reece James and Abraham deserve their shot, Mount needs another season on loan. 

The thing is, you never can tell who will be ready for PL. Mount isn't a bad player. He is a quality player, but at Derby it's possible he isn't able to perform to his best. I still don't think he would do worse than Barkley in our team. However, if Ruben wasn't injury prone I am sure he would be taking up that position over Barkley. It's frustrating. I don't think Kovacic is anything special either though. 

2 minutes ago, enigma said:

Mount hasn't been playing well then? 

He's been alright. He's been injured for a month. But no one who didn't know him would be saying he should be playing ahead of Barkley 

 

RLC being injured has been really bad for us. 

Edited February 19, 20197 yr by bisright1

Kepa 

Azpilicueta rudiger christiansen Emerson

willian kante jorginho CHO

hazard

Higuain 

4411.

Give up on the high press. Sit deeper and play more on the counter in the bigger games. 

Kepa 

Azpilicueta christiansen David Luiz Emerson 

kante

Willian RLC Hazard CHO

Higuain

4141. In games where we can comfortably dominate possession, I would like to see us have an extra attack minded player on the pitch. 

4 minutes ago, enigma said:

Mount hasn't been playing well then? 

Not bad but been a passenger for a lot of the season. Certainly needs another year on loan.

I would like to see us playing a 4-2-3-1 with Kante and Kovacic as the 2 midfielders. I would alternate Barkley and RLC in the hole behind the striker  and i would make CHO second choice, behind Pedro. 

Also going into next season assuming sarriball is dead, if we have any serious ambitions of a quick return to the top, I would spend big on a new spine. De Ligt, Ndombele, and Icardi. 

Kepa

Azpi De ligt Christiansen Emerson

Pulisic Kante Ndombele CHO

hazard

Icardi 

- 

James Rudiger Zouma Castillo

Willian Jorginho Ampadu Mount

RLC

Abraham.

If hazard goes, then go all out for Joao felix. 

I'd play a 4-2-3-1 something like this :

Arizzabalaga

Rudiger ; Christensen ; Cahill (c) ; Emerson

Kante ; Ampadu

Hudson-Odoi ; Hazard ; Willian

Higuain

 

This gets the players I'd expect to be most motivated onto the pitch, as well as those most likely to "hurt" the opposition with skill/pace, and those with what the Aussies would call "a bit of mongrel" in them. Playing Hazard at #10 in theory gets him on the ball a lot in a central area where he can make more of a difference, and be less of a liabaility defensively. Ampadu in a holding role, ahead of Kovacic, as I see Ampadu having more physical presence and being better in the air, as well as having some leadership qualities for the middle of the park. Cahill back in as captain.

Instructions to the front 4 to make runs all over the place, and to shoot on sight.

"Rested" : Azpilicueta ; Alonso ; Luiz ; Pedro ; Jorginho ; Kovacic ; Barkley.

I've assumed RLC injured, but if fit, he'd be on the bench anyway.

If Emerson turns out to be mostly crap, then I'd play Dave at left back ... though with Willian on that side instead of Hazard, plus Ampadu in the hole, the defensive aspects on that side would be better covered then if Hazard was at LW, so we ought to be able to utilise Emerson's attacking qualities without compromising the defence.

 

Edited February 19, 20197 yr by Sexyfootball

Given our current squad and main problem being scoring goals.

Would only change the midfield.

Kovacic and Kante covering the defensive duties with Barkley or RLC given an attacking role to support the attack.

The brief would be when Hazard or Willian goes wide and stops they look up to find an on-rushing Barkley or RLC to have a crack to work the keeper and either score or provide a knock-down for Higuaín to capitalize on.  of course they might be able to play a 1-2 on the edge of the box.

The man out would be Jorginho as I don't think he currently adds to our team given neither Kovacic or Kante are skilled in attacking.

 

With the players we have now, I would tweak the formation and personnel.

4231

Kepa

Azpi

Rudi

Christensen

Emerson

Kante

Kovacic

CHO

Hazard

Pedro (swap for pulisic once he is herE)

Higuain

Subs: Jorginho, Ampadu, Giroud,  RLC,  Cabellero, kids

Get rid of Luiz, Willian (both Brazillians who i think cause problems in the dressing room),  Cahill (not the future), Alonso, Drinky & Barkley (all 3 not good enough in this system)

 

Considering Sarri mentioned previously that he'll only change formation when the players have the system down pat. They don't have the system down yet. They aren't pressing good enough collectively, and defensively some players are still making silly errors. Luiz, Azpi and Alonso especially are experienced enough to know better. Luiz backing off Rashford last night and giving him a myriad of space to put the ball into the box reminded me of Cahill. I don't think changing formation when the players are getting used to this one is a good idea. It would likely lead to more problems than benefits. 

Edited February 19, 20197 yr by enigma

4-2-3-1 for me.

 

Kepa

 

Rudiger 

Cahill

Christensen

Azpi

 

Kante

Ampadu

 

CHO

RLC

Hazard

 

Higuain

They need to trust their youth system. Reece James, CHO, Jay DaSilva, Mason Mount, and Tammy Abraham for starters need to come into the squad next season. Do all 5 need to start 35 matches for us? No but they need to be allow to play with the first team. I would say goodbye to Alonso, Giroud, Willian or Pedro, Drinkwater, and Barkley. Christensen needs to be the main CB with Rudiger and Luiz splitting time with him and giving the majority of the time to Rudiger. Reece James can sit behind Azpilicueta and learn from him. On the left side Emerson should be the primary LB while splitting time with Jay DaSilva. I would extend Higuain for this next season but I wouldn't sign him permanently, and have Abraham behind him. If we can keep Hazard then he obviously will be on the left with CHO being the primary starter at RW with Pulisic splitting time with CHO and when Hazard isn't playing having CHO on the left. In the middle of the field I want to keep Kovacic as backup to Jorginho. Kante on the right of him and RLC and Mason Mount splitting time on the left. (I might've gotten my left and right side CM mixed up but you get what I'm driving towards).  That leaves a backup to Kante and Ampadu would be a good fit there with Mount/RLC can fill that as well. Ampadu can cover multiple positions as well including CB.

The only signings I would go for would be possibly a striker if you can go after Icardi or Jovic possibly. 

 

Obviously I see our academy as a way to get our sh*t together here.

Edited February 19, 20197 yr by chiefBlueCFC

Fixing the team this season is very difficult IMO, we have a broken squad with a number of players who fit completely different systems. That said, to make the best of this season I’d probably line up with a team something like

 

Kepa

Azpi Rudiger Christensen Emerson

Kovacic Kante

RLC

CHO Higuain Hazard

 

This would be in more of a 4-2-1-3 with Kante and Kovacic sitting, similarly to how United have used Matic and Herrera recently, with RLC or Barkley given the freedom which we’ve seen given to Pogba. 

I’d alternate CHO and Willian on the right, but keep Kante on the left side to protect Emerson and Hazard a little more. Given the fact he can’t defend for toffee and has only shown himself to be any good at recycling possession, Jorginho would be a permanent bench fixture, as would David Luiz and Alonso. 

Next season I’d hope we go for two new full backs (I love Azpi but going forward he isn’t good enough and we need pace at full back) along with a new midfielder alongside Kante. 

There is no quick fix for our problems. I personally don't think Sarri will ever be able to get his tactics to work successfully in this league, but bringing in a new manager is far from the biggest problem with the club. I think we have nobody who has any idea about football amongst our board members, they seem more concerned about getting a good deal on a player than actually improving us as a football team. The majority of the players aren't good enough. Some of them are over the hill, some are not good enough at all and others have talent but are too inconsistent, have a weak mentality or bad attitude. The squad needs a massive overhaul because we have bought in so many average players in recent times. Hazard, Kepa, Azpilicueta, Rudiger, Kante, those are the only players in our squad that I think are good enough, the rest are squad players at best.

The problem is, it's likely that one of those players (Hazard) will need to be sold to raise funds to rebuild the team. Then there is Azpilicueta, who doesn't look quite right this season. I have been avoiding saying this all season because I thought it was in my head, but he looks skinnier and a bit gaunt at times, it looks like he has lost a bit of muscle. He looks like he is struggling physically which is causing him to make decisions he wouldn't usually make, he's looking tired and worn out

 

Caballero is a below par back up keeper. I wouldn't trust him to fill in in any game.

Alonso only works in one system, but even last season he seemed to struggle. Pace and being able to turn quickly is the problem with Alonso. These are two major weaknesses that he can't overcome.

Cahill, Willian, Pedro, Giroud, they are no longer good enough for a top 4 side. They weren't last season either which is why all 4 of them had their worst season of their careers.

Zappacosta, Drinkwater, they never were good enough, a complete waste of money. We may as well have kept Chalobah and promoted a young full back at the time.

Emerson has barely played, so it's hard to say if he is good enough or not.

Christensen, Kovacic, Barkley, Jorginho, Loftus-Cheek, Higuain, all decent squad players, but I'm not sure that any of them should be regular starters for a top 4 team.

Hudson-Odoi and Ampadu are all potential at the moment.

 

We seriously need to bring somebody in who can find good players. The way we are going at the moment isn't working and it is seriously harming our progression as a club. We have a mix of players that all suit different systems.

37 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

There is no quick fix for our problems. I personally don't think Sarri will ever be able to get his tactics to work successfully in this league, but bringing in a new manager is far from the biggest problem with the club. I think we have nobody who has any idea about football amongst our board members, they seem more concerned about getting a good deal on a player than actually improving us as a football team. The majority of the players aren't good enough. Some of them are over the hill, some are not good enough at all and others have talent but are too inconsistent, have a weak mentality or bad attitude. The squad needs a massive overhaul because we have bought in so many average players in recent times. Hazard, Kepa, Azpilicueta, Rudiger, Kante, those are the only players in our squad that I think are good enough, the rest are squad players at best.

The problem is, it's likely that one of those players (Hazard) will need to be sold to raise funds to rebuild the team. Then there is Azpilicueta, who doesn't look quite right this season. I have been avoiding saying this all season because I thought it was in my head, but he looks skinnier and a bit gaunt at times, it looks like he has lost a bit of muscle. He looks like he is struggling physically which is causing him to make decisions he wouldn't usually make, he's looking tired and worn out

 

Caballero is a below par back up keeper. I wouldn't trust him to fill in in any game.

Alonso only works in one system, but even last season he seemed to struggle. Pace and being able to turn quickly is the problem with Alonso. These are two major weaknesses that he can't overcome.

Cahill, Willian, Pedro, Giroud, they are no longer good enough for a top 4 side. They weren't last season either which is why all 4 of them had their worst season of their careers.

Zappacosta, Drinkwater, they never were good enough, a complete waste of money. We may as well have kept Chalobah and promoted a young full back at the time.

Emerson has barely played, so it's hard to say if he is good enough or not.

Christensen, Kovacic, Barkley, Jorginho, Loftus-Cheek, Higuain, all decent squad players, but I'm not sure that any of them should be regular starters for a top 4 team.

Hudson-Odoi and Ampadu are all potential at the moment.

 

We seriously need to bring somebody in who can find good players. The way we are going at the moment isn't working and it is seriously harming our progression as a club. We have a mix of players that all suit different systems.

What you are talking about is fixing things in the long term and you have a point. For right now, the questions is given the current squad what line up would you put out there to prevent 4-0 mauling from teams like Bournemouth. 

i think the first thing most would do would be to put kante back to his best position

Yes we have the immediate issue to save our season and longer term to build a dynasty and at the same time an owner that does have a British passport and does not come to SB.

It is all very messy at this time and short term.

Keep in mind that what i am suggesting is more in terms of formation to show what we can do. Dont critique me cos i did not include CHO or Andreas - they can be slotted in i place of experienced players as well.

 

-----------------Kepa---------------------

---------Rudiger - Cahill - Luiz - --------

Zappa ----------------------------Alonso

---------------- Kante---------------------

Willian----------------------------Hazard

---------- Higuain-------- Giroud--------

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

-----------------Kepa---------------------

---------Rudiger - Cahill - Luiz - --------

Zappa - --------------------------Alonso

---------------- Kante---------------------

Pedro------------------------------Willian

----------------Hazard--------------------

-------------- Higuain---------------------

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

-----------------Kepa---------------------

Azpi ------Rudiger -----Cahill ----- Palmieri

------------ Jorginho------- Luiz ----------------

Pedro-------------Hazard------------Willian

----------------Higuain----------------------