Hard to pin our away problems on one single thing but yesterday our setup for defending set pieces was dire - this a repeat for other games recently like the man city free kick and alonso howler. Yesterday for their corners sarri set up a purely zonal system where all our defenders were static and attempted to jump if the ball came into their zone - take a look at the corners before the goal, they got a header on each of them by running in with no effective blockers and virtually a free leap and head.

most successful teams combine part zonal and part man to man, with blockers - why aren't we doing that?

not only that but alonso was marking their smallest player at the far post and not in the mix with the big guys.

come on, it's so basic - who is our defensive coach btw, I note that JT being praised for his impact at villa and his attention to detail and practicing.

Sarris has to take the can - his focus is on a purest form of the game, very very technical and requiring players to conform and stick to it.

the PL has too many top coaches who after our first 18 games have worked us out.

Everton got tough, hit some great set pieces and we crumbled - embarrassing.

I think that's one of my main gripes about Sarri. We just don't seem prepared when it comes to the little details. Nor are we prepared to react to different situations. 

Quite surprising given reports about him (in Italy) using drone videos in practice, different throw in routines (according to Chalobah), 33 deadball situations etc.

Perhaps there really isn't enough time in between games, and all or practice time is being spent on getting the "basics" of Sarriball right

Unfortunately, I'm just not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

There is a sense of inevitability about our games at the moment, particularly away from home. We will dominate for half hour, have 2 or 3 decent chances, not score and then the other team will go up the other end and score with their first real attack. Then our heads go and we are beaten and we don't react.

What is disappointing is the amount of points we've won from losing positions this year. Off the top of my head i can think of Cardiff 4-1, Wolves 1-1 and United 2-2 and Liverpool in the cup game. There might be others but I can't think of any right now. It seems like we don't ever prepare for the possibility that we could concede first in a game and as a result we are beaten as soon as we are a goal down. 

Sarri's changes are always reactionary and until recently have always been like for like. 

I liked the way we started the season but as soon as teams begun to suss us out which was around October/ November time, Sarri has done absolutely nothing to tweak his system to put us one step ahead of our opponents. All of the top coaches are constantly tweaking things on a match by match basis in order to get the best result. Sarri hasn't done that, and keeps making it far too easy for other teams to prepare for us and know how to beat us.

I also think if we are struggling to break teams down who are defending with 10 men behind the ball, that we should utilise Giroud more than we do. Rather than trying to break defences down with every single attack, surely it wouldn't hurt to go direct every now and then and work off the flick-ons from Giroud. 

 

Edited March 19, 20197 yr by drjonesy1994
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He's in-game management is poor, he doesn't know how to react and seems genuinely surprised when we concede the first goal.

You'd of thought he'd be used to it by now and would come up with a plan B for when this happens. 

13 hours ago, dustbin719 said:

Perhaps there really isn't enough time in between games, and all or practice time is being spent on getting the "basics" of Sarriball right

So you’re saying he just needs a proper preseason?

Sarri is not a reactive manager, he is a proactive manager.  He wants the team to play his way, not adjust to the way the opponent plays.  He's the opposite of Jose, who would devise a game plan to counter the particular opponent we were playing.  

1 hour ago, Boston Blue said:

H?e? ?wants the team to play h?i?s? way, not adjust to the way the ?opponent plays?. ??

And that’s his undoing. He thinks his system is good enough on its own without worrying about what the other team can do.