Sarri's bubble isn't really a bubble anymore

[SirBalon]

12 minutes ago, The Liquidator said:

Some very interesting responses to last nights game and much thanks to @SirBalon for his football intelligent posts.

It’s best I again state I did not want Sarri as our manager. I have seen the holes in his team since before the start of the season and have been surprised by our much better than average start. I find it quite shocking it took these so called professional managers to work out how to set up against Sarri’s team, but we can feel certain everyone knows what to do from now on.

What concerns me the most is, now everyone knows the secret, our manager is, up to now, unable to change his way of play. Now I am not saying the move of Kante to the position he is best at will answer all our problems, but for me, a game last night where it seems most of the top sides started a 2^nd eleven, it would have been prudent to have a bit of insurance in the middle of the pitch, especially when the team is licking its wounds from the Spurs embarrassment. Evidence is, Not for our manager, who yet again proved the one trick pony tag he has around his neck.

Now I fully understand when introducing a new style of play to a club takes time and plenty of patience. If we are to have those attributes as fans, then a manager should baby step the team into being able to carry out his ideology. I have stated here and elsewhere since before the season started, if the manager does not have the right players for his way of play, then work up to that point by being more solid till we have signed the players he desires.

The manager has been told his remit is to qualify for Champions league. He is on record in saying that. While my over night question may have been bourn by the terrible performance and frustration of us not being able to kill off a well below average Wolves side, I believe the question is a fair one, especially if you are like me watch every Chelsea game over a season.

I openly ask all, if you have been sussed as a team, do you continue to play how your opposition know how to play against you, or do you tweak it some?

Our @Bluewolf states in one of his posts this is just a rough patch we are going through and sure Sarri is already thinking about players he wants in to build. Hey I can understand that, but rather than continue to play poorly with the players he has now, cant he tweak it some till those blokes turn up over the next 2 windows? @Bluewolf  is more disappointed in the players over the manager. Until this manager shows he can change the team for the better he will be nothing more than a lemming in my mind, continuing with what has been sussed and allowing teams to exploit our weaknesses. While I respect @Bluewolf opinion and hope he is right, this manager has to earn my faith in his ability to manage more than the one way, and this would include a final decision on Morata as @Bluewolf highlighted.

I hope my old mate @Redcanuck is right on just the one team to beat. I happen to think at this moment in the season we are the weakest of those clubs fighting for 2^nd – 4^th. With the chance of being stuffed out of sight by the best team this coming weekend. It could be worse mate, we could be managed by a bloke who never ever wanted to end up our manager! Still we may well take a leaf out of the Hotel bound manager n qualify through the back Europa door.

In response to cheeky @JOSHBRFC (Hope you are well mate) no its not meltdown. For me its frustration of what I have been saying since before the season coming to fruition. @True Blue is 100% correct, we praise the good performances of the start of the season. We, unlike many other clubs fans, point out when things are not so good with the same degree of expression. I agree with @True Blue I don’t want to see the manager moved on, he is not my choice, but he has to have a chance to prove himself. It’s just for now in my eyes, he isn’t proving he has the situation under the control we would like or the ability to solve the answers other managers have for him.

Lets just say his Honeymoon period is well and truly over.

That’s a more than acceptable post considering you didn’t want Sarri in the first place but you are yet willing to give him time.

But answer me this...

Who did you want and what was it that drew you to want him?

Because I already know why do many Chelsea fans were really hoping to appoint Maurizio Sarri. 

[Cicero]

1 hour ago, SirBalon said:

That’s a more than acceptable post considering you didn’t want Sarri in the first place but you are yet willing to give him time.

But answer me this...

Who did you want and what was it that drew you to want him?

Because I already know why do many Chelsea fans were really hoping to appoint Maurizio Sarri. 

100% he would take Mourinho back or another pragmatic coach. He's expressed it countless of times. 

Sarri gives in and adapts, he will suffer the same fate as AVB. 

[SirBalon]

9 minutes ago, Cicero said:

100% he would take Mourinho back or another pragmatic coach. He's expressed it countless of times. 

Sarri gives in and adapts, he will suffer the same fate as AVB. 

Having Mourinho back would be almost comedic and be absolutely disastrous in catastrophic terms for Chelsea FC. 

[The Liquidator]

6 hours ago, SirBalon said:

 

[Cicero]

Sacked from West Ham

Resigned from Watford

Sacked from Cagliari

Resigned from Birmingham City. 

Has no experience managing a top side, nor does he have a fundamental blueprint and or philosophy in football that is proven to work. 

You weren't convinced with Sarri, yet wanted to appoint Zola as manager? 

 

[carefreeluke]

We're in good hands with Sarri and want him here for two years at least to allow him the time to fully implement his ideas. I'm more than happy with him in charge, if it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out and football as we know can be hard to predict but I like the direction we are going in.

[LFCMadLad]

8 hours ago, DeadLinesman said:

Which is a indication of how far you’ve fallen 

It's actually an indication of how far you lot have fallen to be fair 

[Bluewolf]

18 hours ago, SirBalon said:

Our @Bluewolf states in one of his posts this is just a rough patch we are going through and sure Sarri is already thinking about players he wants in to build. Hey I can understand that, but rather than continue to play poorly with the players he has now, cant he tweak it some till those blokes turn up over the next 2 windows? @Bluewolf  is more disappointed in the players over the manager. Until this manager shows he can change the team for the better he will be nothing more than a lemming in my mind, continuing with what has been sussed and allowing teams to exploit our weaknesses. While I respect @Bluewolf opinion and hope he is right, this manager has to earn my faith in his ability to manage more than the one way, and this would include a final decision on Morata as @Bluewolf highlighted.

Points taken... and I won't disagree entirely with a lot you have said when it comes to Sarri and his tactics or lack thereof.. 

Sarri relies on possession football that's his style, and with it can come some very entertaining football when it comes off, What we don't have is the end product to go with it... Great we have a lot of the ball but not so great that after a lot of passing around we hit a defensive brick wall because we lack either the cutting edge striker to finish it off or the calm and creativity to unpick the defensive lock.. With the exception of Man City I doubt there is a side in the top 6 that has strung together more successful passes than us this season which has allowed us so much of the ball.. Looking at the goals for difference between us and City though shows where it's all going tits up... I won't just lay the blame there either because our defense is just as bad... If you look at what we have tucked away so far this season we have outscored both Liverpool and Spurs for example but we just can't defend for shit.. It's almost a guarantee that we are likely to concede at some point in the game and why failing to take our chances in the final third can prove to be so frustrating... 

I will admit that with Sarri you get a decent coach with a good footballing philosophy ( and no baggage ) but as you pointed out tactically does this make him a one trick pony??  Any really good coach not only works on the players he has to improve but casts a keen eye on the opposition weakness, It's great that we can swap someone like Willian and bring on Pedro for example but what use is that if tactically he brings nothing to change the game..If you swap one player who hoofs the ball and can't get a cross into the box with another then nothing is going to change the approach we are taking or indeed have an influence on the outcome of the game.. 

To be fair to Sarri it's his first season, he is trying to get the players to adapt to a new way of thinking and will no doubt have in his mind players he believes will keep improving us and that's not going to happen in one season... It may take one or two transfer windows to get to that stage which then boils down to what are we most happy with as fans??? Do we like what we are seeing on the pitch and the style and direction we are heading in?? Do we accept that we may have a season or two where a trophy may not be forthcoming while all this change is taking place or do we want instant success like we have had in the past?? nothing less than a trophy will do attitude??? 

I could go on but just covering the aspect about players vs manager which I touched on, There is only so much a coach can do once he gets those players out on the pitch, these are not 14 year old's kicking a ball about on a Sunday afternoon over the local field, These players have won things, important things and it shouldn't take a manager/coach to inspire someone to do well on a pitch with the ball at their feet, sure the half time team talk is needed when things are not going that well and the odd kick up the arse may be required when they are playing crap but on the pitch where does the leadership come from??? We have no natural leader out there that can take the game by the scruff of the neck and dig deep, no-one that seems able to rally the troops into getting into second or third gear when our play is lethargic.. Sure we have the likes of Hazard who can sometimes raise that level within himself and it's clear he has intent to want to influence the game but it always seems with the exception of the odd game that the 'team effort' is not there.. we are too reliant on one or two players upping their game to make a difference and that's partly our problem... 

[CaaC (John)+]

 

[SirBalon]

I know exactly what that means as he has made the mistake of translating straight from Italian to English.  He's alluding to the fact the team lose their shape, that's the simplicity of it all and translating "losing their shape" into Italian isn't literate and doesn't make sense as that would mean someone becoming fat or extremely unfit.

[Cicero]

He's referring to there being no cohesion or understanding between the players. It's fairly obvious. 

He mentions that learning to adapt to this style and discipline will take time, however he's more than once expressed that some players just don't have the ability on a technical aspect to make this system work. 

Like I said, the only goal here is Champions League. We have two chances to achieve that, either managing a top 4 spot or winning the Europa League. 

[The Artful Dodger]

He's picked a strange argument with his best player hazard and things havent gone well so far, signing a clearly overweight man as a striker is perhaps the final straw. 

[Bluewolf]

14 minutes ago, The Artful Dodger said:

He's picked a strange argument with his best player hazard and things havent gone well so far, signing a clearly overweight man as a striker is perhaps the final straw. 

Weird that.. clearly the player that performs above the average in that squad with the exception of Kante and who Sarri has said failed to follow instructions against Bournemouth.. He took an hour going through the performance with the players on his own and after the game and never got on the coach with them deciding to make his own way home.. I have seen footage of him apologising to a fan for the teams performance after the game.. All this does not bode well for the future

[Dr. Gonzo]

I think if he’s lost the dressing room, the board has a tough decision. Either do the Chelsea thing and bin the manager, which is a super short term solution that will likely lead to more a new man coming in and playing fairly negative football because if the results turn then so do the Chelsea players and fans. Or they address the culture of extreme player power at Chelsea and side with the manager they fought like hell to bring in.

[Bluewolf]

17 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

I think if he’s lost the dressing room, the board has a tough decision. Either do the Chelsea thing and bin the manager, which is a super short term solution that will likely lead to more a new man coming in and playing fairly negative football because if the results turn then so do the Chelsea players and fans. Or they address the culture of extreme player power at Chelsea and side with the manager they fought like hell to bring in.

That has to be the issue for me... I can understand it when you get the odd clash of personalities but we have gone through enough managers now to know they can't all be the problem.. Something has changed since the beginning of the season where the likes of Hazard was enjoying his football and scoring goals now look where we are.. I also appreciate that some of the tactical decisions must rest on the Sarris shoulders with his seeming inability to change formations or bring players on that can turn things around.. He seems to be stuck in this one possession based system and continues to follow it no matter what... Great for having a lot of the ball but obviously awful end product.. 

[Cicero]

5 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

I think if he’s lost the dressing room, the board has a tough decision. Either do the Chelsea thing and bin the manager, which is a super short term solution that will likely lead to more a new man coming in and playing fairly negative football because if the results turn then so do the Chelsea players and fans. Or they address the culture of extreme player power at Chelsea and side with the manager they fought like hell to bring in.

So many fans prefer the former. 

Things never change. Fuck stability right? 

[Spike]

I’d rather keep him. Rome isn’t built in a day

[Guest]

5 hours ago, Cicero said:

So many fans prefer the former. 

Things never change. Fuck stability right? 

For most clubs stability is important. However Chelsea have been very successful changing managers every few seasons.

[CaaC (John)+]

55 minutes ago, Gunnersauraus said:

However Chelsea have been very successful changing managers every few seasons.

That's true really, they have that knack where a manager is kicked into touch when things aren't going right, get a new manager in then the team responds and starts winning trophies. 

[The Artful Dodger]

You can't have a player eating 6 Mars bars at half time, what is Sarri playing at? 

[The Artful Dodger]

Apparently kante threw the 7th mars bar into the corridor and higuain had to be restrained from trying to get it. It's on twitter if anyone thinks I'm making this up. 

[Smiley Culture]

Don’t know about Sarri, I’ve not exactly studied him or his Chelsea side but the Chelsea side appears to be a bunch of bellends who throw their collective toys out of the pram every year or two and have done so for the past three, maybe four managers. 

A weird thought for football, but maybe it’s not the manager, it’s the players that are bad. 

[Guest]

2 hours ago, CaaC - John said:

That's true really, they have that knack where a manager is kicked into touch when things aren't going right, get a new manager in then the team responds and starts winning trophies. 

I think they should have kept ancelotti but most of the time it has worked

[CaaC (John)+]

5 minutes ago, Gunnersauraus said:

I think they should have kept ancelotti but most of the time it has worked

Or even Di Matteo, he took over and guided them to the Champions League title.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, CaaC - John said:

Or even Di Matteo, he took over and guided them to the Champions League title.

Yeah good point.