Cardiff away

I feel for Jorginho. I really do think he has incredible ability, but his game is dependent on the movement of players around him. And he’s forced to play with people like Kovacic and Barkley. Jorginho does not have good pace, and that is shown up much more clearly in England where the game is played at 100 mph. But he is a very clever player, and if we had others with good footballing brains to play around him he would look much better.

comment by KCee (U20746)
posted 5 hours, 17 minutes ago
Why does this useless manager keep selecting Higuain over Giroud? Higuain has never been fit since he left Real. It really baffles me.
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And Giroud is rarely effective - we have poor choices upfront

comment by LegendOsgood (U7946)
posted 3 hours, 49 minutes ago
comment by Sideshow (U11809)
posted 11 minutes ago
Sarri's use of subs is indefensible, I'm with the Sarri out crowd on that front. It's one thing to not be proactive, it's another thing to be reactive instead, but Sarri's neither. His subs are so fixated on fitness and playing time that they become completely irrelevant.
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I think his substitutions since he started including another attacking option instead of a fullback have been generally good. It's his starting line-ups which are the problem. He is constantly having to make amends to it when the players he brings on should be starting from the off.
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Agreed his subs have improved, and not so predictable as before, but as you say he needs to work on his starting 11, to avoid making those subs
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Thing is...it's not difficult is it...Sarriball or not you use your best players when fit

Sarri's use of subs is indefensible, I'm with the Sarri out crowd on that front. It's one thing to not be proactive, it's another thing to be reactive instead, but Sarri's neither. His subs are so fixated on fitness and playing time that they become completely irrelevant.
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I think his substitutions since he started including another attacking option instead of a fullback have been generally good. It's his starting line-ups which are the problem. He is constantly having to make amends to it when the players he brings on should be starting from the off.
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Agreed his subs have improved, and not so predictable as before, but as you say he needs to work on his starting 11, to avoid making those subs
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Nope, just as predictable as before, just different predictable. Jorginho off between 55-65 mins, RLC will come on (but never start), Giroud for Higuain or Pedro for Willian/vice versa is guaranteed. CHO is the wildcard sub. Switching to the 4231 is good but the fact it's always Jorginho whose sacrificed to do it makes even that predictable.

I've never been a fan to slate managers who make reactive changes in games, not every manager sees subs as pivotal game changers like Mourinho and there's nothing wrong with that but Sarri is something else. Use of his bench wasn't one of Conte's biggest strengths but even he wasn't this bad.

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comment by Devil D.A. (U6522)
posted 10 hours, 1 minute ago
Sarri's use of subs is indefensible, I'm with the Sarri out crowd on that front. It's one thing to not be proactive, it's another thing to be reactive instead, but Sarri's neither. His subs are so fixated on fitness and playing time that they become completely irrelevant.
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I think his substitutions since he started including another attacking option instead of a fullback have been generally good. It's his starting line-ups which are the problem. He is constantly having to make amends to it when the players he brings on should be starting from the off.
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Agreed his subs have improved, and not so predictable as before, but as you say he needs to work on his starting 11, to avoid making those subs
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Nope, just as predictable as before, just different predictable. Jorginho off between 55-65 mins, RLC will come on (but never start), Giroud for Higuain or Pedro for Willian/vice versa is guaranteed. CHO is the wildcard sub. Switching to the 4231 is good but the fact it's always Jorginho whose sacrificed to do it makes even that predictable.

I've never been a fan to slate managers who make reactive changes in games, not every manager sees subs as pivotal game changers like Mourinho and there's nothing wrong with that but Sarri is something else. Use of his bench wasn't one of Conte's biggest strengths but even he wasn't this bad.
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Conte's strength was to identify a pattern of play with wing backs & stick to it, yeah he had no Europe to detract him, but he used what he had to their best, even changing the likes of Moses into a new role to do it
You could say that's a bit like Sarri with Kante, but it's a tentative comparison at best

Conte's strength was to identify a pattern of play with wing backs & stick to it, yeah he had no Europe to detract him, but he used what he had to their best, even changing the likes of Moses into a new role to do it
You could say that's a bit like Sarri with Kante, but it's a tentative comparison at best
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I'm talking strictly about the use of substitutions. You're right, Conte (like Sarri) focused more on the overall gameplan rather than using subs to inject a certain element into the game depending on the situation and individual quality of his players - but he did do it occasionally, Sarri never does it.

I take Sideshow's point. We don't really have the options to facilitate meaningful substitutions that stick to Sarri's ideology, we're having trouble getting the basics of his football right let alone altering things, but too often I get the impression he's making substitutions purely on factors like fitness and giving certain players minutes. With another squad more suited to his needs that might be different.

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comment by Sideshow (U11809)
posted 1 hour, 23 minutes ago
That can still be true, but I think there is also attacking merit to the changes he makes.

The time it is taking him to adapt to the challenges posed to his system and coincidentally to our players is a far bigger concern for me.
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Sideshow are you saying that he should be more attack minded from the start in games like yesterday?
If so this is the frustration of many I'm sure. It encourages the "lesser team" with all due respect to defend in two banks of 4 or even 5 and watch us pass ourselves to death getting no where without a meaningful attempt on goal. They know they may get a chance and bang we are behind. It's happened in out last 3 matches. He should go out and attack with purpose. Use the width and move the ball quicker. Try and kill the game off early and then the pressure is off re substitutions. As pointed out earlier he puts too much emphasis on who played in a game recently as if that will have a massive bearing. Frankly we cannot afford not to play our best players right now.

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