Let me start by saying that I am not convinced about 'Sarriball' as a footballing style of play. However, I don't think Sarri has had enough time at Chelsea to convince me. And I am now frustrated he is leaving because I will never know if it would have worked,
or not.
What I do know is that Sarri made us into one of the best teams in Europe in playing out from the back. We used to be embarrassed trying to play that way (as England were the other night). I also know Sarri had to manage a league campaign without strikers good enough for a top six team, that is a massive handicap. He also is the manager that established RLC as a important midfield starter at Chelsea and despite the moans, he has been the most progressive in giving young players first team starts. There have been moments in games when our football was superb, but I admit, not enough of them. Whether that is down to the manager or the players available to him, sadly, we will never know for certain.
Sarri to see you go
posted on 8/6/19
Agree entirely Biggish...I was a harsh critic of Sarri's back half way through the season when he had no idea what the best 11 was...but i find it rather odd that he's upping sticks at this stage, & would have been fine with him continuing the work
posted on 8/6/19
O K, he maybe should have had more time ,but I'm not Sarri to see him go, never did have much time for souless, personalityless, greedy lawyers.
Now lets get it sorted out ,and appoint someone who hopefully will have the feelings of the club and fans at heart,someone like Frank and his team,hopefully with Zola staying on as well.
posted on 8/6/19
but i find it rather odd that he's upping sticks at this stage
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It's really not that surprising. His first interview he said football first and foremast should be about having fun, it doesn't look like he's been having fun & a significant portion of the fans certainly haven't been having fun.
posted on 8/6/19
Shame he was made to feel so unwelcome that he wanted to leave, seemed genuinely happy to be here at the start.
posted on 8/6/19
comment by Devil D.A. (U6522)
posted 19 minutes ago
but i find it rather odd that he's upping sticks at this stage
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It's really not that surprising. His first interview he said football first and foremast should be about having fun, it doesn't look like he's been having fun & a significant portion of the fans certainly haven't been having fun.
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This. I know others don’t share this feeling but I don’t feel he finds this squad particularly likeable and is very aware that a sizeable chunk of matchgojng fans don’t like him, don’t like Jorginho, don’t even like his subs. Many times he/his team/his decision has been booed this season. The English media as usual haven’t helped, I remember he commented tongue in cheek on the name ‘Sarriball’ that was not a thing in Italy (I think) and of course the constant questions on Jorginho playing DM and Kante CM. Of course a move to Juve is attractive, or indeed any Italian clubs, a league he knows well and he knows that the league knows him better than PL does at the moment. Hence him leaving is just a bit unlucky (that Italian clubs in need of a manager) rather than anybody’s fault, at least acutely.
I agree it is frustrating to not be able to see whether he could have made it work here. I don’t think anyone truly knows based on this one season. I really liked his transition from having 13-14 favourites to being able to transition fringe players (RLC, CHO, Emerson) into first team. He also got a bit less rigid in his tactics. All good signs for a manager to take us forward.
posted on 8/6/19
I started out very sceptical, but I grew to like him more and more through the season. Some of the fans have been frankly embarrassing in the way they have treated him...
Very misunderstood manager tbh
posted on 8/6/19
I will miss his candid interviews
posted on 8/6/19
comment by Kunta Kante (U1641)
posted 52 minutes ago
I will miss his candid interviews
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Refreshing were they not.I will miss them too.
posted on 8/6/19
I'm not a fan of possession based football, preferring the fast counter attacking game.
However I'm still not entirely sure what Sarri's preferred style is, having never watched his Napoli. From the start I've always thought of him as an honourable and likeable character.
I'm disappointed to see him going as I'll never know what he could have achieved with us, if he'd stayed, and been allowed to manage a squad without his hands tied behind his back.
In his first year he's been handicapped by having a poor squad to to choose from in most areas.
In midfield Jorginho and Kante pick themselves but have no viable alternatives to fall back on in the case of injury, suspension of merely to rest them. The Kovacic and Barkley situation took him time to evaluate but I think he eventually worked out that RLC gave us much more of a threat and we looked far more dangerous breaking from midfield for it.
His biggest problem was the lack of reliable striker for the whole season, admittedly I think he has to shoulder some of the blame here as it must have been his influence that lead to us bringing in a grossly overpaid and over the hill Higuain in, rather than the cheaper, untested but much younger and hungrier Abraham back in January. Abraham may have proved to have been no better but at least it was a little more imaginative than the flawed experiment that was Higuain. It would also have given us a chance to evaluate whether Tammy was capable of being relied upon for next season with the ban looming over us.
Next season I fear would have been a tough one for him as well given the transfer ban but if he could have laid the foundations for the future with some of our excellent youngsters he could have had a legacy that could have lasted a decade.
Sadly it looks as if we'll never see the vision tha Sarri had for us!