Football: Sarri state of affairs

[Iskaral Pust]

Positives: another win, Gomez and Robertson were very good, we comfortably created and scored more & better chances then them, our defense allowed very little other than Becker’s error, Becker gets to learn an important lesson without costing us points, another win in an early kick-off (usually our kryptonite), Shaqiri played smart when that’s what we needed

Negatives: reshuffling the midfield ruined it — Henderson was poor (after looking good as a sub) and Gini was poor after being moved out of position, we weren’t ready for an opponent to harry us so well rather than just sitting in a low block, sloppy passing, we’re still missing chances that settle the game earlier, front three still not really sharp (and Salah fell from middling to poor), TAA looks like a junior player filling in rather than a true starter in this team. 

September brings some really tough opponents for us in a very congested schedule, and the international break won’t allow us much/any time for coaching beforehand.  It’s good that we’ve been able to win ugly so far but it’s time for us to get sharper. 

[Iskaral Pust]

7 minutes ago, Soylent Brown said:

Henderson did pretty much nothing wrong. You're assigning blame to Henderson for issues that other players have created.

I disagree.  I think Henderson was poor today as #6: not sharp/decisive on the ball and not tracking Madison or the movement of opposing MFs.  And I say that after praising his two sub appearances.  I thought he would do better than that. 

Accommodating Henderson at #6 pushed Gini out of a position where he was surprisingly solid in the prior three games.  That’s not Henderson’s fault but Klopp’s decision to shuffle the MF really bckfired today.  On paper, it seemed ok after Keita lost his way against Brighton.  But in reality it turned out poorly. 

[polishgenius]

West Ham are bad.

[Iskaral Pust]

You sound unhinged.  We’re just expressing opinions on a football match, not the Holocaust. 

[Consigliere]

1 hour ago, polishgenius said:

West Ham are bad.

They really are. It could be the result of major personnel changes with players needing time to gel as well as Pellegrini needing time to stamp his playing style on the team but right now West Ham look more likely to be involved in a relegation scrap rather than a top half finish. 

[polishgenius]

6 minutes ago, Consigliere said:

They really are. It could be the result of major personnel changes with players needing time to gel as well as Pellegrini needing time to stamp his playing style on the team but right now West Ham look more likely to be involved in a relegation scrap rather than a top half finish.  

 

Those things are undoubtedly true but one thing I think they have, as I alluded to earlier, that is going to be very difficult to fix is that they simply can't control a game. They've got players who are threatening when they're in the final third - loads of them actually- and they can last-gasp defend, but there's no-one in the team who'll just get their foot on the ball and take charge of the tempo, or who'll position themselves such as to manage where an opposition attack is going.

Which feeds me nicely into:

 

7 minutes ago, Soylent Brown said:

Of course it's just football, but if you rate Wijnaldum when he passes backwards 90% of the time, when he dwells on the ball and kills moves so often, then I have to wonder what you value in your footballers, because it doesn't appear to be anything useful. He has a lovely smile, but that won't win us much. He's utterly terrified of having the ball, of having to do anything with the ball. He kills pretty much every move that comes near him. 

I don't think Wijnaldum is particulary good at it but that's what he's there for, to give a bit of control. I kinda feel like Klopp's come to believe that kind of player's important because he never really had them (Gundogan, sometimes) at Dortmund, and it ended up costing them as teams got used to Klopp's basic style, but he still isn't necessarily great at seeing who's good at doing that sort of thing so is basically stuck with Wijnaldum.

That said, while I don't rate him highly- he doesn't control tempo so much as just slow it down whatever the needs of the moment are- I don't think Wijnaldum is quite as awful as you're making out.

[Consigliere]

Celta Vigo handing out a footballing lesson to Atletico Madrid. Never understood why Atleti agreed to sell Vrsaljko. Juanfran is in decline and currently injured which means they have no specialist RB - they have to play either Partey (a CM) or Savic (a CB) in that position. Savic started there today and had a poor game before getting sent off. Weirdly, they were also open to selling Filipe Luis (but couldn't agree on a fee with PSG) which would have left them with Lucas Hernandez as their only specialist LB. 

[Consigliere]

10 minutes ago, Soylent Brown said:

The idea that every team needs an idiot that passes back to the keeper and shit all the time... Just kill me.

A fair few managers love their workhorses who follow instructions but don't offer much else. It's how we ended up giving Fellaini an extension after initial talks fell through and negotiations eventually abandoned but Mourinho spent half of last season begging for him to stay. 

[polishgenius]

Just now, Consigliere said:

A fair few managers love their workhorses who follow instructions but don't offer much else. It's how we ended up giving Fellaini an extension after initial talks fell through and negotiations eventually abandoned but Mourinho spent half of last season begging for him to stay.  

I wouldn't put Fellaini in quite that category, to be fair. He's an agent of chaos.

[Consigliere]

Just now, polishgenius said:

I wouldn't put Fellaini in quite that category, to be fair. He's an agent of chaos.

Fellaini is very limited overall though - not a good distributor, not a great tackler and not a good controller. He works hard and is good in the air but nothing else. We basically have to resort to hoofball to make him effective and he hasn't been all that effective as a 'plan B' either. 

[polishgenius]

2 minutes ago, Consigliere said:

Fellaini is very limited overall though - not a good distributor, not a great tackler and not a good controller. He works hard and is good in the air but nothing else. We basically have to resort to hoofball to make him effective and he hasn't been all that effective as a 'plan B' either. 

That's mostly fair (though I think he's a better controller than you give him credit for and can be effective in the box/holding up on the ground as well). His main problem is really that he's not a defensive midfielder so when he gets used as one he's really limited.

[Consigliere]

Just now, polishgenius said:

That's mostly fair (though I think he's a better controller than you give him credit for and can be effective in the box/holding up on the ground as well). His main problem is really that he's not a defensive midfielder so when he gets used as one he's really limited.

Fellaini is ineffective in any midfield position imo. He causes the most problems for the opposition when played further forward i.e. secondary striker role. We never use him there though and only send him up when we are a goal down in the dying minutes so we can resort to hopeful long balls. 

[polishgenius]

9 minutes ago, Consigliere said:

He causes the most problems for the opposition when played further forward i.e. secondary striker role. We never use him there though and only send him up when we are a goal down in the dying minutes so we can resort to hopeful long balls.  

Yeah, pretty much. What bugs me is that we shouldn't resort just to hopeful long balls- if you put Fellaini in that hold-up no10 role and play with an actual plan he's a really useful pivot to play around. It's just that, well, Mourinho, plan, nah.

[Consigliere]

Real Madrid looking impressive under Lopetegui. Bale has started the season very well and Benzema is playing like his old self again. Already has four goals to his name compared to last season where he managed only five goals in the league. 

 

ETA. Also good news for Spurs fans. South Korea won the Asian Games so no mandatory two year military service for Son. 

[Spockydog]

3 hours ago, Soylent Brown said:

The idea that every team needs an idiot that passes back to the keeper and shit all the time... Just kill me.

Ah, the Denilson years. *wistful sigh*

[Spockydog]

2 hours ago, Soylent Brown said:

Fellaini is handy on the ball and high up the pitch. The problem with him is, if you have little chaps who are useful on the ball running at him, he may as well be a tree.

He's the tactical equivalent of hurling a fetid, diseased corpse over the walls of a besieged medieval castle. 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

Now I have the image of a deer with Fellaini's hair being flung by catapult. Thanks for that.

[Mexal]

Xhaka giving away possession needlessly in the middle of the pitch? Check. Bellerin completely isolated on the right? Check. Inability to deal with a cross? Check. Ozil useless? Check.

I've seen this story before.

[Mark Antony]

Since coming on Torreira looked much better than the other Arsenal midfielders.

[Spockydog]

You get rid of one bunch of cheating Orcs only to have them replaced by an even fouler bunch of cunts. Warnock is a disgrace.