Think the team will be identical to Fulham, but with RLC starting. Personally , I'd play Christensen and rest Luiz, play Emerson and rest Alonso as well. Doubt Sarri will do either and sure we won't see Hudson Odoi at all. Must be Jorghinos last definite start as well, he's been rattled completely last 3 games. time to stand up or get stood down.
I'd be tempted to give RLC a start. He offers something a bit more direct and offers more of a goal threat than our other midfielders and had a good cameo on Sunday. I don't think Sarri will pick him though,
Yeah I’d start RLC too, Kovacic has lost his way a bit after a promising start, although Jorginho has too. Think Alonso is injured so it’ll probably be Emerson and this will be controversial but I prefer Zappacosta over Azpi in this system, better going forward and still seems reasonable at the back.
A lot of things wrong with that and it's now becoming even more noticeable that we need Hazard to produce something to bail us out and he's been quite for about 6 weeks now. Keeper should save the first one and the second one is from a misplaced pass that my Year 4's could complete but we were poor. Alonso was an absolute travesty again and if keeps playing like that he'll be out the team soon, he was even worse than the weekend! Midfield was probably the best of a bad bunch although Kante looked horribly out of position today Cesc and RLC were probably our 2 "best" players. Willian had two good opportunities but couldn't control it and Morata spent most of his time on the floor. It's only early December and we look absolutely knackered. Not sure if anybody saw the game but right at the start of the second half Boly goes right through Morata as he's about to put it in a empty net (unless he hits it over) but i'm not sure why that wasn't a penalty....anywhere else on the pitch it's a foul surely? Anyway, City will win by 2 or 3 at the weekend, comfortably.
Awful performance, lacklustre at best. A game we should have won but allowed them to kick the **** out of us. Alonso was awful but not again! Morata should be sold as horsemeat. Our best players were Cesc and Rudiger.
Good summary, Alonso had a shocker, as did Willian from my seat, he got pushed and shoved off the ball all day and gave it away too much. Likewise Hazard whose passing has been appalling for some time. He is in dreadful form and doing nothing to suggest he's a 300 Gs a week man. On the positive side RLC and Fabregas did look pretty good, Christensen improved without Cahill but looks short of match fitness ( funny that).Goalkeeper was suspect , Morata hopeless, Giroud hopeless. others OK. Worst thing was our attitude. Wolves were hungrier, quicker, feistier and stronger. We dawdled around, were miles too slow to make our passes and so got robbed over and over. Team needs a serious kick up the ringpiece and show some fight. Starting to think Kante is wasted in our set up, and we won't break down determined defences with midgets. We need to bring in some power, speed and add some grunt. Past time for everyone to earn their obscene salaries with decent performances, and that includes Sarri.
Alonso & Cescy = Perfect recipe for disaster.. As the saying goes, "Yes Cescy No Party"!! Sarri farking genius.. who has made Kante look like Mikel FFS!!!!! SarriOut & SorryOut.. Yet again I am the only one foresees things clearly here??
This is not an example of foreseeing things clearly, more of dogma over substance. Fabregas did not contribute to this loss and Alonso was not the only player to have a stinker, though he did have a real stinker. His back injury may not have been OK and perhaps he should have been rested. Let's wait and see. The team were gutless and disinterested and showed not for the first time, that these players may not be able to adapt any better to Sarris' method of play. We all knew that from day 1. What is happening is that the need for different players and different types of players is becoming clear. This is a transitional year, not one to throw people under the train when we don't win games.
Very well.. Alonso & Luiz can never play in back 4 system. If Sarri cannot grasp this basic fact he is awful. Sarri has said all the wrong things from very beginning. He is passive aggressively moving for more transfer money which is not going to happen. Cescy should only be a 20 min impact sub.. Never a 90 min player. But Sarri is weakening a ok team & cutting them to shreds by playing all the wrong players & formations. So SarriOut..
As things stand at the moment we are looking at a top 6 finish - the situation is crying out for a bit of muscle in the centre and a clinical finisher up front; we are increasingly look lightweight when we’re out on the road, don’t tell me we peaked at Liverpool.....c’mon Sarri, time to kick some!
Alonso and Luiz have played in a back 4 system all their lives except the season Conte changed things. He has actively said he is happy with his squad and reinforcements are a decision for the Board, not him. Cesc is being chased by Inter Milan and even interesting Barcelona at the moment, as is Alonso. Sarri is trying to mold the team into the formation he was hired to do, and is only a few months into the job. Early days, and not the time to be calling for heads to roll or players to be thrown out with the bathwater. Morata is the only one who has been consistently hopeless, he is clearly not able to play in the desired formation.
Sarri was brought in because the board wanted a more entertaining style. You can't just change the system and expect everyone to suit it. Sarri had half a pre season and has had one transfer window. He needs time to assess who will and who wont be able to work in his system. Do you really think the answer is to just sack the manager at the first sign of a bad run? How will we ever compete if managers are not given time. If it was down to your type of thinking, Klopp and Pep would have been sacked within a few months of their tenures at City and Liverpool. Can you not see the parallels?
What I would say though, is that Sarri needs a bit more flexibility. We have 2 world class players and 1 is being used completely in the wrong role. I think we need to go back to a more 4231 formation to allow Jorginho and Kante in that middle areas together. That might mean us having to set the press up a little differently but would hopefully get the best out of both Jorginho and Kante and probably Alonso as well as he'll have more attacking licence. Spurs play a similar system and is working for them. Centre back and centre forward are obviously big concerns and the form of Azpi and Alonso is also worrying. But Kante going back to his traditional role may put less strain on the defence.
# Play Kante in his best position # Don't play Cescy ever # Don't play Luiz & Alonso in back 4 - who know nothing about Defending # Don't play Morata at all. # Play RLC, Zouma, Ross, Christensen et al Had he done above, i would have taken top 10 finish this season.. Sorry Sarri is doing & saying all the WRONG things!! #SarriOut #sorryout We just cannot compare to Fraudiola & Klopp.. They have the money & clout to buy anyone. Chelsea is not there yet. We are not even at Arsenal level to buy players.. Judas II, won with what we had by changing the system to suit Luiz & Alonso.. heck even Moses. Only Moneybags can afford to buy their way out.. Chelsea need to utilize the youth & existing to their best of their ability..
Watched second half last night. As usual terrible from us when we went behind. It was a pretty poor first goal to concede, cant cant rem how their cm had a free run but christensen needs to be closer to jimenez and an absolutely shocker of a 2nd goal. The response to their goals were poor, we looked like we did last year. Poor defensively (alonso) and hazard only has 70 mins in him. When hes tired he stops running and the whole team stopped running. At 2 1 down it was worrying how tired we looked. It was pass to hazard or alonso and see who they could pass to. The only thing was that wolves had 8 or 9 players back and we only had about 4 players ahead of the ball. no wonder we created **** all. Also considering how narrow our players play (willian, the 2cms, hazard), we need some width not dave half way back and alonso being very ineffective. Sarri really needs to reconsider what he is doing.
Please provide the actual stats to back this up because I think you are frankly talking ****e. City aside, I bet our net spend is in line with if not higher than Liverpool's and certainly above Arsenal over the last few years. I'll be happily proven wrong though as you are apparently always right......