Ernesto Valverde - V1

[Givenchy]

Fair play to Valverde. I am sensing an improvement in his squad rotations and substitutions. Not sure if this is a temporary thing but it would be great if he has learned from his mistakes last season. Such as more rotations in the league at home against on paper "easy" opponents (yet to be seen), many more rotations in the CdR (accomplished that goal).

Of course his future will depend on how the team will perform in the CL. If Lyon kicks us out, he will be a dead man walking. Or if we go out in the quarter-finals once again. However Bartomeu's public support likely gave him a much needed boost. I never was and never will be his greatest fan but at the same time he is not as bad as many of us, me included, complain about at times when frustrated. Of course that realization alone should not be a deciding factor of him staying or not but sometimes we forget to praise him when needed. For instance the gamble of resting most of the team in the first leg, rather than the return leg, paid off.

Curious to see how he will approach the next month which will take a toll on the team given the on paper rather difficult schedule and high concentration of games.

we'll see if hes learned his lesson come CL time. today could of easily ended up Rome 2.0 if he went ultra defensive near the end. i do wonder if we'd of lost that Roma tie last year with Vidal in the team but then again EV sees it as Vidal OR Arthur when in reality both should be starting as Busi-Raki combo has been exposed

its 1 step forward and usually 2 steps back with EV thus far but i have noticed an improvement

 

[Porque]

Fair play to Valverde. I am sensing an improvement in his squad rotations and substitutions. Not sure if this is a temporary thing but it would be great if he has learned from his mistakes last season.

We will see what happens when it comes to crunch time, but my feeling on this is two things.

1) He has internally committed to staying on at Barcelona long term and is thus approaching his squad management for more than just this seasons success.

2) He has more trust in the squad to rotate. E.g.
-Midfield: Arthur and Vidal are better midfield options than Andre Gomes and Paulinho. Iniesta is not there to claim minutes off of his name. Alena can get rotation minutes ahead of squad deadbeats like Denis.
-Attack: Coutinho is available in the CL, Dembele has proven himself.
-Fullbacks: Sergi and Semedo both convince and can give rest to each other.
-Centrebacks: Lenglet is extremely reliable. Vermaelen when uninjured can step straight into the 11 at a decent level.

 

[Donatello]

Sarri looks like he might be gone soon. Chelsea lost 4-0 to Bournemoth, they've been struggling for a while. Squad isn't happy either because of lack of rotation.

He does play an attractive band of football, but it hasn't bear any fruits so far. On the other hand this guy rarely ever rotates.

Dodged a bullet there.

 

[D10S_JC]

Sarri looks like he might be gone soon. Chelsea lost 4-0 to Bournemoth, they've been struggling for a while. Squad isn't happy either because of lack of rotation.

He does play an attractive band of football, but it hasn't bear any fruits so far. On the other hand this guy rarely ever rotates.

Dodged a bullet there.

Coach hyped by our fanbase: Sampaoli, Sarri
They failed to prove themselves later on.

Apparently Seiten will be the next.

 

[George_Costanza]

Sarri looks like he might be gone soon. Chelsea lost 4-0 to Bournemoth, they've been struggling for a while. Squad isn't happy either because of lack of rotation.

He does play an attractive band of football, but it hasn't bear any fruits so far. On the other hand this guy rarely ever rotates.

Dodged a bullet there.

Playing attractive attacking football with this Chelsea is like playing defensive football with this Barcelona. It will eventually fail because Sarri A) doesn't yet have all the players to implement his strategy, B) it will take time to turn defensive minded players who played under Mourinho and Conti into playing possession-based attacking football.

Sarri's impact is there but give him another season and some more technical guys. I don't think Pep can turn Atletico Madrid for example into playing his vision overnight.

 

[D10S_JC]

sarri hasn't even finished his first full season in a new league

valverde could never get 91 points with napoli while playing attacking football

Put aside the comparisoin to Valverde. A 91 points runner up is not an achievement.

 

[ini4ever]

Coach hyped by our fanbase: Sampaoli, Sarri
They failed to prove themselves later on.

Apparently Seiten will be the next.

I wouldn't call that 'failure', first season in PL ( even Pep struggled there in his first one ) and apparently Chelsea's squad is a bit wack, the players can't put constant performance while I agree that's manager job to motivate players but Conte and Mou had problems regarding this issue as well, maybe the solution it's on the players themselves afterall.

It's safe to say he hasn't failed 'technically' ( they beat City&Liverpool&Arsenal ) if they could repeat those performances against smaller teams they would race for title now.

 

[Leo_Messi]

we'll see if hes learned his lesson come CL time. today could of easily ended up Rome 2.0 if he went ultra defensive near the end. i do wonder if we'd of lost that Roma tie last year with Vidal in the team but then again EV sees it as Vidal OR Arthur when in reality both should be starting as Busi-Raki combo has been exposed

its 1 step forward and usually 2 steps back with EV thus far but i have noticed an improvement

Too soon to conclude anything with certainty, I agree. However it is worth pointing out that things are moving in the right direction. At least on paper. Valverde has deserved his fair share of criticism but when he is improving, he likewise deserves praise or at least not to be criticized for the sake of it.

We will see what happens when it comes to crunch time, but my feeling on this is two things.

1) He has internally committed to staying on at Barcelona long term and is thus approaching his squad management for more than just this seasons success.

2) He has more trust in the squad to rotate. E.g.
-Midfield: Arthur and Vidal are better midfield options than Andre Gomes and Paulinho. Iniesta is not there to claim minutes off of his name. Alena can get rotation minutes ahead of squad deadbeats like Denis.
-Attack: Coutinho is available in the CL, Dembele has proven himself.
-Fullbacks: Sergi and Semedo both convince and can give rest to each other.
-Centrebacks: Lenglet is extremely reliable. Vermaelen when uninjured can step straight into the 11 at a decent level.

I agree with all of your observations.

Also the obvious, which is that this season is not his debut season. Both Pep and Lucho had debut seasons similar to fairytales (both won a triplete in their debut season - you can't do any better than that) but that is far from being the norm.

 

[Joan]

Sarri's only success worth mentioning with Napoli (giving Juve a run for their money) was achieved by throwing all the other competitions under the bus. So yes, it's neat, but nothing spectacular to grant him the status he's got.

 

[Leo_Messi]

Sarri's only success worth mentioning with Napoli (giving Juve a run for their money) was achieved by throwing all the other competitions under the bus. So yes, it's neat, but nothing spectacular to grant him the status he's got.

Sarri does not have any "high status" other than among hipsters and people who like/respect his football. He is no "heavyweight" otherwise. Not to mention that he is a difficult character and was always known for this character flaws in Italy. Him clashing (openly) with the Chelsea squad is not helping that reputation or his clashes with Abramovich (reportedly). Or the way he left Napoli.

I have no doubt that he would make us play a more attractive/beautiful football but I am much less confident about whether he would be pragmatic enough. Having a manager that has zero experience in Spain is always a risk.

 

[Zidane82]

Most worrying to see the thread title change to his actual name

 

[Zidane82]

Sarri's only success worth mentioning with Napoli (giving Juve a run for their money) was achieved by throwing all the other competitions under the bus. So yes, it's neat, but nothing spectacular to grant him the status he's got.

He has no Plan B

 

[serghei]

Sarri's only success worth mentioning with Napoli (giving Juve a run for their money) was achieved by throwing all the other competitions under the bus. So yes, it's neat, but nothing spectacular to grant him the status he's got.

What status he's got? He's just known to be a good manager with an interesting style, which he is. You don't see people here mentioning him in the same breath with the likes of Pep, Klopp or even Allegri and Simeone.

There have been managers in the past who tried to play possession based football at Chelsea and got burned. Sarri wouldn't be the first.

 

[khaled_a_d]

You don't see people here mentioning him in the same breath with the likes of Pep, Klopp or even Allegri and Simeone.

There is plenty of those who rated him as high as some of those.

 

[Joan]

If I misinterpreted the Sarri-ball hysteria at the start of the season in the media, then pardon me.