Bonetti defends Jorginho by insisting it is not his job to rack up the assists
ESPN analyst Matteo Bonetti has defended Jorginho amidst all the criticism aimed at the Italian by insisting that the 26-year-old was mischaracterised coming into the Premier League.
“I don’t think people expected Jorginho to be the player that he is,” he told ESPN FC.
“People thought that Jorginho was gonna be this deep-lying playmaker, like a Pirlo-esque. That’s not his game.
“He never plays the ball over the top, he never makes assists. He’s not an assist-maker, Jorginho, he’s a player that’s supposed to organise the midfield, play short balls, take the pressure off the ones around him – like Sergio Busquets is for Barcelona, obviously of a weaker standard.
“Jorginho maybe was mischaracterised coming into the Premier League.”
Maurizio Sarri has come under scrutiny for his decision to persist with Jorginho as the anchor of his midfield three even though the Italian has failed to make an impact in recent weeks, often leading to the downfall of the team.
And Bonetti believes stubbornness is on one of the major shortcomings of Sarri as a manager.
“He’s always been considered stubborn,” he said.
“I think that was one of the negative aspects of his tenure at Napoli, he wouldn’t ever rotate his Napoli side down the stretch when they thought that they could catch Juve.
“All the players were tired, he never rotated apart from in European competitions that he didn’t even focus on. So Napoli just put on the subs in the Europa League, he only wanted to focus on the Scudetto and he never rotated.
“He always picked the same formation, 4-3-3, and always the same 11 players.
“I don’t think he’s settled on his best 11, I don’t think he knows who his best 11 are at Chelsea.”
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