With Sami there we can control the midfield more and that lead to less chances for opponent getting set piece like that. With less chance of set piece the goal is reduced as well
sami is like ~190 cm tall, and very intelligent in positioning. first of all, we might not give away as many fouls with him on the pitch as without him, and he also can be useful with his pure physical presence when defending. either way, i'd prefer him to be in a physical condition that he could play a whole match. for now, he's a stable starter for sarri, and sarri wouldn't change the game with his subs anyway.
You guys mean Sarri was right in starting Khedira and not throwing newbies like Ramsey (in his case wasn't match fit either) and Rabiot in the XI from the first game like no coach does?
I guess many of the fans (including ignorant ones like me) have only started to appreciate Sami now. There must be something in him that every coach loves him.
I didn't notice any loss of balance when he went off today. We were still quite good once Bentancur and Can came on, even scored the winner off of great build up...