lol Jorginho completed more passes in that game than the whole of the Newcastle XI Jorginho looks pretty damn good. Newcastle really didn't try to play football did they......having 18% possession at home is ****ing embarrassing.
Jorginho is outstanding, could watch him all day. He’s a few steps ahead of anyone else on the pitch and basically tells everybody else what to do with the ball. Think that game shows VAR is probably needed. Wasn’t a penalty and I’m not sure how that elbow was missed either.... Would’ve been a travesty if we hadn’t won that match. Watching us last season it wasn’t too dissimilar to Newcastle at times, horrible. One negative though, David Luiz...why doesn’t he go and meet the ball for their goal? He’s great on the ball but he still worries me, especially in a back four. Teams should notice that and get at us more, that’s how they’ll beat us.
yea david should attack that really but got lazy. Watching him and after about 70 mins he just look tired and unfit in that he waits and is a bit more slack. Was getting fed up of hazard today. Such a quality player but he was dropping too deep, hogging the ball when sarris play demands quick slick passing. Sure, dribble a bit more in the final 3rd but now when their entire team is in front. Think i was most frustrated when Kante plays him in and he decides he needs to do the defender rather than unleash it, drag it back, plays around a bit then passes backwards. Even at the he was too busy rolling it around and so casual on the ball which meant we gave the ball away rather than passing it around and keeping possession. Glad Sarri told him to play it a bit quicker and we can see how devastating he can be (playing in alonso).
Its funny because i read that article too and not once did i see Gullit claim that playing Alonso is akin to throwing away any chance at top four, nor did he claim it was like playing with 10 men and that Sarri would do well to get top 10. The article is about Alonso and Dave's effectiveness at providing width to stretch defenders when teams congest the middle, ie he is criticising their effectiveness in attack, not in defence.
Do you not rate Kovacic? He should be given a run in the midfield alongside Kante and Jorginho. The keeper needs a settled defence to get used to the Prem. Chopping and changing the side every week won’t help new boys (and the established players) learn a new system. Maybe Sarri can start rotating later in the season when the team has confidence in the high line, if it works. Italian coaches are not big on rotation especially when just arriving in a new league
I do rate Kovacic, but he is not match fit and asked to be replaced. Against Newcastle Kante was looking less effective than in his previous role, Jorghino had to do too much, and Kovacic looked a tad ineffective. So Georghino was feeding Hazard and Pedro a lot of the time and as Bobby D says, Hazard was running nowhere too often , and losing possession. I thought it was obvious the midfield was struggling and RLC was the man to add some aggression and power when the sub was finally made. Instead on comes Barkley and does precisely nothing, which is what he's done every game Iv'e seen him play. Better than last year definately, but still not in good enough form , nor dynamic enough to be 1st choice sub. Hence for me, unless and until Kante comes good further forward, then we need to try and find a better solution than Barkley. I get it that some stability is needed, but not much point if the wrong players are being used because the manager hasn't even seen the alternatives play. Same goes for Luiz, he will need better match fitness and more time to play Sarris' way, so why not sub him for Christensen after 70 odd minutes? Not really wanting to criticise the starting set up, but I think Sarri would improve the team quicker if he used his subs more thoughtfully.
So far so good.........Very difficult for any team to get a result there.Rudiger looking better every game deserved a goal.Anyway after 3 games we have 2 more points than City and as for UTD.
Exactly, he pretty much says the opposite about Alonso than Stan has being saying for about a year. I.e that Alsono is a **** defender and should play as a winger. Yet now relies on the article because is vaguely supports his view that Alonso is somehow a weakness. Funny how he ignores things like him getting in team of the year or views from other pundits. Garth Crokes this week said.... Marcos Alonso: When Marcos Alonso takes to the field he almost always affects the game. If he's not scoring goals then he's making them. Against Newcastle this very elegant player did both. This is the second consecutive week Alonso has starred for Chelsea in a run of games that has seen the Blues unbeaten with maximum points.
I agree with you regarding Barkley but fear RLC is more of the same, no end product and unclear what their best positions actually are. .
How convenient you have to agree with Crooks of all people. He will be shattered if we have a weakness in our Defense. Play Alonso over Pedro and play Emerson or Zappa in LB. Simples.
How lucky we are to have so many options to change things if need be. I'm happy with max points right now,lets see how things progress.
