Visionless, clueless, turgid and generally hopeless. That was Southampton. And we were even worse. Here's something to discuss, we won't master Sarri Ball, Carry Ball, or Have a Ball with Jorghino as the main man in our midfield, he's too lightweight and lacking in attack instincts. Maybe if we buy the other 10 Napoli players we might, but not with our squad. Fabregas created more chances, opened up the wall of defenders more times in 10 mins than Jorghino has in 10 games. And Fabregas is almost past it. Shows exactly what we need to do and the type of player to do it. Throw Barkley into the mix and we have 2 midfielders who between them, can't find a way through any determined defence themselves or collectively, let alone create anything for those players who might. Kante, out of position, is better than those 2 combined. Barkley must give the ball away as least as many times as Jorghino makes a pass for the sake of passing. Forget wingers Sarri, FIX THE MIDFIELD and get a striker. Even Morata looked better with a decent ball from Fabregas. Never mind ,we just paid 58Mill for Pulisic, 58Million !!!!! Unproven, untested in a tough League, though with good reports. With Hazard or in place of?? Bet Sarri would like to know. Possibly a good call for next season with Willian and Pedro ageing and Hazard still playing coy. Hope he's better than Drinkwater. Looks more than ever that we need a Head of Football like Michael Ballack to bring some sanity and proper planning in, before everything reverts to the chaos as usual that we seem to reach every 3 years.This team is looking more and more like a replica of Contes' late season one. Sarri has much to offer but looks to be inflexible in his thinking. The injury toll and lack of quality throughout the team is making his life very difficult. Looks as if 2 years will be accurate when it comes to his rebuilding. Unlike Liverpool and City whose rebuild also took a couple of years, but followed a logical path, we seem to be still rudderless in our planning.
Disagree with some of this, we are half way through Sarri’s first season mainly with Conte’s players. I’m generally happy with the improvements to date as I seen them. Southampton are a big strong team of cloggers who came for one thing which they got. Yes I agree given the possession we had we should have produced more chances to score. The main problem is clearly evident is our lack of striking options and before the usuals all jump in about Tammy Abraham’s and Batshit they are NOT the answer and are Championship quality at best. Yes disappointed we didn’t win but not despondent like some of you guys. Another point is we have not been clinical in front of goal recently and this has cost us 5/6points. Morata should really have done better with his unapposed header from 7 yards out. Hazard was unlucky when his shot hit the goalkeeper in the face. We had three cast iron attempts to score and scorned them all. And what with Southampton with a 9 man defence got what their defensive doggedness deserved. Basically far too early to be talking about failure of the system yet.
Not the system that's failing, just this bunch of players can't play the system, and most worrying, Jorghino, around whom the whole system is based, has shown little evidence that he can play it in the PL either as he did in the Italian League. I am on the side of those who think we have not improved at this system for the last 4 or 5 games, and maybe have even gone backwards. Also convinced it's not just as simple as a striker anymore, though that's a big problem, our entire midfield is weak as water with no pace, no vision, no penetration and no good balls for the striker. Kante, like a true champion is the only one who looks better each game.I again ask if Sarri is looking to build his team around Jorghino, he might be barking up the wrong tree, and has to start at least thinking about some changes to the line up or formation. No point having 70% possession if no goalls come of it and most passes are sideways or backwards. Early days agreed , but despite good early signs, Sarri Ball needs rejigging. I do accept Sarri is hamstrung with injuries..
It is what it is. Sarri just needs transfer windows to bring in the personnel we need. We just have to ride it out until then. We need a striker and a creative midfielder (basically we need Fabregas and Costa, or Lampard and Drogba, in their primes ). Thats what this side is missing. Finish as high as we can and ride the season out until we can get them. The only thing worrying me now is Man United's resurgence. I was confident of us finishing top 4 when our only rivals for 3rd and fourth were Arsenal and Spurs....we can definitely finish higher than one of them, definitely Arsenal at least with their **** defence, but Man united improving might be a problem for top 4, especially if we keep dropping points at home in games we should really be winning!
Totally agree with this. I think its part personnel part system personally. Jorginhos been okay. Give him a year to settle in, if hes still the same next year i will be disappointed. Would have preferred someone a bit more dynamic but we are controlling the play which i guess its his remit. I dont like how he isnt that great physically though or that going forward he isnt brilliant but we will see how we get on
When I watch City and Liverpool the main difference to us is that they have runners going behind the defence. All 3 of their front players but none of ours do really. Don’t think they’re any better in possession than us but they make more chances due to the extra space they get.
Agreed with this. They have players in the forward positions who have that burst, are pacey, pretty strong and can dribble and are high energy and look to run in behind. Hazard has been doing that better but teams know they just have to mark him. Willian really like making those forward runs and is a bit soft. Pedro is the only one who can makr forward runs effectively but has lost some of his pace and is powderpuff. Less said about morata and giroud the better. We really need to rely on one of our mids to make those runs but kante cant do it effectively or the others with the exception of rlc
Mate I don’t want to be too critical of your comments and I really understand your passion for all things Chelsea. Sarri really has inherited Contes Chelsea but what club can afford to replace players like Willian,Pedro, and many others? What I’ve enjoyed watching the games here in Thailand is the resurgence of Luiz who played a belter last night. Kept was sound Kante was ...well Kante. The back four joined in the attack when they could. If you honestly asked me what the problems were I’d have to say we don’t move the ball ball fast enough into winning positions but other than that mate I’m very happy with the mid term report given injuries and such.
I'm with you actually, we have done an amazing job to get where we are. Only point of disagreement is I believe with a bit more thought and experimentation, especially since most agree this is a season to learn and adapt, then many of our goal scoring problems might be relieved. RLC should be chosen far more often than Barkley and get an extended run with Kante and Jorghino. Barkley and Kovacic have had far more chances, but RLC is our only source of power and attacking skill. Moses is a big strong sod, worth a look surely on the right instead of Willian or Pedro just in case he might do something unexpected. Getting frustrated with the same old same old and predictable performances. Don't expect miracles, just try something different. I also think NOT getting top 4 might be a boon for next season. City and Liverpool showed Rome isn't built in a day.
Understand your post mate but Sarri has come out and said so much as his brief is to win matches.(no surprise there) like many greats before he religiously keeping that in mind.. who wouldn’t want talented youth coming through? This we will neve know .
We need to finish outside top 8. Only hope for next season. It was Judas Mo who won the league for Judas ****e by finishing outside 8th in the previous season. We Will miss 4th spot definitely with the way Ole have them playing.
Stan you are becoming vexatious to the spirit, kindly leave your comments elsewhere, there's a good chap.
Too true. Winning takes over from sensible development , and we continue to ride the merry go round. Management need to let the pressure down and allow Sarri some slack to get things sorted. If we miss top 4, so be it, we’ll get it back in spades next season with a few astute imports and a couple of youth developments. HDO, RLC and Ampadu look ready made, no outlay replacements for next season.
Ampadu was OK IMO and not even playing a natural position for him on the right of a 3 man midfield. If Fabregas goes, he should be given some games as Jorginho's back up. Looks good for that role at the base.
I agree, he does well for Wales in midfield or defence,and is a very accomplished player with all the assurance of a veteran. He is attacking by instinct and looks to have vision. Can't be bad. Note how Christensen improved out of sight alongside Luiz and with the 1st 11? Far better the youngsters get those opportunities than playing in a 2nd 11 in the Europa.
