You just know that somewhere in Turin, Sarri is sitting smug in his armchair, smoking fifteen ***s and a cohiba, having a quiet giggle to himself.
It's going to be a long hard season for Chelsea, unless Roman hands out the Christmas bonuses to FIFA and The Court of Arbitration For Sport and they get to buy a new team in January.
I doubt it. Opening day always has some odd results and scorelines, especially when new managers are involved. Lampard probably learned quite a lot about his team with this match and he'll learn some more against Liverpool midweek. They've still got a very strong squad and I'm sure they'll pick up fairly quickly, unfortunately.
Chelsea looked good at the beginning of this match and as often the case with football the score does not reflect the play. They could have been 2 - 0 they lose by 4 that's the game of football.
They're an odd mix of slightly too old and slightly too young. Really, Azpilucueta, Giroud, Pedro and Willian needed replacing. They'll have bursts of good form but won't sustain it. I can't see them scoring the goals but I do see them conceding plenty. A rookie boss won't help. It's a long hard season ahead, for me.
I don't think that any of those players are too old, especially Azpilicueta, who is 29! Giroud should probably be starting ahead of Abraham, who I think it talented but raw and would benefit from coming on from the bench for now. Not sure what their formation was supposed to be and Lampard probably overdid it with the changes and youngsters, for me. I've talked up Mount for years, but throwing him in against Man Utd at Old Trafford seems a strange one. Liverpool on Wednesday is now an important match for them.
I thought 4-0 flattered United was a closer game than the score suggests - But I do agree that Chelsea maybe in for a long season.
A little with the chances we missed. Too naive though chasing. Both full backs flying up and having jorginho hold with kovacic. Jorginho cant cover that ground whilst you have speed merchants up top in martial lingard and rashford.
There did seem to be enormous holes at the back when they were breaking. Fourth might've been questionable though, due to the head injury that the Man Utd players were highlighting in their own box. Good job you're playing Liverpool next and they don't break at pace...
Maguire looked good. Always in the right place and does all the simple things flawlessly. If Harry Kane was a centre back.
