The Liquidator

Turned into a very interesting game for me last night. It paid for my Christmas. Up n down the country Chelsea fans were celebrating when CHO came on in the first half, one of our own getting on before more experienced players. For me it was time to make some money n finding a price on him to be substituted before the end of the game, which he surly was. Manager has been defending himself stating a tight ham-string was the reason. Seems that's not the original story from the player himself to Chelsea Jurno's at the game. Not much to say on the game other than an open question to all. Do you think the manager tells the players, when we have the ball out wide, still cross the ball in the air to our invisible Center Forward so the opposition can have the ball back with ease? Oh as a add on, how interesting was Eden's choice of celebration partner for his first goal??

This is a cut n paste of my post elsewhere. If this fact pains you, dont fucking read it. I dont have time to tap out 2 posts. As ever I went to the home game at the weekend. Over the years I have been a member financial contributor and helped run our Chelsea board, at times I have been accused of being far too negative about some of our performances and having favorites, both players n managers. I tell it as I see it. Unlike some, I stated from the announcement I felt this bloke was a fucking idiot and completely wrong for our football club. Saturday was ANOTHER proof I am right. Ok, we all saw how poor we was and I think it important we again take quotes from his presser after the game. The following were taken from a twitter thread of a Chelsea supporting jurno. Sarri is asked why he threw down his coat. Deadpans: "I was hot." (Yeah, 40.000 of us were fucked off too) Sarri says his side played 'not as a team, but as 11 different players'. "We could have done better in the reaction." (Whats the use, we have already learnt you cant change for the better. You are not Conti Jose Robbie and most definitely Gus) Sarri says his side were suffering from 'mental confusion'. (I’m not and nor are more n more Chelsea faithful…we have you sussed, and worse, so has every other PL Manager) Sarri says he does not know why this happened. "If I knew, I would solve the problem before this match. It is difficult to understand." (God help us, we have a manager who does not know how to fix the problem he has created!) Sarri says it is important for his team to get back to the pitch and play 'immediately'. Is asked whether Hazard as a false nine worked: "I was very happy at the end of the first half... After the goal, the position of Hazard was not important." (Flabbergasted, need a new paragraph to highlight more of his managerial faults) Two facts us Chelsea fans can be sure of, the two players who this manager wanted, Jorginho & Kovacic are, for me, the two players we are carrying ever since other teams sussed them out. A good manager would adjust, make a tweak, have something in his make up to enable these players to continue to contribute. Alas he stands by them and we have been carrying them as passengers for months. Anyone remember a game in the last 3 months when both have them have started and finished the game together? Its as thou the manager can see the problem, but wont change his ideas on starting 11. If we get saddled with Kovacic it will be one of the very worst deals our club have EVER done because we would have seen for a season he wasn’t any good, yet still went for him. Neither of them contribute anything exciting to the attacking play, something I flagged up before the season. Jorginho, who gave a lot people erections when they saw how many touches he got in the early games, has since been sussed by having pressure on him quickly when he receives the ball. Pirlo he aint! Anyway, in a nutshell, I do not blame either player, this is down to the idiot on the sideline. Jorginho is the managers main man. Was said to be the heartbeat of his previous team and the one player he told our club we had to have. Were I sit in the ground I am not close enough to see clearly what others are saying on the manager being in his player ear from early on in games. I am told you could get very drunk if the amount of times the manager shrugs his shoulders with hands open aimed at Jorginho during games, were beers. Some are saying there is friction between the two. I cant comment on that, other than the managers fav player is a passenger holding us back. JonesBlue HopefullHudson AlisonStyles & BlueHat27, I cant agree with your accusing of Hazard none committal to the club. He asked to leave, Chelsea said no. He said ok and has played his heart out for the club. He is playing in a position he is on record as saying he does not like. He has not moaned, just got on with it. Granted after 20 mins on Saturday, he was going back to the half way line to get the ball of Luiz, but that’s down to how the manager sets the team up. Lets be quite frank, Eden Hazard is the only World Class player we have. He leaves it will be a blow we will take a long time to recover from. Ok the following have all called for a change in manager before we spend more money on “his” kind of players. MHEnd777 FrankieBoy TheRealFatFrank Captain60 StamfordLion, I hear you guys and I have to say I have not been so worried about the guy in charge of our team since AVB turned up. The truth is its unlikely, even for Chelsea to get rid of this guy before the end of the season. There is no doubt there is tremendous unrest around Stamford Bridge on game days. Players are getting it from the fans, Luiz Alonso Willian often from the start. Dave, who gets his crosses blocked almost all the time (I heard someone compare his crossing to being worse than Vana at the weekend, AGAIN) has a dedicated number of people giving him a hard time. The flipside to all this is there are lots of Chelsea fans who are calling for Reuben Loftus-Cheek to be given his head. As you all know, I don’t think he is a complete player and will only add to our problems in the long run. For those keen on us introducing our own to the team, far more regular than we have seen in the past. For me, you can only do this is they are good enough, because if they arnt, you do more damage than good to their careers as well as first teams results. I feel sure Conti did not think any of the youngsters were good enough and Sarri does not fuel us with confidence he feels any different. I cant disagree with ChelseaTotty, the youngsters will have Chelsea in their hearts and would give us far more then the players did away to Wolves for instance. Since Roman came to the club we were able to build a squad which was full of powerful strong players with a few skillful thrown in. It allowed us to become the most winning club for a stretch of time only rivaled by United. While it can be accused of not the most wonderful of football to watch, when you have been starved of winning football as us old timers have, winning something each year is the best antidote we could ever been given for the hurt n pain of the crap years. Now the reason for becoming winners wants (Always has from what we have been told) to have us performing tippy tappy football, the opposite of our football in our brilliant games against Barcelona. Ask Barcelona players who was the toughest team they faced in the naughties, Messi, "There are players here who hate Chelsea more than Real Madrid," Messi told the News of the World. "I never thought I would hear myself say that. "I also never thought I would see something worse than the Boca and River Plate rivalry or Brazil v Argentina - but this is. "We would rather play Arsenal, Manchester United or anyone else than be on the pitch with Chelsea." The so called best ever club side talking about my club being the team they feared. That was our reputation. A strong powerful team who would out play/battle frustrate n defeat you onto us lifting another Trophy On Saturday I saw a piss poor team out battle ours by showing more heart n will too win, than we have all season. Where has our strengths gone? The owner wants a different style and he has taken Sarri to be the architect of the new Chelsea. As much as I don’t agree and think his choice of manager is a mistake, the owner has this right. I just wish he owner would turn up at the ground n suffer as we all are attending games under his new man. Gonna take a leaf out of the owners book and give Watford a miss Boxing day.

Went to last nights game. Scrapy Chelsea and a very well set up Bournemouth resulted in a boring evening which was decided on a deflected goal off a Bournemouth defenders hand. A lot of people today are landing plaudits on Bournemouth for the way they were set up defensively and hit well on the break\counter attack. Truth is they were never really in the game as far as a possible winning team. In fact, they looked to me completely different team to the one who came here in the league a few weeks ago and looked for a large part of the game as thou they believed they were on a par with us. I guess their recent form has taken a huge lump out of their confidence. Probably good for us that they were set up in this way as we again started a 2nd string, a 2nd string who knocked the ball about in the manner this manager likes and promptly got nowhere throughout the game. Yes a couple of good opportunities were manufactured, but through a longer ball being played to a forward position. Talking of forwards, Giroud was terrible last night. There have been games where I have cried out for him to start over Morata and to never see our best player sacrificed through the middle, but last night performance was as poor as any Morata start. I know he has no legs but I would hope he would knit things together better than Morata. The thing is the players who started along with him found it difficult to pass the ball too his feet. He just doesnt have the mobility to move his body to an area for the other players to exploit. Disappointing and its the position that most needs attention in the next window. Who that player should be is beyond me, but there should be someone at the club who has a couple of options penciled in as possibles. There has been lots of nice words about Reuben Loftus-Cheek over the past few appearances. As ever, I am fully aware how lovely he looks while the ball is at his feet moving towards the oppositions goal. What people who were watching the goal on a stream or tv didnt see was him bent over with his hands on his knees knackerd while his fellow team mates were running back towards our goal trying to defend a Bournemouth counter attack. This happened from around the 70th minute of the game and credit to the manager he was right onto Ruben. It also must be highlighted later in the game Ruben did put a shift in to defend against a counter attack. My opinion of him has not changed, he is still only half a player. Granted the good half shows us a positive attacking threat, he is a waste of space without the ball and until he changes he cant be trusted. Quick word for Willian who put a good shift in while he was on the pitch and Dave gave a solid display at Right full back. Alas the left back is proving to be no danger to Alonso which is a tremendous shame. I think everyone agrees Alonso needs pressure to be put on him as his defensive displays have not been good enough ever since he has been at the club. Lucky for him the bloke behind him is as bad at defending as himself.

I fully understand and accept your frustration.

@carefreeluke In conversation with someone on this subject elsewhere, someone like yourself who gets extremely frustrated with our talented Brazilian, he commented that the goals and assists totals should also have a percentage stat for the amount of times he gives the ball away when in free possession of the ball. Alas, that is his Achilles Heel, but the one thing we can be sure of, our current manager loves him. Gilberto Silva was in this country for long enough to be close, although his goals scored would have been low. @True Blue The Hazard situation isnt being helped by the manager choosing to use him through the middle. Eden is on record in stating he does not like playing the position, but knows how to perform the task. For me when the manager chooses to use him this way, he is sacrificing our best player and on Sunday he showed he did not know when to change Eden for the good of the team during a game. Where does this leave Eden? Well he talks about Madrid freely. This is because he does not have an Agent to do all the bullshit with the media. In some ways I respect him for this as its all out there in the open. Chelsea know where he stands and his refusal open contract talks must also point to one ending. I have said before here n elsewhere I would not blame Eden if he decided to move on. I dont believe he owes us anything and has represented us very well during his time with us. --------------- Our former manager got his marching orders today. I believe he never wanted to be manager of Manchester United and only did so because of the pain he felt by being moved on by ourselves. The day he signed for them I told my friend @Redcanuck there was not one defender on their staff who would be good enough for Jose. I find it amazing, 3 years on, there still isnt a defender on their books who would be deemed good enough for Jose. I hope he is ok and will enjoy no longer living in a Hotel. I am sure Eden will have one eye on where Jose ends up as Madrid could well be his next destination.

I watched the game on a great Sopcast stream and watched MOTD highlights a number of times. Few quotes from our manager. Chelsea boss Sarri said: “I think that when we have the feeling of being in full control of the match, we are dangerous for ourselves. Suddenly the level of application and attention is lowered. “The feeling when we are in confidence, when we are sure of being in control of the match, is dangerous for us. I think we could have won better because we played very well for 60 minutes, I think. “We conceded a goal in a moment in which we were in full control of the match, and so, in my mind, it was clear in that moment that we have to suffer in the last five minutes with the long balls into the box. “We are not a physical team. With the substitutions, I tried to have a more physical impact for the last five minutes, but it was clear it was really very difficult in the last five minutes. We could have won really very better.” Look I am no fan of this idiot, but when he comes out with total bollocks like this, understanding we were being over powered, yet not fucking doing anything about it till the last 5 mins, well, I just think it fully illuminates why he has never won anything. Conte and Jose may not have the man management skills of this feller (Although if he continues to take a pop at the players he will soon lose that as well) but does any Chelsea fan believe they would have taken so long to work out what happened at the start of the 2nd half? I was absolutely furious watching that second half progress. He even complimented Hazard for being prepared to drop back for the ball from his dumbass position of a false nine. The thing is you dumb ass, without anyone in the CF roll we had no top point to hit when we won the ball back. We were crying out for someone up front. The amount of time we had the ball at the back into midfield then nothing. Brighton couldn’t believe their luck. Their manager had changed his team tactics from the start of the 2nd half and our idiot did NOTHING! But has the audacity to say he saved the day with 5 mins to go! I have no confidence in him at all now and I am tired of his bullshit after matches where he places blame on the players. He is turning us into Wenger’s Arsenal and I hate it. There is a lot more I could mention, like why the fuck is he continuing to start Kovacic when the boy cant last a full game and does absolutely nothing through any amount of minutes he is on the pitch. Barkley must be wondering what he has to oust the loan player. You just know Madrid are going to saddle us for him while our best player, the best player playing in this country leaves for a team who will play him in his preferred position. Everyone needs to cash in any luck they have about them as I cant see us finishing top four under this feller. Thank God Jose is doing such a wonderful job! Oh, Reuben Loftus-Cheek looked great, going forward, he was his normal waste of space when we were without the ball and I am told got in the ear from the manager during his cameo. Kovcic also got it from the manager too I am told. @Bluewolf is right about “Alonso getting lucky there only getting a yellow” I think its safe to say the officials have had their card marked with him n I fully expect us to suffer him leaving the pitch before the end of the game sometime soon. It’s a shame the other Left Back is such a poor defender. @Bluewolf also mentioned “I don't think we have had a meaningful attack on their goal for the past 25 minutes... been all Brighton with the fight” Yeah… see above. @carefreeluke wrote a nice piece on his fav Chelsea player Willian after the game where he listed a number of points on our skilful (at times) Brazilian. I found this nice line about him from the BBC which I am not sure over flatters him. Willian has now been directly involved in 50 goals in the Premier League (27 goals, 23 assists), becoming the third Brazilian player in competition history to reach this milestone, after Philippe Coutinho (76) and Roberto Firmino (64). I guess we need to know exact mins on the pitch to work out how good a return he is? @True Blue compares the Wolves performance to this and I think he is bloody right to do so. I wish I had mentioned that point in my post elsewhere.

I know the game had nothing on it for the club as we had sown up the mini league for qualification, so you could understand the outcome. However, you would have thought the players would have put more in, or at least responded to the manager n his staff to put in a performance. Lackluster, minimum effort and a performance that has lost any of the bounce about the club for the lucky win over City last weekend. Difficult to pick out any players of note although Giroud looked like a player who wanted to stand out when he came on. We are coming up to the half way point in the PL season and our owner still hasnt set foot in the country this season. I have no idea how much truth there is in we could have a new owner by the end of the summer 2019, but it has to be said the rumours are getting more consistent n bold the longer Roman stays away. Makes you wonder if the passport he picked up in the summer is worth what he thought it was worth? Never spends Christmas in the UK, so it looks like 2019 before he takes his seat at the ground again?

Alas it's very true. He needs to be careful, he is quickly becoming a Darren Wood or Joe Mclaughlin target of today's Chelsea fans. Don't help him that Kante is loved so much by everyone, but he needs to something, anything positive soon.

I was at the game and have kinda enjoyed two re-runs of the BT coverage. Have to say the recordings have been illuminating. After a performance at Wolverhampton where we something between Sarri-ball and Avb-ball, I along with most other Chelsea fans feared the worst. Turns out, It’s a wonderful result against a much better side than ourselves, a team who had both their best 2 players missing and possibly their 3rd in Mendy. Our manager decided to go with our best player through the middle. Sacrificing our best player? Id say yes and the player himself did not look over enthusiastic with his non committal to leading questions after the game on the managers decision to play him as a non 9. My first impression looking down from my seat was it was going to be the battle of the Didi men. Never has a pitch looked to need an injection of power in midfield or upfront, for both teams. After a few weeks of his system not working, Sarri either had to do something different or find his life far more difficult after his honeymoon. What he decided on was playing in a false 9 from the start with a full pitch press without the ball. Within 20 minutes the manager told the players to stop the press (McManaman confirmed this in the 13th min on BT) as City were running around us at will. Willian and Pedro, commended for the way they attempted to support both our full backs when called off by the manager from pressing, suddenly had me realizing he has now taken us back to Conte away at City last season. This question was asked of the Chelsea TV pundits who fumbled through their answers not wanting to upset him. What we can safely say, from calling off the press till, our, against play opening goal, we were sure not playing Sarriball. That might sound alarmist. Far from it. It’s actually the first we have seen of a plan B from this manager. Stumbled on, rather than a cunning plan. Now obviously we have to thank City for this forced adaption as I don’t think the manager would have done this if his opening gambit hadn’t been sussed n dominated. Luiz hoof up the field (far more of a threat than any of Jorginho’s thousands of passes of late) and Willian catching out the sleeping defender were the two major factors in the goal. Hazards ball across the box looked to be very lucky as he didn’t look and Kante passing the ball into the net still almost managed to hit the bar. As the commentator said, it was completely against the run of play. It came at the best time for us, bang on half time. Our celebration in our section resulted in a guy taking a right hander worthy of the Fury fight, who’s Nose then ran of Blood way into the 2nd half. Turns out the right hand belonged to his own Son Haha. He was fine by the end of the game and obviously in good heart. It has to be said we started the 2nd half looking far more confident, moving the ball quicker than any other time in the game. City regained more possession of the ball, only for Luiz to add a 2nd goal. We ran the clock out fairly well and even survived our young keeper kicking the ball directly to City late in the game. I have to say it was fantastic to have both Barkley and Reuben Loftus-Cheek on the pitch at the end of the game. The latter was little help when City had the ball, but as ever, he looked dangerous when we had it. A future of those two with Kante in the middle? I wont hold my breath. So what do we make of the game? Counter-attacking football, allowing the opposition to dominate possession of the ball and a long ball approach to wide area’s which helped unlock the weak point of City’s team. Was it won by the manager, or was our name on the result from the word go? Id say, his system was over run, forced to lay off the better side we fell into a system which was more suitable for the opposition we faced and managed to get lucky infront of goal, while the opposition missed far too many opportunities. Some of us have been craving this as a plan B. Long may it continue. ---------------------------------------------------- On an unrelated point, our current manager seems to use every presser to bad mouth a player or group of players. Be it Weak mentally of individual players to the players not showing the right attitude, since the loss of form he is taking a page out of a former manager of ours by roasting our guys in the media. For some reason Sarri does not face the same back lash from the media when he does this? Interesting

Some very interesting responses to last nights game and much thanks to @SirBalon for his football intelligent posts. It’s best I again state I did not want Sarri as our manager. I have seen the holes in his team since before the start of the season and have been surprised by our much better than average start. I find it quite shocking it took these so called professional managers to work out how to set up against Sarri’s team, but we can feel certain everyone knows what to do from now on. What concerns me the most is, now everyone knows the secret, our manager is, up to now, unable to change his way of play. Now I am not saying the move of Kante to the position he is best at will answer all our problems, but for me, a game last night where it seems most of the top sides started a 2nd eleven, it would have been prudent to have a bit of insurance in the middle of the pitch, especially when the team is licking its wounds from the Spurs embarrassment. Evidence is, Not for our manager, who yet again proved the one trick pony tag he has around his neck. Now I fully understand when introducing a new style of play to a club takes time and plenty of patience. If we are to have those attributes as fans, then a manager should baby step the team into being able to carry out his ideology. I have stated here and elsewhere since before the season started, if the manager does not have the right players for his way of play, then work up to that point by being more solid till we have signed the players he desires. The manager has been told his remit is to qualify for Champions league. He is on record in saying that. While my over night question may have been bourn by the terrible performance and frustration of us not being able to kill off a well below average Wolves side, I believe the question is a fair one, especially if you are like me watch every Chelsea game over a season. I openly ask all, if you have been sussed as a team, do you continue to play how your opposition know how to play against you, or do you tweak it some? Our @Bluewolf states in one of his posts this is just a rough patch we are going through and sure Sarri is already thinking about players he wants in to build. Hey I can understand that, but rather than continue to play poorly with the players he has now, cant he tweak it some till those blokes turn up over the next 2 windows? @Bluewolf is more disappointed in the players over the manager. Until this manager shows he can change the team for the better he will be nothing more than a lemming in my mind, continuing with what has been sussed and allowing teams to exploit our weaknesses. While I respect @Bluewolf opinion and hope he is right, this manager has to earn my faith in his ability to manage more than the one way, and this would include a final decision on Morata as @Bluewolf highlighted. I hope my old mate @Redcanuck is right on just the one team to beat. I happen to think at this moment in the season we are the weakest of those clubs fighting for 2nd – 4th. With the chance of being stuffed out of sight by the best team this coming weekend. It could be worse mate, we could be managed by a bloke who never ever wanted to end up our manager! Still we may well take a leaf out of the Hotel bound manager n qualify through the back Europa door. In response to cheeky @JOSHBRFC (Hope you are well mate) no its not meltdown. For me its frustration of what I have been saying since before the season coming to fruition. @True Blue is 100% correct, we praise the good performances of the start of the season. We, unlike many other clubs fans, point out when things are not so good with the same degree of expression. I agree with @True Blue I don’t want to see the manager moved on, he is not my choice, but he has to have a chance to prove himself. It’s just for now in my eyes, he isn’t proving he has the situation under the control we would like or the ability to solve the answers other managers have for him. Lets just say his Honeymoon period is well and truly over.

Well after that performance, anybody think we will finish top 4?

I was at Stamford Bridge for the Fulham game and watched a recording of the game this morning. Best said early, I wish I hadn’t bothered attending as it was a poor game. There really isn’t much to say about our teams performance against Fulham other than we were poor for most of the game. Our keeper should be credited with the win over the draw Fulham could quite easily gained from their high press performance. If nothing else it was good practise for the City game coming next weekend as Ranieri had his players all over our midfield forcing Luiz to be the outman from the back where he more often or not pushed the ball through to our forward players who only kept possession around 40-50% of the time. While our defenders managed to keep hold of the ball while being forced to play keepball from pretty much our goal line, you could sense the crowd were none too confident we would get through the 90mins without a mishap. The question of Jorginho’s importance to us now the managers tactics have been sussed is something anyone with an ounce of football intelligence is very interested to see what happens. I was a bit far from our bench during the game to hear Sarri, but those closer have said he was in Jorginho’s ear all of the first half telling him to move about to release himself from his marker. Kovacic was his normal nonentity and should have been removed from the pitch much earlier. To be frank, it was insulting to the other players that he started. Remember, he isn’t our player. Congrats to Reuben Loftus-Cheek. It was a perfect game for him to be introduced. Inferior opposition who were committed to find a equalizer. A couple of good moments of him moving forward with the ball always catches the eye of those who believe him to be the full shilling. We can feel sure the only reason he got the outing is because Barkley is carrying a knock. @carefreeluke pointed out on this board to watch Alonso’s first half performance to see what is wrong with his play and I have to say it’s a fair example of him at his weakest. Interesting he got pulled by the manager. It seems like it’s the kiss of death for anyone who signs a new contract with this manager. “Jorginho is undroppable for Sarri”, never a truer word could be said by @True Blue. I agree its about time Fabregas gets a go in that position, something I feel sure @carefreelukewould agree with. Fingers crossed for a good Sopcast stream for the Wolves game and hot breaking news we have Forest at home in the FA Cup!

Watched the game on BT last night and it has to be said the standard of opposition in our group has been well below average. Its very difficult to take much notice of our players performances if we take into account the opposition. Many people are talking up the players who have excelled in these games where's I prefer to see our starting 11 which tells you the only reason they are starting. The opposition are no more than Championship standard. Happy for Odi. Always nice for one of our own gets a goal, but I agree with the manager (One of the VERY few things I agree with him) the boy needs to improve all throughout his game. There is no doubt there is a player in him, but he would be a passenger at league level. Ruben looks good as ever in bully games. Close your eyes and think of him in the starting team against Spurs and you see the real him. @carefreeluke states its time he gets a run of games. I would rather Barkley or Christensen get that before Ruben and Pedro should get in over Willian for a few games too. Where would Ruben Fit? The other guy who needs to get a run of games is Giroud. He really benefited from Cesc last night and I would like to see him start most of the games in December. Cesc was really good, as he is when given all the time in the world by a side down to 10 within 10mins. As it was said by Glenn Hoddle a while back, its a tragedy Cesc's legs have gone at the age of 31. It must be said I think the media are setting up our manager. They are already pinpointing Kante signing a huge 5 year contract and him not being played in his best position. That's pretty much a no brainer, but when you have the BT girl after the game suggesting to the manager playing his fav player and Kante as a two among other things, and him batting it off as his fav player cant play in a two and thinking about his previous comments of late, you have to start to think he is fully aware whats going on. His damning words on Kante's performance against Tottenham is a huge worry for us and for me again underlines his reputation of being a one trick Pony. Our position is now plain. The manager admitted opposition teams have decided to pressure\sussed Jorginho and we can no longer you him as he does. It's up too the manager to solve this..... It's that simple. I agree with @True Blue on Kovačić performances of late. He has become a nonentity in his deep role. @True Blue is also right to highlight the great performance of Tammy up in Birmingham. 4 goals in a game, no matter the level is always a great achievement.

Went to the game and suffered a recording of the game. Thanks to those who have mentioned how right I have been reading what was ahead for our team under Sarri. I would rather have been wrong, but what our manager now says “Everyone can now see our weakness” I saw on our pre season tour. The question that should be asked, why the fuck is the manager still continuing to play our weaknesses when he states he has known about them pretty much into the new season. Strange words too in the fact he states the staff have not been happy with the attitude of the players for a number of games? Call me old fashioned, but isn’t it down to him to get them up for games? Although, if they cant get up for Spurs, then we have something seriously wrong. While I thought Saturdays performance was as poor as any poor game under any of the other managers, it must be said not getting that penalty in the first half to make it 1-1, had a huge baring on the game. Now I fully agree with others, even if we got that, the performance wouldn’t have been good enough to get anything from the game, but the opposition was Spurs who are as soft as shit. There is every chance our worst performance may have been good enough if the wind had been taken out of their sails. With that said, their coach out coached ours, who again we might highlight the alarming words of those who know his past…. One trick pony. The third goal was the most painful as we saw Son running back with Jorginho who looked like he was carrying a freezer from Iceland on his back. You have to wonder what Kante was thinking of his team mates efforts? Bazilfoolty WalterDavis & Lemoncfc and others have questioned the managers starting selection for the game and I cant think of anything to defend him. When it was announced Willian was starting yet again, I was walking into the stadium. There was no mistaking the meaning of the Chelsea fans noise to that news. For me Barkley was a shoe-in for the game, yet the bloke who does nothing other than look pretty in the middle left side of the pitch was back in. While I cant be as forth right as ChelseaTotty & 7OaksCFC on Jorginho, but when our manager says in the after game presser, "It was difficult to use Jorginho as usual." THERE IT IS IN A NUTSHELL! So why did you continue trying to do just that? It’s as thou he too can see what is wrong, but for some reason he wont change, or as I am fearing, does not have the ability to change his one style of play to help the team. Id even go as far as to say, change it for the better now, until you have the right players at the club to play your way! I truly think there is so much upside to this team which can flourish given time and good management. My question is, is it in Sarri to bring that out into the open? How many of you remember back in 2005 when we played 433 with Makelele in the Jorginho position? Teams started to mark Makelele, pressure him, much like how both Everton n Spurs have done in the last two games. Jorginho isn’t Pirlo, you cant give him the ball with pressure all around him. He is fine with small easy passes with no pressure. Jose then played Drogba more often and the ball into him came a more evident way of play for us. I feel Giroud might have been a big help Saturday. Shame the manager waited till almost the end of the game to try that? Anyway, a painful afternoon, but he should be noted, they have spanked us before in the league, but their Trophy room is still as empty as ever. Hey, I got through this without mentioning Morata! Duh!

Ever so poor last night. It was thou the boys didnt want to be there. I suppose we should be pleased that we have escaped the group with the minimal effort we seemed to have put in, but I hope the lackluster performance does not run into Sundays game where a much higher level or play will be needed. Everton are starting to get it together so I am expecting a good close game. As far as the Europa, for me there is no excuse now for the manager not to start with our young guys in both games. Up to now his none selection, or at least early introduction from the bench, of the youngsters is one of the things that pains me in his leadership. The other thing about the Europa is the clubs who could be dropping into the competition from failing in the CL. It's almost making me switch channels to watch the CL.

Its a strange thing going on with Dave and for me its a matchday thing. Most Chelsea stand up for him in conversation and opinions, but on a Home matchday there are those who give him a hard time. As I have said before, I have no idea why. I dont think he is playing any worse than he has in the past. I would say he may have lost a little pace against speedsters, but on the whole he has been our Dave, fully dependable. Meanwhile David Luiz gets away with murder with his adventures out to the touchline and venturing further forward than Jorginho

I must add this is my posting elsewhere, copied and paste here.

Not sure why so many have turned on Dave, but your thought on Zappacosta is one shared by quite a few. The manager has his fav back four which get aired in all the important games. For how long? I am not so sure. Dont think Gary will scare anyone just now, but Christenson could. Some of those transfer websites are saying we are putting out feelers for a number over defenders. We shall see

I was at the game and have spent this morning watching a recording of Sky’s coverage, plus MOTD with our Ruud. Have to say right off the bat I didn’t know who the bloke wearing the number 29 was until just before the final whistle, but then everything was revealed. In the few seconds it took him to get from the half way line to shooting it was amazed the number of wagers that were made among my fellow Chelsea fans sitting in my area. Alas, while I was proved right, nobody would cover the large amount I was offering. With all that said, he did play MUCH better and it much be pointed out, he didn’t cry the bitch aver 2 minutes when someone kicked him or lost possession of the ball. In my humble opinion, the latter is as big a step in the right direction as his football performance. Now I always say if I was at the game and which recordings I have watched. Most of the time I don’t take notice of pundits as most have the football intelligence of my last stool test. However, When I spied our Ruud in the studio, one perks, and he did not disappoint with some very interesting analysis of our number 29. He pretty much made the case that Morata was the player we needed and these past weeks have not been all his fault. In his opinion, our style of play, so called Sarriball is contributing to his poor performance. He showed plenty of examples of his thoughts and it helped he had yesterdays two goals to show as examples of whats needed. I try to be open minded on anyone lucky enough to pull our shirt on for a living, but I truly find it difficult to get past his running around his left foot (even thou he swung it for the second goal) and that so un-natural finish at the end of the game. The keeper was so far out of his goal, the correct finish was to run past him and pass it into the goal. With all that said I hope his better form of late continues. Not sure where Luiz was going for the Palace goal? We were in full control of the game, but because of our weakness infront of goal putting away the many chances we create, one mistake or poor defending of our back line, we are becoming under the cosh by being pulled back. I was hoping we wouldn’t have to change from the bench as I felt sure the guys who started would have been good enough. True to form, the manager tinkered whenever our better players are on the bench and Hazard was stripped off and pushed into action. Not sure if the rumour is true Willian was pulled off as Barcalona representatives were waiting for him up in the stand? I am pretty sure it was AussieOssie who started that rumour off! Talking of Willian, he had another good day which pretty much even outs his season for good and bad matches. Had to laugh when one wag sitting close by our section exclaimed Pedro beats more players running towards our own goal than he does the other way. While there is a slice of truth in that, I am a fan of his and glad the Gut rot he was suffering from has left him quickly. Away from the game I saw a interview Sarri gave in which he was asked the importance of Jorginho is to his style of play. I think we can be pretty safe to say the best holding midfielder in world football will never get to hold down the central roll for our club unless injury to Sarri fav player. The honesty in his assessment of Morata after the game and his use of the Italian word “abbastanza” when calling enough on TV interviews are both refreshing. I caught him telling James Richardson, he became a coach to continue his love for the game, not to become a TV star, when calling an end of another TV interview. That appeals more to me than his style of football, but I will suffer the latter if he WINS! On the points raised by both Blue&Wine and Bazilfoolty, I agree the Police presence was more evident yesterday. Not sure if they were expecting trouble? Was for sure the biggest display of bodies they have offered for sometime. Those of you off to Belarus ~ Play it safe!

Cracking first half with two amusing own goals and our defenders all auditioning for the new Key Stone film. Met 3 Derby fans before the game who were pumped about the direction their club is following under Franks leadership. They played well too, much better than the numerous other Derby sides who have turned up n been stuffed at Stamford Bridge. They spoke glowingly of Mount and said Tomori tends to ball watch, but is getting better. Reuben Loftus-Cheek played another fine match against lower opposition and I felt Fabregas turned in a solid display, very much in the roll this manager seems to like his midfielders to play. Willian started yet another game and didnt really get out of 2nd gear all the time he was on the pitch. I am glad I made the effort to go to the game. Frank got all he deserved from us all. Good result if not the most convincing of performances, Bournemouth next.

I watched the game on a brilliant Sopcast stream (Thx Joe90cfc) and have watched what highlights have been available since the game. Morata. For me that was his best performance in a Chelsea shirt. Yes I know he should have scored more than the one, but it must be highlighted his movement was outstanding throughout the game and when the ball was put into him while he had his back to the goal, for a change he held up play well. NewYorkBlue23, I know you have asked for patients on Morata, but even you must have been surprised by yesterday’s performance? Lets hope it continues. Wow, best performance so far this season? I hear and have read what others have already said in this thread and I agree with those who are calling it, at least best away performance so far. It’s always nice to call out Players who have good games when for most of the season they have been negative during their performances. That bloody bloke Willian Haha, How wonderful was he? Such a frustrating player who on his day, as yesterday, he can be brilliant. Happy for him and it must be noted he played on the left which allowed him to cut in on his right foot. Maybe the future if we end up selling someone. Thanks to TheRealFatFrank StamfordSid Luca07071 & ChelseaTotty for the kind words on my highlighting of Barkley since pre season. It was his best game at Burnley so far and I truly hope he continues to get chances from this manager. After each game that Barkley plays well, Sarri talks glowingly about him, then promptly brings back Kovacic. Selection for the Derby game will be very interesting for both fans n players. With so much good to enjoy it may have been overlooked the weakness our young keeper is showing in most games. I have stated before, anything down low, he looks to be fine. Anything above his head is dodgy. I agree with CroydonClive & Numb1Bus there is much to see that looks like the arrival games of De Gea up at United with our Keeper. During the MOTD highlights I felt the commentator had also spied the weakness. Lets hope he improves. Yes I know I have not really been a big fan of Reuben Loftus-Cheek and without doubt he has had a career week these past 7 days. Plenty here are seizing their chance to talk him up. Ok I get that, but I have to point out, while the manager gave him the chance when a player he preferred went down with injury, he stuck Reuben Loftus-Cheek out the way on the wing where his atrocious defensive play could not hurt us and other than the goal he scored, most of the time you didnt know he was on the pitch. The previous manager wanted to turn him into a forward player, as he had no second side to his play, and this manager has been at pains to dress his big fault by saying he needs coaching. Everyone knows he hasn’t looked after his body as he should, since his size became not so much of a weapon against men than it was against his own age group. However, if we can read anything into the interviews he has given this past week, it sounds like the penny has at last dropped for him. He says he is eating properly and getting better sleep ect. If he turns into the player some believe him to be, all good for us. For me, I think I will wait before swinging my…. Well you know the rest

Went to last nights reserve game against Bate Borisov and have watched a recording of the game this morning where the BT fools went into overdrive on Reuben Loftus-Cheek and the manager again explained himself on a number of different Chelsea footballing problems. I have to say it was that BT interview after the game that spoke far more than anything our 2nd string said on the pitch. There is no doubt it was a wonderful moment for Ruben, however, sitting fairly high up in the stand I was able to see his biggest fault as clear as day, and when you listen to the manager, he too can see this poor side of his game. Ok, thrilled with Rubens interview after the game where he talked about sleeping right eating right and ironing out parts of his game which will benefit his overall play. I am sure you all agree, those are magical words which could well be word for word what this manager says to him. It's to be seen if they are followed through by Ruben and I am sure he will be starting on the pitch next week against Derby, another club more to his level. As I have already said, wasnt the greatest display by our fellers, but there are a couple of things that need to be pointed out. First, our beautiful Fabregas started and I have to admit I was hoping he would be the star player after starting off with a couple of great passes. Alas, twice in the space of 5 first half minutes he lost the ball in midfield and his pace was cruelly exposed as he chased after the ball winning Bate Borisov player. Second, Giroud was terrible last night. It was a night for a mobile forward who could show to the attacking players around him many different positions to pass the ball forward. Giroud pretty much did the same thing all night and it was a same he could escape his markers as I feel Fabregas would have found him. Lastly, you would have to be pretty demented to not have worked out I am not convinced by our new manager. Last night he infuriated me again with his choice of substitutions. Firstly, why was Hudson-Odoi the only youngster on the bench? Happy he got time, but why after Kante was brought on. Why the fuck was Kante brought on and when he was, why wasnt he slotted in the middle, the position he is the best in the world at? It's really fucking me off now how he is treating Kante, especially when Jorginho is being less n less effective in games. Whats Willian got over Sarri? He starts every game and can pretty much play to his own pace and style through each game. Haha, its really starting to look like the club were so thrilled he decided to stay that they told the manager to reward him with a play no matter what card! Dont get me wrong, I am still a fan of his, but even I am starting to think something is up. Footnote. As you are all aware I have been highlighting our midfield watercarrier's lack of forward play since he came straight into our team on arrival from Madrid. Well I learnt last night he hasnt scored a first team goal ... wait for it......since 29 January 2017 for Real Madrid in a 3–0 win over Real Sociedad. We are talking about coming up to 2 years. No wonder we got him on loan.

Attended the game and have suffered a recording of it twice. I have no interest in what happened off the pitch after Barkley's goal other than to say Sari is right, we were at fault and our idiot took away the media pain United would have felt had attention been on our last gasp equalizer. What to say? I think it best I give you all what I felt summed up our team this season ander the new manager. It happened in about a 5 minute spell just before half time. Our players knocked the ball about, backwards n forwards (Forwards said in the most loose of terms) between defenders and mostly left side of our midfield without ever trying a penetrating ball or run into the box. United, set up to allow us to do just that had no problem watching us look pretty without ever looking dangerous. By this time they had already slowed Eden down by pretty much kicking him off the pitch, just like every other time Jose has brought them to the Bridge. I was amazed Young stayed on the pitch and I very much felt the pressure they put on Dean by constantly questioning every decision, attributated to him not sending either Young or Matic. I once heard a Chelsea fan describe our potentless football team back in the 80's, "You can have as much foreplay as you like, but if you dont have a bit of strong penetration you never have an end game" That's us at the moment. Anyway, that wasnt just the problem, managerial team selection was again a handicap we gave ourselves. Happy to read those before me are pretty much universal in agreement that Giroud should have started. All sitting by me in the ground were of the same opinion and Morata did nothing to change our minds, although we saw evidence early in the 2nd half why he does not use his left foot with a powderpuff shoot that just about reached their keeper in the middle of the goal. For me Kovacic has less and less substance the further forward he plays. He is nothing but a pretty water carrier (as they were called in the 80's) in the middle of the park and its no wonder he didnt get a starting place in Madrid. When you play him alongside Jorginho in midfield it nullifies your forward penetration from that side. I understand it gives you ball retention with pretty pattens of passing in a position nobody scores from, Jorginho passes the ball backwards more than he passes forwards. Up to now neither of them have proven they have a Fabregas style performance in them, who must be scratching his head watching our desperate play. Alonso runs forward when we have the ball that side to help Hazard, when it should be Kovacic. This brings me to the managers outburst that we played United’s game for the last half hour, ceasing with our short passes (His words) and playing, long ball (again his words) Well me ol Italian flower, this is because Pogba n friends ran all over your fav midfield player like powerful players tend to do to tippy tappy players. If he continues to pick the worlds best holding midfielder out of position, that’s exactly the kind of performance we will get against teams who have a bit about them. Love to Barkley for another Frank esk goal, but truth be told, we were the weaker team just like against Liverpool. In my opinion we were set up wrong by the manager, an opinion I read others here are catching on too. I think Bazilfoolty point on Willian is very fair just now. Although a couple of his free kicks were on the button he is playing more n more like a Brazillian with no regard for the result. I don’t think his defensive play has been anywhere near the output he showed when Jose was manager and I was surprised when he started over Pedro. For all those who give him stick, each of the managers he has played under for us, have picked him. There is no doubt in my mind there is a growing doubt in matchday Chelsea fans over the performances of Dave this season. StamfordSid WalterDavis & Lemoncfc along with a few others here have highlighted this before me in this thread. Should he have been closer to the goalscorer of their second goal? Maybe, pretty hard to tell as the ball flew across the box and the boy took it very well. I know Kante is playing infront of him, but we all know he is having to cover the other two twats in midfield, so there will be time’s Dave is exposed. In seasons gone by, Dave has always been up too covering his man. ChelseaTotty is right about Moses covering that flank last season making Dave life easier and as she points out Dave should have no problem falling back into a full back role as he has played there most of his career. My own offering on his play so far this season is, remember Vana playing right back? Dave has some way to go before he is playing at that low level. David Luiz. Yes like others here, it is alarming that after almost 8 years of watching him he still runs out of position, over committing and putting us bang in trouble. Thankful for his great header leading to our second goal, but he should have scored from Willam’s great free kick earlier. Luiz brings me onto Christenson’s father. What a complete and utter fucking twat. Every time he opens his mouth shit comes out and his boy should be packed off to Cardiff on a 2 year loan and see how he fairs in the championship. He hasn’t done his boy any favors & his interview is probably the worst example of family grabbing the limelight from their talented offspring. Lastly, who are these prats at games who are bad mouthing Jose when he turns up? There were a couple infront of me giving him stick so I had to ask them why? Of course in the most eloquent way possible they defended themselves by stating Jose had gone from being high prized pedigree person to becoming a mongrel as soon as he took the United job. While that is probably true, I along with a huge majority dont feel the need to let him know that. His three fingers? Yeah, thats the hurt pouring out of him. I dont think he ever thought he would get the Bird from us, and I believe he only took the United job to get back at sections of the Chelsea board. Those Chelsea should stop giving him a hard time when he visits, afterall, he is doing a wonderful job for us at United

Went to the game, my first time at the new Dell. Yes I know its not called that, but when you spend over 20 years traveling down to the Southampton fixture and enduring that brilliant old ground, its name sticks, like the new Highbury Also watched the game again this morning. Oh we looked pretty in the first half. Moving the ball about at will, most of the time managing to find a (crappy) gray shirt (Looks like a white shirt washed with a rouge pair of Black socks) each time. With so much possession it became ironic Southampton would manufacture a clear goalscoring opportunity before we took the lead when Ings missed pretty much a tap in right infront of us Chelsea fans. I was thrilled before the game to hear Barkley was starting and he rewarded all of us who have been championing him as a starter with a performance which must have made a few who have questioned his signing to be educated otherwise. Outstanding stealing the ball n assisting Hazard with the first, then grabbing the second with a Frank esk goal celebrated in Franks style by running behind the goal onto us celebrating fans. This morning I have seen the footage of the manager talking the boy up with excellent praise and happiness on his England re-call. For me there seems no doubt Sari has been working with Barkley since he turned up assisting Barkley to become his kinda player. We must all hope Reuben Loftus-Cheek takes advantage of the one on one coaching the manager has said he will get during the international break and I am sure he will be pressed to do more without the ball. Barkley seems to be up against Kovacic for that left side midfield position and while I fully understand the Croat's attributes as a top class player, he isn’t ours and for me, most of his good work is far too deep on the pitch, where’s Barkley, I truly believe could become Frank esk. Our defence, which some are now talking up as much more dependent, managed a clean sheet, even thou Southampton had a fair number of chances in the second half. The guys I traveled down to Southampton with and I debated for some time the signing of our young keeper and performances so far. My two Italian friends (Luca07071 & Blue&Wine) are of the opinion opposition teams have pinpointed his lack of height and had their point highlighted by the couple of high shots he needed to be spring heeled to keep out. After Sturridge beat him twice with high placed shots from the same part of the pitch, I believe its something we should keep an eye on. It was agreed Sturridge goal would have been kept out by both Cech and Courtois. The flip side to his lack of height is he gets down very well to the low hard strikes. He will still be referred too as Teflon in our house until he proves otherwise, but on the whole its obvious he has plenty going for him. I will take some convincing he will ever be worth the money we paid for him. I am still of opinion our defence is the weakest part of the team. That says something when our CF’s are as lack luster as they have been. Morata was on for no more than 15 mins and while he scored (30+ passes, but it was Hazards run, feigning to run outside of Cedric but switching inside when Cedric turned his back which freed him to get the ball to Morata. Great play that) he also managed to run around his left foot on another golden chance. On the whole a convincing performance which at times left us feeling very proud (It was Southampton mind). You would have to pretty dense to not see how this manager is influencing our style of play. However, as been stated by myself since before the start of the season, he has to win something. I will be royally pissed off if we entertain the weak minded and left without silverware. We are not that club. We are winners! Anyway, International break and for the next two weeks 95% of football fans will be asking…. "What are we in?" "International Break!" "When did we EVER ask for that?" "Never!"

Congrats on the win. So much disappointment in the BT studio after the game. Very amusing. The one guy Jose can be sure has his back, Matic, was pants yet again. It would be hilarious for us if we hadnt wasted the money on Bakayoko. Oh well, we wait with interest the next few days to see if they have done a deal with English learning Zidane. As the Mirror pointed out on TV this morning, Manchester United board have been proven to be liars, so the statement they bleated this morning saying they are not looking to move Jose on should be taken with a pinch a salt.