Chelsea Discussion

[SirBalon]

8 minutes ago, Bluewolf said:

It was an interesting if a little over the top emotion to finally getting on the score sheet for Morata last night, I appreciate the frustration he must be feeling and all strikers go through rough patches but any decent player just keeps working hard and digs deep, To be reacting like that gives me the impression he is of a fragile nature mentally, probably one that needs constant reassurance and hugs etc..  God knows what he must have been like when his missus had their child, he was probably blubbering more than the baby.. 

You need strong willed battling types as strikers, those that will impose themselves on the game and in front of goal, have that hunger to get at goal, It always seems as though with Morata he can be easily bruised and bullied out of some games when on the ball and don't think we will ever have that with him... I don't recall ever seeing the likes of Costa, Drogba etc ever getting tears in their eyes or ever getting bullied off the ball for that matter, They were a constant menace to defences.. 

Still struggling to understand why we let Bat go out on loan... bad decision that one...  

In fairness I only placed a selected quote from all that Sarri said on Morata which was quite a bit more.  He did add that Morata is a very important player for the club and that he played a very good game yesterday which is more important from his (Sarri) perspective than just scoring goals although he conceded that for a striker to feel he's providing for his team he needs to be putting the ball in the back of the net.

It's all about characters and personalities... Some people are more emotional than others and handle that emotion in different ways.  But he does need to toughen up which is why Luis Enrique is totally ignoring him for the Spain national team.

[Cicero]

The undeniable truth is that even if he was in good form, this style of football isn't ideal for him. Believe it or not the goal he scored last night is papering over the cracks for some fans. Shades of Torres' time with us. 

We still need a more mobile forward, one in the same elk as Aguero, Dybala, Mertens, etc. They can get involved with our build up and have a first touch and understanding for quick football. I like Batshuayi as a back up, but I still wouldn't trust him to lead our line. 

In no way, shape or form, should Hazard or Kovacic played last night. No way. I too am getting annoyed of Sarri's selections, as I still can't fathom the reason as to why Odoi wasn't in the squad. The start against City in the community shield looks to be a tease. So disappointing. 

Someone made a good point regarding our wingers. Pedro and Willian are ageing, Hazard has a question mark over his future,  and we have a very raw young winger in Odoi who has a massive ceiling, Right now would be the ideal time to develop him and we are lucky enough to actually have him, yet we will find a way to fuck it up. 

 

[SirBalon]

9 minutes ago, Cicero said:

The undeniable truth is that even if he was in good form, this style of football isn't ideal for him. Believe it or not the goal he scored last night is papering over the cracks for some fans. Shades of Torres' time with us. 

We still need a more mobile forward, one in the same elk as Aguero, Dybala, Mertens, etc. They can get involved with our build up and have a first touch and understanding for quick football. I like Batshuayi as a back up, but I still wouldn't trust him to lead our line. 

In no way, shape or form, should Hazard or Kovacic played last night. No way. I too am getting annoyed of Sarri's selections, as I still can't fathom the reason as to why Odoi wasn't in the squad. The start against City in the community shield looks to be a tease. So disappointing. 

Someone made a good point regarding our wingers. Pedro and Willian are ageing, Hazard has a question mark over his future,  and we have a very raw young winger in Odoi who has a massive ceiling, Right now would be the ideal time to develop him and we are lucky enough to actually have him, yet we will find a way to fuck it up. 

 

Dybala out of those three is the one needed but I get your point on depicting the type I'd forward you feel is necessary and I agree.  Although Sarri does like to play with a target type player and then a very mobile technical forward which is why he had Insigne/Mertens and then Higuaín and subsequently Milik.

[Cicero]

1 minute ago, SirBalon said:

Dybala out of those three is the one needed but I get your point on depicting the type I'd forward you feel is necessary and I agree.  Although Sarri does like to play with a target type player and then a very mobile technical forward which is why he had Insigne/Mertens and then Higuaín and subsequently Milik.

We have a certain french god who is a perfect plan B for the next couple years. 

[SirBalon]

1 minute ago, Cicero said:

We have a certain french god who is a perfect plan B for the next couple years. 

But it's not about a plan b and more about how Sarri sets his team's out.  He wants a reference point up front with the mobile forward coming in from wide positions.  Giroud is definitely not the answer as he's an overrated statue.

[Cicero]

4 minutes ago, SirBalon said:

But it's not about a plan b and more about how Sarri sets his team's out.  He wants a reference point up front with the mobile forward coming in from wide positions.  Giroud is definitely not the answer as he's an overrated statue.

The basis of Napoli's success last season was having three mobile attackers together. Insigne, Mertens, and Callejon. As quick mobile attackers are fundamentally the root to his brand of football. 

Giroud is a perfect plan B if we need an outlet. 

Edited October 5, 2018 by Cicero

[The Liquidator]

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!"

[Cicero]

End of an era really. The Puyol's, Nesta's, Rio's, Terry's, etc. 

 

[Cicero]

37 minutes ago, Cannabis said:

Terry being brought up by in the same conversation as Puyol and Nesta.

Why not?

Terry isn't better than those two, however he easily belongs in the same bracket of centrebacks? Decades of consistency at a high level and one of the last true hardman defenders. 

 

 

Edited October 8, 2018 by Cicero

[The Artful Dodger]

Nesta was better but not sure Puyol was. 

[Stan]

Nesta and Puyol were far better, for me. But not gonna deny how solid Terry was for club and country for such a long period of time.

[Inverted]

Puyol was far better in teams which play in the typical way that elite teams do - guarding a high line, dealing with being dribbled at one-on-one, etc. Terry was world class, but in a pretty niche way. 

[Danny]

Terry was great in a side that parked the bus

[True Blue]

47 minutes ago, Danny said:

Terry was great in a side that parked the bus

And in sides that broke the record for goals scored in the league.

[Cicero]

On 09/10/2018 at 00:46, True Blue said:

And in sides that broke the record for goals scored in the league.

Shhhhhh? 

 

Rudiger yet again hurt him hamstring whilst on International Duty 

[True Blue]

I've read reports that he is spared for the upcoming games, but that he will be ready for United after the break.

[The Liquidator]

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 

 

[Cicero]

 

 

Edited October 22, 2018 by Cicero

[The Liquidator]

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.

 

[carefreeluke]

Cesc was poor last night which was even more noteworthy because he normally shines in those type of games where the pace is different and where he gets a lot of time on the ball. It's getting quite comical to see him chasing after opposition players. However, he needs to be used more from the bench domestically and I feel he could still have an important role to play for us, be it in games where he can come on, get on the ball and create something in games where we need a goal. Not sure why Sarri isn't making more use of him in this context.

[Cicero]

We can and should do better than Cesc. 

[SirBalon]

16 minutes ago, Cicero said:

We can and should do better than Cesc. 

What's better than Cesc in the market?

Thiago Alcántara from Bayern?

Thats about it and he would be proper expensive.

[Cicero]

12 minutes ago, SirBalon said:

What's better than Cesc in the market?

Thiago Alcántara from Bayern?

Thats about it and he would be proper expensive.

We've been heavily linked with Tonali. 

[SirBalon]

11 minutes ago, Cicero said:

We've been heavily linked with Tonali. 

That would be an experiment for a top Italian club let alone a totally new league. 

[Cicero]

2 minutes ago, SirBalon said:

That would be an experiment for a top Italian club let alone a totally new league. 

Guendouzi seems to be doing just fine? We also still have Ampadu.

It's come to a point where Cesc's distribution isn't even worth it anymore given how poor he is off the ball. The memory of KDB ghosting past him to score against us at the bridge last season will never escape my mind.