Saturday 18th August - Chelsea 3-2 Arsenal

[Cicero]

8 minutes ago, True Blue said:

He was poor good sub taking him off, he had some decent runs but massive mistake for the first goal. I am still thinking how can we be that good in 25 minutes and that shit in the last two. However in the second much much better.

Lack of concentration if anything. We were so dominate that the moment Arsenal attacked us, our players switched off. Particularly the midfield. The amount of ball watching was embarrassing. 

Luiz and Alonso will always leave space. That is a given. What Alonso can do however, is get tighter against the wide player. You can see he did that well in the second half. Dave too. 

Some things we can definitely work on, however Alonso and Luiz will always be liabilities. 

[True Blue]

Luiz had his moments of madness always fear he will fuck up, plus he leaves his players too much space barely ever stays tight to them. Rudiger did okay, he went ape shit when i think Lacazette kicked Kepa when he dropped the ball  definitely one man you wouldn't want to get a fight in with. Think Christensen plus Rudiger would be a decent option, but i can already see we will make minimal changes in the team as far the league is considered, Sarri just doesn't rotate.

[6666]

1 hour ago, True Blue said:

Agreed on both defenses, but Cech was quality. In the second he had some top notch saves before he could do very little for Alonso's goal.

He actually made a couple of decent saves against Man City as well but him nearly passing it into his own net just had people concentrating on that.

[Danny]

Same old Arsenal, not clinical enough and school boy defending. Mustafi and Bellerin in the same defence is worrying.

[True Blue]

8 hours ago, 6666 said:

He actually made a couple of decent saves against Man City as well but him nearly passing it into his own net just had people concentrating on that.

Yeah read all about it "Cech past his best" etc, while i watched the game he had some really excellent saves. I guess it is easy to jump on the social media bandwagon without actually watching the bloody game.

[Panna King]

Emery out! Its time for a change

[Honey Honey]

17 minutes ago, Cannabis said:

Two big games out of the way, time to judge Emery after some "easier" opponents. 

If the season objective is to scrape 6th place ahead of Bournemouth 

[Bluewolf]

1 hour ago, Panna King said:

Emery out! Its time for a change

[SirBalon]

The difference was Chelsea's better players by comparison to Arsenal's yesterday.  But once we can get a bit of structure in our play then we should be getting a run of positive results going.

[Bluewolf]

Couldn't believe what I was watching yesterday... 

Great entertainment for the neutral I am sure but equally as humorous watching some of that non league standard defending.. Crazy stuff, in total control for the first 20 minutes looking composed and moving the ball about quickly, pressing well and taking our chances when they came and it was looking like a very unsure Arsenal might be heading for a bit of a thumping... Then 2-1 and before I could blink we conceded another and it was us on the ropes... 2-2

Both sides showing their frailties in defence.. something that will cost us both if any team with a decent attack comes along.. With things still to be sorted at the back and Sarri taking a more attacking approach to games I can just imagine the pain we are going to suffer when Liverpool and City ride into town... Anyone with even a semi decent attack could cause us all kinds of problems.. To be fair we have to give them a chance to bed in and get their ideas across so it's hardly panic stations just yet, at least for us anyway...  Sarri has already admitted this side is not capable of mounting a title challenge and I would agree.. 

I like the way we are moving that ball about quickly and when Hazard and Kovacic came on yesterday we really had a good grip on possession keeping all the pressure on Arsenal.. Nice to us taking our chances when they come as well... Shame the defence is all over the place, serious work needed there..

Thought we would draw, hoping for the win and 6 points in 2 is a good positive start despite the obvious worries... 

 

[Stan]

4 minutes ago, SirBalon said:

The difference was Chelsea's better players by comparison to Arsenal's yesterday.  But once we can get a bit of structure in our play then we should be getting a run of positive results going.

I think the difference was quality of finishing. Aubameyang, Iwobi, Mkhitaryan all had opportunities ridiculously similar to each other from the penalty spot area but skied them. Score even 2 of the several opportunities and it's a totally different game. All ifs and buts though!

[Happy Blue]

Both these teams need a lot of work   ..wenger out! 

[SirBalon]

2 minutes ago, Stan said:

I think the difference was quality of finishing. Aubameyang, Iwobi, Mkhitaryan all had opportunities ridiculously similar to each other from the penalty spot area but skied them. Score even 2 of the several opportunities and it's a totally different game. All ifs and buts though!

Every team misses big opportunities though mate.  Yesterday Barça missed a ton themselves but yet managed to keep them out at the other end.  Both defences are very badly coached at this minute and Inthink it comes down to the types of players that you have and the experience at taking their opportunities. Chelsea have more high end players that have done bigger things.

[Bluewolf]

1 hour ago, SirBalon said:

Every team misses big opportunities though mate.  Yesterday Barça missed a ton themselves but yet managed to keep them out at the other end.  Both defences are very badly coached at this minute and Inthink it comes down to the types of players that you have and the experience at taking their opportunities. Chelsea have more high end players that have done bigger things.

Which is why it was even more shocking to see from us... The amount of space they were leaving you would have thought they had only been defending for a couple of months.. 

[carefreeluke]

Very happy, even if the win papers over some cracks particularly defensively which I think are still in part down to us getting use to a new playing style.

I'm a big believer in football of taking the initiative. I can appreciate and take a liking to all types of playing styles, approaches and game plans and this is what football is all about and one of the reasons why football is amazing in my opinion. However ultimately my principal belief is that of taking the initiative. Concentrating on the positive, what can go right, rather than what can go wrong. As a Chelsea fan over the years, some of our most successful managers have been conservative in nature, now this is not to have a dig as like I said above I can appreciate different styles and I believe I'm recycling a Guardiola quote here but there's no right or wrong with regards to playing style but the only reason why a manager adopts a certain style and approach is that they believe it provides them with the best chance of winning which is what football (as a sport) comes down to.

Yesterday's game was a joy for me because we played (for the most part) the way I think football should be played. To see us pressing Arsenal still in their own half despite us winning the game in the last 10 minutes was a great for me to see. To see three pure attacking substitutions is something I haven't seen in a good while at Stamford Bridge unless we've been behind and seriously chasing the game. These changes were a breath of fresh air for me personally. No doubt last season Conte wouldn’t have been as brave, worrying more about the opposition and looking to hinder their threat, rather than focusing more on ours. Under Conte we would have sat back and got deeper and deeper after scoring our third.

A defensive approach, substitutions like bringing on a defensive player to help see out their game are necessary (even with a team playing an expansive style) but I don’t believe they should define a manager. To best express the point I’m getting to, I posted this after our League Cup Semi-Final against Arsenal last season:

On 24/01/2018 at 22:00, carefreeluke said:

Treating Arsenal like their Barcelona or Bayern Munich, Conte before the game, “we must be prepared to suffer without the ball”.  Too negative, we play in a protective shell, waiting for everything to happen rather than taking the initiative ourselves.

Wenger has had Conte in his pocket since the Italian arrived here, credit Arsenal.

Yesterday with pressing, movement and possession we took the initiative and controlled the game for long periods and that was the best thing for me. Sarri may well not be successful here (who knows how he’ll do) and it’s important to note that Conte has won a lot with his methods, seen out very big games and has demonstrated a high level of game management in his career so far. However, I have to say to see us attempt to play this way under Sarri, it’s very refreshing for me regardless of how it all works out in the end.

[Bluewolf]

1 hour ago, carefreeluke said:

Very happy, even if the win papers over some cracks particularly defensively which I think are still in part down to us getting use to a new playing style.

I'm a big believer in football of taking the initiative. I can appreciate and take a liking to all types of playing styles, approaches and game plans and this is what football is all about and one of the reasons why football is amazing in my opinion. However ultimately my principal belief is that of taking the initiative. Concentrating on the positive, what can go right, rather than what can go wrong. As a Chelsea fan over the years, some of our most successful managers have been conservative in nature, now this is not to have a dig as like I said above I can appreciate different styles and I believe I'm recycling a Guardiola quote here but there's no right or wrong with regards to playing style but the only reason why a manager adopts a certain style and approach is that they believe it provides them with the best chance of winning which is what football (as a sport) comes down to.

Yesterday's game was a joy for me because we played (for the most part) the way I think football should be played. To see us pressing Arsenal still in their own half despite us winning the game in the last 10 minutes was a great for me to see. To see three pure attacking substitutions is something I haven't seen in a good while at Stamford Bridge unless we've been behind and seriously chasing the game. These changes were a breath of fresh air for me personally. No doubt last season Conte wouldn’t have been as brave, worrying more about the opposition and looking to hinder their threat, rather than focusing more on ours. Under Conte we would have sat back and got deeper and deeper after scoring our third.

A defensive approach, substitutions like bringing on a defensive player to help see out their game are necessary (even with a team playing an expansive style) but I don’t believe they should define a manager. To best express the point I’m getting to, I posted this after our League Cup Semi-Final against Arsenal last season:

Nice post mate... 

Personally not worried about trying to win the league this season and I think that we all knew before the season kicked off that top 4 would be a reasonable achievement.. Do like the playing style even if it leaves us vulnerable because it's a learning curve while Sarri irons out the creases.. The players look like they are enjoying themselves and wanting to play to win, The subs as you rightly say were positive and not negative which means we are going to keep pushing and Sarri is going to want to keep trying to win rather than bolting the doors shut as soon as we are in front... Tactically we will have to see what he can do when that does have to happen, some games may well need it and will be interesting to see if that will even register on his radar.. 

We can write off certain games knowing what we know already from what we have seen but as they hopefully improve that the situation may well change..  

[The Palace Fan]

Well that was a great game for the neutral. It must be gutting for Arsenal fans to lose in that circumstance, but I reckon Emery learned a lot about his team frailties in that first 35 minutes and what he needs to improve on for them to go forwards.

As for Chelsea, this must be the best start they could have wished for. Pedro seems to be playing with a confidence and freedom that suggests this is going to be his best season yet. Looking at their fixtures, this could go on for some time.

I think Chelsea's finish last season was a little misleading. They are a top four quality team, and this is a good bench mark for Emery to see where his team are at and what he needs to improve to go forwards.