You guys dominated possession against Arsenal which would be unthinkable years ago.
Chelsea 2018/19 - 3rd and European Champions. Sarri, not sorry
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
Very much apparent. I think the wording of my question made it seem that I was asking if there is any change, but in fact I was more asking how the hell has he implemented this style of play so quickly?
We are pretty far away from playing like Sarri's Napoli side. We are keeping the ball well, but that's pretty much it.
Offensively we haven't been overly threatening apart from that Arsenal game when their defense was as open as a barn door, and defensively we are looking vulnerable whenever the opponent is attacking.
But with every passing week we're going to get closer to how Sarri wants us to play and unlike his start at Napoli, where the results where dire in the beginning, we're still getting the points on the board.
To put it simply: it's the players he has at his disposal. Luiz, Rudiger and Christensen; Alonso; Jorginho, Kovacic; Hazard and Pedro - all these players are very good technically and are suited to a possession-based system. Morata, Barkley, Azpi and Kante are no slouches either. But certainly there are areas of concern that I don't even think 'time' can fix. It will take another transfer window or two.
In addition to the previously-cited technical qualities of the squad, I think another major factor is that he's benefiting from releasing the handbrake - his style is one that every player is happy to adopt, and that enthusiasm will help considerably. Reportedly his training sessions can be extremely repetitive - constant drilling of shapes & patterns. He's cognizant of this and I think players are more likely to buy in and commit the work required because they understand that the endgame is both effective and enjoyable.
Not convinced, I think Chelsea lack the striker to properly challenge for the league and I think they also look very open defensively which the best teams will punish.
Most likely true, think Sarri needs a year to work with the team and have a few more of his own signings and we will compete for the title next year
Fancy us for top 4 though, Arsenal have looked shaky and United have obviously been poor so a good start for Chelsea
He reckons it takes about 3 months for the defence to come together usually. Should be ok by start of November, although we might have dropped too many points by then to be in contention. I think most of us are just hoping for top 4 and to challenge next year anyway tbh.
Would be happy with top 4 this year and hopefully a cup or two.
Just want us to progress and play good football, think with a few signings for next season we could be something really special.
A couple of things I noticed that haven't been discussed.
Was it me or did Morata completely stop Azpiliqueta's shot from going in the left corner?
I saw Sarri having a sly cigarette on the touchline during the game. How does he get away with this?
Was it me or did Morata completely stop Azpiliqueta's shot from going in the left corner?
I saw Sarri having a sly cigarette on the touchline during the game. How does he get away with this?
While it's true that we have defensive frailties, I think people (here, journalists, pundits) are going a bit overboard about it. Literally all of the "big 6" can look very vulnerable on any given day. City have shown that when teams actually go out and attack them they can be got at. Liverpool likewise. United just conceded 3 goals in back to back games.
Don't think our defense is any worse than any of the other big clubs when we play well.
Don't think our defense is any worse than any of the other big clubs when we play well.
The above definitely happened, I think Azpi's shot was going in the corner but just unfortunate from Morata.
Really? Was he chewing a cigarette I presume because I have seen him with those
Certainly this, Liverpool's defence looks the most comfortable currently along with spurs, but not much in it between the top teams they can all be got at. Obviously United and Arsenal currently have the poorest defences.
Still think Christensen should come in for Luiz and will over time.
It was disappointing that he stopped the shot. I wasn't at the match but the TV camera was directly behind Dave when he shot and it looked like Morata was trying to redirect the ball. I know all strikers want to score but surely he would have been better off letting that one go.
Not sure what you mean by chewing. I saw him with a sneaky cigarette in his hand. He was trying to shield it. He's nothing if not his own man!
I've been impressed with Sarri's media work. He gives gives sensible answers with good humour. His English is better than Conte's and he seems like a nice man. My worry with him is that he has never won anything of consequence in top flight football although he has a reputation as a good coach. This is a big challenge for him and he will have to step up if we are to get top 4 let alone challenge for the title. At the moment I am impressed with the football and the quick passing. I worry that we may over pass without creating that many chances.
I'm a little surprised Kante is playing so far forward when he has shown himself to be perhaps the best defensive midfielder in the world. He is small and not inclined to shoot whereas Kovacic looks more like an attacking player with the shackles on. While I don't have a problem with small players, and we do have a few, I think in attack and against big teams, like Newcastle, he looks a bit inadequate and unable to impose himself.
Every game so far he's had a cigarette filter in his hand at various points. He's not lighting up though.
I'm not sure if I have rewatched it but at the time I definitely do not think it was intentional, he was already moving across the goal before the shot just unlucky I think.
I believe the cigarette filters that he holds are chewable and contain nicotine (could be wrong)
He is very good with his words and really impressed by his English, I think he would've been briefed by Chelsea before the appointment about a few things and maybe that's why he cleared up some of his previous comments on joining.
Regarding him not win anything its completely correct, but he also hasn't worked at a club with resources like ours and one that is used to competing, we also (although city are good) don't have one team that monopolizes the league. The thing to take into account is that in our squad alone most of our players have won the Prem, and some of them have won it twice. Even in a season last year where the players didn't buy into the tactics or enjoy playing we still managed an FA cup.
People can say a lot about how poorly were run but we do have a winning mentality in the club and also in the squad and this is why I am not worried about Sarri entirely.
In regards to Kante I agree, but for once its just nice to have options, in games like Newcastle where are completely dominating possession Cesc should play. I think our problem was more knowing when to deliver, we needed a bit more width and we needed to be more cutting in the final third but I think these things will come.
I agree with all that but I would have thought Jorge negates the need for Fabregas. I only see him now as respite for Jorge.
I like the maturity that Sarri brings. His comments are coherent and considered. Sometimes I found Conte a bit confused with the language whereas Sarri isn't scared to use his interpreter. He seems intelligent and hopefully he will not need this for the whole of his time with Chelsea.
I was at the Arsenal game and loved the entertainment the style of play generated. The quick passing and movement was exciting to watch. Somebody else said that Hazard tended to slow the play down but I think he will be more prepared to run when he improves his fitness. If we can combine the quick passing with better runs off the ball Hazard will hopefully run into the spaces and score more goals than he has in the past.
I'm yet to be impressed by our defending but it hasn't cost us yet. If we can improve this we will be force to reckoned with.
I would disagree slightly due to how deep Jorge plays, if we are trying to break down a very packed defence its extremely difficult for him to make the incision or key pass due to his positioning on the pitch. Whereas if Fab is playing for example where Kante was, then I'm sure he could have found a ball from the right hand side or even in a central attacking area. I think they are similar in terms of there main trait being there good passing but in terms of what type of passing they bring I think they slightly differ.
Judging by how much his English is coming on each week I don't see him long term keeping the interpreter.
On the point of Hazard, I think its more to do with trust. For years he has had to drop deep to pick the ball up and create whereas now he doesn't need to do that there's players and a style around him that can bring him in on the final third or edge of the box. This caused our shape to be a bit skewed at time and I think Hazard (and sarri) need to realise where he can really hurt teams. Majority of teams wont park the bus as much as Newcastle so it wont neccasarily be a problem but when we do come across these teams its key that Hazard holds his position and gives us a bit of width.
The other slight attacking flaw I did see was Azpi and Alonso not overlapping and attacking the space out wide. This improved a lot in the second half compared to the first which is good as Sarri clearly identified it.
Emerson is so much more suited to this style and for Hazard, but Alonso just keeps coming up clutch so its very difficult.
Defense will get there, I trust the defenders we have a lot and our midfield is solid defensively.
It will be a big ask to expect Azpi and Alonso to overlap the whole season. This not only opens us up to the counter but the new formation playing further up the pitch means they have to track back further. I was surprised how far up the pitch we were against Arsenal. They were also playing a very high line and this may have contributed to the goals we conceded.
Call me old fashioned but I would feel better with Kante staying a little deeper. I can't see him as an attacking midfielder. I just can't. He has been brilliant in the middle heading off attacks so why change that? Push Kovacic further forward?
It's all good at the moment so no serious complaints. I just want Morata to score more.
Jake Cohen @JakeFCohen
Went unreported, but Mr Abramovich just injected more funds into Chelsea, bringing total to £1.2 BILLION* without taking a penny out of the club. * doesn’t even include purchase or any club revenue, which goes right back into CFC Sound like someone who’s no longer interested?
Went unreported, but Mr Abramovich just injected more funds into Chelsea, bringing total to £1.2 BILLION* without taking a penny out of the club. * doesn’t even include purchase or any club revenue, which goes right back into CFC Sound like someone who’s no longer interested?
Conte’s catenaccio and Sarri’s attacking brand of football might just be the best of both worlds when this team clicks.
Morata again looked poor against Bournmouth and I think it's time to start Giroud. Morata's not focused. He had a good cut back pass come to him on the edge of the 6 yard box and he tried to take a touch. Any focused striker would just have hit it. His goal against Arsenal was sublime but he has quickly gone to the ridiculous.
I think Pedro also deserves to start. He had a full pre-season and has hit the ground running. Willian isn't quite on it yet but I have confidence he will come good. He's a pro and will understand Pedro is the form player. Alonso is playing really well and seems to be involved in our best attacking moves. His test will come against the better teams. I do worry that any attacking team coming down our left will fancy getting past him and Luiz.
I still think Kante should be a defensive midfielder. Sarri is trying to change him into something else and I'm not convinced he has the physical stature to rise to that challenge. I know he's a confident player but he will bounce off most centre halfs. With our defence being a weakness is it a good ideas to move the best defensive midfielder in the team, and probably the world, out of defense? I like Sarri's confidence in Kante to make the change and I'm not saying he will never score or assist but we will need to defend at times against the likes of Liverpool and City. We have good attacking options in Pedro, Willian, Hazard and dare I say RLC, Kovacic or even Barclay or Fabregas. Why try to make another one?
All things considered Sarri is getting the results so we can't complain. I do wish he would stop picking his nose during press conferences though.
I think Pedro also deserves to start. He had a full pre-season and has hit the ground running. Willian isn't quite on it yet but I have confidence he will come good. He's a pro and will understand Pedro is the form player. Alonso is playing really well and seems to be involved in our best attacking moves. His test will come against the better teams. I do worry that any attacking team coming down our left will fancy getting past him and Luiz.
I still think Kante should be a defensive midfielder. Sarri is trying to change him into something else and I'm not convinced he has the physical stature to rise to that challenge. I know he's a confident player but he will bounce off most centre halfs. With our defence being a weakness is it a good ideas to move the best defensive midfielder in the team, and probably the world, out of defense? I like Sarri's confidence in Kante to make the change and I'm not saying he will never score or assist but we will need to defend at times against the likes of Liverpool and City. We have good attacking options in Pedro, Willian, Hazard and dare I say RLC, Kovacic or even Barclay or Fabregas. Why try to make another one?
All things considered Sarri is getting the results so we can't complain. I do wish he would stop picking his nose during press conferences though.
Do you think, because of this, the big La Liga teams will be after him in the winter or summer windows?
It's only early in the season and we haven't played a top team yet so no I don't. I'm pretty sure when he has the likes of Salah and De Bruyne running at him he will struggle. He may surprise me but I don't think so.
moving Kante means benching him because the whole idea of sarismo rests on Jorginho distributing passes from that defensive mid area. Put Kante back there and the whole system breaks down. Kante is a very intelligent player and I'm sure he can adapt to the position Sarri wants him to play now.
One thing is for sure, I'd rather Kante played out of position than not play at all.
Kante can adapt to his role, we can already see how valuable his defensive attributes are, he can't pick a pass though so the other two midfielders need to be creative and be able to cover the ground as well. He has a goal already this season as well which is good. He's never going to be an attacking powerhouse but he can still play the role Sarri wants very well imo.
The wide forwards and midfielders need to be able to defend in our system and positioning is very important, against the top teams (and already in the Arsenal game) we got completely over run for 20 minutes with Willian just wondering around doing nothing. Morata needs to start for us to develop him to a player he should never be on the bench imo. Giroud will be happy as a super sub now the world cup is over.
We're second top scorers in the league and there has been a goal threat from all over the pitch in our games. Napoli were 3rd top scores in Serie A last season and their top scorer Mertens only got 18. Scoring goals not an issue so far. Morata only needs to score in about 1/3 games and we'll be ok for me. It's the defensive side we need to improve on. Covering from the wide forwards and midfield and also our defensive line being straight. Runner was about 2 yards behind Luiz in an attack on Saturday and still onside due to one of the fullbacks. That can't happen! Especially with VAR hopefully next season, it will be easier to play a high line and be confident of not being done by poor linesman.
We've been lucky so far, not sure how we have 12 points. I think we have a good chance to finish 3rd this season, Liverpool and City both look very strong and I can't see us finishing above them. Games at PAOK then Anfield will be good tests for us and Sarri will have to rotate at the end of the month. We have 3 games in 5 days!, (Liverpool 3 in 7) lots of squad players will get chances and hopefully Sarri will get the rotation right. Our squad is rather massive, looking forward to seeing Hudson Odoi, Christensen, Ampadu and others all get game time.
The wide forwards and midfielders need to be able to defend in our system and positioning is very important, against the top teams (and already in the Arsenal game) we got completely over run for 20 minutes with Willian just wondering around doing nothing. Morata needs to start for us to develop him to a player he should never be on the bench imo. Giroud will be happy as a super sub now the world cup is over.
We're second top scorers in the league and there has been a goal threat from all over the pitch in our games. Napoli were 3rd top scores in Serie A last season and their top scorer Mertens only got 18. Scoring goals not an issue so far. Morata only needs to score in about 1/3 games and we'll be ok for me. It's the defensive side we need to improve on. Covering from the wide forwards and midfield and also our defensive line being straight. Runner was about 2 yards behind Luiz in an attack on Saturday and still onside due to one of the fullbacks. That can't happen! Especially with VAR hopefully next season, it will be easier to play a high line and be confident of not being done by poor linesman.
We've been lucky so far, not sure how we have 12 points. I think we have a good chance to finish 3rd this season, Liverpool and City both look very strong and I can't see us finishing above them. Games at PAOK then Anfield will be good tests for us and Sarri will have to rotate at the end of the month. We have 3 games in 5 days!, (Liverpool 3 in 7) lots of squad players will get chances and hopefully Sarri will get the rotation right. Our squad is rather massive, looking forward to seeing Hudson Odoi, Christensen, Ampadu and others all get game time.
It will be interesting to see how Chelsea adapt to Sarri's position game in the next few months. I think people are starting to understand why Jorghinho was coveted by Manchester City.
Jorghinho is the best pivote in Europe by some distance.
Jorghinho is the best pivote in Europe by some distance.
Its weird because in every game it seems we improve on some aspects of how Sarri wants us to play but then other gaps start to appear were they havn't fully grasped it. Guess this is why he said about us needing a few months to adapt, good we are still picking up points in the meantime.
Few things of note;
-Hopefully sarri is intelligent enough to see that Luiz cannot be one of our main CB's and is an option
-Christensen needs to start
-Rudiger is really impressive and seems to get better with every game for us
-Fullback positional balance needs a bit of work
- Was impressed by RLC cameo
Hopefully Europa and cup games will shos us with players are ready to stake there claim and push into the Xi
Few things of note;
-Hopefully sarri is intelligent enough to see that Luiz cannot be one of our main CB's and is an option
-Christensen needs to start
-Rudiger is really impressive and seems to get better with every game for us
-Fullback positional balance needs a bit of work
- Was impressed by RLC cameo
Hopefully Europa and cup games will shos us with players are ready to stake there claim and push into the Xi
There was an article when Sarri was speaking about the fullbacks and their position.
Sarri's style of play will take quite sometime to adapt to and luiz we all know about his weakness but he is our best ball playing CB and Sarriball needs him. Christensen which is better defensively is not a great passer as Luiz.
Last match we up the tempo of the passing and movement was better. We were also staying wider and creating more width which is good to see.
Yeah I think he is aware because in so many games now I have seen analysis where in the first half the full backs aren't providing enough width and it stifles us a bit. I think a lot of our goals are coming in the second half or last 30 minutes of play because teams aren't really seeing a lot of the ball against us and are getting tired or lapse defensively.
I hear your point on Luiz.
However Christensen is class on the ball and composed, he needs to be trusted.
The difference between his and Luiz's passing is minor in comparison to the gap between there defending for the team.
Christensen and Rudi needed.
On your last point bang on, going forward its all about stretching the play and everyone adjusting to the positions there suppose to be in
Hazard seems very happy atm.
Yes i think with more training more match practise, we will be able to compete better. Or pressing is better as well.
One of the plus sides of having the ball is tiring opponents out. Our last two games were really defensive and not many teams can set up like Rafa or Eddi and pull it off. When Sarriball really clicks it's gonna be a sight to behold
"I have my idea, I have decided. But I would like to before I tell you to speak to the players, and face to face with the club. At the moment it is Azpilicueta and I will tell you the final one after I spoke to the players and the club."
Doesn't sound like Azpi will be captain, I have a feeling it will be Luiz
Doesn't sound like Azpi will be captain, I have a feeling it will be Luiz
I'd be disappointed if Luiz continues to start, as much as I like him. Christensen should really start over him.
Seeing as it's hard for teams to win the PL back to back, I'm hoping you guys beat Pool to the title.
5/5 
Surprised at how quickly and effectively the team has taken to this style of play after years of a more reactive approach. The best thing for me apart from the 5th straight win is the fact that there are areas to improve in this team when they are completely immersed in this style of play we will be fantastic. Still shaky defensively and probably the weakest ive seen us off set pieces in years. But that will improve over time. Still a great match, fantastic performances from giroud and hazard and a great round off from willian.
Hazard looking much fitter than a few weeks ago. The new system suits him too, 77% possession again today. I've only seen the highlights but we dominate the stats. Hopefully he'll sign a new deal soon. We've won all 5 games but haven't had any major tests and also been pretty fortunate, especially against Arsenal.
That being said, can only beat who is put in front of us. I think we can still improve massively though in understanding how Sarri wants us to play, in defense as a team and going forward. Goals are coming from a few different areas if not from the central strikers. Luiz suits the way we're playing and I think once Kovacic and Barkley get a few goals and confidence to score they'll be a big threat too.
The squad is looking very strong too, presumably we'll see Fabregas, RLC, Christensen, Ampadu and the rest over the next few weeks as the games mount up.
That being said, can only beat who is put in front of us. I think we can still improve massively though in understanding how Sarri wants us to play, in defense as a team and going forward. Goals are coming from a few different areas if not from the central strikers. Luiz suits the way we're playing and I think once Kovacic and Barkley get a few goals and confidence to score they'll be a big threat too.
The squad is looking very strong too, presumably we'll see Fabregas, RLC, Christensen, Ampadu and the rest over the next few weeks as the games mount up.
Such a yo-yo club.
Albeit consistently successful for over a decade straight now. Never a dull moment here.
Its so easy to write them off, because half the time they look in complete turmoil and look utter wank, its just the other half of the time they look incredible.
They've got fantastic full backs; a well-balanced midfield and in my opinion the best player in the league in Hazard. If its not going to be us, which seems likely, I hope its them to win it this season.
They've got fantastic full backs; a well-balanced midfield and in my opinion the best player in the league in Hazard. If its not going to be us, which seems likely, I hope its them to win it this season.
I bet you'd love to be us these past ‘yo-yo' years.