brownindian

Fair enough, the point i was trying to make was that we did not lead the aggregate. We advanced on penalties and that too thankfully cos this year the rules were amended and Away goals don't count anymore. And the reason why i am trying to highlight that point is not to argue with you on technicalities but rather to say that although it was good to get a win against the Spurs it is not like our team is brilliant one minute and crap the next, we have been bland for a while. So to all the folks saying hey we were terrible then we were fantastic and motivated for the Spurs and became terrible again, that is not the case.

Outright is a bit of a stretch IMO. We drew the game and won on penalties.

Thank you for posting this vital information that so many of the other seem to not even remember. And without them too we could only defeat the Spurs in Penalties.

Actually we should loan him to Spurs and then have agent Batman put laxatives in their drinking water !!!!

That bold-ed word is true. The game started with Chelsea looking very sharp in passing and motivated, yet, we were not able to score a goal in the first half. A lot of what i am seeing with this Chelsea is what we have already witnessed with Arsenal under Wenger in the past (Kudos to everybody else that noticed it - i am sure i am not the only one). I am not going to say the managers tactics were terrible or that the players were extremely poor. I a just going to say that there is a "palpable discord" between the tactics and the implementation leading to poor results.

Both Eriksen and Ozil are attainable though will cost a lot.

Chelsea MoTM - Kepa so far !!!

Even Palace has scored in the other game !!!

We need to be faster in the counter and more direct. We crowd their area and move the ball around slowly that allows the defense to readjust.

nice - atleast we are attacking directly than passing to death.

And Liverpool score !!! ISHT!

hopefully not a concussion for DL !

You are awesome.

We need to win this and put some distance between us and Arseanal.

People are underestimating the advertising / sponsorship avenues that will open up by us signing him. Even if he is a flop, the money he could bring in could easily justify his price tag. If you dont like that aspect of football then sorry buds - this is the new reality! There is a money game also being played in this era.

If he chooses not to sign the deal and we need to sell him, I would prefer summer and not now. Our only options for winger spot are Hazard, Willian, Pedro and CHO. With so many games yet to play, It will be silly to sell him and short change ourselves.

and a few red cards too ...

I think his lack of pace is a problem. Too often when we get caught in the counter, Alonso struggles to make up the ground and leaves us exposed. I know we cant make him faster and he is the best we have at the LB position in the squad, but if there is an opportunity to improve that position then we must.

We must agree to disagree - i do not see things from the same perspective, so we both will be repeating ourselves and getting frustrated. Also I do not want to argue in this thread as you and I are both in agreement with the fact that neither of us want Sarri fired which is what the thread title is alluding to. You are right, the Chelsea Champions League winning team did have the passion - I however feel like we also had the talent all around to make it work. We may not have had Terry or Brana but we still had Ash, Cech, Drogs, Frankie and a younger +fitter Luiz. You are right that all these players had passion and i will not disagree with that - but i will add that all these players also had the talent. If you compare our current team, who do we think is as talented as Frank, Cech, Drogba or Cole ? That was an amazing team. This team is nowhere close to that team in terms of talent. As for the current team, the reason why I feel it is not lack of passion is, this team has for the most part been like this - Since the second spell of Mourinho - I have seen that players like Willian, Oscar, Hazard they are of a different mold than the likes of Terry, Lampard etc. However, We have managed to win with these players. This to me has become the new normal. Sometimes it is hard to changes peoples mentality and that is mainly why i feel that we both will never agree. Anyways up the blues - we are still in 4th and Higuain is coming so there is reason for hope.

nice video. He seems like an improvement over all our striking options, plus him knowing Sarris system and this move forcing Hazard back to his favored position has me more pumped up. I think top 4 and a few cups are easily within our grasp if Higuain is as advertised.

The hate for Eden is unreal!! Because our player recruitment has been so good ? We have an assembly line of fantastic players just ready to take over once Eden leaves right ? This guy is part of the reason why we have 2 EPL trophies plus his assists and goals this season are what has us in the top 4 hunt and we want to talk sh*t about him. Says more about the fans mentality these days.

Fair enough - my comparison between me in a matchup between Tyson was extreme hyperbole. I was merely trying to point out that having passion alone cannot change the games outcome. You can be passionate and lose games, you can be dispassionate, put your shift and still win. As for the fact this this is not a top quality Arsenal side, fair enough, but neither are we. This Arsenal is far better than the old Arsenal side that was fielded during the final few years of Wenger's reign. This is a tough assignment against an Unai Emery side - who is willing to change players and formations according to the opposition. A victory against them is not a guaranteed result anymore.

Outplaying teams is hard when they know your formation and can guess what your next moves can be. For that to happen the talent of this team needs to be much better than the opposition. We are playing without a proper striker against a team that already has a 2 goal lead against us and are willing to sit deep, disrupt us and hit us on the counter. We dont have the personal to turn things around the way Sarri wants us to. I dont remember Chelsea under Sarri facing Barcelona, So I cannot comment about that. As far the Champions League winning team? Dude - Drogba, Ashley Cole, Cech, Lamaprd - I dont know how you can look at them and say they were not superior players. Also, sometimes when i think about those days, my only question is how did we not have more champions league trophies.

While you are right that they wont sell hi to us, he has not signed his contract - so he is looking for a bigger paycheck / chance to go to a better club.

No amount of passion is going to help me if i get into the ring with Mike Tyson. While Chelsea's case is not so bleak I would say that it is not lack of passion for why we lost. Why do you feel that way ? I am curious. What i saw was a Chelsea team that was physically hounded, harried and were misplacing passes. They were not running relaxed or casually. Even towards the end of the game we were trying but we just could not get it right. Alonso was making runs, Caesar was making runs everyone did the best they could. This Arsenal team came to trouble us and once they got the lead they sat back and defended deep and tried to hit us on counter. We sadly are in a goal scoring rut and that is why we lost. I could count a few instances - a Luiz pass to Pedro that was on the wrong side for Pedro, Hazard through ball across the goal with no one at the end of it, Alonso header, Kante in a good position to shoot but got out defended. If we lacked passion - all these chances would not be created. I am going to assume that u are a Chelsea fan for longer than Sarri has joined us. Do you remember how Chelsea played under Conte or Mourinho when they were dead men walking ? To me, that felt more like lack of passion than this display. Also, this season there have been many instances where after taking the lead we decided to sit back and ease letting the other team into the game, that too you can say is cos of lack of passion. This game against Arsenal was lost not cos Chelsea lacked passion, but because Arsenal came better prepared.