brownindian

how is his loan spell in Everton coming along ? Is he Chelsea quality ?

Just because Bats and Giroud play the striker position does not mean that they are the same mold. Giroud is a hold up player who brings the others into play. Batshuayi is more Michael Oweny or Javier Hernandezy in that they cant do the physical duties like Giroud but they are more likely to be present in the right place at the right time and also score. Also, he has experience in a front 3 as a central striker and has also played with Hazard. If we are planning to play a quick pass game then his lack of physicality should not be a problem but if we persist with the need for having a hold up striker then he is a bad idea.

The biggest change for Kante i feel is that in all his other teams - Leicester / Chelsea under Conte / France - the teams were more a counter attacking team than a possession based attacking team. Maybe what is being asked of Kante is beyond his current skillset and he needs to improve really fast on the offensive side of the game.

Why do you think it is stupid ? CHO can be a left and CP can right. And given both their age - it may actually work out. I honestly dont have a problem with the club going after Pulisic. A winger set of CHO/Willian/Pedro/Pulisic is awesome. If your argument is that we can use that money to upgrade the striker position or the defender position then i will not disagree but if the club chooses to invest there and also buy Pulisic i will not complain.

I dont think he will be sacked if we miss top 4. However, if our table positions is more in the range of 8th or lower and are not in a position to win the Europa league or the FA cup then yeah - he will be fired most likely. Do we know anything about our training regimen - the one thing i am noticing as the games are progressing is that our overall pace and quickness seems to be slow. Sure, there are moments of pace where we see a few people sprint around but overall when it comes to passing the ball or sprinting with the ball we seem to be slower overall. Are the players tired ? Is a major rotation of the order or are the players just losing concentration/get disinterested.

yup - splash 125 mil on Greizman, 100 mil on Kalidou Koulibaly and we have the base of a solid spine! Instead we have a middling bunch of players who are not top 4 level.

I would give him away for free - rather than have him on the bench and pay his salary. It is shocking the amount of money that we havespent on average players. We are honestly better of spending that money on bonafide superstars and using our youth to fill in the depth.

Oh heck no! I would rather that he be in a team where he gets consistent playing time and builds confidence than follow the path of CHO.

I am hoping we get someone physical - After watching back to back games where Chelsea were manhandled, I am really hoping we get a physical guy who can go at the others.

Not to forget the Jersey sales in USA.

If Sarri will have his way then he will not need much in transfer market - persist with his system until everyone has perfected his system. The problem is the results will suffer and he will be sacked and the merry go round will begin again. Panic buys. temporary fix - All the things we wanted to avoid. I thought we found a good answer in manager with Conte - he too got replaced, and now Sarri's system is underperforming and but we are still in the boat of uncertainty.

We don't have the squad for it and honestly we now don't have the money like before. And the money we do have we don't spend it wisely (Bakayoko, Drinkwater Zappacosta). I think Costa was the last great impact making positive purchase i remember.

I cant speak for the rest but what i want to see from Sarri is tactical flexibility. Different teams have different strengths and weaknesses and there is no one solution fits all (Unless you are Pep and City and plan to buy everything under the sun). We have been very rigid in our system and our substitutions and other teams are now on to us.

How much do good players cost nowadays ?

Only Arsene Wenger will be proud of the bolded ... LOL.

The problem is investing rightly - Morata cost a lot. Bakayoko cost a lot. Leave it to the board to squander the wealth in crappy players.

HA-HA !!!

fantastic - what i remember most about the game is how with less than 30 seconds left in the game and needing a goal ... we are trotting to the opposition half and not running at full pace. This tells me everything i need to know. Not only do we lack the talent, we also lack the intensity needed to win. There is a malaise in the team.

That was what i was thinking of as well. Remember how Scolari was chided for not having a Plan B. This seems like something similar unless Sarri can prove otherwise. And no Im not discounting the pathetic display of our players who could not be arsed to put in a decent performance.

Kante for Kovacic ? Does not really move the needle.

I think the 2 posters after your post have answered it. The advantage with selling Fabergas is that - it is a now or never time and it also frees up some capital for squad improvement. My other concern is that - if our system is so fickle that the absence of one player destabilizes the entire system then we really need to reevaluate the system. Like what happens if Jorjinho get injured and is out for a month ?

Lets get back to topic shall we ? I am also off the opinion that Sarriball needs a plan B. When we compare our selves to more comparable teams whose budget is contained like our ( Spurs / Pool ), I see that both their managers have shown a flexibility in their tactics. It is also now becoming obvious that man marking Jorghino and a counter attack on the left against Luiz + Alonso is the best way to score goals against Chelsea. We need to fix this situation. I am not sure we have a like for like players in our squad to make a straight substitution. We will unfortunately have to be flexible and clever given the shape of our squad. And before you ask me - what it is - I will confess that i dont know. Besides if the answer was so easy wont our Coaches figure it out already ?

He is still good value in a league that plays slow ball or a team that has great defense. I think selling him is a win win win for both Chelsea , Cesc and his new team.

We play a Thursday game as well - Fulham game could easily become a draw and we may suddenly find ourselves outside the top4.

This is the second game in a row when Sarris system failed when Jogjinho was neutralized by man marking. IBadly want to see some tactical flexibility demonstrated by Sarri.