jimbouk

Fantastic support today, plastic fans my arse. Was an absolute privilege to be part of that support. We gained a useful point today against a useful team. We showed a lot of spirit today and I must confess that when we went 2.1 down I feared the worse. I understand people being critical but Frank is still learning, as is this team and we are still fourth. KTBFFH.

In a 4 at the back with two central defenders, that's the only possible combination of two from our four CBs that hasn't been tried this season, which is bizarre as it has the potential to be the best one !
 

despite shipping 6 in one game, we have the third best defence in the league. 

So when must they be rested ? The away game against United? A europa league semi final ?
Apart from Kante (which i assume you want him as a dm, a position he doesn't play in) who isn't played in position?
Weird, you'd think taking off Jorginho and putting on a far more direct RLC would count as changing tactics. Remember when we played false nine for a bit?
How would you know any of this is true. Its just personal attack for the sake of it and is just childish.
 
I'm not even some super fan of the guy but seriously some people have a very personal vendetta for some reason.

I was vocal about wanting sarri in the summer, mainly because I wanted to watch us play possession football for a change. There is nothing wrong with how we played before, it has proved successful, but it's refreshing to watch us pass teams off the park now. 
It's still early days, but so far so good. Sarri has been able to change our play style pretty quickly so he is obviously a very talented coach, and he is improving us game by game.
I can't remember when I was as excited to watch us play as I am now. 
Time will tell whether or not Sarri's approach can win us silverware, but it while he is here, we will be exciting to watch regardless. 
Fun is definately the word I think this season. 

You can't just compare Loftus-Cheeks' stats for a poor team where he had a lot of space and freedom to operate in/with, versus Kovacic who played for a team that doesn't get much space, and played a deeper lying role than what he does for us now. 
I personally think Kovacic is an absolute gem, who's been unfortunate to play in the same team and position as two of the greatest midfield players in the modern era. Naby Keita, before he signed for Liverpool, was my dream midfield player. That was before we got the Croat, who I rate extremely highly. Kovacic fits the modern midfielder to a T - he's very strong through the hips, has sublime control, has good spacial awareness and can run all day long (when match fit). I hope our club is actively looking to secure his services on a permanent basis, reckon we will have the best midfield in the league by the end of the season, with Kova, Jorginho and Kante.
Note: this isn't to undermine Loftus-Cheeks' ability. He has by Sarri's accounts done very well in training, and has been rewarded twice already, in a season where we have played four times. He will get his chances this season.

Didn't know much about him before he joined admittedly, can't actually remember seeing him stand out in the few RM games I've seen in recent years, but he's looked great so far.
Has all the aggressive tenacity we've been needing in the centre of midfield, his close control has been excellent, he's quick to move the ball on forward, and seems in really in sync with Hazard on the left.
Obviously he'll need time to settle in to the team and league before we see the best of him, and we have a very fired up Barkley waiting to rotate in / and push to displace him.
Didn't expect we'd have really good selection problems in central midfield this season, but glad for it.  

I'm surprised there are even a few negative opinions about Kovacic, I think he's done well so far and looks very talented. 
I'm hoping we can unlock some of his potential going forward, see if he can get more goals to his game and assists, if he's playing higher up the pitch. I think one of our prime targets this season should be getting Hazard a contract extension and keeping Kovacic here. 

How the f**k could anyone think Bournemouth deserved a point? I sometimes wonder if I've seen the same game as some people! Yes we weren't great in front of goal (I do miss Diego ) and yes they could have scored but you could say that about any game. We hit the post and had a couple of good shots too. If you count theirs as "we should be losing" surely you have to count ours as well. They really didn't look all that to me.

I'm happy to give him time. I'm already sick of the commentators talking about him being the most expensive keeper in the world. When he let in the first one, my commentators said something like "You'd expect the most expensive keeper in the world to save that." Yeah, he should have saved it, but it's not his fault he's that expensive...and every keeper will make mistakes, no matter how good (or how expensive) they are.
He'll get there.

https://www.chelseafc.com/en/teams/managers/scott-mclachlan
This guy is head of intermation scouting, so I think he would have taken some of emanalo's responsibilities along with marina. 
So maybe he deserves some credit for the last 2 windows. 
The most important thing moving forward, is that the new DOF is in sync with the management and board, and everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet. 

When was the last time Chelsea played in that manner vs a top 6 team? Sarri is a god. That was breathtaking to watch, the best I've seen since the days of Vialli and Gullit though a very small sample size so far.
The superiority we showed over them in terms of just pure football in that first 40 minutes reminded me of the 5-0 game against Everton. It was the best football I've seen vs a big 6 team since..............I can't really remember. Usually our wins in big games, virtually all of them in the last 6 years have come from counter-attacking efforts. This was a purely possession based footballing effort. The final possession stats was 63% CFC vs 37% Arsenal. We completed 719 passes to their 424. 
 
Arsenal could barely get out of their half in the 2nd half and only made about 3 or 4 forays forward all half. Defensive improvements will come with time. It's logical that switching from the rudimentary style of Mourinho and Conte to a more expansive and comprehensive style of play will require a season and several transfer windows. It happened with Klopp. It happened with Guardiola 2 seasons ago. I am looking forward to this season more than any other in recent years.
Enough of that defend deep all game, scared to play crap. We're finally playing like a big team is supposed to play. 

Some proper spoilt brats on here today 

I'm not that bothered by this today but I do want to see the side developing a personality. City have a shape and personality which is consistent no matter the line up. Liverpool are heading that way too. It'll take time and it depends on the coach so I'm hoping expectations about Sarri will be realised.

The overreaction by some on here is borderline mental. 

Also, thank f**k we are actually attempting to play football and attack City this time around
Remember when we sat back like cowards last season and appeared to be frightened? How our aim was to keep the scoreline as low as possible? I hope to never see anything like that again

So we're 20 minutes into our first competitive game, we're playing a new formation and new tactics after playing 3 at the back for the last two years, we're missing by far our two best players in Kante and Hazard and are playing against the best team in the League who are almost at full strength 
And people are already moaning and being negative in regards to the new season?
Damn

what do you guys expect with Fabregas in midfield his legs are long gone.

The season hasn't even started yet and you're giving up already ?

It's a new system give them a chance.

20 minutes in to his first competitive game?

Just shows the mentality of some fans. 

Sarri has had a couple of weeks with our lot City are virtually at full strength, this is just an exercise to see how far we are behind City, nothing more than that....and yes we are miles behind at the moment....we could get hammered here...so what.

Because we are, they're going into their 3rd year with Pep were going into our  2nd month with sarri. What are you expecting a miracle over night, be patient.