Vagabond

Damn, I wrote a reply that somehow got lost mid transmission or smth. It isnt here anymore. Long story short, I found it in an article on marca.com. Madrid considers both the Kovacic and Hazard matter closed because of the ban. Would be nice to get a clarification from the club or UEFA about players on loans though.

Alonso I can understand, since he had some really, really bad blackouts this season. Remember him laying down against United in the box while the ball was still in play and basically gifting them the equalizer? Or the absolute idiocy of not paying attention for the City first goal on that day we decided never to talk about again? I actually like Barkley and hate when fans are putting him under a magnifying glass. Since the start of the season people are commenting on the balls he loses every game, I find it disgusting. I don't know which game, but I counted once and in a game were Hazard lost 3 more balls than Barkley, it was Ross who was singled out for "having a mare". Both Willian and Pedro are miles ahead of CHO in my book and saved our asses this season as well, which is why I laugh at people whining about CHO not playing. Every damn game I read the same whining about RLC and CHO not playing, which turns into hatred for their alternatives Barkley and Willian most of the times, since Pedro and Kova are playing too smart to be criticized that easily. Sometimes I'd like them to play like 10 games in a row just to prove a point. But I get the feeling then I'll hear something along the lines that at least we used homegrown players... meanwhile one of those homegrown players put in a transfer request at not even 19years of age. How some Chelsea fans are defending that little sh*t (I'm taller than him ? ) is beyond me, but that's just me I guess.

If I'm informed correctly getting Kovacic is impossible at this time, since he would have to sign a new contract. So at this point the only question is how much he can help the team until the end of the season. This whole situation with having too many midfielders could really take a bad turn if RLCs back issues continue and Kova leaves. I think Ross is not as bad a player as some make him out to be, but I don't know if he can handle the pressure at a big club and people will use him as a scapegoat.

I think most people got it by now that you really dislike Kova and want him to leave. No reason to reiterate it that often. ;)

I think he should. It was a nice pass and excellent finish.

Hahahahah

Of course it is, it's a very close game with much on the line. Message boards are usually just very dramatic, think nothing of it.

The kid thinks because he is the most expensive keeper in the world the rules are somehow different for him. And because of the transfer ban he knows the club can't get rid of him. What an entitled brat. I'm still in disbelief about what happened, absolute disrespect to Sarri, Willy and the team in general. Anybody that ever played football and was part of a team knows that this episode diminished any authority he had with the squad. Shame on Kepa, everybody saw his belligerent poses towards the bench, this definitely wasn't just a misunderstanding.

Good result and more importantly no injuries after they got away with some nasty fouls in the beginning. A few thoughts: So many balls given away, I was baffled when I saw posession was above 80% at half time. They were really inferior and couldn't do anything to us with the ball. CHO is technically really good, but needs to be a lot more aware of his surroundings. Could've serviced Ampadu perfectly at one point, but just didn't see him. I don't know if Kovac at Bayern is the right coach for him, since his strengths are fitness and motivation as opposed to tactical development. Plus, I don't think he'll get regular playing time there this season. Bayern is a huge club and can't take too many risks since they are trailing Dortmund by 6 points. They may also drop from the CL against Liverpool in the next round. This season he will most likely play less in Munich than he does here. Ampadu just isn't a midfielder for me. Willian somewhere between brilliance and impotence. But credit to him for bith goals. Barkley in particular seems to have issues playing with Willy though, they seem to misunderstand each other half the time and need to work on that. Christensen can pass! Kovacic our best midfielder yesterday. Higuain technically a lot more sound than Morata, who just isn't good enough to be the number 1 striker at a top club and never will be. I know him from his time at Madrid, Juventus and Madrid again (coincidentally Higuain also played at both those clubs iirc). They just aren't at the same level and you'll see that when Gonzalo scores from position a striker should score from.

Rubbish if you think Barkleys performance yesterday came even close to Kovacics. Just because you don't like Kova it's no reason to sh*t on a good performance of his. Which coincidentally is the reason Willy has to be MotM, no matter how much some people dislike him.

Pretty sure it was Cesc.

In the current lineup with the false 9 he is helping Alonso and Willian, if Morata/Giroud are on the pitch he's creating space for Eden instead of Willian. He is also helping in build up play which relieves pressure from Jorginho, as well as being able to change the tempo with incisive passes. He also puts in the occasional world class tackle. I also disagree with anybody claiming Kante or Jorginho have been poor overall this season. Alonso and Willian are on/off sadly, but I really don't know how that would lead you to substitute Kovacic for RLC or Barkley as it will only make matters worse.

We are also winning games with 75% posession and 90% passing accuracy, I don't see your point. It's like you're thinking that losing is somehow worse just because we had more posession or that the team with most posession has to win. What matters is the structure of the team and in the current structure Kovacic is a lot more useful as he upgrades the players around him in a way the other two guys don't. Them being keen on getting into the box and scoring the occasional odd goal is all nice and well, but if you're exposing your backline since you already have the offensive Alonso and the defensively deficient Jorginho you're just setting Luiz up for failure when he gets run at.

Despite the general meltdown after that game, I don't think it was that bad. We did hit the post twice. On another day people would've been saying we were just unlucky. I'm positive for this game, because we had our best performances when the opponent is opening up a bit. Strangely enough I'm more concerned about the home games this season than the away games.

Thanks for the welcome, I make it a habit to lurk on a message board for quite a while before deciding wether to join or not. :) You are right. I probably should've written Ruben is not under a similar scrutiny instead of under no scrutiny at all, my mistake. The thing is, there is not even a consensus on what position RLC should play, yet people want him to start. Some instead of Kova or Kante, others instead of Willian, I even heard people talking about Conte's idea to play him as a CF instead of Morata or Giroud. It's weird. The media also very obviously wants him to play because of the national team and doesn't really care wether it is at Chelsea or not, hence his transfer is and on/off topic for journalists and fans alike this season, even though he got a lot more playing time than many expected. That's very good for him and will boost his confidence, but he still has time and he also needs it before being considered a serious starting option. As of right, I would seriously doubt anybodies footballing sense that would start him ahead of either Kovacic or Willian for that matter. He is the first on my substitutions list though most of the time, which is what Sarri does. The reality about Kovacic is that he will not start scoring regularily any time soon, his shooting needs a lot of work and he's not very tall. In Madrid he had others doing the attacking for him (Ronaldo, Bale, Marcelo, Vasquez, Asensio, Kroos.. even Casemiro and Modric) so there was seldomly any need for it. His job was doing the dirty work in midfield, retaining posession and beating presses. La Liga is a lot less physical too, so I wouldn't be surprised if he puts on a bit of additional muscle mass. What I'm trying to say is that many of the requirements are obviously very different now with Morata, Giroud, Willian, Kante and Jorginho not being goal machines. Expecting him to adapt in just a few months is simply a bit much to ask. For Mateo it is still a new country, new club, new league. I tend to say that in football quality always prevails and Kova is pure quality. He will make his way regardless, the question is wether he will do it at Chelsea, Real Madrid or another PL top club. I can not stress enough how sick it would make me feel to see Kova boss the midfield for Arsenal or Tottenham after we let him go.