Dean

As someone who has defended Sarri up until now, I have to say I now think it’s over.that substitution probably seals the deal. I can’t defend that on any grounds, even azpi being injured (if that were the case, in a situation like that he should have brought an attacking player on, changed the formation - anything but that). as for the board, it can’t really tolerate a fan base in revolt can it? So the situation is untenable. Unfortunately the problems at Chelsea now run so deep I think that things are going to get worse for Chelsea before they get better, maybe a lot worse and for a looong time. A lot of you need to massively lower your expectations. Anyone who thinks a) Zidane will join Chelsea now, b) that he’d be a success if he did (ok he won stuff with Real Madrid [REAL MADRID - Ronaldo, Bale, Modric, Ramos, Marcelo... in the same team!]) is dreaming. I was wrong about Sarri. Hope I’m wrong about this too.

I think he didn’t get enough credit for that and a few other similar would-be assists over the season. They’d have been noticed a lot more if the receiver had done more with them. Let’s also not forget he’s only 24, so probably a good few years off his peak. I find some of you on here don’t factor potential enough into your assessments of our players, unless it’s Hudson Odoi. Let’s not forget that Salah when he left us wasn’t quite big the player he is now, and nobody cared much when he left. There are other examples too.

That's the spirit!

Kovacic. interesting how, in order to get the MOTM accolade, a player is still dependent on his team mates. Had Pedro done more with Kovacic's brilliant through ball after that bit of skill, and had it resulted in a goal or at least a shot on goal (it should really), i think Kovacic would have got more votes. Barkley had a decent game, but one really poor error towards the end swung it more in favour of Kova for me

Trust me, we will get someone better than Sarri. We ain't a league one team Agree we are not a league one team. we are a team with deep-rooted problems that is nonetheless challenging for fourth place in the toughest league in the world, and still in three cup competitions including a final ... under Sarri.

Couldn’t agree more. I think it could be a disaster if we sacked him. What better coach would WANT the job if he were sacked?

We did for a spell in the second half. We really should have killed it off with a third and not conceded that goal. The narrative would then have been very different and that spell in the 2nd half would have been the main talking point perhaps.

You’d better watch out. Remember Roman has his back, and you know who has Roman’s back.

I think one can make the case that it’s just not clicking yet. We see some glimpses of what it’s meant to he, including tonight, but it’s not there yet, and there’s a fine line between it looking great and woeful. I think I understand what Sarri’s trying to do, and see where he’s coming from when he says we haven’t seen his football yet. That’s one of the reasons I find the negativity exasperating.

Thank you! And same goes for the other balanced assessments on here.

Actually I saw him reading it on his phone as he left the pitch at half time

Team is understandably in a really nervous state. Sarri is under immense pressure, and under the circumstances we should be pleased with the result. And yes I will moan about the moaners to my heart’s content. You are CONTRIBUTING to the problem.

The state of the posts on here. It’s an away win and probably enough. Should have been a 2 goal margin really. Yes there were howlers but there were some positives. Now get some rest.

I can’t decide whether to watch the game or spend it on here moaning about the lineup and obsessing about CHO

True, and last night's exposure of Man U by PSG could (COULD) be their undoing. In football as in life, there's a tendency to extrapolate, so indeed everyone was thinking OGS' run was going to go on forever, just as many now assume Sarri will lose 4-0 or worse every away game for the rest of the season. But things move in cycles. Good runs bring an ever heavier weight of expectation, and then they come to an end - often abruptly. that has a significant impact on confidence and other teams' perception of a team's vulnerability - "he's not a machine he's a man!" Conversely, after a poor run, you reach a point where expectation is significantly lowered, pressure is relieved and positive surprises are possible. So here's Klopp at some point in the future after we spank Liverpool and they just can't handle our regista's tough tackling and pinpoint passing: "that Jorginho just isn't human, he's like a little piece of iron." In my dreams, ha!