DaRick

Yes, he was mostly a deep-lying playmaker who covered for Kante's forward forays. However, Kante would return the favour whenever Drinkwater advanced.

This is a somewhat subjective criterion, but I personally felt that his finishing at Chelsea was substandard. At Liverpool he was lethal but the pressure to live up to his price tag IMO affected his composure to the point where he was squandering most of the chances that he received. He did have his moments of cool finishing (which tend to stick in people's minds because of the human tendency to examine the past with rose-coloured glasses), but for all of those I could count many, many more misses. Honestly, I thought that his tactical approach when playing for Liverpool was very different to that when playing for Chelsea. When at Liverpool he attacked the goal directly and thus got himself into scoring positions, whereas at Chelsea he too often hid out on the wing. Again, I think he tended to avoid the goal more at Chelsea, not just because of tactical instructions (insofar as that was a factor) but because he was afraid of missing chances. Agreed.

Yes! I for one think that it's all Hazard's fault that world peace hasn't yet been achieved.

Worryingly even despite his recent improvement he is still prone to the odd Watford-like game at AC Milan - for example, against Bologna.

Not the absolute worst PL striker we've had, even in recent memory, but certainly the most disappointing, especially after beginning his time here so promisingly. The problem with Morata is that like Torres he had increasingly little confidence in his ability to finish, so he constantly missed chances and cut a frustrated presence, not to mention he fell over so often that he called have reasonably been mistaken for the Berlin Wall circa late 1989. What made things even worse is that he got into decent scoring positions more often than Torres, so if his mentality/finishing was even average he would at least be approaching double figures for PL goals this season. In mitigation though, we often haven't served one of his biggest strengths (aerial ability) outside of the first few months and he lacked the same ability to play teammates in that Higuain/Mertens did. Maybe his signing exposes the danger of promoting a squad player (which Morata was at Juventus/Real Madrid) into a front-line position - as a squad player you could rely on others to do the heavy lifting whereas as a front-line player the responsibility to score falls on you as much as any other player, if not more so. Ultimately he just couldn't deal with that responsibility.

As much as I think he's a fading force, I don't see anything too wrong with the particulars of this deal in light of the rather dire circumstances. Even if things don't work out it's not likely that we would have gotten a whole lot more from Morata, who by now looks as if he'd rather be anywhere but Chelsea. On the one hand, I think he's less predatory in front of goal than he used to be. A post on another forum sets forth the issues (in bold, with my commentary below):

Terrible news. He was an OK forward who was doing well for Nantes this season; kind of like a Jamie Vardy-lite. He could have fired Cardiff City out of the relegation spots because Warnock has set up his side to counter-attack. Hope I'm wrong but if I'm not then RIP to him and condolences to his loved ones. I don't mean to sound trite, but it's at times like this that you have to appreciate each day as it comes because you never know whether today will be your last. Also if you have family, you should appreciate them before you no longer can. Somewhere now, somebody has (presumably) lost a son.

In the end, I was right in saying that he had potential. It is a shame that he's only realising that potential in the slower-paced Serie A environment. Ultimately, was he just a moderately-talented player who just couldn't come to grips with the PL or Sarri's system? Or is his just a case off taking too little time to settle into the PL. Could he have been better with more easing into PL games?

Arsenal are a Top 6 team ATM. Apparently overtures were made to Kante by PSG and he rebuffed them. Put bluntly, this side has inadequate personnel to play Sarri's 4-4-3 formation. However, as we discovered last season, changing it back to a 3-at-the-back formation may not be the long-term (or even short-term answer). With hindsight, Conte won the 2016/17 PL by changing the formation and taking the league by surprise - on paper, our squad was at best Top 4 quality. If you wish to sack Sarri in a panic (which I still disagree with for now), who would you bring in? To a large degree, Sarri has been hindered by mentally fragile strikers, alongside one target-man who has lost all scoring touch and some pretty erratic recruitment, coming partially from the whims of a manager whose philosophy was different to Sarri's. Where he has fell down is in starting the wrong lineups too often (A target man is useful against parked buses and yet Giroud has rarely been played in that role) and not rotating Willian/CHO more (and arguably not playing Emerson more). Also, maybe he relies on Kovacic too much as a means of retaining possession and countering counters. The problem is that he lacks end product. Against non-Top 6 sides, Barkley/RLC should probably start, before bringing on Kovacic to repress counterattacks. EDIT: There is much to be said to the notion that we're getting physically bullied off parks - an Essien-type in this midfield would solve that problem. Problem is that Kante's the designated Box-to-Box midfielder so you would have to play this midfielder in the Kovacic/regista position, which wouldn't seem very likely. A Pogba-type would be useful.

A roundly poor performance with little to recommend it, especially given the stakes. I have been willing to defend Sarri because there are obvious personnel issues and I can see what he's trying to do, but if we dredge up more performances like this he is in serious danger of falling into AVB/Scolari territory - poor football with little sign of positive progression.

Put simply, a PL and Chelsea institution. His Arsenal years are a footnote next to his long, storied history at this great club. Before his horrific head injury, he was almost the complete keeper. Peerless shot-stopping, handling and positioning combined with peerlessness in the air, a powerful frame and a powerful kick. Two moments of play I remember during that time are his penalty save off Blackburn's Lucas Neill in (I think) 2004-05 and his long kick which led to Joe Cole's wondergoal against Man U in 2005-06. After the injury, he wasn't quite the same keeper - for a long time, he was nervous coming out for crosses and at times had issues communicating with his defenders. Still, his Munich heroics will be remembered forever and while AVB's high-line exposed his one relative weakness (distribution) he was IMO pretty good during his last couple of seasons in the first XI because Benitez/Mou reverted to playing a deeper defensive line which brought his strengths (positioning/shot-stopping) into play. However, even in 2014-15 he came off the bench and made this ridiculous save off Lukaku (I think?) at Stamford Bridge which probably won us at least 2 points. Clearly a far better person than the twat who replaced him and will be appreciated by PL fans for many years to come and Chelsea fans for ever more.

As a matter of fact, in Pochettino's first season (2014/15) Tottenham actually finished 5th with a mere 64 points, which was actually 5 points less than in their car-crash of a 2013/14 season. I know the two clubs have differing standards, but if Sarri did that many Chelsea fans would, judging their current criticism of the man, perceive him as an enemy agent. Also, despite performing well for most of 2015/16 Tottenham only ended up with 70 points, which was on par with our 2017/18 season, wherein our manager rage-quit halfway through. They only really came into their own in 2016/17.

Probably his best game for a long while despite not looking that great for much of it.

You're forgetting that Costa's technique/ball control wasn't great, either. Both are over 30 so we won't, at least not for the long run.

He was better on the weekend, but bear in mind that it was against Championship opposition. Scoring two goals is a worthy enough achievement, but he still cut a frustrated, forlorn presence when he wasn't scoring.

Put simply, a sterling servant for Chelsea. It's funny how it turned out that way because much of this board was at best apathetic towards his signing due to his previous history with Arsenal and the bad blood between him and some Chelsea supporters. The most notable aspect of his play was his passing. In his prime, it was god-like and his vision was heavenly. At his best he seemed to have a telepathic connection with Costa in particular; that combined with Costa's world-class movement led to many goals. He was an essential part of the 2014/15 and 2016/17 title wins; the first as an undisputed starter, the second often as a substitute off the bench who could break down stubborn defences with aplomb. He really made his mark right from the start; his absurd one-touch pass to Schurrle against Burnley on his PL debut summed up what he could bring to the table - brilliant vision + technique. I would have liked him to stay until the end of the season just because he's an experienced pro who could still provide the odd bit of magic but I don't think he has a future at Chelsea beyond that - his lack of athleticism renders him a liability in a high-line, high-pressing system, his passing isn't what it once was and he lacks the defensive ability to play as a regista. All the best Cesc.

I have expressed my reservations over this signing previously (stagnation/mediocre season/lack of end product), so I won't do so again because it will seem like piling on. Some have cited commercial considerations as a reason for making the transfer but I think that should at most be a minor issue when deciding whether or not to purchase a player. Nonetheless, I accept that he has potential.

This translates to a possible bid for Willian, not necessarily a bid of 65 million pounds. I can accept that a bid of under half that might have been made, but even then we'd have to search for a replacement and with the truncated transfer window, the Conte/Sarri saga and the WC limiting transfer activity that would have been more difficult. No, not every rumour would have been entirely false, but I remain very sceptical that the vast majority of those bids were as high as listed, if they were even made.

With respect, I'm not certain that Lozano is right for Sarri's Chelsea. IMO his movement/finishing are below Callejon/Pedro's level and he lacks the work ethic/energy to really play the 'Callejon role'. Technically he is quite unrefined compared to Willian/Hazard. His passing isn't very good and he relies on pace/acceleration to burn players rather than his dribbling (which is IMO just decent). He can also be quite selfish. He has been compared to a budget Salah/Robben and I can see why - his pace/acceleration would make him very dangerous in a counter-attacking side (which Sarri's Chelsea is predominantly not) but the latter two are more gifted technically. For the Callejon role I would prefer someone like Thauvin and for the Willian/Hazard role someone like Thorgan would IMO be a good choice if we can't find a half-decent striker.

In terms of looking for a striker who actually fits Sarri's possession-based system, you could do worse than Wissam Ben Yedder for a couple of years. He won't be winning too many foot races or aerial duels, but his movement is pretty good (roughly Morata-level), he's a much better finisher than anybody we have (on both feet, no less) and his ball control is excellent so he won't have as many issues with deep defences as somebody like Lukaku does. His passing and team-play is also good enough to set others up - he has 5 assists in La Liga this term. Only difficulty is that he's a bit lazy RE pressing and tracking back. His Sevilla team-mate Andre Silva has higher upside, but he's IMO not as developed a striker.

OGS was hardly great at Cardiff so I'm doubtful that he'll build anything lasting.

Man U are simply enjoying a 'new manager bump'. I explained it like such on another forum:

He wasn't great no, but I do feel that he was a little more gifted than Kante RE ball control, passing and finishing. Kante is better defensively though, so it evens out.

I still think Kante's been pretty good this season, though maybe not quite as good as he was in previous seasons. In prior seasons he still played a box-to-box role but was not expected to make as many runs into the box and finish - instead he was really tasked with winning the ball and helping to trigger counter-attacks. This season he's been expected to contribute more in the 18-yard area. In this respect, I think that the timing of his runs into the box has been pretty good lately (Man City/Crystal Palace); it's just that his finishing too often lets him down. Nonetheless he's on track for 5-6 PL goals this season, which is more than Essien (who was more technically gifted and IMO possessed better forward movement) usually contributed.