On 24/02/2024 at 09:40, Gonoir Beniashile said:

Why's everyone banging on about Hazard all of a sudden?

Just been on the Mikel podcast

On 24/02/2024 at 21:05, Drogba1 said:

2 Prem titles isn't exactly a bad return to be fair

 

At least he wasn't playing in the Chelsea of the past year and a half

f**ked up thing is peak Hazard would have probably dragged us into a top four race despite everything going on.

For those interested in Soccer Aid, Hazard will be playing in it this year

 

5 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

For those interested in Soccer Aid, Hazard will be playing in it this year

 

Does that mean Paddy McGuinness won't be the most out of shape player this year?

50 minutes ago, loz said:

Does that mean Paddy McGuinness won't be the most out of shape player this year?

Means it's gonna be sad day when Hazard has more assists at Stamford Bridge in 2024 than Madueke has since we signed him

11 hours ago, Whats_The_Mata? said:

Means it's gonna be sad day when Hazard has more assists at Stamford Bridge in 2024 than Madueke has since we signed him

Noooo don't be nasty to players you aren't a real fan wah wah players are treated so nasty wahhh 😞 

Man, i miss so much 😭

I’ve been reminded that today in 2019 I travelled to Leicester for what it was going to be Hazard’s last game for Chelsea. It was a good day out, it always is at Leicester, and drew 0-0. Look at that line up and we finished 3rd! Whoever thinks that we’ve done good this season finishing 6th should look at that line up and think it twice.

 

Edited May 12, 20242 yr by RMH

1 hour ago, RMH said:

I’ve been reminded that today in 2019 I travelled to Leicester for what it was going to be Hazard’s last game for Chelsea. It was a good day out, it always is at Leicester, and drew 0-0. Look at that line up and we finished 3rd! Whoever thinks that we’ve done good this season finishing 6th should look at that line up and think it twice.

 

Not exactly the team that started most of the 38 games though is it ?

 

10 hours ago, Sexyfootball said:

Not exactly the team that started most of the 38 games though is it ?

 

A very important part of it was:

13 hours ago, RMH said:

I’ve been reminded that today in 2019 I travelled to Leicester for what it was going to be Hazard’s last game for Chelsea. It was a good day out, it always is at Leicester, and drew 0-0. Look at that line up and we finished 3rd! Whoever thinks that we’ve done good this season finishing 6th should look at that line up and think it twice.

 

I look at that list and it screams experience. There's a reason why some of the best managers prefer that over talent. 

Just having seasoned players in your team, that have been there done that makes a huge difference and on that list everyone has been in winning teams, some several of them. 

What's their value in a team compared to raw talented players? Easy 15 - 20 points?

13 hours ago, RMH said:

I’ve been reminded that today in 2019 I travelled to Leicester for what it was going to be Hazard’s last game for Chelsea. It was a good day out, it always is at Leicester, and drew 0-0. Look at that line up and we finished 3rd! Whoever thinks that we’ve done good this season finishing 6th should look at that line up and think it twice.

 

WTH are you talking about we had Hazard and Kante. 

2 hours ago, Bob stark said:

WTH are you talking about we had Hazard and Kante. 

Christ the lengths you go to discredit Sarri. Yeah let's just ignore our defence had the 3rd best defensive record in the league that season. A defence with Kepa in goal, David Luiz, Alonso, and Jorginho protecting them....

But no, Kante and Hazard carried the club to 3rd and a Europa League. 

1 hour ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Christ the lengths you go to discredit Sarri. Yeah let's just ignore our defence had the 3rd best defensive record in the league that season. A defence with Kepa in goal, David Luiz, Alonso, and Jorginho protecting them....

But no, Kante and Hazard carried the club to 3rd and a Europa League. 

He's not saying that at all. 

Both of us have merely pointed out that trying to pass off the beach XI that started that last fixture against Leicester as representative of the team that got 3rd is a huge stretch to put it mildly.

Let's stick some facts on the table to prove it : here's the PL appearances for the season, which show that 5 of the 11 players most used by Sarri (Kepa, Kante, Rudiger, Hazard and Kovacic) did not start the match at Leicester.

 

 

2 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

He's not saying that at all. 

Both of us have merely pointed out that trying to pass off the beach XI that started that last fixture against Leicester as representative of the team that got 3rd is a huge stretch to put it mildly.

Let's stick some facts on the table to prove it : here's the PL appearances for the season, which show that 5 of the 11 players most used by Sarri (Kepa, Kante, Rudiger, Hazard and Kovacic) did not start the match at Leicester.

 

 

My argument was steered more towards Bob's continuous notion that we only finished 3rd under Sarri because Hazard and Kante. 

7 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

My argument was steered more towards Bob's continuous notion that we only finished 3rd under Sarri because Hazard and Kante. 

Well, I'd imagine we'd also have finished 6th or 7th at best if Hazard had played the minutes we've had from Nkunku this season. and Kante had been missing as well.

As it was, the 6000+ minutes they played between them was probably quite useful, particularly for a manager renowned for his lack of rotation of his first XI  🙂 

Not to mention the 2874 minutes from Rudiger, the 3240 from Kepa, and the 1745 from Kovacic. 

I know Kepa wasn't great in his first season, but his save stats etc were still significantly better than Petrovic has managed this season. If Sarri had had Caballero in goal all season, plus his first choice defence all missing (like Poch has had), I very much doubt we'd have had the 3rd best defensive record in the PL. 

1 minute ago, Sexyfootball said:

Well, I'd imagine we'd also have finished 6th or 7th at best if Hazard had played the minutes we've had from Nkunku this season. and Kante had been missing as well.

As it was, the 6000+ minutes they played between them was probably quite useful, particularly for a manager renowned for his lack of rotation of his first XI  🙂 

Not to mention the 2874 minutes from Rudiger, the 3240 from Kepa, and the 1745 from Kovacic. 

I know Kepa wasn't great in his first season, but his save stats etc were still significantly better than Petrovic has managed this season. If Sarri had had Caballero in goal all season, plus his first choice defence all missing (like Poch has had), I very much doubt we'd have had the 3rd best defensive record in the PL. 

And had Sarri not once dealt with the defensive issue we saw the beginning of the season, we could've ended up far worse than 6th or 7th.

The team's defensive reconstruction happened after the home 3-2 victory against Arsenal. The amount of holes the midfield left was apparent and it was completely revamped afterwards. Sarri recognized it immediately and it built the basis of a very good defensive unit in a team that had a lot of defensive liabilities. Especially when the team was catered for Hazard to not offer any defensive contributions. 

You are in the Kepa over Petrovic minority I'm afraid and Kovacic was shocking under Sarri. 

 

 

12 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

You are in the Kepa over Petrovic minority I'm afraid

And I have you in the "Petrovic denial" camp LOL

Just now, Sexyfootball said:

And I have you in the "Petrovic denial" camp LOL

TBD for me. 

Rather we fix LB, ST, add a quality CB to replace Silva and see where we go from there. Would also like Poch to continue sorting our the midfield issue with tactical changes based on opposition.

If he's still looking suspect, then we can replace. 

45 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

He's not saying that at all. 

Both of us have merely pointed out that trying to pass off the beach XI that started that last fixture against Leicester as representative of the team that got 3rd is a huge stretch to put it mildly.

Let's stick some facts on the table to prove it : here's the PL appearances for the season, which show that 5 of the 11 players most used by Sarri (Kepa, Kante, Rudiger, Hazard and Kovacic) did not start the match at Leicester.

 

 

8 players started 30+ PL games. That's it. 

If we have 8 players of this current squad start 30+ games next season, we would finish 3rd for sure. 

We've had 26 players appear in at least 9 PL games this season. Which is about 6 too many. 

3 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Christ the lengths you go to discredit Sarri. Yeah let's just ignore our defence had the 3rd best defensive record in the league that season. A defence with Kepa in goal, David Luiz, Alonso, and Jorginho protecting them....

But no, Kante and Hazard carried the club to 3rd and a Europa League. 

That's incredibly accurate tbf, Giroud played his part in Europe too. 

56 minutes ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

That's incredibly accurate tbf, Giroud played his part in Europe too. 

3rd best defence in the league containing David Luiz and Marcos Alonso in a back 4, Kepa in goal and Jorginho protecting them. 

Sorry, I'm going to refute your point all day every day. 😂

8 hours ago, abister1 said:

I look at that list and it screams experience. There's a reason why some of the best managers prefer that over talent. 

Just having seasoned players in your team, that have been there done that makes a huge difference and on that list everyone has been in winning teams, some several of them. 

What's their value in a team compared to raw talented players? Easy 15 - 20 points?

Even though that squad is experienced the most alarming thing looking at that starting 11 is that at a young age there's 4 or 5 players in there that were more talented than the players we currently invested in.

Willian, Pedro, Higuain, Luiz, Ruben, Ross would cost ALOT of money in todays market if they came through in 2024.

 

4 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

3rd best defence in the league containing David Luiz and Marcos Alonso in a back 4, Kepa in goal and Jorginho protecting them. 

Sorry, I'm going to refute your point all day every day. 😂

It was the most boring repetitive sh*te and without Hazard’s individual brilliance and Kante’s work rate we finish top 4-6 and don’t win the European final. 

13 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Christ the lengths you go to discredit Sarri. Yeah let's just ignore our defence had the 3rd best defensive record in the league that season. A defence with Kepa in goal, David Luiz, Alonso, and Jorginho protecting them....

But no, Kante and Hazard carried the club to 3rd and a Europa League. 

Again, wth are you talking about.

Sarri getting to top 3 and winning Europa was very good. 

I simply pointed out that we had Hazard, Kante and my expectations for this current team to that sarri team is extremely different. 

Edited May 14, 20242 yr by Bob stark