3 minutes ago, Kentonio said:

But then other times their lack of tactical understanding can ensure they do nothing useful, and hand possession to the opposition repeatedly.

Possession means diddly squat without a goal threat. Its upto Sarri to set his side up better.

3 minutes ago, enigma said:

I think Sarri has a preference for the false 9 system now that it's obvious to him that he can't rely on his genuine strikers. If Hazard does adapt to play as a false 9, then Hudson-Odoi may very well get more game time as he can then play on that LW, his favoured position. 

This is an answer though we are trying to play the ball through the eye of a needle...only Fabregas is capable of that. Width, coupled with good movement and fast ball is the way to beat a packed defence.

Edited January 2, 20197 yr by charierre

12 hours ago, charierre said:

Possession means diddly squat without a goal threat. 

Actually, not true.  If we have 75% possession, that is three-quarters of the match in which it is IMPOSSIBLE for the other side to score.

 

33 minutes ago, yorkleyblue said:

Actually, not true.  If we have 75% possession, that is three-quarters of the match in which it is IMPOSSIBLE for the other side to score.

 

Don't think that's how possession is calculated. I'm sure i read somewhere its the percentage of passes one team completes in comparison to the other. So in theory, we could ping 75 passes together in 10 minutes whilst the opposition hold the ball for 30 minutes and only make 25 passes, but we'd have 75% possession. 

Could be wrong but i'm sure i read that's how it works.

You know I'm just a gullible idiot.  I thought 75% was we had the ball for 75% of the time.  Oh well!

Not going to lie, i thought the exact same my entire life until a few months ago. 

50 minutes ago, yorkleyblue said:

Actually, not true.  If we have 75% possession, that is three-quarters of the match in which it is IMPOSSIBLE for the other side to score.

 

If we draw every game 0-0, we get relegated 

Not for the first time,  either.

25 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Not going to lie, i thought the exact same my entire life until a few months ago. 

Upon further investigation it seems the passes thing was just a method Opta used for years but no longer do. It seems they used to because of concerns that relying on someone pressing a button every team possession flipped could lead to mistakes which couldn't be rectified, and counting passes was simpler. Now (presumably with better technology available) they've gone back to an actually possession method again.

Also it seems this was just an Opta thing, not something used by all football stats providers.

37 minutes ago, yorkleyblue said:

Not for the first time,  either.

At least we've hit the 40pt mark so no worries this year

1 hour ago, charierre said:

If we draw every game 0-0, we get relegated 

But we will have had as good a season as Arsenals invincible....who werent invincible.....

10 minutes ago, dkw said:

But we will have had as good a season as Arsenals invincible....who werent invincible.....

Wayne Bridge can attest to that. 

Just seen rumours circulating that Bayern have apparently upped their offer to £30m. I think the source was Goal so take it with a pinch of salt.

Would rather sell him to RB for £20m with a buy back clause than sell to Bayern for £30m without one if possible.

Just now, RIP Mourinho said:

Just seen rumours circulating that Bayern have apparently upped their offer to £30m. I think the source was Goal so take it with a pinch of salt.

Would rather sell him to RB for £20m with a buy back clause than sell to Bayern for £30m without one if possible.

Lewandowski or no deal.

Bayern have just made a third bid in excess of 30 million according to Sky Sports.
Sky Sport Germany are reporting Hudson Odoi have asked the club to let him go there.

It's just a shame that he got injured otherwise I'm certain that he would have started last night. We've scored 11 goals in our last 10 league games so there's no reason now why he shouldn't be getting a run in the first team.

Shameful if it happens.

If he really wants to go, surely we can wangle a player out in return.

2 minutes ago, DannyVblue said:

It's just a shame that he got injured otherwise I'm certain that he would have started last night. We've scored 11 goals in our last 10 league games so there's no reason now why he shouldn't be getting a run in the first team.

Id like to think he would of, but honestly looking at the season, he would of still been on the bench at best.

I’m ok with 30m, providing we have sell on clause and buy back clause.

maybe we can put the money towards a striker? How much for Arnautovic? He is an upgrade on what we have by a mile.

I beg we insert a buy back clause. Sell for 30m, buy back at 50m or first refusal on whoever tries to buy him.

Bayern are not going to accept a buy-back clause.

If we sell him for anything close to 30 million we are idiots. This club paid more for Danny Drinkwater!

I'll be gutted if he goes. I think he's the most talented young player I've ever seen at the club. I was sure he'd make it.

But if he doesn't sign the contract, what can be done? That's enormous money for someone with so little professional football under his belt.

And what’s worse? He signs, we don’t play him and it ruins him and we are down the 30m too.

just need a buy back clause.

2 minutes ago, Cam said:

I'll be gutted if he goes. I think he's the most talented young player I've ever seen at the club. I was sure he'd make it.

But if he doesn't sign the contract, what can be done? That's enormous money for someone with so little professional football under his belt.

If he doesn't sign a deal we still have 18 months to prove to him that he should stay at Chelsea. If we cannot find a way to give him playing time by then he will probably never get a chance.