1 minute ago, Skinnedy said:

again, that's the academy's job... Can't shut down the academy for producing class players.

Other heads should roll if we can't keep a home grown class player from leaving.

We have seemingly one of the best academy's around, but we very rarly utilize them, I could get it when we had class players all around but not now.

2 minutes ago, atomis said:

We have seemingly one of the best academy's around, but we very rarly utilize them, I could get it when we had class players all around but not now.

we're talking about two different things. 

If Hudson-Odoi leaves, I'm going to be pissed. I'm going to be pissed at Sarri for not playing him more this season. I'm going to be pissed at Sarri's boss for not making him feel more comfortable that he CAN take a chance on more of the young players... I'm still going to be pissed that we didn't take the money and run on Willian in the summer. I'm going to be pissed at Hudson-Odoi if he DOES get a lot of time, and then leaves on a free, or pittance, and then sits on the bench somewhere else for a year (Hello Solanke to Bournemouth!!).

what I'm not going to do is demand the academy shuts down. 

10 hours ago, evissy said:

Sell Willian, keep CHO and rotate him with Pedro. 

How is that going to happen? Sarri clearly prefers Willian and Pedro, barely gave CHO any game time.

If we sold Pedro or Willian this window I have no doubt Sarri will be wanting an replacement, I don’t think he will even look at CHO.

5 minutes ago, Skinnedy said:

we're talking about two different things. 

If Hudson-Odoi leaves, I'm going to be pissed. I'm going to be pissed at Sarri for not playing him more this season. I'm going to be pissed at Sarri's boss for not making him feel more comfortable that he CAN take a chance on more of the young players... I'm still going to be pissed that we didn't take the money and run on Willian in the summer. I'm going to be pissed at Hudson-Odoi if he DOES get a lot of time, and then leaves on a free, or pittance, and then sits on the bench somewhere else for a year (Hello Solanke to Bournemouth!!).

what I'm not going to do is demand the academy shuts down. 

Yeah maybe I overreacted but you get the point. Chances are he will turn out rather good than weather away. We simply have to take punts on our youngsters.....especially now when we are not exactly filled with quality around the pitch. Lets be honest most of us would go too in this case......we could learn a thing or two from utd in this regard.

21 minutes ago, atomis said:

Yeah......but its on us if he iaint playing, no reason why he hasnt played this season, or very Little that he has. If not now then when would he get the chance? Overall we could and should have done better.

Of course but we haven't so now this situation has come where the club have very little option.

They spent a bucket load on getting rid and then bringing in a new manager who doesn't see CHO as a starter so what do they do? back the new manager or choose 1 player who may/may not go on to be a star?

It's not clear cut.

5 minutes ago, Chelsbear said:

Of course but we haven't so now this situation has come where the club have very little option.

They spent a bucket load on getting rid and then bringing in a new manager who doesn't see CHO as a starter so what do they do? back the new manager or choose 1 player who may/may not go on to be a star?

It's not clear cut.

Fair point......as Skinnedy said, its on Sarii then. Persisting with older, out of form players when younger freasher alternatives are at the ready.

2 minutes ago, atomis said:

Yeah maybe I overreacted but you get the point. Chances are he will turn out rather good than weather away. We simply have to take punts on our youngsters.....especially now when we are not exactly filled with quality around the pitch. Lets be honest most of us would go too in this case......we could learn a thing or two from utd in this regard.

I am absolutely 100% in agreement with you. Utilize the damned Academy.

We play in 4 competitions. 

Do we really need these guys making this many appearances by mid-season?

Willian (30)
Kepa (27)
Dave (26)
Kante (25)
Alonso (23)
Jorginho (23)

My biggest gripe with Sarri has been the shocking lack of rotation this season. Whatever you think of the skills of individual players and production they provide... should we be shocked that the two oldest wings in the EPL are breaking down?

 

 

1 minute ago, Skinnedy said:

I am absolutely 100% in agreement with you. Utilize the damned Academy.

We play in 4 competitions. 

Do we really need these guys making this many appearances by mid-season?

Willian (30)
Kepa (27)
Dave (26)
Kante (25)
Alonso (23)
Jorginho (23)

My biggest gripe with Sarri has been the shocking lack of rotation this season. Whatever you think of the skills of individual players and production they provide... should we be shocked that the two oldest wings in the EPL are breaking down?

 

 

For sure....couldnt agree more. Sarii should have known this League will break your players if you dont utilize your squad to its fullest........Club should and could have done more in the summer to remedy some of the issues. Its no Wonder we look tired and picking up injuries. Imagine if we were in CL......f**king hell.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/premier-league/zola-chelsea-want-hudson-odoi-to-stay/ar-BBRNzy3?ocid=AMZN

 

I’m not going to say anything until CHO leaves or signs a contract. I’ll wait and see.

5 hours ago, dansubrosa said:

How is that going to happen? Sarri clearly prefers Willian and Pedro, barely gave CHO any game time.

If we sold Pedro or Willian this window I have no doubt Sarri will be wanting an replacement, I don’t think he will even look at CHO.

And that post, in a nutshell, summarises how Chelsea FC have regarded our youngsters since Roman took control of the club.

During that time we have much to be grateful for. We have won buckets full. But we are stone cold sh*te at bringing through young talent and integrating it in to our starting line-up. Or even giving it a fair chance.

Understandable, perhaps, when we were Citeh \ PSG and could buy the world. Seems a bit daft now that we can't.

55 minutes ago, just said:

And that post, in a nutshell, summarises how Chelsea FC have regarded our youngsters since Roman took control of the club.

During that time we have much to be grateful for. We have won buckets full. But we are stone cold sh*te at bringing through young talent and integrating it in to our starting line-up. Or even giving it a fair chance.

Understandable, perhaps, when we were Citeh \ PSG and could buy the world. Seems a bit daft now that we can't.

The last 2 title wins we won when not being the big spenders in terms of the big names and big fees. Our biggest was Costa for just over £30 million. 

The club are probably thinking we don’t need the very best players to win things but a high level squad with a good manager since it’s worked before.

Our youth strategy in terms of development in our first team is non existent but it’s been like that since Roman took over. It’s no shock and when you see the trend of us being successful with our current model then you can see why they are reluctant to change it.

In most top teams in Europe a 18 year old is always going to struggle for games when you have established internationalist with CL, EPL and such wins under their belts. It shouldn’t just go on reputation and experience but 9 times out of 10 it will.

At another club CHO would have got more of a break that’s for sure but this is no shock. This is what we do and have been doing for the best part of 15 years.

 

17 hours ago, Nibs said:

That is the kind of short-sightedness that has got our squad where it is now. How can any youngster ever prove they ARE good enough (and better than players in current squad / starting 11) if the never get to play? I look at City last night and I see Sane winning them games. CHO WILL be our own Sane (just an English version). Willian and Pedro aren't gonna be our Sane.

If we lose CHO it will be the clubs fault yet again for bad handling and will be the worst error since the last one and one before that (and so on.............................)

 

 

 

 

18 hours ago, just said:

You could be right but the fact is we don't know anyone is better than CHO. Because we haven't had the chance to see him play in a run of games.

 The Bayern people obviously see him as a very special talent.

You think think Sarri doesn't see all our wingers every day in training and has no clue to as the pecking order of our wingers by quality? Or do you agree we would be lessening our chances of finishing in the top four by playing Hudson-Odoi above the others?

11 hours ago, just said:

And that post, in a nutshell, summarises how Chelsea FC have regarded our youngsters since Roman took control of the club.

During that time we have much to be grateful for. We have won buckets full. But we are stone cold sh*te at bringing through young talent and integrating it in to our starting line-up. Or even giving it a fair chance.

 Understandable, perhaps, when we were Citeh \ PSG and could buy the world. Seems a bit daft now that we can't.

If CHO slips through our fingers ill be as mad as anyone, but in reality, is there much more we could have really done with the youngsters that came through before this current generation (bar KDB and Salah if you count them as youth players).

There was a conscious effort in 2010 for example to bring youth through and we decided against replacing Ballack, J.Cole etc properly to give them a clear pathway, the thing we done wrong is we did it in an era we didn't have the required quality at youth level. Bruma, PVA and Kakuta were totally and utterly out of their depth at first team level.

Jody Morris has taken a dig at the club last night for not blooding youngsters when opportunities arise (3rd round FA Cup ties as an example). 

31 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Jody Morris has taken a dig at the club last night for not blooding youngsters when opportunities arise (3rd round FA Cup ties as an example). 

Does he know our line-up already?

48 minutes ago, Valerie said:

Does he know our line-up already?

He was referring to the six years he spent in charge of our youth team.

He was saying that Spurs last night gave opportunities to lots of youth players and essentially said it’s something we don’t do.

Given the success he had with the youth players he demonstrated their talent and an argument can be made that if a group of young players that are consistently winning things aren’t being given opportunities in the senior team then will they ever? And if not, then what’s the end goal for having a  successful youth set up?

18 hours ago, atomis said:

Fair point......as Skinnedy said, its on Sarii then. Persisting with older, out of form players when younger freasher alternatives are at the ready.

Sarri has already explained his reasoning behind H-Odoi not being a first team player yet. He needs to improve the defensive/tactical side of his game and movement off the ball. It's not an unfair criticism.

He is explaining why an 18 year old isn't playing often enough. Sure he could have played more Europa league mins, but we didn't exactly make those games easy and when Callum did play he didn't really make himself stand out as the next Ronaldo or something, it was just a decent performance against low level opposition. 

You aren't going to get chances to show off and play silly games in this league. You won't have time to rest on the ball and a young player will get found out fast if they're not tactically aware enough.

33 minutes ago, enigma said:

Sarri has already explained his reasoning behind H-Odoi not being a first team player yet. He needs to improve the defensive/tactical side of his game and movement off the ball. It's not an unfair criticism.

He is explaining why an 18 year old isn't playing often enough. Sure he could have played more Europa league mins, but we didn't exactly make those games easy and when Callum did play he didn't really make himself stand out as the next Ronaldo or something, it was just a decent performance against low level opposition. 

You aren't going to get chances to show off and play silly games in this league. You won't have time to rest on the ball and a young player will get found out fast if they're not tactically aware enough.

Then what then? Why can the likes of spurs and utd do it? He could and should have played more........its just the same pattern repeating itself, nothing new sadly.

57 minutes ago, enigma said:

He needs to improve the defensive/tactical side of his game and movement off the ball.

Fair enough, but why not focus on what Hudson-Odoi actually possesses; great attacking ability and an actual goal threat.

Or, look at it like this. Hudson-Odoi must improve in the defensive aspect of the game, but has (potentially) exceptional qualities in the offensive phase.

Willian has exceptional defensive skills as a winger, but has produced numbers offensively more akin to a defender his whole career.

Both are attacking players, and my understanding of attacking players is that they should contribute more in attack than defense.

We need a striker, that's obvious to anyone with eyesight, but when the optimal striker solution seems elusive, the offensive production needs to come from other areas of the pitch. Willian and Pedro have both tried, but can't string 90 good minutes, let alone 3-4 matches, together.

Can Hudson Odoi really do worse than two goals and three assists in 20 appearances (most of them starting with the best players available)? I think he would produce more. Would we become weaker defensively? Probably, but that's not where the shoe pinches in this side, we are actually a pretty decent defensive team (which of course is partly due to Willian and Pedro's defensive qualities).

And if we really are going to keep banging on about the defensive phase, which arguably is easier to teach than the offensive phase, how is Hudson-Odoi supposed to learn this at the training ground? You need match intensity, repeatedly, in order to improve your actual form in matches - that's the specificity principle in both theory and praxis.

I really support Sarri's vision for our team. I like the football, and think it's the way forward in the modern game, but old dogs can't be taught new tricks. I completely understand the pressure of getting results, but when the old dogs don't give you results, the defense of Sarri's selections become, at best, weak.

Edited January 5, 20197 yr by opinionsarelike

If he don’t start against Spurs he’ll have every right to be pissed.

Couldn't have asked any more of him today. Looked good down both the flanks, was getting back well to help out defensively. Quality of his crosses were great too.

Got himself a goal and a couple of assists this season in very limited playing time. If we want him to stay we’ve got to keep playing him, he looks ready.

1 minute ago, ForeverCarefree said:

If he don’t start against Spurs he’ll have every right to be pissed.

IMHO he has to start, especially since RLC limped off in the first half - IMHO people need to calm down & stop reading the tabloids - they are always trying to put Chelsea into a crisis mode & some our supporters feed into the BS that the media produces

Fantastic match but he makes me angry because he could be the top top top if he kicked strong and bad .

2 minutes ago, Master&Commander said:

Fantastic match but he makes me angry because he could be the top top top if he kicked strong and bad .

That seems to be the only thing missing from his game, clinical finishing. But he has time to improve. If he adds that what a talent.