9 minutes ago, bluedave said:

He looked like a proper fullback last night and did everything you'd want a fullback to do. I had been pretty underwhelmed by his previous performances, while Alonso was actually in fine form until relatively recently, so was not particularly desperate to see him displace Alonso as first choice. One good showing is not enough to convince me though so I'd like to see him get a run of successive games. He's earned a chance at least. Even if last night does turn out to be the exception to the norm then I suspect Alonso could benefit from the break.

You make a good point.  I'm all for Emerson getting more gametime, but we must remain reasonable.  I remember a few years back after Baba had that wonderful performance in the CL against PSG, you would have thought he was the second coming of Ashley Cole, according to some fans.

7 hours ago, yorkleyblue said:

But he also said a lot more positive stuff.  Thankfully someone could be arsed to  post the entire quote and not just pick the negative bit out of it.

Good for them? 

I posted the part that answered the question people were asking of why Sarri hasn’t picked him.

3 hours ago, mwblue10 said:

I'm all for Emerson getting more gametime, but we must remain reasonable. 

That's where I am on this...

Emerson getting more game time can only be a positive for at least three reasons.

1. Emerson could genuinely be better than Alonso
2. Alonso was getting run into the ground. A fresher Alonso is going to be a better Alonso
3. A real competition for playing time will make Alonso better

Any of those three is reason enough for more rotation...

11 minutes ago, Skinnedy said:

That's where I am on this...

Emerson getting more game time can only be a positive for at least three reasons.

1. Emerson could genuinely be better than Alonso
2. Alonso was getting run into the ground. A fresher Alonso is going to be a better Alonso
3. A real competition for playing time will make Alonso better

Any of those three is reason enough for more rotation...

4. Alonso can then play as striker

3 hours ago, mwblue10 said:

You make a good point.  I'm all for Emerson getting more gametime, but we must remain reasonable.  I remember a few years back after Baba had that wonderful performance in the CL against PSG, you would have thought he was the second coming of Ashley Cole, according to some fans.

Problem with Baba was he was never given a chance here. Seems to be the case with loads of players that never make it with us, they have a good game & then benched for the next few games. Has to be demoralising when you are unable to build some consistency.

40 minutes ago, Skinnedy said:

That's where I am on this...

Emerson getting more game time can only be a positive for at least three reasons.

1. Emerson could genuinely be better than Alonso
2. Alonso was getting run into the ground. A fresher Alonso is going to be a better Alonso
3. A real competition for playing time will make Alonso better

Any of those three is reason enough for more rotation...

Alonso was never fast, and I agree he seems to be worn out.  But, he seems to be the scapegoat this year, and I guess people that follow Chelsea always have to have a scapegoat.  Do they forget his assists and goals and general solid performances that have preceded his current dip in form?

Look, i get that his form lately isn't great, so I think it's only right that Emerson comes and gets a shot, hopefully with intent of proving we can rotate with mutually capable LB's.  But the way somehave turned on one of our own is appalling 

Like everyone is saying, I don't know how he isn't playing more games. 

I could only catch the 2nd half and he was playing well, his delivery was a bit sh*t though. 

36 minutes ago, mad_mac said:

Alonso was never fast, and I agree he seems to be worn out.  But, he seems to be the scapegoat this year, and I guess people that follow Chelsea always have to have a scapegoat.  Do they forget his assists and goals and general solid performances that have preceded his current dip in form?

Look, i get that his form lately isn't great, so I think it's only right that Emerson comes and gets a shot, hopefully with intent of proving we can rotate with mutually capable LB's.  But the way somehave turned on one of our own is appalling 

He's not a scapegoat, he's just in really bad form and people are taking notice. There doesn't always need to be an agenda behind people criticising players more than others you know. The players in the worst form for us this season have received the most criticism, that seems like a pretty normal reaction too me.

21 hours ago, big blue said:

Emerson is a better option than alonso. Sarri has no excuse now to not be giving him a run of games.

Even Azpiliucueta times his runs better tonight and actually got his head up to pick out hazard rather than just put it in an area. 

 

Got the feeling Azpi has been instructed to hang back to compensate for Alonso going forward. Yesterday with Emmerson, Azpi could come forward more often.

As well as he played i still think the next premier league game Alonso will start.

22 hours ago, yorkleyblue said:

But he also said a lot more positive stuff.  Thankfully someone could be arsed to  post the entire quote and not just pick the negative bit out of it.

Yes he did. But he's still to short..!

A good sign that he didn't play on Sunday? meaning he will start against Bournemouth tomorrow night.

3 hours ago, jack_super_class said:

A good sign that he didn't play on Sunday? meaning he will start against Bournemouth tomorrow night.

I agree. 

I expect to see 

Emerson, Jorginho, Kante, Pedro, Hazard, Luiz,  Kepa back in the starting lineup tomorrow. 

For me the only question is who starts at LCM. I'll go with Kovacic until Ruben gets a few more games under his belt and proves match fitness. 

Must start against Bournemouth, he has been very good and better than current Alonso's form.

5 minutes ago, IliyaKrostin said:

Must start against Bournemouth, he has been very good and better than current Alonso's form.

But he’s too short. 

2 minutes ago, Munkworth said:

But he’s too short. 

Hopefully ruben gets a start too now he's back from injury. 

I was pleasantly surprised with his game against Tottenham.

I'm still unsure about his defensive ability, but he provided genuine width and dynamism on the left, rather than just languidly cutting in like Alonso did. 

On 26/01/2019 at 00:13, ducavis said:

Problem with Baba was he was never given a chance here. Seems to be the case with loads of players that never make it with us, they have a good game & then benched for the next few games. Has to be demoralising when you are unable to build some consistency.

I think he did get a few games under Hiddink before being replaced by Kennedy.. i remember him being so dire that he got substituted at half time ..

15 hours ago, bisright1 said:

Hopefully ruben gets a start too now he's back from injury. 

But he's too tall

19 hours ago, Munkworth said:

But he’s too short. 

Maybe for now, but Sarri has stated he's been improving in that respect.

No improvement on Alonso tonight.

Well I guess that answers the question of why Alonso kept getting picked.

horror show in the second half.

Like everybody else tonight, he was awful. I would still give him a run in the team though. What other choice do we have? Alonso isn't suddenly going spark into life, so we may as well give Emerson a run and see how it goes. If he is as sh*t as he was tonight throughout that run, then it looks like we will need to bring Alonso in and find yet another LB.

10 hours ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Well I guess that answers the question of why Alonso kept getting picked.

Yep, forget the fantastic performance against Spurs and the good first half. Lets judge him on the second half when the entire team crumbled.