Pre-Season

[coco]

panenka

[Sexyfootball]

Hudson-Odoi, Ampadu and Bulka have all done more than enough in pre-season to merit being a regularly played part of the first team squad this year.

 

 

[enigma]

2 minutes ago, Sindre said:

We are definitly lacking quality up front though. No doubt about that.

Not really. Things aren't going to click immediately. We haven't even had a settled side. We need to give it time. We all knew this would be the case before Sarri came.

Going from a Conte system to a Sarri system is like chalk and cheese. That's the problem with some of our fanbase, they are too impatient expecting things to come together instantly.

It doesn't work like that. Even Man city had issues initially, but eventually they came good, and that's a City side who were used to an attack based style. 

[Jackson27]

Rob Green to be our backup keeper if we sign kepa or even make him our no 1 who needs willy

[forbzy]

Nice moment for Rob Green tonight though. I think I read his whole family are Chelsea fans too.

[strider6004]

Green & Hazard!

[EdgarAllanPoe]

Well blimey, that was just sad, imo.

Yes, I know it's pre-season and we have a new manager.  I know all that.  But if you watch pre-season year-in and year-out, you'll know that Pre-season does indeed tell a story.  You don't go from playing like we've been, to being Man City as soon as the season starts.  We're going to have ups and downs at season start, imo.

Others have mentioned the highlights, so I won't repeat them here - I agree with most of the comments.  Overall though, I just don't think we looked like we knew what we were doing.  No hard press, too static in midfield, and no good runs in the final third.  Looked like a lot of square pegs in round holes to me.  I know they're getting used to a new system, but it's not rocket science.  Also, it's up to Sarri to transition us in an effective way.  he'll know we're not up for Sarriball right now, so he needs to find an effective way of getting us there.  I'm not seeing it at the moment.

I'd of much preferred if we'd stuck with a back three, and then transitioned the mid and strikers first.  This was a dull game tonight, really dull.  That said, is was no better/worse than the other pre-season games.  Long way to go, as I wrote earlier.

[evissy]

Ampadu should be in the first team with a performance like this. We have 5 CB's currently and I think he is clearly top 4 in that group. 

[ForeverCarefree]

Rob Green repaying his transfer fee on his first appearance. 

Club legend. 

[EdgarAllanPoe]

6 minutes ago, enigma said:

Not really. Things aren't going to click immediately. We haven't even had a settled side. We need to give it time. We all knew this would be the case before Sarri came.

Going from a Conte system to a Sarri system is like chalk and cheese. That's the problem with some of our fanbase, they are too impatient expecting things to come together instantly.

It doesn't work like that. Even Man city had issues initially, but eventually they came good, and that's a City side who were used to an attack based style. 

I don't think it's a problem with the fanbase - we watch the game week in and week out, and know what we see.  It's a new system, yes, but let's not pretend that the players are clueless out there, it's absolutely not "chalk and cheese", it's football.  I think sometimes we're inclined, as fans, to over complicate things.

At the very least you'd think we'd see some progress over the entire pre-season, which I've not.

[TheFunkeyGibbon]

Rob Green to be our backup keeper if we sign kepa or even make him our no 1 who needs willy

Your Mum? [emoji6]

Sorry but you made that one waaaaay to easy. Like your Mum. Oooops. [emoji12]

[ForeverCarefree]

Just now, evissy said:

Ampadu should be in the first team with a performance like this. We have 5 CB's currently and I think he is clearly top 4 in that group. 

Rudiger looks nailed on to be first choice, been comfortably our best centre back. 

Second centre back position is up for grabs, not convinced by Luiz in a back four. Christensen I’m not sure is ready so who knows right now. 

[AlwaysRight]

It does look a bit messy at the moment. I mean there were moments of spark where things looked good, then periods where we looked a bit lost.

 

Give it some time, lets see who else we bring in before the weekend and lets see who our strongest first 11 is.

[strider6004]

Sarri so little time to prepare for the season especially being deprived of the WC players.

As Enigma says we need to be patient for the start of this season.

[forbzy]

It is definitely going to take time for the new system to bed in. We shouldn't expect any different and I definitely think we will have a mixed bag of results initially. Look at Conte's first season and we started the same way. 3 wins, then 2 big defeats before the system was changed and we then started to find some rhythm. 

My biggest concern is the lack of an obvious goal scorer at the moment. Hopefully Morata will find his confidence but we may end up having to invest in another striker if that doesn't work out. Until then we are going to be reliant on goals from the wings/midfield. For that reason I cannot see us challenging for the league title this season. Hopefully we can at least keep in the mix for top 4, and stay in the cups.

[dansubrosa]

Who needs Courtois or Kepa?

 

 

[carrickblue]

1 minute ago, Strider6003 said:

Sarri so little time to prepare for the season especially being deprived of the WC players.

As Enigma says we need to be patient for the start of this season.

I agree, I'm looking at the Liverpool game at the end of September. If we can get through in a clearly structured way we'll know that Sarri can organise the players he has. 

[TheFunkeyGibbon]

I don't think it's a problem with the fanbase - we watch the game week in and week out, and know what we see.  It's a new system, yes, but let's not pretend that the players are clueless out there, it's absolutely not "chalk and cheese", it's football.  I think sometimes we're inclined, as fans, to over complicate things.
At the very least you'd think we'd see some progress over the entire pre-season, which I've not.

See that's where I think you are wrong and don't get what a difference muscle memory and training a particular way of playing has at a top level of any sport. We've seen players come back from injuries not quite the same, their body is healed but something has changed, golfers change the smallest thing in their swing, runners their stride or bowlers their movement and it all falls apart untill they adapt to the new way of working.

If your boss came in tomorrow and said, as if today we aren't using Microsoft Office we're switch to Google Docs, would everybody in the office be as efficient to start with? After all it's still just word processing or spreadsheets, right?

Changes take time and at the top level even small changes can be disruptive and this is not a small change.

[Total-Football]

We were never challenging for the league anyway.

[enigma]

There are bad habits left over from Conte and Mourinho which is evident to see. This is what Sarri is working to eradicate. Once he implements his ideals, the team cohesion will be so much more complete. Sarri has been working with the team for 3 weeks, 3 weeks! It's absolutely no time at all. Many Napoli fans mentioned how their team didn't pick up the ideas immediately, but once they did they tore it up. We have better players than Napoli, but they're learning a brand new system and all the intricacies that go along with that. 

[forbzy]

2 minutes ago, enigma said:

There are bad habits left over from Conte and Mourinho which is evident to see. This is what Sarri is working to eradicate. Once he implements his ideals, the team cohesion will be so much more complete. Sarri has been working with the team for 3 weeks, 3 weeks! It's absolutely no time at all. Many Napoli fans mentioned how their team didn't pick up the ideas immediately, but once they did they tore it up. We have better players than Napoli, but they're learning a brand new system and all the intricacies that go along with that. 

Exactly. I think the hope initially is that we can pick up some points along the way while the team is still adapting to the new system. That way we hopefully be in a decent position to challenge for top 4 if and when the new system clicks.

[EmeraldBlue]

For some unknown reason I feel encouraged again. I don't think I can put it down to tonight's match!

[EdgarAllanPoe]

Just now, TheFunkeyGibbon said:

See that's where I think you are wrong and don't get what a difference muscle memory and training a particular way of playing has at a top level of any sport. We've seen players come back from injuries not quite the same, their body is healed but something has changed, golfers change the smallest thing in their swing, runners their stride or bowlers their movement and it all falls apart untill they adapt to the new way of working.

If your boss came in tomorrow and said, as if today we aren't using Microsoft Office we're switch to Google Docs, would everybody in the office be as efficient to start with? After all it's still just word processing or spreadsheets, right?

Changes take time and at the top level even small changes can be disruptive and this is not a small change.

I acknowledged it would take time.  But we've not been playing "at a top level " - we've been in pre-season playing Perth and Lyon, among others. 

I probably know as much as yourself about what it takes, though we do have a different opinion on the matter.  You'd expect some progress.  Not the finished product, but some progress.  In four games, we've never scored more than once.  The first three, if I recall, were goals scored in the first 6 minutes or so, and then nothing afterwards.  Tonight we didn't even manage that. 

There's a new system, but these aren't new players.  They're going to have to adjust quickly - the PL is unforgiving.  Great managers have a fast impact.  Sarri needs to do that too.  Roman won't be accepting many excuses.

I'm not down on Sarri - at the same time, I have to tell it like it is.  Managers don't get time at Chelsea.

[evissy]

Sarri says we can be a very good team in 2-3 months. I think we should remember this.

[Valerie]

Greeno! Greeno! Greeno! What a famous win