Morata is finished in terms of playing for us.

he doesn't have the mental strength to deal with the price tag, the expectation and all that comes with being a starting striker at a top club. 

His penalty was powder puff and you knew as soon as he grabbed the ball it was a miss

if this is a hint of life under Sarri and Zola we could be in for a fun season - the intention is all good, just need to get the execution right - and do something with poor Alvaro  

The midfield is clearly missing a tackler, well, missing Kanté.

Worried about Morata, thank god we haven’t loaned Michy yet. I reckon Giroud could be a nice plan B too with all the players buzzing him.

CHO looks different class. I can’t remember a youngster stepping up for us like this in a long time. 

5 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

Kante will be a welcome return. I still think that midfield is too easy to play through. No point playing all of this nice football if we have teams playing through us with one pass.

The space between defence and midfield is alarming at times. We are wide open and will get punished. Hopefully Kante resolves that problem.

jorginho doens't work well in a 2 men miedfiled. we'v already seen this with benitez.

the defense line is way to back for sarri football, they should stay near the midlane when the team is attacking

 

1 minute ago, coco said:

Theirs a player in their somewhere.

Looks the part, and gets in the positions.

He needs time.

Shall i stop ?

You're trying far too hard. He should consider becoming a full time dad and sending his missus out to work. She'd have more chance of scoring.

he's literally shrinking before our eyes so is his transfer fee.

CHO is up against a top FB and he's skinning him, every single time.

 

Jorginho. Absolute class.

 

Morata. Utter sh*t.

 

Pedro. Not much better. He'll always be a player that floats around the margins.

 

Caballero. Flapped at a cross. Inevitably.

 

Interesting that our FBs are staying back. Also interesting that Morata has hardly played with his back to goal.

 

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Bring back Cech.

 

I want to see more from Barkley. I'm expecting big things from him this season.

 

Bring on Tammy.

CHO is first name on the team sheet for me. He's got way more threat than Willian and Pedro. Haven't felt this excited by a Chelsea winger since the early days of Arjen Robben.

Barkley has been a bit anonymous. I wonder if we'll see RLC in that role for the second half ?

Weakest links in that 45 minutes : Morata (repeatedly), Alonso (exposed many times by lack of pace), Caballero (in spite of his excellent facial hair). As someone else said earlier, the midfield will improve dramatically with Kante back in it.

How good is CHO and how bad is Morata.

Not getting a 2 goal lead when we are top could be our downfall this season, there always a chance that the opposition equalise late on and we end up with a draw from a game we should of won.

3 minutes ago, Zeta said:

With CHO performing the way he has in pre-season, I see no reason why Willian should walk back into the team in front of him.

Can he be as good on the right wing though?

The pressing is still half a beat too slow and disorganised. Hopefully it will be more refined against Man City who are much better then Arsenal playing the ball out of defence. Our positional play is still a bit slow but much improved from the Inter Milan game. Morata is awful. Alonso tucks in way too much and gives his winger too much space. He should not be starting as he really struggles in this setup. 

 

Sarri has had 3 weeks with this team and we've played 3 pre-season games. Can already see just how much his impact has had, it's impressive in such a short amount of time. What we also have to remember is half these players didn't go to the world cup, so still have competitive football and fitness to catch up on. World Cup being this year is a bitch though, it would be great if we had Michy back to play up top. 

4 minutes ago, Osgood is Good said:

The space between defence and midfield is alarming at times. We are wide open and will get punished. Hopefully? Kante resolves that problem.

Defence needs to push up and squeeze the space. Also Fabregas runs like he is stuck in mud.

Only reason I can give Morata a bit of leeway is because he travelled to Italy at the start of the week to be with his girlfriend while she gave birth so he has missed a few training sessions and maybe isn't up to scratch yet. However, he should have buried that damn penalty. We could have been 2-0 up now. 

6 minutes ago, Osgood is Good said:

The space between defence and midfield is alarming at times. We are wide open and will get punished. Hopefully Kante resolves that problem.

It's a work in progress. 

Alonso's been absolutely fine, you don't need to be Usain Bolt to be good look at Bellerin

Just now, enigma said:

Only reason I can give Morata a bit of leeway is because he travelled to Italy at the start of the week to be with his girlfriend while she gave birth so he has missed a few training sessions and maybe isn't up to scratch yet. However, he should have buried that damn penalty. We could have been 2-0 up now. 

Could be. However I don't think the physical condition is doing so much harm to the mind. Morata looks like he has not scored since 2009 with all the pressure. I have no idea why our Spanish forwards do this. 

Just now, enigma said:

It's a work in progress. 

I realise that. It was an observation, not a criticism 

DD on for Cesc, Christensen on for Luiz

9 minutes ago, umb said:

jorginho doens't work well in a 2 men miedfiled. we'v already seen this with benitez.

the defense line is way to back for sarri football, they should stay near the midlane when the team is attacking

 

Well he'll have to learn quick because Kante is the first name on the teamsheet

3 minutes ago, PedroMendez said:

Alonso's been absolutely fine, you don't need to be Usain Bolt to be good look at Bellerin

He's been beaten about 3 times so far, his lack of pace in the 4 man defense will undo us, just like when Ivanovic was at RB.

7 minutes ago, evissy said:

DD on for Cesc, Christensen on for Luiz

Quite funny that the ESPN commentary team are seemingly oblivious to the fact that DD has replaced Fabregas at half time  :)

Not a good start to the 2nd half so far, maybe we're practicing absorbing pressure? 

Pedro has worked hard all over the pitch this game

Azpi