This was from last night. I hope he raged at them. 

 

7 minutes ago, abramovich said:

AVB

Should have been given more time.
If he hadn’t won anything after two years and successfully shipped out JT among others we could re-evaluate.

Who wants a CL-title anyways?

Damn the moaners that want him out after just seven months 

Edited January 31, 20197 yr by Sindre

3 minutes ago, DarkMata said:

Not sure who it was but I remember some pundit saying the Chelsea players only seem up for it if the league title is within our grasp.  I'm starting to think there is something in this, at the start of the season when we were a couple of points from the top we played so great stuff and looked motivated, now there is no chance we look disinterested.  It's funny how we suddenly get a better performance in the cup games after looking flat in the league.  Maybe Sarri has a point.

I was wondering that myself. With such uninspired performances this last couple of months, especially recently, yet the two games against Spurs saw a definite extra edge (if still somewhat laboured in the final third). I thought, surely they haven't downed tools in the league because they can't win it, yet will keep going in the cups. And it mustn't be possible that they can perform to get a manager they don't like the sack, but keep a final or two open for when they're happy again with a new man in charge? It sounds far fetched, but with the modern player and our history, just maybe that is the 'plan'.

I do feel that something is not right about Sarri and his apparent style, but in fairness, trying to implement whatever it is with many of these players is like trying to clap with one hand.

37 minutes ago, DarkMata said:

Not sure who it was but I remember some pundit saying the Chelsea players only seem up for it if the league title is within our grasp.  I'm starting to think there is something in this, at the start of the season when we were a couple of points from the top we played some great stuff and looked motivated, now there is no chance we look disinterested.  It's funny how we suddenly get a better performance in the cup games after looking flat in the league.  Maybe Sarri has a point.

That means the team should be motivated for the Europa league then. 

I can't see Sarri going in February our biggest month in 3 cup competitions including a final.

Put one of those first half chances away and we would probably have won or at least drew.

A lot of us sensed playing this high line to break teams down defense minded teams would come back to haunt us and it did last night with a vengeance.

We had chances in the first half and failed to take them and then got caught out and made further errors.

Embarassing yes, season over no.

Sarri is referring to motivation yet is this is a cover for our weakness in certain areas or does he really mean it?

In the first half when Kovacic had that header or when Kante ran onto Pedro's ball with just the keeper to beat. Was that lack of motivation?

 

13 minutes ago, abramovich said:

I don't want him sacked. First of all, I don't see who we're going to replace him with. Second, I want to give the man a chance to build something. Remove the players he doesn't rate, buy those he wants and let's see if his second season is a significant improvement on his first. I can tolerate some setbacks as long as I know we're improving and truly creating a side worth waiting for. Nothing worth having comes easily. If we need to suffer before we get to something good, I'm OK with that, but I need to believe he's the man to take us there. The board, the owner, the fans and, most importantly, the players have to believe it.

What really scares me about Sarri is his inability to adapt. Conte adapted and won the league. By all accounts, he wasn't the most popular man in the dressing room, but he clearly knew what he was doing. So when Sarri says, I have trouble motivating this group, that sounds odd to me. There are PL and CL winners in this group. You won f**k all. Perhaps it's not your lack of motivational skills but rather your inability to properly use the talent at your disposal is what causes all these problems.

As for sacking managers early, what about AVB and Scolari? You don't really think we needed to keep them a bit longer, do you, Yorkley? More like we shouldn't have hired them in the first place. I'd absolutely stick with Sarri in hope he'll draw the right conclusions from his first season's troubles, but I have to say, I still have serious doubts about him.

Conte didn't adapt. He played the same set up he has always played. Other than the first month when we were sh*te. 

30 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

We are currently 3 points worse off than we were at the same stage of last season. 

When we also got hammered by Bournemouth (at SB) and Watford........back to back.

41 minutes ago, enigma said:

How many times are we seeing this with modern footballers though? Man Utd players did it under Jose, arsenal players under Wenger, and our players in recent years too. I don't understand it.

Last night I thought we were going to score early on, but again there was no efficiency. I don't know the answer. The problem is, the board have no prepared for Sarri whatsoever. Brought him in and said "challenge." 

I honestly think our issues will take at least another season or more to sort out. I don't even think our board are capable of changing things. With a transfer ban incoming too, it's looking bleak for us.

I agree, I think it's a disgrace professional footballers who earn fortunes have this kind of power.

No matter who is managing the team you as a professional should give everything you have when representing the club.

We as a club seem to face the same problems every other year with players downing tools and making the manager the scapegoat facing the sack. Our board cant sell every player so they only have one choice until they address why it keeps happening.

Players these days know they have the power when it comes to this and unfortunately they hold all the cards if there is enough of them.

 

2 minutes ago, coco said:

When we also got hammered by Bournemouth (at SB) and Watford........back to back.

Nice to know the new manager likes a bit of tradition. 

18 minutes ago, abramovich said:

As for sacking managers early, what about AVB and Scolari? You don't really think we needed to keep them a bit longer, do you, Yorkley? More like we shouldn't have hired them in the first place.

No, they absolutely shouldn't have been hired in the first place. AVB was punted (mostly by his own PR machine and by winning some of the same stuff Mourinho had won) as the very best of the next generation and we fell for it.  The man was all style over substance and has gone on to prove elsewhere that he is average at best.  Scolari was always just a stop-gap to me, too set in his out-dated ways and too out of touch with club and league football.  So no, they should not have been given longer. 

Actually, I don't see the relevance of bringing either one up.  Just because previous managers were sacked under totally different and unrelated circumstances, when the league and opposition were totally different, has no bearing on the current situation.  We are currently 5th on goals scored, in a cup final, the FA Cup  and thee Europa League.  I don't know offhand what position we were in the league when AVB and Scolari were sacked, but not 5th, and not in any cups except the CL (I think)  A quick google of results under each shows that they were nightmare managers both managing to underperform with the best squad of players we had had up until that point in the Abramovich era.

So, no, not the same at all.

What manager could we realistic get that would do a better job? What manager would want to come here with a transfer ban looming? What manager would want to come knowing that they will get sacked as soon as the players decide they have had enough? 

This isn't the dream job it used to be for top managers. It's not a bad gig by any stretch, but it's certainly not as attractive it once was. 

Sarri needs to do better, the players need to do better. 

For me the issues are:

1) A lack of pace and quality in the back four makes us very vulnerable to counter attacks, especially when we give the ball away needlessly in dangerous areas. 

2) The left centre midfielders do not get in the box enough, they don't make enough runs beyond the opposition's midfield, which means strikers are being marked by both centre backs and at times a holding midfielder.

3) The wingers are not direct enough, and they don't press or track back with intensity. They hold onto the ball too long, and again they don't get into box enough. 

This isn't what sarri wants, so to say his tactics don't work, when they aren't even being implemented is inaccurate.

Sarri for his part needs to fix as much he can on the training ground, and if players are repeatedly not following instruction, they need to be dropped. He also needs to improve his in game management, if he can see the game drifting away, he needs to be more proactive in trying to influence the match. 

The club needs to give the manager a team that is good enough to compete for the title if that is still our ambition. At the moment there is a number of players that simply aren't good enough.

This isn't the same situation as avb or Scolari, if we sack the manager, we don't have a squad full of quality and personality to fall back on, and we are no longer the spending our way out of trouble. So if sarri gets sacked, the next manager will face the same mental problems, that have plagued the squad in 3 out the last 4 seasons. 

44 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

We are currently 3 points worse off than we were at the same stage of last season. 

Only 3 points worse? Would have thought it was more with the way people are reacting in here. 

2 minutes ago, Remodez said:

Only 3 points worse? Would have thought it was more with the way people are reacting in here. 

We finished 5th last season; no?

15 minutes ago, yorkleyblue said:

We are currently 5th on goals scored, in a cup final, the FA Cup  and thee Europa League.  I don't know offhand what position we were in the league when AVB and Scolari were sacked, but not 5th, and not in any cups except the CL (I think) 

We were through to the quarterfinal in the FA-cup, fifth in the league and in the round of 16 in the CL when Villas Boas was sacked.

And it's easy to say they never should have been hired at this point. At the time they were hired they were exciting appointments though, similar so Sarri in many ways and both got a good start for us.

The man was all style over substance and has gone on to prove elsewhere that he is average at best.  Scolari was always just a stop-gap to me, too set in his out-dated ways and too out of touch with club and league football.  So no, they should not have been given longer. 

Okay, so if someone feels the same way about Sarri now then how about you just respect that? All style over substance is actually a terrific description of our current style of play if you ask me.

Edited January 31, 20197 yr by Sindre

11 hours ago, dansubrosa said:

@wallosh Why do you only turn up when Chelsea have a bad game? Weird.

Isn`t that something most of people here do, last season. After a good result, they goes into hidding, after a lose, everyone goes on manager thread or match thread and starting to cry, how Conte didn`t choose the best player to start, how he doesn`t know how to play properly football. How he`s substitute sucks. How we play terible football. How he lose the dressroom and can`t motivate the players.

Now year later it`s exacty the same from most of you. Sack the manager, he always choose wrong 11, he made late subs and same b.c. over and over again.

Did i come after a bad result to flame the manager and want him sacked ? Did i ever do that ? We started strong, this season, was so happy, everything was going allright, then after a few bad result, here is like an armageddon.

So no it`s not me that i come after lose, to show how much i understand football. It`s some of you.

They always shows after a lose, they are waiting for that, to shows us how much they know of football, and you see to show us how little our manager knows of football.
Typical fans of nowdays, that when everything is okay are very quiet, but after few loses, they come to the front row and start saying how this manager isn`t good enough, he can`t choose his best player, he can`t even make subs, he need to be sacked and so on.

That`s what they live for.  They just wait for bad result to come in front row and shows us all how much they understand the game.

If you understand so much, why you are here ? It`s fun top manager, who earn millions, to be called such fun things, like they don`t understand the game, or don`t know to choose their best team or to know to make a subs.

As far as for the team. I said it long ago. That this players are unmotivated and are long pass it. You can`t do a **** about that. Sarri say it in the press. Not he, not anyone can motivate this player.

Most of them should have been changed years ago.

BTW to all people who are calling for sack, who exactly will be the manager, that will want to come to us ?

Mourinho ? But few years ago you wanted him to be sacked as well.

 

And just see some guy moaning the Sarri said he can`t motivate this players, or they can`t be motivated. It`s the second thing arround. The problem is not in the Sarri. The same players, shows they can`t be motivated in 3 different manager, so the problem is not the manager but the players.

The problem even starts where you need to motivate your players. Most of them earn more then 6 millions/year that should be enough motivation and to wear the shirt of Chelsea.

In what exactly world we live, that there is a ton of peoples, that go outside to play football, and give 100% of them, and doing it for fun and earn nothing from that, year profesional players earns million of pounds need to be extra motivated .... It`s pathetic.

If managers like Conte and Jose can`t motivate this group of players, no one can. Both of this managers are great motivators.  Also Napoli under Sarri played with great mood in their games, so i don`t think it`s Sarri problem with the motivation. It`s player problem.

I said it before in this team have players that think they are above managers and should have been gone long ago. They was obviously doing sh** under some of our manager before and decide to not give 100% for the team, but to do s****, we get bad results and manager get sacked.

Such players are tumor for a team. Sooner or later they will won`t like something and will stop playing again, yet sack another manager.

This behaviour is also because of the board.

 

 

Edited January 31, 20197 yr by loshlosh

2 minutes ago, yorkleyblue said:

AVB was punted (mostly by his own PR machine and by winning some of the same stuff Mourinho had won) as the very best of the next generation and we fell for it.  The man was all style over substance and has gone on to prove elsewhere that he is average at best. 

I mean, AVB won the treble in Portugal, he won 3 trophies in Russia too. So he's got six winners medals more than Sarri. 

He was sacked in March with Chelsea 5th in the Premier, 3 points behind 4th place. We were in the last 16 of the Champions League and in the 6th round of the FA Cup at the time of his sacking. 

AVB Set a points record for Spurs in his first season in charge there. He left the club with the highest percentage of league wins of any manager in the club's Premier League era.

1 minute ago, Remodez said:

Only 3 points worse? Would have thought it was more with the way people are reacting in here. 

I'm not taking sides in this (i'm sitting on the fence as I tend to do), but the problem with saying "only 3 points worse" doesn't tell the whole picture. If we've arrived at this point with a similar or better goal difference or whilst playing a much better brand of football and improving the win ratio as the season progresses, then it is true that we're "only 3 points worse" and it's a positive work in progress. However, if last season our win ratio was picking up as the season progressed and our goal difference was much healthier, then being only 3 points worse is more of a concern as in truth, we look to be in a downward trend at present. Probably not explained myself very well, but hopefully you get the drift.

23 minutes ago, big blue said:

What manager could we realistic get that would do a better job? What manager would want to come here with a transfer ban looming? What manager would want to come knowing that they will get sacked as soon as the players decide they have had enough? 

This isn't the dream job it used to be for top managers. It's not a bad gig by any stretch, but it's certainly not as attractive it once was. 

Sarri needs to do better, the players need to do better. 

For me the issues are:

1) A lack of pace and quality in the back four makes us very vulnerable to counter attacks, especially when we give the ball away needlessly in dangerous areas. 

2) The left centre midfielders do not get in the box enough, they don't make enough runs beyond the opposition's midfield, which means strikers are being marked by both centre backs and at times a holding midfielder.

3) The wingers are not direct enough, and they don't press or track back with intensity. They hold onto the ball too long, and again they don't get into box enough. 

This isn't what sarri wants, so to say his tactics don't work, when they aren't even being implemented is inaccurate.

Sarri for his part needs to fix as much he can on the training ground, and if players are repeatedly not following instruction, they need to be dropped. He also needs to improve his in game management, if he can see the game drifting away, he needs to be more proactive in trying to influence the match. 

The club needs to give the manager a team that is good enough to compete for the title if that is still our ambition. At the moment there is a number of players that simply aren't good enough.

This isn't the same situation as avb or Scolari, if we sack the manager, we don't have a squad full of quality and personality to fall back on, and we are no longer the spending our way out of trouble. So if sarri gets sacked, the next manager will face the same mental problems, that have plagued the squad in 3 out the last 4 seasons. 

Fair points. Points 2 & 3 can be tweaked slightly though.

2) He can move Kovacic into Jorginho’s role and stick RLC/Willian at LM.

3) The only direct winger we have & who hugs the touch line is CHO. However he is using a lack of defensive awareness as an excuse to justify playing Pedro/Willian. 

 

 

30 minutes ago, coco said:

When we also got hammered by Bournemouth (at SB) and Watford........back to back.

But that is when the squad was depleted - we didn't have a striker - waiting for Giroud to come in and let Batshuayi go. Sarri has his chosen players and we're getting worse. 

 

42 minutes ago, bisright1 said:

Conte didn't adapt. He played the same set up he has always played. Other than the first month when we were sh*te. 

At least Conte was a Proven Winner.

 

16 minutes ago, Remodez said:

Only 3 points worse? Would have thought it was more with the way people are reacting in here. 

Think people are right to react as those points were acquired early in the season but we have gone backwards. We can put in the odd decent performance (City, Spurs) but then you get the dross of the Arsenal & Bournemouth performances. Honestly can't see us finishing top 4 now and that's despite the issues some of our rivals have. And to hear him keep coming out with the "I am unable to motivate", sorry that's just pointing to him not being up to such a big job.

 

35 minutes ago, Snedger said:

I'm not taking sides in this (i'm sitting on the fence as I tend to do), but the problem with saying "only 3 points worse" doesn't tell the whole picture. If we've arrived at this point with a similar or better goal difference or whilst playing a much better brand of football and improving the win ratio as the season progresses, then it is true that we're "only 3 points worse" and it's a positive work in progress. However, if last season our win ratio was picking up as the season progressed and our goal difference was much healthier, then being only 3 points worse is more of a concern as in truth, we look to be in a downward trend at present. Probably not explained myself very well, but hopefully you get the drift.

Outside of the goal difference (which was only really affect due to this game otherwise ours would have been 4th best), this is exactly what has happened in my opinion which is why I am not concerned. I don't want to repeat what Yorkley has already said but we are in every competition, in a final, are the 6th highest with goals scored, which is about where we should be with the players we have atm and 3rd best defense in terms of goals conceded.

The football has, overall, been an improvement over what Conte provided in his final season. I agree it's all gone tits up as of late but it's not cause for panic just yet. There's still plenty of time to smooth things out. 

Edited January 31, 20197 yr by Remodez

34 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

I mean, AVB won the treble in Portugal, he won 3 trophies in Russia too. So he's got six winners medals more than Sarri. 

He was sacked in March with Chelsea 5th in the Premier, 3 points behind 4th place. We were in the last 16 of the Champions League and in the 6th round of the FA Cup at the time of his sacking. 

AVB Set a points record for Spurs in his first season in charge there. He left the club with the highest percentage of league wins of any manager in the club's Premier League era.

So he has won stuff in some of the lower leagues with their equivalent of Celtic or Rangers in the Scotch league,  and then was found out in his first go at a decent league.

Spuds points record isn't really anything to  boast about, though, is it?  "I didn't quite bottle it as much as previous managers at a serial bottling team, but still didn't win anything"

I can't believe anyone is seriously defending AVB.  I think that a huge number of people in here at the time and since have been quite forthright that we had that league position, CL and FA Cup position DESPITE AVB rather than because of him. 

All I really need to say is Arsenal.

54 minutes ago, loshlosh said:

Isn`t that something most of people here do, last season. After a good result, they goes into hidding, after a lose, everyone goes on manager thread or match thread and starting to cry, how Conte didn`t choose the best player to start, how he doesn`t know how to play properly football. How he`s substitute sucks. How we play terible football. How he lose the dressroom and can`t motivate the players.

Now year later it`s exacty the same from most of you. Sack the manager, he always choose wrong 11, he made late subs and same b.c. over and over again.

Did i come after a bad result to flame the manager and want him sacked ? Did i ever do that ? We started strong, this season, was so happy, everything was going allright, then after a few bad result, here is like an armageddon.

So no it`s not me that i come after lose, to show how much i understand football. It`s some of you.

They always shows after a lose, they are waiting for that, to shows us how much they know of football, and you see to show us how little our manager knows of football.
Typical fans of nowdays, that when everything is okay are very quiet, but after few loses, they come to the front row and start saying how this manager isn`t good enough, he can`t choose his best player, he can`t even make subs, he need to be sacked and so on.

That`s what they live for.  They just wait for bad result to come in front row and shows us all how much they understand the game.

If you understand so much, why you are here ? It`s fun top manager, who earn millions, to be called such fun things, like they don`t understand the game, or don`t know to choose their best team or to know to make a subs.

As far as for the team. I said it long ago. That this players are unmotivated and are long pass it. You can`t do a **** about that. Sarri say it in the press. Not he, not anyone can motivate this player.

Most of them should have been changed years ago.

BTW to all people who are calling for sack, who exactly will be the manager, that will want to come to us ?

Mourinho ? But few years ago you wanted him to be sacked as well.

 

And just see some guy moaning the Sarri said he can`t motivate this players, or they can`t be motivated. It`s the second thing arround. The problem is not in the Sarri. The same players, shows they can`t be motivated in 3 different manager, so the problem is not the manager but the players.

The problem even starts where you need to motivate your players. Most of them earn more then 6 millions/year that should be enough motivation and to wear the shirt of Chelsea.

In what exactly world we live, that there is a ton of peoples, that go outside to play football, and give 100% of them, and doing it for fun and earn nothing from that, year profesional players earns million of pounds need to be extra motivated .... It`s pathetic.

If managers like Conte and Jose can`t motivate this group of players, no one can. Both of this managers are great motivators.  Also Napoli under Sarri played with great mood in their games, so i don`t think it`s Sarri problem with the motivation. It`s player problem.

I said it before in this team have players that think they are above managers and should have been gone long ago. They was obviously doing sh** under some of our manager before and decide to not give 100% for the team, but to do s****, we get bad results and manager get sacked.

Such players are tumor for a team. Sooner or later they will won`t like something and will stop playing again, yet sack another manager.

This behaviour is also because of the board.

 

 

Quite correct regarding the moaning squads inactivity on this thread when we win. It’s a one way street.

Theyd moan if there was nothing to moan about.

Edit: At least their favourite programmes  having a run on telly. Les Miserables.

 

 

Edited January 31, 20197 yr by Ewell CFC

We played really well just last Thursday, with most of the players who were awful last night showing desire, skill, cohesion and energy.

Last night - and the Arsenal game - were just atrocious. Although we actually played OK first half, the tactical problems were still so obvious: teams have worked out how to stop us scoring, are content to let us dominate possession, and can exploit our lack of solidity at the back  - which is caused by us committing so many players upfield. We look better against better teams, which suggests it's just a motivation issue, but I think it's down to ineffective tactics. The lack of creativity is a huge problem. If Hazard is not on song, there is noone else to inject some spark or imagination. Not one of the midfield three can do it. And having lost Fabregas, there is no-one on the books to fill the gap he's left.

The mental fragility of the squad was confirmed by the way the team just knew we would  not turn around even a one goal deficit, as we proved against Leicester, but their second-half capitulation was unlike anything we have seen from a Chelsea team for over two decades.

People on here may be going OTT in their pessimism, given where we are in all competitions, but Sarri has massive problems with the current squad. Yes he has some real quality to work with, but I am not convinced the players are fully with him and his tactics. His team selections are predictable, and some of the players - Willian, Kovacic, Alonso, Jorginho, even Azpi - look burned out physically and mentally, both by his tactics and being overplayed. The squad players like Barkley, Emerson, Zappa, Christensen, CHO, Giroud and RLC, do not look happy with his squad management - understandably so.

I would not be shocked if Roman decides this is not going to turn around and makes another ruthless move. 

I also hope we sign a new midfielder before 11pm.

21 minutes ago, yorkleyblue said:

So he has won stuff in some of the lower leagues with their equivalent of Celtic or Rangers in the Scotch league,  and then was found out in his first go at a decent league.

Spuds points record isn't really anything to  boast about, though, is it?  "I didn't quite bottle it as much as previous managers at a serial bottling team, but still didn't win anything"

I can't believe anyone is seriously defending AVB.  I think that a huge number of people in here at the time and since have been quite forthright that we had that league position, CL and FA Cup position DESPITE AVB rather than because of him. 

All I really need to say is Arsenal.

Pretty sure the point is that it’s not necessarily the wrong decision to sack a manager early instead of waiting it out and “see how it goes”.