Loved his subs tonight. Saw the problem early, brought on the people we needed to sort it. No f**king around.

He's got a good team on his hands, but he's desperate for a striker. Morata is gone, I was all for giving him a chance this season and I know it's still early, but he's not going to get any better now. I have seen it all too often with strikers like him. Start well, lose confidence and never gain it back, he's not the first striker this has happened to in the Premier League and he won't be the last. We just have to accept our loses and move forward because the longer we put up with him, the more we will suffer. Giroud isn't good enough either. He will link up well now and again, but we need goals and he's never going to give it to us. He's a backup striker.

Sarri is desperate for a player that will turn 1-0 into 2-0 at crucial moments. It would make a huge difference to our game. The longer we stay at 1-0 in games, the more you see us struggle to keep possession. The opposition grows with confidence and we sometimes look like we are hanging on. Get that player that will score the goals at crucial times and I think we turn into the a top European side again......and of course, we must keep Hazard at the same time.

1-2 months ago I would have taken this draw without any problems at all. Today I feel we could have won.
This shows how much Sarri has worked on the team and how much the squad improved.

Conte would have played 3-4-1-1 which actually is 5-4-1 and we would be hoping for a draw. But Sarri played to win and it took one of the best shots taken so far in the season to steal a point, even if the result would have been the same, there is a big difference there!

22 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

1-2 months ago I would have taken this draw without any problems at all. Today I feel we could have won.
This shows how much Sarri has worked on the team and how much the squad improved.

Conte would have played 3-4-1-1 which actually is 9-0-1 and we would be hoping for a draw. But Sarri played to win and it took one of the best shots taken so far in the season to steal a point, even if the result would have been the same, there is a big difference there!

Fixed the preferred Conte formation for you. 

We beat liverpool at home last season.

Can we not use Hazard upfront for the time being and use Hudson Odoi more?.

Can we not use Hazard upfront for the time being and use Hudson Odoi more?.

Pedro is the one. He's great off the ball, also has pace and energy to burn.

Kinda sucks we couldn't get Sarri sooner. I mean we did win two titles under Jose and Conte, but to be honest, I think we could have done more in the past 5 seasons under somebody like Sarri. Unfortunately it's right place, right time isn't it. Sarri wasn't as experienced as he is now and probably wouldn't have been ready for Chelsea 3/4 seasons ago. On the flip side, I wonder if Sarri would have gotten rid of Salah, KDB and F.Luis. Could he have improved Lukaku, Ake, B.Traore, Ramires. It would have been intriguing to find out. 

Nice to see us taking the game to one of the bigger teams again rather than playing on the counter from the off.

Definitely tip my hat to Sarri for that.

15 minutes ago, enigma said:

Kinda sucks we couldn't get Sarri sooner. I mean we did win two titles under Jose and Conte, but to be honest, I think we could have done more in the past 5 seasons under somebody like Sarri. Unfortunately it's right place, right time isn't it. Sarri wasn't as experienced as he is now and probably wouldn't have been ready for Chelsea 3/4 seasons ago. On the flip side, I wonder if Sarri would have gotten rid of Salah, KDB and F.Luis. Could he have improved Lukaku, Ake, B.Traore, Ramires. It would have been intriguing to find out. 

He would've been perfect for that squad in 2013/14. There would be been riots if we brought in a manager that finished 4th in serie b! 

Hopefully we can give him a few more attacking options in the next couple of windows, he's brought the feel good factor back, and the club seems like it's in a really exciting place at the moment. I think hazard will want to sign an extension now aswell.

2 hours ago, enigma said:

Kinda sucks we couldn't get Sarri sooner. I mean we did win two titles under Jose and Conte, but to be honest, I think we could have done more in the past 5 seasons under somebody like Sarri. Unfortunately it's right place, right time isn't it. Sarri wasn't as experienced as he is now and probably wouldn't have been ready for Chelsea 3/4 seasons ago. On the flip side, I wonder if Sarri would have gotten rid of Salah, KDB and F.Luis. Could he have improved Lukaku, Ake, B.Traore, Ramires. It would have been intriguing to find out. 

Agree with all of that bar Lukaku, he would have been out of the door even quicker under Sarri, he doesn't have close the minimum technique level required to stand a chance under Maurizio.

Edited September 30, 20187 yr by Argo

Nahh im liking this guy more and more........I was afraid he would be nowhere flexible enough for this League. But boy he knows his sh*t, tactically one of the best I think. For gods sake Chelsea back this man and give him quality players, start with a striker and the rest will come.

I really do hope we give him absolutely everything he wants because he's already doing wonders

14 minutes ago, atomis said:

Nahh im liking this guy more and more........I was afraid he would be nowhere flexible enough for this League. But boy he knows his sh*t, tactically one of the best I think. For gods sake Chelsea back this man and give him quality players, start with a striker and the rest will come.

We smashed the transfer record for a relatively unproven keeper on his request (he wanted Kepa for Napoli) so early days but it looks like he will be backed with his targets, given his signings so far look like massive hits (touch wood given this time last year Baka and Morata look good) will only help further.

17 hours ago, jack_super_class said:

Can we not use Hazard upfront for the time being and use Hudson Odoi more?.

We lose so much on the left if we put Hazard upfront. Hazard isn't the same player through the middle either. If it's anyone, it has to be Pedro, but I worry that he would be bullied in that position because of his size and strength. It would make crosses into the box a waste of time too.

27 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

We lose so much on the left if we put Hazard upfront. Hazard isn't the same player through the middle either. If it's anyone, it has to be Pedro, but I worry that he would be bullied in that position because of his size and strength. It would make crosses into the box a waste of time too.

Crosses are a waste of time anyway, very rarely do they end up with a genuine scoring chance let alone goal, even if you for argument sakes have Beckham and De Bruyne on both wings it's still ridiculously low percentage.

Edited September 30, 20187 yr by Argo

3 minutes ago, Argo said:

Crosses are a waste of time anyway, very rarely do they end up with a genuine scoring chance let alone goal, even if you for argument sakes have Beckham and De Bruyne on both wings it's still ridiculously low percentage.

It's still good for crossing to be an option though, even if it's just to keep the opposition guessing. Put somebody like Pedro in there and crossing is one problem the opposition won't ever have to think about.

3 hours ago, Argo said:

We smashed the transfer record for a relatively unproven keeper on his request (he wanted Kepa for Napoli) so early days but it looks like he will be backed with his targets, given his signings so far look like massive hits (touch wood given this time last year Baka and Morata look good) will only help further.

But one can claim that a quality keeper was badly needed.......but I do get your point and its valid. Lets hope RM dont play hard asses regarding Kovacich.

6 hours ago, enigma said:

Kinda sucks we couldn't get Sarri sooner. I mean we did win two titles under Jose and Conte, but to be honest, I think we could have done more in the past 5 seasons under somebody like Sarri. Unfortunately it's right place, right time isn't it. Sarri wasn't as experienced as he is now and probably wouldn't have been ready for Chelsea 3/4 seasons ago. On the flip side, I wonder if Sarri would have gotten rid of Salah, KDB and F.Luis. Could he have improved Lukaku, Ake, B.Traore, Ramires. It would have been intriguing to find out. 

Timing can seem like everything, one of the historical big ifs was about Alexander the Great who was taught by Aristotle, if born 50 years earlier he would have been taught by Plato.

Another strange one was Waterloo when Napoleon was being held by Wellington and the Prussians turned up to turn the tide, a day later Napoleon's general Grouchy caught up with the Prussians and defeated them yet Napoleon was already a prisoner.

Edited September 30, 20187 yr by strider6004

Timing can seem like everything, one of the historical big ifs was about Alexander the Great who was taught by Aristotle, if born 50 years earlier he would have been taught by Plato.
Another strange one was Waterloo when Napoleon was being held by Wellington and the Prussians turned up to turn the tide, a day later Napoleon's general Grouchy caught up with the Prussians and defeated them yet Napoleon was already a prisoner.

Who scored in those matches?

Sarri is doing a fantastic job. 

He has already instilled no fear mentality in the team, this is pretty much the same team apart from 2/3 players who looked sh*t scared of Liverpool at Stamford bridge a year or two ago. The game where Costa scored an equaliser, but they went on to win. Whole game we looked petrified, and I have no doubt some players will have been fearing Liverpool yesterday. Sarri has given the players so much self belief and confidence, and we took the game to them and even dominated in spells.

I’m absolutely loving what I’m seeing at the moment, and it will be very interesting to see what tactics Sarri will use against City. 

2 hours ago, dansubrosa said:

Sarri is doing a fantastic job. 

He has already instilled no fear mentality in the team, this is pretty much the same team apart from 2/3 players who looked sh*t scared of Liverpool at Stamford bridge a year or two ago. The game where Costa scored an equaliser, but they went on to win. Whole game we looked petrified, and I have no doubt some players will have been fearing Liverpool yesterday. Sarri has given the players so much self belief and confidence, and we took the game to them and even dominated in spells.

I’m absolutely loving what I’m seeing at the moment, and it will be very interesting to see what tactics Sarri will use against City. 

Yes it should be great, in the Conte spell I always hoped to steal a victory at the big grounds, now I look forward to the tactical battle with the prospect of winning deservedly.

16 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

It's still good for crossing to be an option though, even if it's just to keep the opposition guessing. Put somebody like Pedro in there and crossing is one problem the opposition won't ever have to think about.

Didn't Pedro score a header from a cross  earlier this season?

1 hour ago, yorkleyblue said:

Didn't Pedro score a header from a cross  earlier this season?

At 2:16.

Was this what you were thinking of?

(He hasn't this season from memory.)

Edited October 1, 20187 yr by DaRick
Further clarification

On 01/10/2018 at 00:45, Strider6003 said:

Yes it should be great, in the Conte spell I always hoped to steal a victory at the big grounds, now I look forward to the tactical battle with the prospect of winning deservedly.

I think we still see the affects of Mourinho/Conte especially when we are leading with 20 odd minutes to go, against Liverpool we started sitting deeper as the game progressed. You could see Sarri and Jorginho wanting to push the team out of the defensive third but our back line seemed very hesitant to advance too far up. I think we still lack a experienced head in midfield to come on in order to see games through, at the minute the Central 3 (Jorginho, Kante & Kovacic) pretty much pick themselves however whenever Sarri wants to freshen things up in the middle he has RLC or Barkley which is fine when you are chasing a win but to see a game through I dont believe either of them are a good enough option.

Having someone like Yaya Toure (As an example) to replace Kovacic for the last few minutes wouldve been ideal to see games through, at the minute I think we lack that reliability & experience of the bench especially when it comes to the midfield.