On 25/12/2018 at 03:43, DaRick said:

 

We have been having problems yes, but I would say that a large part of the issue relates to erratic finishing and defensive lapses by Luiz/Alonso. Our xG for the Wolves/Leicester games was around 2. Put a consistent finisher upfront and we likely get something out of those games. Replace Luiz with a more reliable defender and those lapses are significantly reduced.

I agree we do need different players in certain areas, obviously up front is a must.

But our main problem has been trumpeted by Sarri on more than one occasion, the players are not fully carrying out what he wants them to. Some are incapable, others slow to pick it up, and a few going along with it despite not being in their favourite position. It's going to take some new players and a lot more time to achieve what Sarri envisions.

We have been having problems yes, but I would say that a large part of the issue relates to erratic finishing and defensive lapses by Luiz/Alonso. Our xG for the Wolves/Leicester games was around 2. Put a consistent finisher upfront and we likely get something out of those games. Replace Luiz with a more reliable defender and those lapses are significantly reduced.

This is wrong imho, luiz has been our best defender this year,even ahead of rudiger, i think all our trouble this season comes down to goals, if we had a top striker we could have been challenging, we rely solely on hazard turning up,we have no source of anything from anybody else,how we havent upgraded on pedro/willian is an absolute sin, all the games we dropped points in have been ones we should be winning which is hard to take,

2 hours ago, Jamjar1986 said:

This is wrong imho, luiz has been our best defender this year,even ahead of rudiger,

I can't agree with this, although I acknowledge that Luiz's distribution is integral to Sarri's desire to play out from the back and so I don't really want to see him dropped for that reason.

Rudiger is clearly the better pure defender.

2 hours ago, Jamjar1986 said:

i think all our trouble this season comes down to goals, if we had a top striker we could have been challenging, we rely solely on hazard turning up,we have no source of anything from anybody else,how we havent upgraded on pedro/willian is an absolute sin, all the games we dropped points in have been ones we should be winning which is hard to take,

Pedro's goals-to-games ratio is quite good and he fits the Callejon role perfectly, though I would like someone like Thauvin to take his place come next summer. 

I agree about Willian.

We have some interesting stats at the moment;

Hazard is the most productive in the League if we add goals and assists.

Luiz has provided the most through balls.

We several of the highest passers though as many are square passes enough said!

The most interesting for me is we lead the stats for hitting the woodwork and not just 1st spot yet 1st and 2nd, thanks to Willian and Alonso.

https://www.premierleague.com/stats/top/players

 

I'm sure I'm not the only one who noticed that, but do we really need to try and pass our way out of trouble in and around our own box every time we're being pressed? I'd say more often than not it works, but if you concede posession in those areas even two-three times out of ten, you're putting yourself at a serious risk of gifting the opponent a goalscoring opportunity. Thankfully Watford don't have the quality to punish us, but even last night we could have easily lost the game due to those errors.

At the same time, our own pressing game at the other end is far from impressive. The reason possession style teams like City or Barcelona are so difficult to play against isn't just that they're retaining the ball so well or move it with purpose (unlike us for the most part), their pressing is intense, neverending and very intelligent, they constantly trap the opposition and force them to give up possession. We do very little of actual pressing and fail to do it effectively as a team on most occasions.

25 minutes ago, abramovich said:

I'm sure I'm not the only one who noticed that, but do we really need to try and pass our way out of trouble in and around our own box every time we're being pressed? I'd say more often than not it works, but if you concede posession in those areas even two-three times out of ten, you're putting yourself at a serious risk of gifting the opponent a goalscoring opportunity. Thankfully Watford don't have the quality to punish us, but even last night we could have easily lost the game due to those errors.

The more I watch is the more I feel like Sarri’s system is a posh w**k version of counter attacking football.

We keep playing the ball backwards to the defenders or holding onto the ball in our defensive third trying to draw the opposition forward so we can counter them.

At times it’s not hugely different to what Conte was doing but instead of letting the opposition have the ball and then winning it back we’re now just baiting teams instead. 

39 minutes ago, abramovich said:

I'm sure I'm not the only one who noticed that, but do we really need to try and pass our way out of trouble in and around our own box every time we're being pressed? I'd say more often than not it works, but if you concede posession in those areas even two-three times out of ten, you're putting yourself at a serious risk of gifting the opponent a goalscoring opportunity. Thankfully Watford don't have the quality to punish us, but even last night we could have easily lost the game due to those errors.

At the same time, our own pressing game at the other end is far from impressive. The reason possession style teams like City or Barcelona are so difficult to play against isn't just that they're retaining the ball so well or move it with purpose (unlike us for the most part), their pressing is intense, neverending and very intelligent, they constantly trap the opposition and force them to give up possession. We do very little of actual pressing and fail to do it effectively as a team on most occasions.

Yeah, it is uncomfortable to watch at the moment. But I feel by next season, we’ll do it with ease and then we’ll end up playing really slick and classy football, passing the ball around opponents like they’re not there.

We’re still getting used to Sarri’s football, a few mistakes is to be expected imo. I can’t wait when we’re fully synced and play some awesome football.

36 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

The more I watch is the more I feel like Sarri’s system is a posh w**k version of counter attacking football.

We keep playing the ball backwards to the defenders or holding onto the ball in our defensive third trying to draw the opposition forward so we can counter them.

At times it’s not hugely different to what Conte was doing but instead of letting the opposition have the ball and then winning it back we’re now just baiting teams instead. 

Yes, exactly. The problem is, the teams that are worse than us for the most part don't take the bait and stay organized on their own half and just invite our attack, knowing that 99,9% of the time we struggle to break down the parked bus defence. Or they even venture to press us in our own half on occasion, because even if we manage to avoid losing the ball in those situations our build up is so slow, we can't take advantage. Going back to City/Barca comparisons, the difference is, those teams not only get out from under pressing successfully, their movement is so fast and intelligent, using three-four passes they pass by the entire oppostion in a matter of seconds.

That's what allows them to dictate the tempo of the game. We have a huge percentage of possesion stats almost every game against inferior sides, but does anyone really have confidence we're in control of those matches when you're watching them? I don't. In fact, most of those sides are happy to give up possession and let us pass the ball sideways and backwards for most of the 90 minutes.

I know it's early days and learning a new system takes time, just wanted to share my observations and concerns.

Edited December 27, 20187 yr by abramovich

The more I watch is the more I feel like Sarri’s system is a posh w**k version of counter attacking football.
We keep playing the ball backwards to the defenders or holding onto the ball in our defensive third trying to draw the opposition forward so we can counter them.
At times it’s not hugely different to what Conte was doing but instead of letting the opposition have the ball and then winning it back we’re now just baiting teams instead. 

This is so wrong if you ever watched Napoli and Sarri philosophy

9 minutes ago, Brutos said:

This is so wrong if you ever watched Napoli and Sarri philosophy

I’m watching the Chelsea Sarri and commenting on what I’ve been seeing since the start of the season.

3 hours ago, ForeverCarefree said:

I’m watching the Chelsea Sarri and commenting on what I’ve been seeing since the start of the season.

To be fair though, you’re just seeing a work in progress. 

https://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/2018/12/27/18157377/sarris-chelsea-just-1-point-ahead-of-conte-disaster-at-halfway-mark-of-season

more proof that we needed to change more than just the manager

^an improvement then.

1 hour ago, carrickblue said:

https://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/2018/12/27/18157377/sarris-chelsea-just-1-point-ahead-of-conte-disaster-at-halfway-mark-of-season

more proof that we needed to change more than just the manager

Chelsea was comfortably in 2nd place at this time last season. It was after the lack of reinforcements that Conte went full time whinging about the board and the team tanked. 

I'm more interested in the total points at the end of the season. I'll bet it's better than +1

 

10 hours ago, dansubrosa said:

Yeah, it is uncomfortable to watch at the moment. But I feel by next season, we’ll do it with ease and then we’ll end up playing really slick and classy football, passing the ball around opponents like they’re not there.

We’re still getting used to Sarri’s football, a few mistakes is to be expected imo. I can’t wait when we’re fully synced and play some awesome football.

I sort of agree, and hope you're right but as said before we'll need to change some of the players as not all of them are capable of grasping the system.

Edited December 27, 20187 yr by Kev56

7 hours ago, carrickblue said:

https://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/2018/12/27/18157377/sarris-chelsea-just-1-point-ahead-of-conte-disaster-at-halfway-mark-of-season

more proof that we needed to change more than just the manager

Actually that's good, what goes largely unnoticed is we were actually doing well at this stage last season and it was only the presence of a super team that kept us away from a title race.

The first half of the last season wasn't that bad, sitting at 3rd quite comfortably, then fall apart as the transfer window reopens and never recovered after losing the Watford on the deadline day.

27 minutes ago, icecoolguy22 said:

The first half of the last season wasn't that bad, sitting at 3rd quite comfortably, then fall apart as the transfer window reopens and never recovered after losing the Watford on the deadline day.

Basically Conte rage-quit halfway through the season, plus we had Special Agent Bakayoko at his worst. 

It would surprise me if our team fell to pieces like that again. 

On 27/12/2018 at 09:42, abramovich said:

I'm sure I'm not the only one who noticed that, but do we really need to try and pass our way out of trouble in and around our own box every time we're being pressed?

I don't mean this in a rude way at all, but you are going to have to get used to it. 

It is integral to what Sarri is trying to do. 

On 27/12/2018 at 10:12, ForeverCarefree said:

 

We keep playing the ball backwards to the defenders or holding onto the ball in our defensive third trying to draw the opposition forward so we can counter them.

This is exactly what we are trying to do. "Dangling the carrot" in possession and breaking at speed from that is core to Sarri's gameplan. 

On 27/12/2018 at 10:47, abramovich said:

Yes, exactly. The problem is, the teams that are worse than us for the most part don't take the bait and stay organized on their own half and just invite our attack,

And that is exactly how teams are reacting to it being our gameplan. 

It is up to Sarri to come up with a solution for that. 

What I would add, is that I think the players bought in to what Sarri wanted pretty absolutely early on. It really was one/two touch passing all over the pitch, constant movement. That's how this works (Hazard obviously took more touches, but one player being "above" the system is fine. Mala Leche they call it in Spain). In recent games, that's not happening as much. We're taking too many touches all over the pitch. Sarri needs to sort that if he can. Because this system but "slow" is basically what cost AVB his job here.  

1 hour ago, Ready Player One said:

I don't mean this in a rude way at all, but you are going to have to get used to it. 

It is integral to what Sarri is trying to do. 

This is exactly what we are trying to do. "Dangling the carrot" in possession and breaking at speed from that is core to Sarri's gameplan. 

And that is exactly how teams are reacting to it being our gameplan. 

It is up to Sarri to come up with a solution for that. 

What I would add, is that I think the players bought in to what Sarri wanted pretty absolutely early on. It really was one/two touch passing all over the pitch, constant movement. That's how this works (Hazard obviously took more touches, but one player being "above" the system is fine. Mala Leche they call it in Spain). In recent games, that's not happening as much. We're taking too many touches all over the pitch. Sarri needs to sort that if he can. Because this system but "slow" is basically what cost AVB his job here.  

Mala leche - guess bad milk.

I caught on the pre-match interview that Sarri does not feel getting a replacement no.9 mid season is a priority due to Hazard's form.

footy365 are looking at clubs mid-season purchases and make the point that we do not have much luck with attacking players mid season  (De Bruyne, Salah) yet we do with defenders like Cahill and Ivanovich.

https://www.football365.com/news/every-clubs-greatest-ever-january-transfer-window-signing

 

Sarri wants a new winger apparently...

https://www.fourfourtwo.com/news/sarri-more-interested-signing-a-winger-a-striker-higuain

20 minutes ago, the special one said:

Sarri wants a new winger apparently...

https://www.fourfourtwo.com/news/sarri-more-interested-signing-a-winger-a-striker-higuain

I posted this in the transfer room, but I whether we get a striker or not, I'm not reading too much into what's being said publicly 

---------

 I'm not quite as nuanced in football press conferences, but in the USA, the LAST place you are going to learn something is from what a coach says publicly. 

Coaches like so much that we don't even call it lying. We call it "coachspeak"

I dont believe Sarri for a second. 

He's defending his players publicly, rather than running down his current players for not being good enough like Mourinho and Conte. 

The whole free world knows that Chelsea needs a striker. He mentions wings, because that's safe, thatd where all the injuries are. He can talk about that position without talking down anyone's ability. 

He knows we need a striker. We all know.  

But it doesn't do anyone any good, not in team morale, not in resale value, to say "what I have isn't good enough."

Again i'm at a loss to know what we are trying to achieve, lots of possession, and a reluctance to cross into the box, saw Morata, pick the ball up wide, in the Hazard position, cross and no one in the box?

45 minutes ago, Ballack & Blu said:

Again i'm at a loss to know what we are trying to achieve, lots of possession, and a reluctance to cross into the box, saw Morata, pick the ball up wide, in the Hazard position, cross and no one in the box?

So what do you suggest? We sack him and bring in whom? Change our style again, achieve nothing again and go back to square one? The simple fact is, the league is tougher than ever and there's no gimme 3 point games now. He's been at the club for 4 months, the only player that is truly his type of player is Jorginho. At the moment he's trying to change the system, formation, positions and player mentalities. We have had 4 seasons of an entirely different style, it's going to take longer than 4 months to change the team's mindsets. We are going through a rough patch at the moment, but it won't last. I just hope the board back him with some players suited to the system or at least players who are to his vision.