There are so many problems at Chelsea it’s hard to know where to start.

The players are obviously a problem with their attitude when we fall behind in matches.

When we go a goal behind I feel that chances are we won’t be winning that match (no matter who the opposition is or how much time is left) as we are really struggling to score goals.

I’ll be happy to stick with Sarri if he was more flexible with his team selections, he has his favourites (Jorginho, Willian, Luiz etc..) and will continuously pick them regardless of current form.

We all know the squad needs a refresh but the club are apparently in talks to extend contracts with certain players so there is no guarantee that we would be looking to move the likes of Willian or Luiz on in the summer.

He clearly doesn’t fancy CHO and I think the club were actually willing to sell him but for the fact the Bayern keep talking so much about CHO in the media and it annoyed the board.

It may even still happen in the summer for all we know unless Sarri gives CHO some serious minutes between now and the end of the season.

I also find it odd that he said he “likes to work with his players and the transfer market is for the weak”  but has his favourites and other players that he seems unwilling to work with.

 

Then there’s the board, the Italian league is so different from the premier league with pace and intensity but that seems to be where mostly look for our managers. Then guess what, they take a long time to adjust.

Like many I would prefer a better integration of youth and I think you could get your head around it more if we was buying top quality players, but we are not.

Selling Chalobah for £5m and then buying Bakayoko for £40m is just typical of how we have done things recently.

No DOF is just madness IMO as it indicates Roman doesn’t want anyone to challenge Marina over any footballing matters.

The whole club needs a shake up from top to bottom but as far as Sarri is concerned he has to realize if plan A isn’t working there’s 25 other letters.

Edited February 11, 20197 yr by 2211

He has to be more flexible with his tactics.The high press is not right for all games,especially when the defence can be so hit and miss.Alonso should not have played yesterday as he has been out of form.The first goal was a joke.Barkley has not been great lately and the header back to the keeper,terrible.The rest of the defence was poor also.Kepa could have done better as well.A very bad day at the office and if it is repeated Mr Sarri will probably be gone.

2 hours ago, Ewell CFC said:

We are playing poorly at the moment, no question about that, and not particularly easy on the eye with it, but do you really not give a monkeys about playing style and boring football as long as there’s trophys to show for it?

Is every game just a stepping stone towards silverware in May?

When Chelsea win stuff do you see this as a personal triumph?

The core objective of any football club is to win trophies, especially for a top club like us.

If we can produce an aesthetically pleasing style as we're in the process of winning trophies, then that's a bonus.

Edited February 11, 20197 yr by Jezz

Le Saux said this after Bournemouth,

“They say that one definition of madness is that if something is not working, you keep doing the same thing over and over again. Right now, that seems to be the problem with Chelsea.

https://www.today.ng/sport/football/graeme-saux-maurizio-sarris-chelsea-192075

 

Yeah, if he didn’t change anything after a 6 - 0 loss then I don’t see how he’s going to stay, sadly.

Do people get more stubborn as they get older? He’s nearly 70.

2 minutes ago, Strider6003 said:

Le Saux said this after Bournemouth,

“They say that one definition of madness is that if something is not working, you keep doing the same thing over and over again. Right now, that seems to be the problem with Chelsea.

https://www.today.ng/sport/football/graeme-saux-maurizio-sarris-chelsea-192075

 

Did they expect us to play like Barcelona halfway into his first season with us?

Bring in a manager with an attacking, possession based style of football only to ditch it because it hasn't come into fruition overnight?

That's not madness or insanity. It seems logical that these things take time to implement.

1 minute ago, dansubrosa said:

Yeah, if he didn’t change anything after a 6 - 0 loss then I don’t see how he’s going to stay, sadly.

Do people get more stubborn as they get older? He’s nearly 70.

No, he is 60.   You are off by a decade.

Just now, Phillip said:

No, he is 60.   You are off by a decade.

Ah good. I thought he was 69 for some reason!

Aside from the Kante positional disaster which Stevie Wonder could fix.....this season he has swapped Barkley for Kovacic 19 times already.

He isn't trying anything new, at all, we are so predictable!!

For me, he has to go. For Sarri to say he doesn’t know what the problems are, is at best slightly concerning & at worst, inexcusable.

I’ve seen no evidence of any improvement in this team in last 6 months - in fact, we’ve gone completely backwards where even the basics are not being covered. 

Coupled with that, there are too many red flags to ignore. If you were Roman today, would you really support this guy with another couple of hundred million quid?!? Absolutely no chance. 

 

2 minutes ago, Amputechture said:

Did they expect us to play like Barcelona halfway into his first season with us?

Bring in a manager with an attacking, possession based style of football only to ditch it because it hasn't come into fruition overnight?

That's not madness or insanity. It seems logical that these things take time to implement.

Going so open away to City is madness for me and especially on the back of a 4-0 hammering last time away at Bournemouth. Remember Le Saux was saying this with previous heavy defeats in mind.

Our progress has stalled under Sarri with no adaptation and our game is so obvious and ponderous. We will continue to win against lower teams yet will be outplayed by the top and five and Wolves as we have no plan B.

I'm pretty sure they asked him to get us into the CL via the top 4 currently yet can only see as being as high as 6th without changes.

3 minutes ago, Strider6003 said:

Going so open away to City is madness for me and especially on the back of a 4-0 hammering last time away at Bournemouth.

Sarri looks out of his depth stubbornly doing the same thing over and over again. One of the most rigid managers I've seen at the club.

That's why I have little optimism that we'll turn things around.

22 minutes ago, Amputechture said:

Did they expect us to play like Barcelona halfway into his first season with us?

Bring in a manager with an attacking, possession based style of football only to ditch it because it hasn't come into fruition overnight?

That's not madness or insanity. It seems logical that these things take time to implement.

Meanwhile, it's still possible to win 3 trophies and get into the top 4.

 

 

 

Edited February 11, 20197 yr by venom2011

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/47177101

worth a read

There' no light at the end of the tunnel right now. It's not like we are progressing slowly, we are going backwards, alarmingly. In the first 10-15 games of this season, everyone was talking about how Morata is pulling us back. We were actually creating chances, and defended like a top 6 team. Few months later, striker problem not solved, we aren't creating chances, and defence has completely gone. Sarri has gone to war on all the players, and showing not signs of even wanting an alternative. Transfer window has done and dusted, seriously, I'm afraid there's no easy way out of this.

22 minutes ago, venom2011 said:

Meanwhile, it's still possible to win 3 trophies and get into the top 4.

 

 

 

Pep did change formation & personnel several times  during those periods though. I can remember him benching Aguero for a stretch of games and bringing Kompany back into the fold then binning him eventually. He also started/ switched formation during the games, playing 3/2 CBs. And who can forget him playing wingers as full backs.

With Sarri it has been one template all season long, even when losing games just switch the same players every time.

Sarri is so stubborn, if you go to City and try to take them on you will always get beaten specially with Jorginho and the current back 4. Sometimes you need to adapt and it is very similar to Arsenal under Wenger. Jorginho is also struggling and has done for months now, why not change it up and play Kante and Kovacic together. You can still play the style of pressing up high and make subtile changes. Problem is us fans, the opposition and pundits knew the lineup and subs before the game started.

Sarri can't stop players making errors, Luiz and Alonso mainly, but even Rudiger, Cesar and Kepa have all made mistakes in recent games costing us goals.

Sarri can't replace all of them, yes Alonso for Emerson has to happen, but you can't see Christensen, Ampadu, Caballero, Cahill, or Zappacosta being any improvement.

Sack Sarri, but those defenders are still here.

The defence has no traces of any Sarri players, they are all Jose and Antonio's defenders.

Let Sarri burn the deadwood and bring in his own players, not just defence.

If Sarri stays the club must commit to him, if a player doesn't fit Sarriball, get rid quick, no matter who they are, Eden, CHO, Rudiger, Cesar, the entire squad up for eviction.

Citeh have been very quick to get Pep players that fit him, and get rid of those those that do not. The results were a quick transformation over two seasons. So it's possible if the club are committed to the project.

33 minutes ago, coco said:

Citeh have been very quick to get Pep players that fit him, and get rid of those those that do not. The results were a quick transformation over two seasons. So it's possible if the club are committed to the project.

We're not going to suddenly throw hundreds of millions of investment into the team. We've not seen that sort of investment for about a decade now, it's just not going to happen. 

It's definitely not going to happen for a manager who would have 12 months left on his contract, assuming he survives that long. 

3 hours ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Personally I've run out of patience with Sarri. 

When he joined we were told to be patient, Sarri himself said expect the first 3 months to be rough whilst he implemented his ideas and philosophy. 

Eight months in and we're getting continuously battered and embarrassed. We're not talking slim margins here, it's complete collapses. 

We're not scoring goals, teams are splitting us open on the counter attack at will. Where's the turning point? When does Sarri-ball come to fruition? 

The football we're playing is rubbish. Players look lost, not knowing what to do. The amount of times I'm seeing players shouting at each other, gesticulating to each other in anger and frustration... I don't think I can remember seeing this happen so often before. The players seem genuinely confused about what they're supposed to be doing at times. 

Sarri's complete lack of flexibility to stop the rot is just completely bizarre. All well and good him saying he's not going to change anything because the players don't understand Plan A... Maybe Plan A is the problem? After more than 6 months with the team him saying he needs to go back to basics on the training field just sets alarm bells ringing. An entire group of top level footballers aren't grasping the basics? 

What worked for Napoli isn't necessarily going to work for Chelsea. You wouldn't ask a classical composer to work with the Ramones.  

I don't see this turning around personally, if he gets sacked today I won't shed any tears and I dare say we'll be the better for it. 

 

That's a great post. Sums up how I feel, except I want to give him till the end of the season to prove he's capable of turning things around, at least to some degree. Didn't we all say back in the summer that we want continuity and consistency, build something new and stop the managerial revolving door policy Chelsea have become known for under Abramovich.

Still, I realize, if the current trend continues, he'll probably leave the club no choice. It's depressing.

2 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

We're not going to suddenly throw hundreds of millions of investment into the team. We've not seen that sort of investment for about a decade now, it's just not going to happen. 

It's definitely not going to happen for a manager who would have 12 months left on his contract, assuming he survives that long. 

We have spent £400m in the last 4 windows. 

I'm sure we could generate enough funds to put £200m odd into the team like we did in 2017. 

The money is there, we just spend it on absolute dross. 

 

9 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

We're not going to suddenly throw hundreds of millions of investment into the team. We've not seen that sort of investment for about a decade now, it's just not going to happen. 

It's definitely not going to happen for a manager who would have 12 months left on his contract, assuming he survives that long. 

Yes i know it won't happen, that's why were in this situation now, because we don't allow managers to build a team, they just get given one, sure they may get a few of their own players, but most won't be. That's how it is at the club as you say for a decade or more. But that is the long term answer. 

2 minutes ago, big blue said:

We have spent £400m in the last 4 windows. 

I'm sure we could generate enough funds to put £200m odd into the team like we did in 2017. 

The money is there, we just spend it on absolute dross. 

How much of that is being recouped through player sales though? 

Out went Costa for £60m, in come Morata for £60m.

Out went Matic for £40m, in come Bakayoko for £40m. 

 

There's nothing wrong with the amounts of money we're spending but like you say we've not spent it well but we find ourselves in a position where people are saying "Pep got this, that whatever at City" and that's the point, we're not City. We're not going to go out and buy a whole new team within 2 years, which is effectively what they did. 

Just now, ForeverCarefree said:

How much of that is being recouped through player sales though? 

Out went Costa for £60m, in come Morata for £60m.

Out went Matic for £40m, in come Bakayoko for £40m. 

 

There's nothing wrong with the amounts of money we're spending but like you say we've not spent it well but we find ourselves in a position where people are saying "Pep got this, that whatever at City" and that's the point, we're not City. We're not going to go out and buy a whole new team within 2 years, which is effectively what they did. 

We have gone out and bought a new team in the last 2 years though, just not a very good one. 

From the squad conte won the league with, theres only 9 players left out of the 25, 2 of which are out of contract at the end of the season, and there are 4 more players out on loan.

So the club can make massive changes to the playing squad in a short space of time, but unfortunately we don't seem to bring in many good players. 

We don't need city money, we just need to spend what we do have better, so that sarri or the next manager has the tools required to perform to the best or their ability. 

6 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

We're not going to go out and buy a whole new team within 2 years, which is effectively what they did. 

It should be our target, rather than sack another manager. In two years it may not be entirley all Sarris players, but a big chunk of them can be if the club gives him time.