Can see it going to KDB unfortunately, Man City is their golden goose. 

Don't think he deserved to win POTY let alone this.

2 hours ago, Argo said:

Teams have to refresh eventually or they will just stagnate and hit the trap door anyway, case in point West Brom, Burnley look like they could be next.

Charlton's downfall was because they appointed Ian Dowie, not because they tried to change the football.

West brom had 7 straight seasons with pulis, with no budget, Burnley also on a great run in the premier league now, massive for both clubs. I get they need to refresh, but when clubs like Stoke eventually start to complain about the type of football they play, a change in philosophy has invariably seen them go down. Evolution not Revolution imo. Palace are on a great run in the Prem, generally relying on good pro's and a couple of good players that can make the difference against the teams around them. They have now released 12 senior players, and gone for young inexperienced players, and a young and inexperienced manager. Completely the opposite of what has been successful for them. It could go either way. 

2 hours ago, LongtimerLurker said:

Fingers crossed for Jorgehh to win, the rage from the haters would make this more than satisfactory. Kante had a great UCL campaign but, I think the Euros should tip this in the Italian's favour, can't see how people could have KDB over Jorghino considering how focal he was to two European titles for club and country and that's the key here European titles not domestic.

If we do acknowledge domestic campaigns then add in the fact he was the top goalscorer in the league for his club and the accolades speak for themselves 

I don't think it's just titles. When Modric got it in 2018 it's because he stood out, despite Varane winning the CL just like him and the WC as well.

That being said, it has to be Jorginho this year since there's really nobody that stood out and he did win the most. Not that it really matter, individual awards are completely irrelevant and made so some sports journalists have to write something about.

On 17/08/2021 at 21:07, charierre said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/58163233

I'd be fine with Jorgi or Kante. I really hope De Bruyne doesn't win it. Gundogan was more influential for City last season

Tbh it would be a joke if Jorginho wins it just as it was a joke when Modric won it.

It is funny if I am not Chelsea fans, I will probably pick Jorgi for uefa poty. To be in team of tournaments for both euro and cl is not an easy feat but since I watch Chelsea almost every week, there is no way I can pick Jorginho over Kante. 

19 hours ago, LongtimerLurker said:

If we do acknowledge domestic campaigns then add in the fact he was the top goalscorer in the league for his club and the accolades speak for themselves 

This is just too funny. Still can't believe it's true. Didn't he miss a couple early on, too?

35 minutes ago, Shweaves said:

This is just too funny. Still can't believe it's true. Didn't he miss a couple early on, too?

I think he missed two in the prem but I'm not 100% sure on that. I believe one way against Liverpool I'm not sure about the other it may have just been 1

Matt Law's article in the Telegraph - doesn't tell us anything we don't already know but still nice to read:

Jorginho could have joined Arsenal - instead Chelsea are building their team around him

 

There have been a number of sliding doors moments in the career of Jorginho, one of which came last year which could have resulted in the midfielder lining up on the red side of London on Sunday.

Arsenal and Chelsea were around £10million apart in their valuations of Jorginho, which meant the midfielder stayed at Stamford Bridge and Arsenal turned their attention to Thomas Partey, who, along with Declan Rice, had been admired by former Chelsea head coach Frank Lampard.

Just as Jorginho could have missed out on Italy’s European Championship success had he not switched his international allegiance from Brazil, the 29-year-old would have been supporting Chelsea in the Champions League final, rather than pulling the strings in midfield for them, had Arsenal met his valuation.

Having become a European champion for club and country in the space of three barmy months, Jorginho has been nominated, along with his Chelsea team-mate N’Golo Kante, and Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne, for the UEFA men’s Player of the Year, and is considered a candidate for the Ballon d’Or.

Jorginho, who returned for pre-season with Chelsea with a new hairstyle to match the colour of his winners’ medals, will be a key man for head coach Thomas Tuchel again this season.

Tuchel, like Lampard before him, is a fan of Rice but Chelsea prioritised the signing of striker Romelu Lukaku and interest in Sevilla defender Jules Kounde, and will only sign a new midfielder if an opportunity presents itself between now and the end of the transfer window. Atletico Madrid’s Saul Niguez has been offered to English clubs on loan.

Rice, just as Partey could have done, would provide Chelsea with the physical attributes that Jorginho lacks. But, by switching to a three-man defence and using Jorginho as a double six next to Kante or Mateo Kovacic, rather than the lone pivot at the base of a three-man midfield, Tuchel has structured his team in such a way as to bring out the best in the former Napoli star.

“Jorgi lacks, if you isolate him or watch him separately, the pure physical ability that makes him the number one candidate to be a number six in the Premier League,” said Tuchel.

“But once you have him in a structure, he is very well organised in his game, he organises all the environment around him, which helps him, and then he can show his true abilities in controlling the rhythm of a game.

“On top of that, he is relentless on defence, he wants to be everywhere on the pitch, he has a huge ability to run a lot. Maybe he lacks the high speeds, but he compensates with a lot of work-rate and with a very good anticipation in his defensive work.”

Jorginho last season admitted that he had been open to the possibility of joining Arsenal and there have been flirtations with the idea of a return to Italy, at least from the player’s agent Joao Santos.

Despite occasional question marks over his future, there has been no doubting Jorginho’s commitment to Chelsea during his three years at the club and the £50m spent on taking him from Napoli can be regarded as money well spent.

In another of his big sliding doors moments, Jorginho had been poised to join Manchester City, which is where Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta’s interest in the player dates back to, until Chelsea pounced to make him the stellar signing of former head coach Maurizio Sarri’s appointment.

His link to Sarri, who he had excelled under at Napoli, proved to be a problem for Jorginho during his first season in England when he was often portrayed as being a ‘teacher’s pet’ and became a target among a section of the club’s supporters.

But Jorginho’s determination and strength of character has been apparent in the way he has turned around his Chelsea career with the help of Lampard, who made him vice-captain after being impressed by his leadership qualities on a pre-season trip to Dublin, and Tuchel.

Despite a couple of big mistakes against West Bromwich Albion and Arsenal, at the end of last season when he gifted the north Londoners their winning goal at Stamford Bridge, Tuchel has focussed on Jorginho’s strengths and the player’s influence behind the scenes is believed to have increased through his friendship with Thiago Silva.

“Jorgi is a very strategic player,” said Tuchel. “He can play in advance, he knows what to do in ball possession, he can imagine what is going to happen in one or two passes ahead. He knows where to help out in short distances and long distances, when to switch the play, when not to switch the play. He has a good sense of rhythm.

“On top of all of that, he’s a top guy. He is funny, he has a big smile on his face every single day. He’s in love with this game and this is the feeling he never stops transmitting - this energy that he’s really into the game and thinking about tactics and loves to be involved and feel a true connection with the game. That makes him a very, very important player and a huge link in the middle of the pitch, not only for us but also for Italy.

“I’m very happy that guys like him, like (N’Golo) Kante and (Kevin) De Bruyne, and this will have a huge effect on guys like Mateo Kovacic, that people understand the importance of these characters and what they do. That sometimes they don’t shine, but they make other people shine and this is also important for any team in the world.”

When he is pants he really is pants.

 

TBF he was up against Saka who I learnt today is one of the top 3 midfielders in Europe.

13 hours ago, PloKoon13 said:

“Jorgi lacks, if you isolate him or watch him separately, the pure physical ability that makes him the number one candidate to be a number six in the Premier League,” said Tuchel.

“But once you have him in a structure, he is very well organised in his game, he organises all the environment around him, which helps him, and then he can show his true abilities in controlling the rhythm of a game.

“On top of that, he is relentless on defence, he wants to be everywhere on the pitch, he has a huge ability to run a lot. Maybe he lacks the high speeds, but he compensates with a lot of work-rate and with a very good anticipation in his defensive work.”

That's so true, he's a system based player with a high awareness of the game and as such perfect for the highest level as he has proven it. No coincidence that Tuchel rates him so highly. Our central midfield is one of the best in the PL in which Jorginho plays a key role.

 

Him and Kova were good when we were going forward but often exposed when Arsenal attacked them with pace.

Clearly a lot of the first team are lacking sharpness. To be honest the only ones that seemed sharp for the majority of the game for me were Mendy, Dave, Christensen and Alonso. 

As good as Lukaku was he can go up a couple of levels in the final third imo.

2 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Him and Kova were good when we were going forward but often exposed when Arsenal attacked them with pace.

Clearly a lot of the first team are lacking sharpness. To be honest the only ones that seemed sharp for the majority of the game for me were Mendy, Dave, Christensen and Alonso. 

As good as Lukaku was he can go up a couple of levels in the final third imo.

Agree with this.. but i think we all know that about Jorgi now - there are things that he is brilliant at and things he simply cant do. In the first half there were two instance when he tried to tackle to stop a break and he ended up making a fool of himself.. yet in the second half when they tried to press us high.. his calming influence meant they couldnt get near us.. 

Jorgi for me is like Alonso - they both leave you wondering what would have been - Had Alonso got a bit of pace and Jorgi some athleticism .. They both would have been 100M players.

It just highlights our rather light depth in the midfield department (and no, I don't count James or even Challobah as alternatives) that he has to play that many games as a starter and for 90mins after the EC final. Jorgi needs to be rested once in a while if alone for mental freshness.

1 hour ago, Jangz said:

Agree with this.. but i think we all know that about Jorgi now - there are things that he is brilliant at and things he simply cant do. In the first half there were two instance when he tried to tackle to stop a break and he ended up making a fool of himself.. yet in the second half when they tried to press us high.. his calming influence meant they couldnt get near us.. 

Jorgi for me is like Alonso - they both leave you wondering what would have been - Had Alonso got a bit of pace and Jorgi some athleticism .. They both would have been 100M players.

Our tactic needs some tweaks ahead of Liverpool.

Don't get me wrong, we had 65% possession away at Arsenal and they had their best chance after a corner kick so we're playing well and have 2 clean sheets now but the way we lost the ball a couple of times which made Arsenal looking for a quick counter shows that we're still getting into the season.

Our back 3 was too high up the pitch so when Jorginho lost the ball in the midfield that allowed Arsenal to look as if they were more dangerous than how they actually were and in a few situations they had tons of space pushing the ball forward because of our wing backs just went forward, it's safe to say that James and Alonso can go missing in their positioning and we had a similar problem under Lampard where our full backs went too much high up the pitch which allowed fast counter attacks.

Against Liverpool Tuchel must recognize the danger of leaving so much space, they have the quality to punish us with that same amount of space that we gave to Arsenal.

4 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Him and Kova were good when we were going forward but often exposed when Arsenal attacked them with pace.

Clearly a lot of the first team are lacking sharpness. To be honest the only ones that seemed sharp for the majority of the game for me were Mendy, Dave, Christensen and Alonso. 

As good as Lukaku was he can go up a couple of levels in the final third imo.

Jorginho at least tries to cover, there was that situation where he was running from one player to another trying to block a shot outside of the box. Kovacic defensively speaking just jogs around a lot of times, look at the goal Villareal scored he wasn't interested in defending.

Jorginho is a system player is just an excuse. 

It is actually very simple to understand whether Jorginho will play well or not, you just need to ask this question:

- can the opp attack through the middle or play no 10? 

-do they press well? 

If the answer for no 1 is yes, Jorginho will struggle defensively. If the 2nd answer is yes, then Jorginho will pass backward more than forward. 

Apparently set to be named as UEFA player of the year. 

2 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Apparently set to be named as UEFA player of the year. 

Well deserved imo, instrumental in both trophies he won.

19 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Apparently set to be named as UEFA player of the year. 

Not bad for the pointy, sideways passer.

In all seriousness. One of the first players on the teamsheet.

That is f**king hilarious. A real wake-up call for European football.

5 hours ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Apparently set to be named as UEFA player of the year. 

I love the guy but I just find that ridiculous. It also really highlights how pointless indvidual awards are. 

Jorginho is great when part of a great team. Without Kante, Mount, Silva, Azpi around him, he's nowhere near the conversation.

6 hours ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Apparently set to be named as UEFA player of the year. 

I'll be honest, I thought for sure he would finish behind De Bruyne and Kante. Congratulations to him!

2 minutes ago, chiefBlueCFC said:

I'll be honest, I thought for sure he would finish behind De Bruyne and Kante. Congratulations to him!

He probably would've had he not won the Euros with Italy.