25 minutes ago, Argo said:

There's a few good reasons for playing Luiz over Christensen right now, and i'm a massive fan of the Dane.

Firstly due to his creativity from deep (while i'm not convinced Christensen's as bad at that as some are making out, he certainly ain't David on that score) while we are nailing the possession side of Sarri ball we haven't quite got there yet with chances created, due to that (and the fact we have over 70% possession at the minute, limiting time to expose our defense) means DL's creative edge is needed as a weapon.

Another reason is AC hasn't yet played in a back four in his professional career (i could be wrong but i'm fairly certain in Germany it was always a back 3) so will probably need a bit more adaption time that the ones that have.

Lastly is confidence, make no mistake he lost the plot after his mistake vs Barca last year and (although only pre season looked a bit shaky vs Arsenal and Lyon as well) we went from our defense being so much more solid with him in it to much more shaky with him in it. 

I think Sarri is playing the long game with this one.

Good points Argo agree with pretty much everything above.

27 minutes ago, Argo said:

There's a few good reasons for playing Luiz over Christensen right now, and i'm a massive fan of the Dane.

Firstly due to his creativity from deep (while i'm not convinced Christensen's as bad at that as some are making out, he certainly ain't David on that score) while we are nailing the possession side of Sarri ball we haven't quite got there yet with chances created, due to that (and the fact we have over 70% possession at the minute, limiting time to expose our defense) means DL's creative edge is needed as a weapon.

Another reason is AC hasn't yet played in a back four in his professional career (i could be wrong but i'm fairly certain in Germany it was always a back 3) so will probably need a bit more adaption time that the ones that have.

Lastly is confidence, make no mistake he lost the plot after his mistake vs Barca last year and (although only pre season looked a bit shaky vs Arsenal and Lyon as well) we went from our defense being so much more solid with him in it to much more shaky with him in it. 

I think Sarri is playing the long game with this one.

Well said. 

I will also add that while Christensen is a better pure defender than Luiz (particularly in terms of positioning, concentration, decision-making), his passing range is IMO just average, he loses composure when pressed while on the ball and he is not particularly quick either, so there's every chance he would be caught out in a high defensive line as well. 

 

I love Luiz, I really do but hes the weakest link in the XI right now, a case can be made for Alonso too but the positives he brings to the team, far out weight the negatives at the moment.

Playing the long game is all well and good but its only a matter of time before a Luiz mistakes costs us points in a game. 

We got away with it against Arsenal, just about and similarly against Newcastle, although that goal shouldnt have stood anyway if the linesman done his job.

He gave away a pointless free kick that Cardiff scored form too at the weekend and at 2-1, just before the penalty, he allowed Reid inside on to his right foot who narrowly missed at the far post.

Of course you can nit pick at any player but theres a catalogue of errors from Luiz that will eventually cost us points down the line and I fear it will be in the Pool game.

A defenders first job is to defend and I'd rather have Christensen in there than Luiz on that basis alone.

That being said, if Luiz played CB all year and we won the PL, I wouldnt complain. :D

Looking at our upcoming fixtures, this is how I see it: 

October

Southampton (A) = 3 pts

Man Utd (H) = 1 or 3 pts

Burnley (A) = 3 points

November

Crystal Palace (H) = 3 points

Everton (H) = 3 points

Tottenham (A) = 1 or 3 pts

December

1st Dec - Fulham (H) = 3 points

4th Dec - Wolves (A) = 1 or 3 points

8th Dec - Man City (H) = 0, 1 or 3 points

13th Dec - Vidi (A) 

15th Dec - Brighton (A)  = 3 points

22nd Dec - Leicester (H) = 3 points

26th Dec - Watford (A) = 3 points

29th Dec - Crystal Palace (A) = 1 or 3 points

 

I thought I'd go up until the transfer window, then see where we go and if we need to make signings. December is easily our toughest month with fixtures only a few days apart. I think we can still be in the top three come December, but that's a rough month so be interesting to see what happens. 

Edited October 1, 20187 yr by enigma

Back in August I plumped for

City

Liverpool

Spurs

Chelsea.

No great change but if I could make an adjustment now I’d swap us for Rottenham.

On ?18?/?09?/?2018 at 10:17, benjsross said:

If Bournemouth and arsenal aren't of consequence then the only difficult teams we ca play will be man city Liverpool United and Tottenham. 

I reckon we have a very good chance of a 85-90 point season. Where that gets us is anyone's guess. 

85 points is beating every team in the bottom 10 home and away and nicking 25 out of 54 points against the top 10.

Easier said than done, but shows how irrelevant beating citeh and Liverpool can be at the end of the season

Well we have dropped 4 points since my original post but I'm still going for 4th spot. This is mainly based on the fact that MUFC look to have imploded. We play them soon and I really fancy that match to be the end of Jose.

Given the start we've made and the promising form Sarri has instilled in the team I reckon 4th is a realistic target. The only thing that will trip us up is lack of goals from our strikers.

On 29/07/2018 at 09:43, IliyaKrostin said:

I believe we will reach the Champions League next season. 

I'd be very happy if we will win the Europe League, a cup and reach the top 4. For me, it's a success.

Yes , I'm on the same page here, a very good step in the right direction!

Arsenal have picked up abit of form with 9 wins on the bounce. They seem to have sorted out their initial problems. 

I thought Spurs might tail off but they seem to have picked up after a couple of dodgy results. 

I had Arsenal down as finishing in 4th spot, still a long way to go yet they seem to be improving.

 I did also have Spurs and Man U out of the top 4.

It's so unpredictable, think we all realise with just considering the possibility of Hazard deciding to go to Madrid in January. Our season would severely be challenged. Of course it might not even be another club the curse of injury could strike.

I really think we need to strengthen in the attacking dimension either with a better striker or attacking midfielder so that without Hazard we don't become a toothless tiger.

Tight call this season, would be happy for a top 4 finish.

I still reckon we'll win the league. 

If and its a massive if, Morata or Giroud can chip in with 15 PL goals it will go a long way to lifting the pressure on Hazard.

As it stands, were comfortably better than Spurts and Utd and not far off City.

We're on par with Pool, if not better as individuals across the pitch in some areas and arsenal have had a great run since they lost to us and City back to back.

The back line is still an issue but with us having nearly 65/70% of the ball every game, we should create more chances than we give up, even against Pool we were comfortable until the out of the blue strike form Sturridge.

I just hope that we don’t burn out. This high pressing football does leave us vulnerable. 

I said on another topic that I could see us finishing undefeated and champions ... Needless to say that it's currently hanging by a thread !!

We need a decent striker. Even two. Can't carry on like that. We were killed on the counter today.

Top 4 will still be a battle without a competent striker.

3 minutes ago, Jezz said:

Top 4 will still be a battle without a competent striker.

I agree with this.
Fifth would not surprise me at all, the striker is only going to get worse and worse as the season progresses.

United had four attackers on the pitch today that would easily do a better job than our strikers up top for us.

 

2 hours ago, Sindre said:

I agree with this.
Fifth would not surprise me at all, the striker is only going to get worse and worse as the season progresses.

United had four attackers on the pitch today that would easily do a better job than our strikers up top for us.

 

Exactly this........WHO in their f**king wisdom thought this will get us goals? ANY of our competitors would walk right in there with no issues......for a Club like Chels its pathetic. Even freaking Arsenal have far better strikers, far better. Bottle job by the board, simple as that.

The worry is that many expected us to get off to a slow start and start getting used to Sarri's style of play and then start kicking on. However, the players picked up quickly but, imho, unless Morata suddenly turns into a striker, we are already playing as well as we can with this squad. Lots of decent players but clearly very short in real top quality.

 City are into their stride now. Liverpool not yet at full steam and neither are Spurs or Utd. Arsenal could be surprise top four.  I see us between 4th and 6th.

 

Despite the setback in recent weeks, still confident we are going to get the third.

It looks very tight at the top so far. We can not afford to continue to drop points otherwise we will quickly fall behind. 

2nd: Would snatch your hand off right now if offered 2nd.

3rd/4th: If Arsenal and/or Spuds continue to get results, we could struggle to get 3rd or 4th place.

5th: I can see Mourinho toughing it out and getting a run of results, but i think we will beat them over a season.

 

I did think 3rd place was favourite, now i think maybe 4th or 5th.

We definitely need a striker in Jan, depending on how that goes, we could still get 2nd /3rd. 

I still think third, we have a run of three consecutive winnable matches before facing Spurs late November. We should be improving with Sarri's methods over these weeks.

Edited October 21, 20187 yr by Strider6003

Big over-reactions on the back of one tough match. We're still looking very good for 3rd, and I'd have taken that in a heartbeat at the start of the season. We always come back sluggish from international breaks, yesterday is nothing to lose our minds over.

Edited October 21, 20187 yr by Kentonio

23 minutes ago, Kentonio said:

Big over-reactions on the back of one tough match. We're still looking very good for 3rd, and I'd have taken that in a heartbeat at the start of the season. We always come back sluggish from international breaks, yesterday is nothing to lose our minds over.

BTW you avatar always catches my attention, what's the significance?