19 minutes ago, RMH said:

Yes, they could have scored, but how many times did Cech save the ball from going in? We got 11 shots on target for 6 of them. We have to improve massively our defence, but we can't play us down as the media's done because we were massively better than them. Great attacking football in need to defend much better, but today we were above Arses' level.

Well that is very true we are way better, taking in count that Sarri took over so soon and that our pre-season preperation started very late and adding that our best player/players came also late from vacation, this is a great result and it makes me very happy that we have scored 3 goals and that Morata scored as well, the system will save us we just need more time that's all but Sarri is so far doing amazing.

Morata good goal,but he was still dispossesed far too easily in h2. As things stand it could be Kante and Barkley competing for one spot. 

Love Kante of course but he doesn’t have many real  attacking qualities   

It was a thrilling game. We had a tremendous start only to be disappointed soon after. Our form looked great early on and I really believed we were headed for an easy 3 points.

That wasn't the case and our defense showed a lot to be desired. There were a few great attempts on target and we should have tightened up, but we didn't. Instead we left gaping wide holes and the other side capitalised on our sloppiness.

Second half, a different story and we were much more solid. 

Glad to see Morata finally slotting a good goal. Great to see Barkley's form. Azpi is as usual, great stamina and speed.

We need to be much tighter at the back. The Arse are not up to scratch, but yet we allowed them some very good opportunities.

 

My thoughts:

1) I knew this game would have goals in it and I correctly predicted that both sides would be quite porous at the back. Luckily we lived up to my favourites tag, but I'll be damned if I didn't feel uncomfortable throughout. 

2) I was under the impression that while Jorginho was a very fine passer, he wasn't quite up to Alonso/Pirlo's level. He proved me wrong with that sumptuous pass to Marcos Alonso to set up the first goal. Not entirely convinced about his defensive positioning though. 

3) Speaking of Alonso, Sarri appears to have transformed him into a slower Marcelo - his forward forays into the box have increased (today to devastating effect), but defensively he was beaten too easily by Bellerin due to his lack of acceleration.

4) Pedro has proven that he has lost none of his movement, predatory instincts or finishing. However, his ageing legs don't seem to allow him to contribute as much defensively as he used to (though he still tried) - he seemed peripheral when Arsenal made their comeback.

5) Kovacic showed in his cameo that he is a superior player to Barkley (who has mostly been fine to be fair) in most respects. He injected energy into the midfield, his defensive positioning was surer than Barkley's, his is dribbling was Hazard-like and his passing was immaculate. 

6) Hazard again comes in from the bench and makes the difference - can't wait for him to be fully fit!

7) Good to see Morata get on the score sheet again. The guy tends to go on scoring streaks so let's see if he can go on another. 

8) The difference between Sarri and AVB may be summed up in their approach to the opposition fighting back - whereas AVB's sides used to capitulate (3-5 Arsenal, 3-3 Manchester United), Sarri regained the momentum by shoring up the midfield and injecting Hazard. 

9) The best and worst of Sarri could be seen in the first half - our forward play was sumptuous to begin with but defensively at times it seemed like our defenders had never played football before. Playing a high-line against Arsenal was always going to be very risky and it showed. 

10) Some of Emery's tactics were highly questionable - a high-line with Cech as goalkeeper against Willian/Pedro/Morata is unlikely to end well. However, Arsenal can still be dangerous going forward and they could easily have won this game with better finishing. It will be interesting to see how they develop over the season. 

11) Kepa has still to adapt to the PL - he was arguably beaten too easily at his near post and his handling seemed uncertain at times. 

Edited August 19, 20187 yr by DaRick

First half started so well. Passing was crisp, pressing was excellent, attacking link up clinical. 

Then we stopped, arsenal got on top and if you take off the blue specs then they should have been out of sight at 2-5 up at the brake. Defensively as a team we were all over the place. The back 4 retreated and the midfield did not help them. We left huge gaps around the penalty spot.

Second half we regained our composure and control. Though Barkley can feel hard done by going off as, for me, was one of our better players.

Balance of play we were better than them second half. Had arsenal been clinical though we could and maybe should have let in 5 or 6.

Win is a win though and was a good watch.

Arsenal looked like they were trying to score sweaty goals straight out of FIFA, the good old cut back to the penalty spot.

How we allowed that to happen so many times is crazy, Sarri needs to make the players watch that back.

2 games in a row where we scored 3 goals. Scoring goals wont be a problem this season :) 

Pedro looks on fire. 

Edited August 19, 20187 yr by zes

4 hours ago, DaRick said:

3) Speaking of Alonso, Sarri appears to have transformed him into a slower Marcelo - his forward forays into the box have increased (today to devastating effect), but defensively he was beaten too easily by Bellerin due to his lack of acceleration.

This was only the case during the dodgy spell at the end of the first half/beginning of the second. For me he wasn’t getting any support from our left winger or LCM at this point and often had to try and defend against two players. 

I was sat in his corner for the second half and at the beginning you could see him having to let their winger go and press the full-back. Either our LW/LCM should have been doing that or picking up the runner Alonso has left.

Once Kovacic came nothing beat us down that flank and Bellerin got his arse kicked by Alonso a few times.

For the second goal he had an unlucky slip but again if other players picked up their runners we’d probably be looking at 3-0 win. The Sarri/players just need a bit more time to get used to each other and what’s expected of them I think. 

Great result, and pleased with the improvement of the team. It's only week 2 and the style of play is already more pleasing than most of last season, players are making more runs, better passing from the back, and more controlled possession play. The defence will take times to get into shape, we couldn't go from deep defending to high pressing without conceding some goals along the way. The 2 attacking players stayed too high on the field ( looks a deliberate plan), and couldn't track their full backs. Alonso is great at LWB, but he's really getting caught out as a LB. He scored the winner but at least conceded 3 clear goal chances on his own, on another day he won't be this lucky. It's something definitely needs and will be corrected, we shall see what will happen in coming weeks and months. There's already improvement in players, Pedro looked like that player of 15-20 goals a season again, Morata finally got 1 over Cech, Barkley is showing why he was rated highly, and Hazard looked dangerous with every run, can't wait for him to play a full game. If we manage to beat Newcastle next week ( no reasons why we can't do that), that's a perfect start after a very slow pre-season.

11 hours ago, rosemasw said:

 

I would like to see something like this (below).  When Sarri wants to play Barkley, we can switch back to how it was today.  Jorginho's passing ability and composure on the ball seems to suit him playing better farther back and more central.  And Kante being a world class defensive midfielder suits him better in basically the same spot on the field as Jorginho.

 

Hazard    Morata   Pedro

              Kovacic

         Kante   Jorginho

Alonso   Luiz   Rudi   Dave

                Kepa

If we play like that, that is a man less to press the opposition high up the pitch, which is fundamental.

Great way to finish my vacation off. thank you, Chelsea! Great effort by the lads, this is the way I'd like to watch my team playing in this kind of matches - attacking, dominating football, without extra respect to the opponents. Shaky 15 minutes indeed, horrible more precisely as Sarri said, but it's not about not falling down it's about getting up. And we showed cold heads + great football. they were clueless the second half, we educated them with the style they've been trying to play against us for years and yet failed nonetheles so many times. 

A good game by both sides.....Glad Ed came on to make the difference.........must tighten up at the back or else trouble will brew in every match we play...Fans were good....Cant fault this one really ..you paid your dough and you got a good day out.......

Positives -  3 points from a highly entertaining game. Kovacic. Hazard. Morato goal. Promise of Barkley.

Negatives - Very dodgy performance from Kepa. Kante playing too high up the pitch and nowhere near as effective as when he's further back. He is much more effective than Jorghino in front of the back four. Its very early days for Jorghino but I have a bad feeling that Stuart Rosbon is going to be proved mostly right about him not being good enough.

Alonso is way better attacking than defending. Would we keep a forward who was better defending than attacking?  Again, in a flat back four his lack of pace can be brutally exposed.

Luiz and Rudiger are just an awful pairimg.

Some promise and fun to watch again but its very clear Sarri is going to need time to bring in several more players to get us close to where we want to be.

 

 

Agree with you on Kante @Dixon. I think we might well be wasting his talents playing in that spot. Playing him deeper next to Jorginho makes more sense in my view. He's the best in the world in his position. We need to let him do what he does best. Would help our pourous defence no end.

26 minutes ago, Dixon said:

Positives -  3 points from a highly entertaining game. Kovacic. Hazard. Morato goal. Promise of Barkley.

Negatives - Very dodgy performance from Kepa. Kante playing too high up the pitch and nowhere near as effective as when he's further back. He is much more effective than Jorghino in front of the back four. Its very early days for Jorghino but I have a bad feeling that Stuart Rosbon is going to be proved mostly right about him not being good enough.

Alonso is way better attacking than defending. Would we keep a forward who was better defending than attacking?  Again, in a flat back four his lack of pace can be brutally exposed.

Luiz and Rudiger are just an awful pairimg.

Some promise and fun to watch again but its very clear Sarri is going to need time to bring in several more players to get us close to where we want to be.

"Stuart Rosbon is going to be proved mostly right about him not being good enough."  Sorry, I don't know who Stuart Rosbon is, is he a football expert ?

 

Quote

 

 

Edited August 19, 20187 yr by guddy69

8 minutes ago, guddy69 said:

"Stuart Rosbon is going to be proved mostly right about him not being good enough."  Sorry, I don't know who Stuart Rosbon is, is he a football expert ?

Stewart Robson is a former Arsenal player from the 80's turned pundit. Later played for the Hammers.

45 minutes ago, Dixon said:

Negatives - Very dodgy performance from Kepa. Kante playing too high up the pitch and nowhere near as effective as when he's further back. He is much more effective than Jorghino in front of the back four. Its very early days for Jorghino but I have a bad feeling that Stuart Rosbon is going to be proved mostly right about him not being good enough. 

 

 

Very bad from kepa is over the top, he had one save he should have made but did well otherwise, his distribution was excellent. 

As for Jorginho not being good enough, both you and that dollop Robson are wrong, very wrong. 

2 hours ago, Dixon said:

Positives -  3 points from a highly entertaining game. Kovacic. Hazard. Morato goal. Promise of Barkley.

Negatives - Very dodgy performance from Kepa. Kante playing too high up the pitch and nowhere near as effective as when he's further back. He is much more effective than Jorghino in front of the back four. Its very early days for Jorghino but I have a bad feeling that Stuart Rosbon is going to be proved mostly right about him not being good enough.

Alonso is way better attacking than defending. Would we keep a forward who was better defending than attacking?  Again, in a flat back four his lack of pace can be brutally exposed.

Luiz and Rudiger are just an awful pairimg.

Some promise and fun to watch again but its very clear Sarri is going to need time to bring in several more players to get us close to where we want to be.

 

 

Jorginho was brilliant.

Jorginho was excellent, very much controlled the pace of the game brilliantly. Kepa could have saved one, but other than that he had a good game, good distribution and saved a couple of Arsenal's chances.

5 hours ago, big blue said:

If we play like that, that is a man less to press the opposition high up the pitch, which is fundamental.

Spot on, can’t play high press in a defensive formation, what you do need however is fullbacks who see danger very early and Midfielders with the energy to keep tracking back when we lose the ball, the Beauty is like in the first 20 when we defend from the halfway and keep recovering the ball, it overwhelms teams but it’s hard to keep up, if you notice Liverpool are a first half team.

What might be clever in the PL for this system  to work is to change it up a bit once ahead, I feel that we did that in the second half and kovacic providing cover running back solved the problem down our left.

p.s Is Rio “ Chelsea aren’t UTD’s level” Ferdinand watching the tele? Brighton 2 up 

Edited August 19, 20187 yr by WalterWhiteCFC

3 hours ago, Dixon said:

Jorghino but I have a bad feeling that Stuart Rosbon is going to be proved mostly right about him not being good enough.

 

 

If Jorghino is so bad, then why did Pep want him at Man City?

3 hours ago, Strider6003 said:

Stewart Robson is a former Arsenal player from the 80's turned pundit. Later played for the Hammers.

I might be wrong but I think it was sarcasm when he said who is Stuart Robson

oops I fucked up

Edited August 19, 20187 yr by robdog

I have to add this cause Wise is providing some analysis

 

Great result. Just watched the highlights. Seemed like a basketball game, end to end!