If this was after 1 season with Sarri then I would worried but after 6 matches no am not worried we started worst under Conte and won the league not saying we are going to as Liverpool city are quite some way ahead of us but fan's just meltdown after results like this when we are in the very early stages of shift in philosophy after being a defensive team for quite a while now, give it time.

Agree that we are moving in the right direction, do you not think that the lack of composure in the final third is worrying though? Who aside from Hazard, Pedro and Alonso do you see scoring the goals?

 

Problem is that this team apart from Hazard and Pedro, this team does not have any goals in it. Sarri is going to have to address that issue as Neither Giroud, Morata, Kante, Kosavic, Jorginho offer goals.  

27 minutes ago, STATS said:

I might sound harsh but generally think while Kante is a top player he is slightly overrated and is not as effective as he should be in our team. This is not just a knee-jerk reaction. This is me watching several games this season. For a player who has the rep he does, we need more from him and it seems that he is cut a lot of slack. Does his job but can do more. For instance he had a lot better game than Kante today but people seem to slam Jorginho and not Kante who was a total passenger. Jorginho created our best chances today. Hazard had a poor game but hopefully that is a one-off. Other than that he has been top class this season.

A shame as that was a chance to go 8 points clear of United and keep level with Liverpool but could have been worse as how Yarmolenko missed that I do not know but another clean sheet anyway . Next week is going to be a true test of our character as this is our biggest test. 

Jorginho gets criticised for his defensive abilities (which are still a bit lacking but he has slowly improved since his debut in this respect), not for his playmaking abilities (which are beyond reproach). 

In truth, criticising Kante for not creating better chances than our playmaker is harsh because that was never Kante's role (and Kante's vision is not bad anyway). One area I would like Kante to contribute more in relates to finishing. 

Also, playing Kante for 90 minutes against PAOK probably largely explained his comparative lack of vitality today. 

I thought we were poor today, no one seemed to be on their game attacking wise. William and Hazard both couldn’t seem to cross to save their lives.

14 minutes ago, DaRick said:

Jorginho gets criticised for his defensive abilities (which are still a bit lacking but he has slowly improved since his debut in this respect), not for his playmaking abilities (which are beyond reproach). 

In truth, criticising Kante for not creating better chances than our playmaker is harsh because that was never Kante's role (and Kante's vision is not bad anyway). One area I would like Kante to contribute more in relates to finishing. 

Also, playing Kante for 90 minutes against PAOK probably largely explained his comparative lack of vitality today. 

Kante played a box to box role but offered nothing on the ball. We would have been more effective having a player who was more effective offensively. I just think with position Kante is being played in, he needs to do more on the ball and impose himself more on the game.

1. Using many first team players against PAOK clearly backfired. The whole team looked lethargic and slow. I know Sarri is known for not rotating but he has to figure out how to use his squad more efficiently.

2. It's been said plenty of times already, but the team lacks goals. Morata's looking like a very costly mistake with every passing day and Giroud is more of a workhorse/backup who can't be relied on to deliver goals regularly. The midfiled trio of Kante-Jorginho-Kovacic looks good on the ball but poses no scoring threat, either. Which leaves us with Hazard, Willian and Pedro as go-to scorers and herein lies the problem because none of them is prolific enough in front of goal to make up for not having a proper goalscoring striker.

3. We keep trying to break down parked bus defences through the middle and most of the time it's not working. Sarri has to find a way to get our fullbacks more involved. 

Edited September 23, 20187 yr by abramovich

2 hours ago, Gol15 said:

He puts ton of pressure to opponents and has helped to recover the loose balls so he is trying, Willian and Hazard have been much less inspired today and Giroud is the same old player that can't score like never...

I totally agree with you but the issue is most of Kante's work is done when we don't have the ball. I am sure he will be helpful against Liverpool but he is a liability and a waste of an attacking position when teams park the bus.

This is one of those games where Hazard looked just good, nothing exceptional, and he was wasteful in possession, the difference between the Messis of the world where he is 8.5/10 every week for Barca..

30 minutes ago, abramovich said:

1. Using many first team players against PAOK clearly backfired. The whole team looked lethargic and slow. I know Sarri is known for not rotating but he has to figure out how to use his squad more efficiently.

2. It's been said plenty of times already, but the team lacks goals. Morata's looking like a very costly mistake with every passing day and Giroud is more of a workhorse/backup who can't be relied on to deliver goals regularly. The midfiled trio of Kante-Jorginho-Kovacic looks good on the ball but poses no scoring threat, either. Which leaves us with Hazard, Willian and Pedro as go-to scorers and herein lies the problem because none of them is prolific enough in front of goal to make up for not having a proper goalscoring striker.

3. We keep trying to break down parked bus defences through the middle and most of the time it's not working. Sarri has to find a way to get our fullbacks more involved. 

I disagree to an extent.  If you look at that shot that Fabianski saved, Morata just happens to be the unluckiest person in the world, whereby the great goals that he scores are incorrectly ruled offsides (ManU last season, PAOK a few days ago), and the save by Fabianski was off his FACE, and Morata was so unlucky to hit the shot in the only place where he could not score, since he lifted the ball nicely and all he had to do was to miss Fabianski's face and hit the ball anywhere else, and he would have scored.

 

I am not sure what to make of this match, since with Yarmalenko's horrid miss, and with Kepa's good foot save in the first half, we could have easily lost this match 2-0, even though we had tonnes of possession.

Just now, Phillip said:

If you look at Morata's shot that Fabianski saved off his FACE

probably's Fabianski's best save of the match - I did like the one off the Barkley shot as well

Ahh...I found a freeze frame of the incident

Edited September 23, 20187 yr by robdog

 

2 hours ago, RIP Mourinho said:

CHO proved in pre season he's a better player than Willian, 

No he didn't, and you saying it just makes you look a tad silly.  I'm not denying that CHO has a huge potential, but he has a lot to do yet prove himself to be a better player than Willian

2 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

I'm not going to put today's performance down to playing on Thursday, it's such a cop out excuse in my opinion. Hazard, Giroud, Azpilicueta, David Luiz, Kovacic, none of these players started on Thursday and each of them were as bad today as the ones that started on Thursday. Also, when you see us actually going for it in the last 5 minutes, then it's even harder to use Thursday as an excuse. The players weren't fatigued, we just started slow and didn't get going, it happens very often with us and no coach seems to be able to snap us out of it.

I kind of disagree. Using the last 5 mins of the match as a measure for players' energy levels isn't accurate especially since a lot of players, regardless of how tired they are, will pull on those last energy reserves in those last few moments just to try and get a win. Imo there were definitely a lot of players on the field that continuously declined in energy levels after the first 20 mins of the game and just tried to push in the last 5 mins or so to get a win.

Edited September 23, 20187 yr by Frankie8Lampard

Just now, Frankie8Lampard said:

I kind of disagree. Using the last 5 mins of the match as a measure for players' energy levels isn't accurate especially a lot, regardless of how tired they are, will pull on those last energy reserves in those last few moments just to try and get a win. Imo there were definitely a lot of players on the field that continuously declined in energy levels after the first 20 mins of the game.

Like I said though, Hazard, Giroud, Azpilicueta, David Luiz, Kovacic, none of these players even started on Thursday and they all looked as slow and poor as the rest. So for me, playing Thursday had nothing to do with it, it was our approach from the start that set us back.

I have been saying for a long time now that we often play like a Serie A club and I think today was another one of those days. The tempo, lack of urgency, waiting until late to finally give it a go, this is what Serie A clubs do and it's something we seem to do more than a handful of times a season.

I'm dissapointed realy

What I'm expecting to read in this thread:

- Kanté and Jorginho should swap places

- Morata/Willian is the Antichrist (or equivalent figure from another religion)

- We don't move the ball fast enough/we should be playing more directly

- Hudson-Odoi/Loftus-Cheek/-insert relevant youngster- would do a better job than that overpaid idiot -insert player from first XI, probably Willian-

 

 

What I'm not expecting to read in this thread:

- Why on earth have we stopped playing short corners? We're clearly awful at just whacking it into the box, doubly true when you consider the lumps West Ham have in their side.

 

 

I would also like to wish our dear friend @just all the best in his recovery from the heart attack/stroke/brain haemorrhage I assume he suffered while screaming at the many baffling decisions David Luiz made this afternoon. Get well soon mate!

Someone explain to me why Willian insists on slowing us down so much why the f**k he feels he has to stand still with the ball in front of an opponent is beyond me 

kante is the worlds best defensive midfielder bar none but he is not an attacking one by any stretch. Waste of his talent

sarri has to sort it out or teams are just gonna do this to us week in week out

2 minutes ago, Andy2461 said:

sarri has to sort it out or teams ?are just ?gonna do this to us week in week out

Five teams have tried?

1 hour ago, PloKoon13 said:

What I'm expecting to read in this thread:

- Kanté and Jorginho should swap places

- Morata/Willian is the Antichrist (or equivalent figure from another religion)

- We don't move the ball fast enough/we should be playing more directly

- Hudson-Odoi/Loftus-Cheek/-insert relevant youngster- would do a better job than that overpaid idiot -insert player from first XI, probably Willian-

 

 

What I'm not expecting to read in this thread:

- Why on earth have we stopped playing short corners? We're clearly awful at just whacking it into the box, doubly true when you consider the lumps West Ham have in their side.

 

 

I would also like to wish our dear friend @just all the best in his recovery from the heart attack/stroke/brain haemorrhage I assume he suffered while screaming at the many baffling decisions David Luiz made this afternoon. Get well soon mate!

We didn't play well today but we still got our best players into positions where they usually hurt the opposition, today though we didn't produce the quality in the important moments. 

The usual suspects will obviously get some stick, but hazard wasted 2 big moments in the 2nd half trying to play flicks to morata, when he should be shot himself, or just played a simple pass. 

It's no surprise to me, that when hazard doesn't play well, we invariably drop points. We don't have a lot of match winners, or players that will pop up with goals at key times. Pedro was a miss in that sense because when on form, he is the most capable outside of hazard.

It's early days under sarri, so far we have been great, but it's still very much a work in progress, he will probably need another summer before we are really ready to mix it with the best over the course of a season. 

Some big games coming up, hopefully we get a big win or two.

1 hour ago, PloKoon13 said:

- Why on earth have we stopped playing short corners? We're clearly awful at just whacking it into the box, doubly true when you consider the lumps West Ham have in their side.

I discerned a plan though watching Willian's signals. One finger means drive it into their keeper's hands and two fingers means float it into their keeper's hands.

 

It was interesting seeing Barclay trying and failing to get the ball from Willian to take that set piece in the 85th minute. It would have been worth a try as set pieces looked like our best chance at scoring and we had enough of them. Ross looked on it when he came on.

This result was coming. Last few games have been very similar but this time we couldn't snatch a late goal. We have royally messed up in the transfer window not signing a goal hungry attacking player or two. 

I can’t see Kante and Jorginho switching places, Sarri wouldn’t reposition his star man, to accommodate Kante. It would make more sense to swap Kante and Kovacic tactically, Kova being the one getting in to advanced positions, Kante playing slightly deeper, although Kova is better at playing the slightly deeper role, it would be interesting to see how it goes. Otherwise, I do see Kante being dropped, controversial I know, but he’s never going to be the Lampard that Sarri wants, not in a million years, Mason Mount is the type of player we need...

8 hours ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Abusing someone for having a different opinion to you.. stay classy mate. 

Are you having a f**king laugh? Look up the word hypocrite, and then cross reference it with all your posts abusing people for having a differing opinion on Willian to yours! f**king moron of the highest order!

I think today showed where we are as a team at the moment. Sarri has got us retaining the ball better and passing neatly enough but with little cutting edge and no consistent use of width. A Pat Nevin or Damien Duff in our side would be a godsend. 

West Ham were good value for the draw, and that was without their best striker. IMO any talk of us winning the EPL this season is laughable. Getting that 4th spot is the goal this year and it won't be easy. In fact if anything happens to Hazard it will be nigh on impossible. And that's the difference with Liverpool and Citeh. They are more complete teams with more complete squads. They don't have an over reliance on one single player.

The PL game against Liverpool next week is also probably going to be the first time our defence will be put under periods of sustained pressure. So far it has been comfortable for them because they haven't faced any real quality. Let's see how they cope.

Sarri has done a great job but lets face it, our squad just lacks goal scoring players, when Hazard is playing casually nothing happens and everyone else is just not as consistent.
Having Morata + Giroud is like having the same type of a player in the end of the day even if they are very different - the striker that just doesn't make a big difference in front of the goal.

Still think that the team has the quality to finish as a top 4 team but West Ham is actually pretty bad and their best player Arnautovic that made 80% of their goals wasn't even playing, not our best game.