The table is too short to care about it in this moment. Defensively we can improve with training, I'm worried about offensive problems: Morata and Giroud aren't good enough for this system, so I think we can try something different, like 4-3-1-2 with Hazard/Willian behind a couple of strikers, like Pedro, Morata, Willian, without a central one. But I know Sarri and he won't try anything if we are far 2 points to top of the table.

Pogba glided past out midfield with ease a few times. We couldn't handle him sometimes and we looked very feeble and weak. However with circumstances of game, delighted with a point, as I thought we had lost that. Was not impressed with a lot of our players today. Can't really say who impressed me. Maybe Rudiger and Barkley came on and made that difference.

Willian was poor in open play but created the first goal and put in a wonderful cross for Willian which should have been scored. Also, don't seem much people state anything about him, however Kante looks very lost in this role. He is not really offering much In this system. He made a very good anticipation from Pogba yesterday, but not really having much effect on the game. His lack of ball playing qualities concern me and what concerns me even more is that he is regularly sloppy in possession now and loses more duels than he used to be. I just feel with where he is being played, we would be better off having a player with attacking threat. This current, more advanced role does not suit him but it as if Sarri has to play him wherever because he cannot be dropped. Not sure if anyone sees it like me, but think we need more from Kante. He is considered one of the best around in his position but there are matches this season where he is not having much affect at all.

The rest of the team were just not good enough. Spurs are on same points as us now, albeit less GD. Arsenal will prob join us and Spurs on level points on Monday night too. That game against Burnley is so important now. We need to rotate in the week now as the top 4 race is already hot and we cannot afford to drop any points before that Spurs game.

 

57 minutes ago, coco said:

Young should have been sent off yesterday, if the premier league want to see great football, you have to stop players like Young from making stupid challenges and protect the players on the pitch, especially the talented ones who help the EPL brand flourish. Scissor tackles after the ball has gone are dangerous and outlawed, Gary Neville said the ball had gone by then, but that doesn't stop Young clattering him, it was at least a 2nd yellow, if not straight red.

Mata should have had a straight red, he was not under control and could have seriously injured Azpilcueta, text book red card, shouldnt of been on the pitch to create their 2nd.

 

 

 

Systematic fouling if hazard is now commonplace unfortunately, and refs like Dean allowing it is a disgrace.

15 minutes ago, STATS said:

Pogba glided past out midfield with ease a few times. We couldn't handle him sometimes and we looked very feeble and weak. However with circumstances of game, delighted with a point, as I thought we had lost that. Was not impressed with a lot of our players today. Can't really say who impressed me. Maybe Rudiger and Barkley came on and made that difference.

Willian was poor in open play but created the first goal and put in a wonderful cross for Willian which should have been scored. Also, don't seem much people state anything about him, however Kante looks very lost in this role. He is not really offering much In this system. He made a very good anticipation from Pogba yesterday, but not really having much effect on the game. His lack of ball playing qualities concern me and what concerns me even more is that he is regularly sloppy in possession now and loses more duels than he used to be. I just feel with where he is being played, we would be better off having a player with attacking threat. This current, more advanced role does not suit him but it as if Sarri has to play him wherever because he cannot be dropped. Not sure if anyone sees it like me, but think we need more from Kante. He is considered one of the best around in his position but there are matches this season where he is not having much affect at all.

The rest of the team were just not good enough. Spurs are on same points as us now, albeit less GD. Arsenal will prob join us and Spurs on level points on Monday night too. That game against Burnley is so important now. We need to rotate in the week now as the top 4 race is already hot and we cannot afford to drop any points before that Spurs game.

 

Re the bit about Kante.

Agree 100%. I want Sarri to stay for a few years at least no matter what, because he wants his teams to win playing attacking football. However, he's backed himself into a corner with the Jorghino and Kante situation. Sarri has basically taken a player who was the best in the world in his position, to a player who should no longer even be in the Chelsea team.  Sarri won't lose face by dropping Jorghino and put Kante back where he belongs and he won't drop Kante either.  Jorghino is THE central problem to this team. He offers no protection to the back four and offers nothing going forward. People have become obsessed by his pass percentage but do not look at what he's not doing. Its crazy to build a team around a player who actually brings so little to the team. 

1 hour ago, coco said:

Young should have been sent off yesterday, if the premier league want to see great football, you have to stop players like Young from making stupid challenges and protect the players on the pitch, especially the talented ones who help the EPL brand flourish. Scissor tackles after the ball has gone are dangerous and outlawed, Gary Neville said the ball had gone by then, but that doesn't stop Young clattering him, it was at least a 2nd yellow, if not straight red.

Mata should have had a straight red, he was not under control and could have seriously injured Azpilcueta, text book red card, shouldnt of been on the pitch to create their 2nd.

 

 

 

It all went as intended then.......of course they would make it harder for us. Cant get too close to their darlings can we now.......while pool spurs etc really do benefit what refs do for them. Our fault we didnt win yes, but doesnt mean the ref wasnt trying to make life difficult for us......aint the first time we are here nor the last, corrupt usesless insects.

42 minutes ago, Dixon said:

Re the bit about Kante.

Agree 100%. I want Sarri to stay for a few years at least no matter what, because he wants his teams to win playing attacking football. However, he's backed himself into a corner with the Jorghino and Kante situation. Sarri has basically taken a player who was the best in the world in his position, to a player who should no longer even be in the Chelsea team.  Sarri won't lose face by dropping Jorghino and put Kante back where he belongs and he won't drop Kante either.  Jorghino is THE central problem to this team. He offers no protection to the back four and offers nothing going forward. People have become obsessed by his pass percentage but do not look at what he's not doing. Its crazy to build a team around a player who actually brings so little to the team. 

I agree we are not utilising Kante effectively yet without Jorginho we wont be able to paly out from the back in a flat four. 

What interests me is where Kante was when Pogba was charging through from defensive midfield to threaten our box. 

19 hours ago, mojo said:

Luiz laying down and just contemplating Barkley stealing his goal

6 hours ago, Valerie said:

I think we can safely say that neither the Chelsea staff member nor Mourinho covered himself with glory. I am wondering though who would have won the fight between them if Mourinho hadn't been restrained 

Much respect for what he done here, however Mourinho in a fight ?. The man appears to be a coward when it comes to physical confrontation, he is a bully. Just look at how he acted when Wenger slightly pushed him in the technical area.

Lool Mourinho can only give it behind the camera. If old frail man Wenger can push him about, i think we already know the answer to that.

6 minutes ago, Oli said:

Lool Mourinho can only give it behind the camera. If old frail man Wenger can push him about, i think we already know the answer to that.

Whether he is a coward or not I cannot say.

The event with Wenger was clever he made Wenger look like an aggressor in the eyes of the officials. I think this was a ploy to irritate Arsene and put him off the match.

On 20/10/2018 at 16:58, Eight Times said:

Remember when he used to mock Wenger for living on past glories? 

 

An embarrassment of a man. He can quite easily give it out, whether it's pocking someone in the eye, shushing opposition fans, or telling a rival manager to calm his celebrations... but he certainly cannot take it.

 

Absolutely sick of the joker, and all his drama.  Thank God we don't have to put up with it every week.

Tbf I dislike when people say he bullied Wenger, he didn't, Wenger kept talking about him continuously and saying he's scared of failure, all Mourinho did was respond to him saying "If there was anyone who would know about being scared of failure it's him, he's a specialist in failure"

Good for him, Wenger needed knocking down a few pegs. 

4 minutes ago, Slojo said:

Tbf I dislike when people say he bullied Wenger, he didn't, Wenger kept talking about him continuously and saying he's scared of failure, all Mourinho did was respond to him saying "If there was anyone who would know about being scared of failure it's him, he's a specialist in failure"

Good for him, Wenger needed knocking down a few pegs. 

It's a shame Wenger is not a writing type his take on his battles with Mourinho could make an interesting chapter.

One day later and this result is still as crap as it was yesterday.

22 hours ago, big blue said:

Typical early kick off after an international break. 

There was very little intensity in the first half, we took advantage of pogba's error and got the goal. After that we played well until half time, pressed the life out of them, and they couldn't get the ball off us. 

Second half we gave them encouragement by not pressing, and trying to force the play, instead of just killing the game by keeping the ball. 

The equaliser had an element of luck to it with the double deflection, however what is alonso doing feigning injury in our 6 yard box, instead of getting up and clearing the danger. He didn't even need treatment. Christiensen did something similar at old Trafford last season and was rightly critised for it. 

Second goal was a mistake from Luiz, he judged it wrong and we got punished, maybe Azpiliucueta could've done better since it was obvious martial would go with his right, but it was a great finish.

We showed good character to keep plugging away, and a pint that late on almost feels like win. 

Hazard wasn't great today, looked a little leggy, and that exposed the lack of quality we have in that front 3. 

So nothing new learned, Luiz has an error in him, we need a better striker and right winger, and early kick offs aren't great for big games. 

Saved me from typing mate,spot on UP THE CHELS !

All in all, WE NEED A STRIKER!!! Or put Hazard as n°9. 

On 20/10/2018 at 16:26, King Didier said:

Contrary to the popular belief, the best footballers in modern game are those who can sustain a pressing game. Tony Kroos, modric, casemiro, iniesta, busquests etc keeps composure and wait for late pass when pressed and it takes the defender out of equation creating space which Marcelo / Dani Alves use to debating effect with their ability to burst in pace. We have a similar player in Kovacic, when he went off in Liverpool game we lost our way. Today we lost our way when he was Substituted. Alonso is no Marcelo either

Yeah, I really don't get it why he's constantly taken off in games like these which are still very close.

We seem to lose control of the midfield every time it happens. It happened during the Liverpool game and yesterday too.

Other thing is, Barkley may have took his chance with 2 goals in 2 games but this game + the Liverpool one, he was largely at fault for two goals. You can blame Alonso being high up on the pitch for United's second but there was such a big hole between him and Luiz which should've been covered a lot better.

I like Ross a lot and I think he can thrive under Sarri but I don't think he should come on for Kovacic in big games, but it seems Sarri likes to stick to his 4-3-3 under any circumstances, and Jorginho is undroppable. If he took off Kante everyone would've go for his head.

 

Edited October 21, 20187 yr by Ledgerson

What might work is that when Barkley replaces Kovacic then Alonso needs to stick at LCB with no forward forays.

7 minutes ago, Strider6003 said:

What might work is that when Barkley replaces Kovacic then Alonso needs to stick at LCB with no forward forays.

I don't think Barkley will replace Kovacic. I personally think there's a huge drop off in overall quality of the team every time Barkley enters the field, or plays ahead of the Croat. We lose defensive structure, offensive pressing and the quick give-and-go passes, and him being a better finisher than Kovacic isn't enough to let him start imo.

On top of that, if you're going to remove Alonso from his non-traditional left back role, you might as well start someone else, because the Spaniard doesn't really do anything a traditional left back should do well.

1 minute ago, opinionsarelike said:

I don't think Barkley will replace Kovacic. I personally think there's a huge drop off in overall quality of the team every time Barkley enters the field, or plays ahead of the Croat. We lose defensive structure, offensive pressing and the quick give-and-go passes, and him being a better finisher than Kovacic isn't enough to let him start imo.

On top of that, if you're going to remove Alonso from his non-traditional left back role, you might as well start someone else, because the Spaniard doesn't really do anything a traditional left back should do well.

Well the other option would be to swap Barkley and Kante, yet I think Kovacic is on the left not just to cover Alonso yet also feed Hazard.  Kante's passing is not the best.

Kovacic better than Barkley, Barkley better than Kante, Kante lost in his role, Alonso great, Alonso sh!t, Sarri's tactics wrong. Crap result against a poor Manure team.

Guys...unbeaten. The cowardly Man City tactics of last season a distant memory. Unbeaten and can't wait for Burnley away. Up the Chels.

Morata is a championship player at best though, that is true

8 hours ago, Dixon said:

 and offers nothing going forward. People have become obsessed by his pass percentage but do not look at what he's not doing. Its crazy to build a team around a player who actually brings so little to the team. 

What a load of rubbish. 

11 hours ago, Strider6003 said:

I'm thinking that Sarri is giving Morata a chance to get his confidence back as when he is in form he is a top player, the question is how long do you leave it with him in poor form.

For me I would make the switch now.

I think being in poor form for a year constitutes dropping him for Giroud. 

5 hours ago, axman2526 said:

One day later and this result is still as crap as it was yesterday.

It could have been worse mate, we are in a great position right now, we are doing well. We should have won but United are a threat, people can't write them off, they have quality and they can give anyone trouble on their day, sadly we allowed them to get back into the game with silly errors. It wasn't so much like the Arsenal game where there was some clear shocking defending and glaring lack of quality at the back, they never really had that many chances, but neither did we either. However, anyone besides a United fan can say we were the best team on the pitch, at the end of the day though it's the result that matters most. 

I don't think this result will effect the team too much, we're still doing really well, but we must realise that Arsenal aren't that far behind, and Tottenham are level on points with us (somehow) despite playing sh*t, so we need to realise we can easily drop out of the top 4 if we have a few bad losses. 

2 hours ago, dkw said:

What a load of rubbish. 

To say he "offers nothing going forward" is horse sh*t. 

I do think at times Kante slows the tempo, because he isn't naturally gifted in the passing department, that's not his forte. In a few games this season I've noticed that he's ruined the momentum up top because he can't pass and join in the final 3rd like Hazard, Kovacic, Jorginho, Giroud, Willian & Pedro. But that's about it really, to say he offers nothing is rubbish, if anything he's sometimes our most dangerous player when moving forward, in certain games every time he moves forward with the ball something happens, however in games where we have about 80% possession and were breaking teams down he can really slow the play down and allow the opposition to regroup and think for a second. 

I think the most notable time of this was in the Newcastle game, but I could be wrong. 

On 12/10/2018 at 11:50, PloKoon13 said:

Expert prediction: Matic to scythe down Hazard at some point, then them both to grin at each other as Matic helps him to his feet. Mourinho to applaud respectfully from the sidelines. This will be one of ten fouls on Eden Hazard that afternoon.

Close but no cigar unfortunately:

- Matic did scythe down Hazard, but the 'grin and extended hand' occurred between Mata and Azpilicueta.

- Hazard was fouled a mere 5 times. Apparently this is actually less than his average at home against Mourinho's Man Utd, as he is fouled on average 5.5 times per game.