2 minutes ago, DukesOfHazard said:

Agreed! 3months into what can only be described as the strongest EPL i can remember and were 4th. Some agames aren't perfect like today but thats life.

This is not the strongest the Premier League has ever been, not by a long shot. There is more competition for the top 4 places, but I think the league is much weaker than it was between 2000-2010.

4 minutes ago, yorkleyblue said:

So a typical melt-down in here.  A lot of you people need to mellow down instead.  Some days it just ain't gonna be your day.  I knew that when a ball going out for a corner hit the flag pole and bounced back off Alonso for a goal kick.

Willy-whiners, tell me how he was worse than Hazard or Pedro today.  Ruben was worse when he came on.

Just accept it lads, sh*t happens.

 

Still, we can blame Willian and Luiz and Alonso for the Leicester goal, can't we?  Oh, wait a minute.  No, I dont think we can.

A melt down here when we lose is a sure thing just like your post telling everyone to stop acting like spoilt twats and my one pointing out you’re wasting your breath. 

4 minutes ago, atomis said:

Patience is one thing.......but getting there is another matter. Again im not saying sack the man.........but he clearly neeeds to adapt cuz this will give him the the sack at some point. And Again we are paying for the boards lack of vision that will most likely prove to be lethal. Can you say we are slowly but surely getting more stable and better? Or is it the opposite? The latter for me.

Paying for the boards lack of vision yes but this is the issue here, can we really afford to sack another manager because we didnt win something in the first 18months? We are spoilt here with what some fantastic coaches have done for us, however what we got with Conte was pretty much Jose's ideas defend first and counter except the formation, Sarri is trying to change a whole lot more than just the formation and it takes time. All i can say is at least we are trying i'd rather not win anything for two years and be able to go to matches excited about what we are about to watch instead of watching defensive football.

But 100% agree the board are largely to blame for this, look what the city board did for pep

3 minutes ago, DukesOfHazard said:

I just think we need some patience, we can see the team trying to change their style and is it perfect yet no but its a work in progress.

People called out on here for some stability in the club instead of the chop and change managerial merry go round, not to mention the park the bus football we are used to yet here we are with people calling for Sarri to abandon his philisophies becuase 3 months in we are in the top 4 of the league, league cup semi finals and finished top of europa group. We clearly hired him for what he brought to napoli but again this took time and with no DOF to help get this across to the board and into signings and a few players who just arent clicking with it yet, again time and patience rome wasnt built in a day or 3months

You are correct regarding patience and understanding that implementing a new radically different playing style requires time, not to mention a suitable personnel. We absolutely have to give Sarri both time to work on his ideas with the squad and money to back him in the transfer market.

That doesn't mean we shouldn't criticize the man when he deserves it. Picking the same players regardless of their current form is not a good message to the rest of the squad. Retaining possession is all well and good, but it's what you do with that possession is what really counts. Time and again we have all of the ball and create very little in the final third. I'm sick and tired of watching sideways and backwards passess that 99% of the time lead to nothing, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.  Why not play more direct when Plan A isn't working?

O well beer and it's Xmas!! For what's it's worth a club of our statue doesn't have a proper striker? Laughable!!

2 minutes ago, DukesOfHazard said:

Paying for the boards lack of vision yes but this is the issue here, can we really afford to sack another manager because we didnt win something in the first 18months? We are spoilt here with what some fantastic coaches have done for us, however what we got with Conte was pretty much Jose's ideas defend first and counter except the formation, Sarri is trying to change a whole lot more than just the formation and it takes time. All i can say is at least we are trying i'd rather not win anything for two years and be able to go to matches excited about what we are about to watch instead of watching defensive football.

But 100% agree the board are largely to blame for this, look what the city board did for pep

I agree with any of your points........but whatever happened to managing your squad? You do with what you have and get the best of it, this is not it. We must be more clever and Work towards getting there at some point, instead of just saying its a diffirent style and it will take time. Adapt and be flexible.......if a said player aint doint the bits then bench him, have a plan b, play with pace etc. We aint doint none of that.

Really poor second half but this is not Sarri's team yet, nowhere near it. Leicester have just demonstrated the difference a proven goal-scorer makes to a team and their play. Board take notice. 

Oh and someone remind Sarri he has to go and piss at all four corners of the Pitch to break that SODDING CHELSEA STRIKER'S CURSE.

5 minutes ago, abramovich said:

You are correct regarding patience and understanding that implementing a new radically different playing style requires time, not to mention a suitable personnel. We absolutely have to give Sarri both time to work on his ideas with the squad and money to back him in the transfer market.

That doesn't mean we shouldn't criticize the man when he deserves it. Picking the same players regardless of their current form is not a good message to the rest of the squad. Retaining possession is all well and good, but it's what you do with that possession is what really counts. Time and again we have all of the ball and create very little in the final third. I'm sick and tired of watching sideways and backwards passess that 99% of the time lead to nothing, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.  Why not play more direct when Plan A isn't working?

He was quite direct at Napoli im sure its just the players not getting it but then it comes back to the personel who can he turn to to try and change it.

Keep seeing trust in the process etc,if we dont get CL again we wont get the players in to finish the process, one season out of CL has been bad enough, a second year is catastrophic and its downhill from there

7 minutes ago, DukesOfHazard said:

He was quite direct at Napoli im sure its just the players not getting it but then it comes back to the personel who can he turn to to try and change it.

"The players not getting it" is a bit of a convenient excuse though. I'm a genius, it's just the players not getting it. That's part of his job to get the message through, one way or the other.

When posters are saying they want to see us play more direct, genuinely what is it they want to see? Every time the ball goes long to giroud or morata, it usually bounces off them anyway. Teams sit deep and counter us regardless of how we set up. It's been like that for years.  

We were a more direct team last year under conte, yet we still put some awful perfomances in, we looked even more toothless in attack, and our midfield was a shambles.

Last season we had a big problem in the midfield, a big problem with the attack. We have made signings and steps to fix the midfield, but that group of attackers just aren't up to it.  

9 minutes ago, Frankie8Lampard said:

I think it's a bit early for people to be saying "Sarriball" doesn't work in the league. As others have mentioned, Sarri came in quite late in the summer and it is still his first season which tends to be the "analysis" season for most managers. Klopp and Pep didn't have City and Liverpool playing like this in one season. I think as Chelsea fans we have become too spoiled with instant success where the manager wins the title in his first season. Some of the comments here are giving me the impression that some fans already want him out which is absolutely disgraceful

I certainly don't want him out, you will very rarely see me asking for that unless it's going very very wrong. What I will say though is that I don't even know what this Sarriball is supposed to be. So far, all it seems to be is pass the ball to death and wait for a moment to pick off the team. The problem is that Premier League teams outside of the top 6 thrive in these conditions, they are happy to let you pass about slowly and take the rare chance they get, it's been something Premier League teams have been doing for as long as I have been watching football. What these teams don't like is fast paced, direct football. If you are constantly moving their defence around and keeping them on their toes, eventually they are going to find themselves a bit a disjointed which creates chances for the opposition. Every successful Premier League team has done this, so it would make sense to try a bit of this ourselves.

I don't see what is so entertaining about spending large portions of a game waiting for us to break a team down that won't actually budge from the defensive position. We can bring in as many players as we like, but it won't change anything unless our approach to games is quicker and more direct. David Luiz seems to be the only player to actually force things at times, and he's a CB. This possession based, safe football isn't getting us anywhere. If anything, we are getting worse.

10 minutes ago, abramovich said:

"The players not getting it" is a bit of a convenient excuse though. I'm a genius, it's just the players not getting it. That's part of his job to get the message through, one way or the other.

It certainly is but 3 months isn't a lot of time to do it in, we've seen glimpses of what he wants we just haven't put it together for a game yet just as Pep and Jurgen did in their first seasons.

I could be wrong but with the squad we have and the short period of time we've had him I just think some people are jumping the gun to quick. If it's the same come say February/March after he gets a player or two he wants then perhaps we can start questioning him.

Edited December 22, 20187 yr by DukesOfHazard

2 minutes ago, DukesOfHazard said:

It certainly is but 3 months isn't a lot of time to do it in, we've seen glimpses of what he wants we just haven't put it together for a game yet just as Pep and Jurgen did in their first seasons.

I could be wrong but with the squad we have and the shirt period of time we've had him I just think some people are jumping the gun to quick. If it's the same come say February/March after he gets a player or two he wants then perhaps we can start questioning him.

I agree .. A new manager usually need a year to sign his type of player and get his system in place. He really needs a Bona Fide striker though sooner rather than later

All this tippy tappy would be fine if we could f**king finish, had at least 3 easy chances today and couldn't score those go in and we're talking about a decent win. Shocking lack of firepower for a top club.

35 minutes ago, big blue said:

When posters are saying they want to see us play more direct, genuinely what is it they want to see? Every time the ball goes long to giroud or morata, it usually bounces off them anyway. Teams sit deep and counter us regardless of how we set up. It's been like that for years.  

We were a more direct team last year under conte, yet we still put some awful perfomances in, we looked even more toothless in attack, and our midfield was a shambles.

Last season we had a big problem in the midfield, a big problem with the attack. We have made signings and steps to fix the midfield, but that group of attackers just aren't up to it.  

I don't mean direct like launching the ball up to the striker, I'm talking about getting it forward faster. Stop dilly-dallying around the box looking for tiny gaps, take a few shots at goal, keep the opposition guessing. Pressure teams, run at them in numbers, drive forward without slowing down as soon as we approach the final third. That is the directness I want to see. We have the players to do this, Hazard was made for that role, so is Kante, Willian, Pedro, Loftus-Cheek, they are all players that are better running at the team, as soon as you tell them to slow down, play 5 yard passes sideways or look for gaps in the defence, they lose their way.

This group of players has never looked that good passing the ball to death, we have seen it fail countless times over the last 7 or 8 years. 

Edited December 22, 20187 yr by Scott Harris

So f**king poor.

I think it's fair to say we need some better players, especially a striker. 

Defeat is never nice but i am at the age now where i can handle it,sh*t happens.....UP THE CHELS !

We need to be patient and let Sarri put together his own team. January will be important in that respect. This season is the start of a much needed rebuild and it will take time. A competent striker, even on loan, would help in the short term though. 

I still think we should have played more youth and reserves against Bournemouth. Puel was criticized for resting half his team against Leicester but their team looked fresher today as a result.

I honestly do not understand the "false nine" thing !!! Play a real nine and get some balls into him.

 

Sarri says we played well for the first 55 minutes.

I say Sarri’s chatting sh*t.

 

5 minutes ago, enigma said:

 

Rudiger is very brutal in his interviews. It's good to see though, the last thing you want is your players brushing it off and accepting being second best. He clearly wants to be a winner with Chelsea.

United going from the most defensive football to a different style, 2 days working on it.... but we need 18 months and 11 new players ?????