I would give him a solid 7.

Changing from a pragmatic style to a possession based attacking style is not easy. Quite a few of the personnel we have in the team are a little limited and aren't cut out to play in this type of way but I've seen glimpses of what we can be under Maurizio Sarri.

Positives

- Eden Hazard's increase in assists and goals. I've always insisted that once we get an attacking manager, that his goals and assists would rack up and now he's the top goal contributor in the league. If he had some decent attackers next to him, he could easily have 5/6 more.

- Wins over Manchester City and Liverpool. Only team in England that has done that.

- Playing the ball out from the back. It was much better against Watford and you can see exactly what Sarri wants us to do. Gets the opposition to press and then Jorginho finds the ball through to Kovacic/Kante to supply the counter attack.

- Won our EL group with ease, still in the League Cup and in a Champions League spot.

- Chances created. Only City have created more chances than us in the league this season, we've created vastly more than Spurs & Liverpool. This is not Sarri's fault, more the players we have in attack not taking their chances.

 

Negatives

- Losses against Leicester and Wolves were particularly poor. Wasted plenty of chances (not Sarri's fault) but overall the game against Leicester was languid and boring.

- Picking out of form players. Willian and Alonso should be nowhere near the Chelsea team, they're not good enough and this season shows that. Willian has two goals, not good enough. No wonder we're over reliant on Hazard.

- Not trusting youth. I feel like CHO and Ampadu could have been given more of a chance but this seems to be a common trend with every manager we have.

 

Thoughts?

 

Edited December 27, 20187 yr by JMaher94

Agree with the positives. Disagree with some of negatives. Alonso has good games but bad games too. I think we need to rotate in this position more but he has made the most chances out of any other FB if I am sure. When you consider his contributions in attack, he is very high on the team assist part. Especially opening stages of the season, he was significant in many of our goals. The problem is that he has regressed and Sarri does not seem to trust Emerson there. But once again, he might not be top class but he has shown a lot of positives too.

I am one of a few who likes Willian. He has been poor for a while and while he does not score, I still think he is a useful asset and we will see better quality from him later on in season. He holds the ball well, decent passing range and a good team player but yes, he needs to improve his performances but he defo is a good squad member. There is a reason Sarri always plays him, despite him being frustrating.

But the main negative which you have failed to pick out is no top striker. They are far more problematic than Willian and Alonso for me.

40 minutes ago, STATS said:

Agree with the positives. Disagree with some of negatives. Alonso has good games but bad games too. I think we need to rotate in this position more but he has made the most chances out of any other FB if I am sure. When you consider his contributions in attack, he is very high on the team assist part. Especially opening stages of the season, he was significant in many of our goals. The problem is that he has regressed and Sarri does not seem to trust Emerson there. But once again, he might not be top class but he has shown a lot of positives too.

I am one of a few who likes Willian. He has been poor for a while and while he does not score, I still think he is a useful asset and we will see better quality from him later on in season. He holds the ball well, decent passing range and a good team player but yes, he needs to improve his performances but he defo is a good squad member. There is a reason Sarri always plays him, despite him being frustrating.

But the main negative which you have failed to pick out is no top striker. They are far more problematic than Willian and Alonso for me.

Only reason I didn't pick the no top striker is I limited this to just Sarri himself rather than just the team.

It's not his fault that we don't have a top class striker so I thought it would be harsh to judge him on that but I would agree with the point that we lack a top striker.

He's been great in all his media interviews as well.

Also deserves a lot of credit for bringing back a positive "happy" environment to the club after the toxic end to the Conte era

3 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

He's been great in all his media interviews as well.

I agree. He'll say stuff like "I don't know" or "I don't understand" rather than toss a player under the bus. That earns him a lot of loyalty in the dressing room and works well in recruitment as well when you know the manager has your back publicly, even if he scolds you privately. 

We know, EVERYONE knows there are problems in the squad right now, but parading them publicly does no one any good, except the manager looking for another job so he can say "see it's not my fault"...

Personally, I think he's the board's/club's dream manager... does a very good job and keeps any problems in house. When is the last time that happened? Been at least 6 seasons.

 

I like the direction he’s taking the club, he’s brought a bit of life back to the club and got me looking forward to games. I definitively prefer suffering with the ball than without!

As we’ve been told on numerous occasions by Napoli fans though, it’s best not to judge him on his first few months but the months after. A few clever signings in Jan (in & out) an we’ll see where we go. 

Turning a big ship 180 degrees takes a long time. Sarri hasn't grounded the ship, were still floating in high water, albeit in the wake of two other big boats. Sarri has plotted the course, we need the club to sail with him.

I see you took my advice to have a few more egg-nogs, then 

1 minute ago, yorkleyblue said:

I see you took my advice to have a few more egg-nogs, then 

It's rum, navy rum 

19 minutes ago, coco said:

Turning a big ship 180 degrees takes a long time. Sarri hasn't grounded the ship, were still floating in high water, albeit in the wake of two other big boats. Sarri has plotted the course, we need the club to sail with him.

But what about the seagulls and the trawler?

Just now, coco said:

It's rum, navy rum 

It’s obviously not pussers rum, you still have the ability to type!

10 minutes ago, coco said:

It's rum, navy rum 

Is it that wray and nephews stuff? That's lethal.

I think Sarri's doing well, an 8/10 from me.

I have said in previous posts the change to Sarriball will take time.  It's taken Klopp a season and a half to get Liverpool challenging, it took Pep a season to get Citeh playing his way.  We clearly need a striker who can put the ball in the net, and I suspect neither of our fullbacks (although I love Dave and Alonso) are quite the style that Sarri would want in his ideal team, but at half-time in season 1 I think all is good so far.

1 hour ago, Munkworth said:

It’s obviously not pussers rum, you still have the ability to type!

 

50 minutes ago, dkw said:

Is it that wray and nephews? stuff? That's lethal.

Woods 100     with Amertto and coke

4 minutes ago, coco said:

with Amertto and coke

aaah, the hairdressers' special.  Do you drive an MX5, by any chance?

11 minutes ago, yorkleyblue said:

aaah, the hairdressers' special.  Do you drive an MX5, by any chance?

take away the M

it the mrs drink  so youre' probably right,  i only touch brandy nowadays, and the odd beer.

A work in progress this season with a positive outlook for the near future (if given time and money).

one point better off than this time last season (40 pts) but one place worse off (4th)

the football is more attacking and free flowing & Eden is scoring more, but others are scoring less, is it more entertaining - that's subjective ?

The 2nd half of 2017-18 was to most of us not good. Here's wishing Sarri a better 2nd half of the season then, starting with a home win on Sunday and some new faces when the window opens (last year we got Giroud (been ok), Emerson (haven't seen much of him) & RB (who looked good for a month earlier in this season).

Above all for 2019 I would like the CFC Board to give Sarri the gift of time, its going to be a stern challenge to fend off the Gooners and a resurgent Man U to get 4th place; especially without a striker of any goal scoring merit. No point in sacking Sarri for not making top 4 and then the CL (know there is a EL back up), although for previous managers those were the P45 criteria. 

I would give him also a 7/10. He implemented a new system and still has time to fix some problems, he even dared to play with Hazard as a false 9 and won vs Man City, all in less than 6 months in work. But the end result is what matters.

The key is having a vision for the club, Sarri has a vision but it is still to be seen if it will be supported, Conte also had his own vision and it wasnt supported.

Also a big question if the club will benefit from a very impressive academy, because so far nobody is daring to fully trust in home grown talent but the board looks picky when it comes to spending so there is this strange mix going on where the club is clearly showing ambition by buying Kepa for example but at the same time not knowing what to do with Drinkwater/Bakayoko/Morata and so on, while thank God Loftus-Cheek couldn't be ignored any longer...

There are ways to do things and Sarri is choosing a nice way of doing them, he knows how to build a system and a team for the long run.

Liverpool got Klopp that first spent crazy on attack and then spent even more crazy on defense and now look at him he looks like a great manager, well Sarri will build a team by training and having particular personalities that Chelsea has been lacking for the past 4 years I dare to say, Sarri will bring back big personalities like Frankie and Ballack once were.

I would also give him a 7/10 at this stage of the season, still in all cup competitions and 4th in the table.

Makes subs at a decent time and normally the right ones.

Overall it has been pretty damn successful. There are no dull moments watching Chelsea but that is going to be the case regardless of the manager. He is 1 point better than Conte last season at this point, and Conte had the boys playing really well first half. We will see how the second half of the season goes obviously but things are very encouraging at the moment. I think if the board gives him the proper time and supports him with the correct players (which this is true about any top level manager, really) and they don't spend big on squad players he will excel and we will be in good hands.

All in all, things are looking positive. If we finish top 4 and hopefully win 1 of Carabao Cup, FA Cup, or Europa League and this season will be a success and a good planting point for the future.  

2 minutes ago, chiefBlueCFC said:

Overall it has been pretty damn successful. There are no dull moments watching Chelsea but that is going to be the case regardless of the manager. He is 1 point better than Conte last season at this point, and Conte had the boys playing really well first half. We will see how the second half of the season goes obviously but things are very encouraging at the moment. I think if the board gives him the proper time and supports him with the correct players (which this is true about any top level manager, really) and they don't spend big on squad players he will excel and we will be in good hands.

All in all, things are looking positive. If we finish top 4 and hopefully win 1 of Carabao Cup, FA Cup, or Europa League and this season will be a success and a good planting point for the future.  

I think there were a fair few of them on the forum against Watford that disagreed with that statement.

I give him a 9/10.  

First Hazard is still here, that wasn't a given, and even if he left in January now, it's nowhere near as bad, given the timing of his hiring.

We are top 4 in league with an aging attack. I also feel like he sounds so classy in all of his responses, the way he talks about opposing managers, and how he handled his assistant with Mourinho.

Players are getting better with him, he has a clearly defined vision for the team and while many would like him more flexible, it does make it easier to purchase players for him going forward.  While I'd love to see more CHO, he did just turn 18, and he is now getting minutes. I think you have to give him a little time to adopt his system before judging how well he will add young players to it.  It can be tough to teach a new system, and teach young players.  I think we will see him integrate the younger players much more in the second half.  Hazard will have his most effective year as a Blue.

10 hours ago, Wearyourblue said:

I give him a 9/10.  

First Hazard is still here, that wasn't a given, and even if he left in January now, it's nowhere near as bad, given the timing of his hiring.

We are top 4 in league with an aging attack. I also feel like he sounds so classy in all of his responses, the way he talks about opposing managers, and how he handled his assistant with Mourinho.

Players are getting better with him, he has a clearly defined vision for the team and while many would like him more flexible, it does make it easier to purchase players for him going forward.  While I'd love to see more CHO, he did just turn 18, and he is now getting minutes. I think you have to give him a little time to adopt his system before judging how well he will add young players to it.  It can be tough to teach a new system, and teach young players.  I think we will see him integrate the younger players much more in the second half.  Hazard will have his most effective year as a Blue.

Good post, although 9/10 doesn't leave much space for improvement, 7/10 sounds about right, a good rating all considered.

11 hours ago, Strider6003 said:

I think there were a fair few of them on the forum against Watford that disagreed with that statement.

And Leicester !!!!!!!!!

23 minutes ago, coco said:

And Leicester !!!!!!!!!

Very true.