5 minutes ago, Petworth Chelsea Fan said:

Alonso will get a ban for eye gauging so Emerson best take his chance

FA fcuking us over as usual ... Retrospective bans only apply to us. Fcuk them. Seriously fcuk them ! We better keep the FA cup at SW6 for that reason alone and fight for ourselves in the LC too !

3 hours ago, Zola said:

"This group of players are extremely?????? difficult to motivate.??

Yet I keep picking the same ones, again and again and again. 

Definition of insanity 

5 hours ago, Brutos said:

So does forum want as our next manager then?

I was gutted we got rid of a serial winner like Conte. But then i was one of the only ones. Be careful what you wish for.

33 minutes ago, Londonisblue said:

FA fcuking us over as usual ... Retrospective bans only apply to us. Fcuk them. Seriously fcuk them ! We better keep the FA cup at SW6 for that reason alone and fight for ourselves in the LC too !

Salahs 100 dives spring to mind. However, its actually doing us a favour this time.

5 hours ago, WalterWhiteCFC said:

sarri not playing games in the post match presser, and it’s like I always said the core of this squad has a weak mentality it’s not the managers, sacking managers send the wrong message 

Then Sarri should stop picking the same players every week and give some others a chance. Give Emerson a few games over Alonso. Recall Cahill who might not be technically gifted but is at least mentally strong. Start Hudson-Odoi over Willian. Stop bloody picking Kovacic. And just stop playing Hazard and Kante out of position.

And call me old fashioned, but try playing a striker. It’s not bloody rocket science.

57 minutes ago, Socrates said:

Then Sarri should stop picking the same players every week and give some others a chance. Give Emerson a few games over Alonso. Recall Cahill who might not be technically gifted but is at least mentally strong. Start Hudson-Odoi over Willian. Stop bloody picking Kovacic. And just stop playing Hazard and Kante out of position.

And call me old fashioned, but try playing a striker. It’s not bloody rocket science.

A roundly poor performance with little to recommend it, especially given the stakes.

I have been willing to defend Sarri because there are obvious personnel issues and I can see what he's trying to do, but if we dredge up more performances like this he is in serious danger of falling into AVB/Scolari territory - poor football with little sign of positive progression.

5 hours ago, Phillip said:

For players who are not English, like the bulk of our players, this means nothing to them. 

It mattered to Arsenal though, with only one English player in their starting line up.

3 hours ago, Oli said:

I was gutted we got rid of a serial winner like Conte. But then i was one of the only ones. Be careful what you wish for.

Conte was toxic and a one-trick pony. He had long expired and needed to go.

I would take Simeone in a heartbeat.

Incompetent manager and clueless players made my eyes hurt watching them, Judging by how we played in the last few games, shouldn't be surprised if came to this. Players just not showing up on time for the game mentally, many are complacent because they are getting regardles, nobody really wanted to take the bull by it's horn when the going is tough. For me, the biggest problem in the team is Jorginho, this is the guy who's supposed to dictate the temp, kick start the attack from defence, and does his defensive bits when needed. He's not doing any of that, unable to pass it out when being pressed, no long passing game, and can't defend to save his life. When you have a system that require this player to run it, you are stuffed when he's not performing week in week out. The scary thing is there's no alternative, Sarri will keep playing him until he leaves. Alonso, just about the worst left back in the game when he's not scoring, it's absurd he's playing every game. I could point every player out, but Sarri already done it. This is just like a year ago, we were ok, then we linked with a striker and we fall apart

11 hours ago, OnePeterOsgood said:

Pedrillian?

Personally I thought Willedro was even more useless of the two.

6 hours ago, Socrates said:

Then Sarri should stop picking the same players every week and give some others a chance. Give Emerson a few games over Alonso. Recall Cahill who might not be technically gifted but is at least mentally strong. Start Hudson-Odoi over Willian. Stop bloody picking Kovacic. And just stop playing Hazard and Kante out of position.

And call me old fashioned, but try playing a striker. It’s not bloody rocket science.

Yes, we are just over complicating at moment, no striker, no through ball, no running behind, no crossing, no wonder we don't score. A derby game like yesterday, you need a striker to be able to hold on the ball and play direct, we just passed it around for 94 minutes and made an @ss of ourself.  Play CHO as winger, whip the cross in for striker, at least create panic to the defence. Sarri made the striker probem as the Morata problem, and we didn't even have a striker that get into the box to miss those chances yesterday. That Higuain better be a goal scoring machine, if he fails , I could see Sarri collecting big pay off and go back to Italy at the end of the season.

Not suggesting Sarri hasn't been stubborn with his selections, but for those calling him out for the wrong team (again) yesterday, from what I've seen its the best 11 we've had all season.

The back four and goalkeeper are fairly set, the only popular question mark seems to be over Alonso/Emerson. Personally beyond being an aerial option I don't see why Alonso consistently wins that battle, but Emerson's hardly set the world alight when he has played. Presumably Alonso trains better / is a bigger part of the team behind the scenes.

For those unhappy with Jorginho being the deep lying midfielder, it's fairly critical to Sarri's favoured system that a pace dictator / playmaker sits in that spot - allowing us to escape a high press quickly. Now I agree Jorginho's been fairly inconsistent in that role, but there really isn't another player for that barring maybe Kovacic now Cesc has left. We're barely half a season into Sarri's tenure too, is it not a bit short sighted to demand he changes such a critical part of his team structure as a short term fix? Kante's obviously been incredible in that part of the pitch in recent years, but he has been becoming more and more effective in his higher role as the season's progressed - now an occasional goal threat and a lethal presser/interceptor in the final third.

On the other central midfielders - we only had Barkley available as an alternative - on form that midfield 3 were absolutely correct for me.

And on the front 3 - I personally dislike Hazard as a middle man (as do the majority) but Giroud and Morata have offered next to nothing in that role for the majority of the season. Hazard's a threat there for sure, easier to nullify like yesterday, but that front 3 worked against Newcastle the previous game, absolutely justified. 

Same goes for Willian and Pedro. I'd personally prefer Hudson Odoi over Willian, but him and Pedro won our last match, naturally they were going to continue.

Just thought I'd throw in a bit of support for Sarri - we're quick to criticize the manager, yet pretty much every decision he's made so far has been fairly reasonable when you think about it. Give him the season at the absolute least, we're still in a very strong position for a 'transitional' season.

Edited January 20, 20197 yr by spadefx

Not suggesting Sarri hasn't been stubborn with his selections, but for those calling him out for the wrong team (again) yesterday, from what I've seen its the best 11 we've had all season.
The back four and goalkeeper are fairly set, the only popular question mark seems to be over Alonso/Emerson. Personally beyond being an aerial option I don't see why Alonso consistently wins that battle, but Emerson's hardly set the world alight when he has played. Presumably Alonso trains better / is a bigger part of the team behind the scenes.
For those unhappy with Jorginho being the deep lying midfielder, it's fairly critical to Sarri's favoured system that a pace dictator / playmaker sits in that spot - allowing us to escape a high press quickly. Now I agree Jorginho's been fairly inconsistent in that role, but there really isn't another player for that barring maybe Kovacic now Cesc has left. We're barely half a season into Sarri's tenure too, is it not a bit short sighted to demand he changes such a critical part of his team structure as a short term fix? Kante's obviously been incredible in that part of the pitch in recent years, but he has been becoming more and more effective in his higher role as the season's progressed - now an occasional goal threat and a lethal presser/interceptor in the final third.
On the other central midfielders - we only had Barkley available as an alternative - on form that midfield 3 were absolutely correct for me.
And on the front 3 - I personally dislike Hazard as a middle man (as do the majority) but Giroud and Morata have offered next to nothing in that role for the majority of the season. Hazard's a threat there for sure, easier to nullify like yesterday, but that front 3 worked against Newcastle the previous game, absolutely justified. 
Same goes for Willian and Pedro. I'd personally prefer Hudson Odoi over Willian, but him and Pedro won our last match, naturally they were going to continue.
Just thought I'd throw in a bit of support for Sarri - we're quick to criticize the manager, yet pretty much every decision he's made so far has been fairly reasonable when you think about it. Give him the season at the absolute least, we're still in a very strong position for a 'transitional' season.

The only reason Kante has become more effective in the higher role is because we have nobody else up there. Kante is a gifted player and will get on with it but that is not the same as utilising what everyone sees as his optimum position.

Hopefully this is another blip yet some signs suggest otherwise notably Sarri speaking in Italian criticising the team.

Other teams can read our game it reminds me of the crocodiles waiting expectantly on the African rivers as the Wildebeast and Zebras all approach.

Luiz's outlet to Pedro almost got us back in yet was too little.

Lacazette goal was a good one yet what was Pedro doing in the left five yard box defending against Lacazette.

As we have said before we need a plan B when Sarri's game plan is not working, feel RLC with his strong ball running through midfield might have made a difference.

Kepa kept the score sensible it could have been a heavier defeat.

A bad start to a week of three games every three days.

If we can dust ourselves off from this we have Tottenham without Kane or Son and they are playing today so we should be fresher.

We really do need some quality squad additions this window, I don't think one is enough.

 

Lastly why wait until 80 before bringing CHO on at 2-0 down!

 

Edited January 20, 20197 yr by Strider6003

1 hour ago, spadefx said:

Not suggesting Sarri hasn't been stubborn with his selections, but for those calling him out for the wrong team (again) yesterday, from what I've seen its the best 11 we've had all season.

The back four and goalkeeper are fairly set, the only popular question mark seems to be over Alonso/Emerson. Personally beyond being an aerial option I don't see why Alonso consistently wins that battle, but Emerson's hardly set the world alight when he has played. Presumably Alonso trains better / is a bigger part of the team behind the scenes.

For those unhappy with Jorginho being the deep lying midfielder, it's fairly critical to Sarri's favoured system that a pace dictator / playmaker sits in that spot - allowing us to escape a high press quickly. Now I agree Jorginho's been fairly inconsistent in that role, but there really isn't another player for that barring maybe Kovacic now Cesc has left. We're barely half a season into Sarri's tenure too, is it not a bit short sighted to demand he changes such a critical part of his team structure as a short term fix? Kante's obviously been incredible in that part of the pitch in recent years, but he has been becoming more and more effective in his higher role as the season's progressed - now an occasional goal threat and a lethal presser/interceptor in the final third.

On the other central midfielders - we only had Barkley available as an alternative - on form that midfield 3 were absolutely correct for me.

And on the front 3 - I personally dislike Hazard as a middle man (as do the majority) but Giroud and Morata have offered next to nothing in that role for the majority of the season. Hazard's a threat there for sure, easier to nullify like yesterday, but that front 3 worked against Newcastle the previous game, absolutely justified. 

Same goes for Willian and Pedro. I'd personally prefer Hudson Odoi over Willian, but him and Pedro won our last match, naturally they were going to continue.

Just thought I'd throw in a bit of support for Sarri - we're quick to criticize the manager, yet pretty much every decision he's made so far has been fairly reasonable when you think about it. Give him the season at the absolute least, we're still in a very strong position for a 'transitional' season.

Good post and i agree, let's not throw the baby out with the bath water. Let's not forget that it was the political wranglings of this board that resulted in Sarri having virtually no pre season with these guys.

However:

With the regista role being such a critical part of Sarri's tactics and having arrived on the back of media soundbites from him that he has little interest in the transfer market, he likes to work with the players, work with the systems and create good tactical qualities, why after six months does he still only have one player that can play the regista role? Why did he allow Fabregas to leave? Why hasn't he specifically worked with one or more of the younger, more malleable players, to develop them into covering this area if we end up in a situation where Jorginho has a loss of form.

Also with the choice of Hazard over Giroud to start. Surely one of the arts of good management is man managing the players. Surely, not only would Giroud have a genuine desire to play anyway, but wouldn't he have been gagging to have started at his old stamping ground, to show his previous fans that there is still life in him and he can still score goals and create chances at the emirates. Isn't part of the job firing up the players to develop a groundswell of positive energy walking out on to the pitch. Would we get that with hazard allegedgly waiting for a bid from RM, having to play out of position, whilst Willian gets to play in Hazard's role rolling his eyes and waving his arms at the rest of the players or life in general every time he doesn't make the right run, slows the game down, missplaces the pass, balloons a shot over, etc.

46 minutes ago, Petworth Chelsea Fan said:

The only reason Kante has become more effective in the higher role is because we have nobody else up there. Kante is a gifted player and will get on with it but that is not the same as utilising what everyone sees as his optimum position.

Disagree that he's the only one up there, but he's absolutely an intelligent enough player to effective anywhere on the pitch.

Nobody can deny his defensive attributes are his biggest strength, and the protection he offers to a back four in that screening/defensive midfield position is second to none. But, at the moment at least, that position doesn't exist in Sarri's system.

It is only 6 month in, and we're doing OK so I can understand why Sarri isn't tweaking that part of his system just yet. Half a season in, we're still in 4th place and still in all cup competions, I think it's working well enough to argue it's worth continuing to see if it can become even more effective.

15 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

Good post and i agree, let's not throw the baby out with the bath water. Let's not forget that it was the political wranglings of this board that resulted in Sarri having virtually no pre season with these guys.

However:

With the regista role being such a critical part of Sarri's tactics and having arrived on the back of media soundbites from him that he has little interest in the transfer market, he likes to work with the players, work with the systems and create good tactical qualities, why after six months does he still only have one player that can play the regista role? Why did he allow Fabregas to leave? Why hasn't he specifically worked with one or more of the younger, more malleable players, to develop them into covering this area if we end up in a situation where Jorginho has a loss of form.

Also with the choice of Hazard over Giroud to start. Surely one of the arts of good management is man managing the players. Surely, not only would Giroud have a genuine desire to play anyway, but wouldn't he have been gagging to have started at his old stamping ground, to show his previous fans that there is still life in him and he can still score goals and create chances at the emirates. Isn't part of the job firing up the players to develop a groundswell of positive energy walking out on to the pitch. Would we get that with hazard allegedgly waiting for a bid from RM, having to play out of position, whilst Willian gets to play in Hazard's role rolling his eyes and waving his arms at the rest of the players or life in general every time he doesn't make the right run, slows the game down, missplaces the pass, balloons a shot over, etc.

In terms of genuine output though - Willian has been more useful than Giroud, and the front three were the winning combination in the last match. Hindsight - yes Giroud-Hazard-Pedro may have been more effective, and me personally I'd have started that way, but I'm just trying to justify Sarri's call.

Can't disagree on your first point either. The only thing I can suggest is Cesc was unhappy to play backup, and arguably wasn't any better than Jorginho in that role anyway, it makes sense for him to have left / been allowed to leave given that and the contract situation.

I guess time will tell whether we bring in a deputy in January or promote someone in the squad to fill that role when Jorginho isn't playing. Hopefully whoever it is offers some competition / approaches the role slightly differently to give us a genuine rotation option.

Edited January 20, 20197 yr by spadefx

This resilt was an obvious with the dirt coming up on thursday...you ll all be singing wembley wembley ere we come as we win 3 1

13 minutes ago, Mike Carefree said:

This resilt was an obvious with the dirt coming up on thursday...you ll all be singing wembley wembley ere we come as we win 3 1

That'll only happen if changes are made. If we line up with the same side as we did v the barcodes and the gooners then we have no chance, even against a depleted Sp*rs.

I totally agree with Sarri that the players don't look at all ambitious. Still, I don't want to blame him but he has done absolutely nothing to counter that.

It really seems like we need to shake this squad up.

Luiz - Other then the rare bright moment for him, he's lost it long ago. He is not a CB you can count on to lead the team, and he surely doesn't make us defensively sound. The six years between him and Rudiger is also a huge factor to why we need to replace him. We need a leader. We need someone to do what Terry and Cahill did in the past. We are lacking that and the lack of defensive qualities are making it worse.

Alonso - I really like Alonso, but with him and Luiz it seems like the left side is way too open. Going forward Alonso is great, which is why the 343 suited him so well. To be honest, I think he should have been playing striker for a bit. Without him we only have two players who are able to be some sort of a threat from set-pieces and I guess that is a big factor to why Emerson is not getting his chance.

Kante\Jorginho - The former is amazing. Probably the hardest working player on the pitch, if not the league. Even though he's been playing 'out of position' he is just too good. The former started well but recently he just stopped playing well. Sideway passing, slowing the game down. Maybe it has a lot to do with the situation in the attacking part of the team, but it surely isn't helping.

LCM - With RLC injured, I think it would have been smart to start with Barkley. Kovacic has his decent game but how many times has he actually had a game changing impact on the way we played? I really do think that once RLC is back, that spot should be his. His abillity to drive forward from that postion could really help us.

Willian - Sure, he won us the game against Newcastle, but he is way way past it. He should be nowhere near the starting lineup if you ask me. I don't understand, if the rumours are true, why he hasn't been sold to Barcelona yet. CHO should 100% be starting instead of him, especially if we are playing without a proper striker. Most of the times it seems to me like he just couldn't be bothered by the game, and puts close to no effort.

Pedro - Out of the aging duo on the RW I think he is the better player. I would still like us to play with a striker and CHO on the right but if one of them has to play then surely Pedro should be in.

Attack - Generally speaking, this is where we are failing a lot. With Hazard not staying central, the amount of times that there wasn't anyone to recieve the ball was just too high. Midfielders had to pass to the wingers or push in. How can you play like that? Putting Giroud from the start surely would have been better.

Playing out from the back - Please, could someone explain this to me? Is it just because we have no one to get the ball to upfront? How many times this season have we invited preasure by trying to play it from the CBs up? Even yesterday we were close to losing the ball at the edge of our area because of this stupidity. We don't have technically gifted CBs that are able to do it well so why risk it?

And, finally, the transfers. Higuain, as much as we need a striker, is not what we need (at least how I see it, I would love to be wrong). He has never been the leader. He doesn't seem to be a player that will fight when it is tough. At 2-0 down, do I see him rallying the team and maybe making a comeback? No. He has nothing to what Drogba used to bring, and I don't even think that he has the same 'hunger' that Costa had when playing well.

With no real investment from the club, and no change in policy with our young star, I see us losing Hazard and CHO. I don't see us finishing 4th, and next season would only be worse. It is time we start cleaning the dust and bringing in some new light where we need. 3 players could possibly change but it really seems that at this point, no one is bothered. Bringing Sarri, who is famous for dealing with what he has available, seems to be like the choice they made so that they won't have to splash the cash to keep him happy.

Honestly I like that he called them out now he has to back it by dropping the players, they also take us for granted as fans as we always support our players and don’t whinge and moan at home games like other teams have.  

 

I would pick: 

Dave    Rudiger    Luiz    Emerson 

                       Kante 

             Barkley            RLC

CHO                                        Hazard 

                      Higuain 

 

it’s not our strongest team but it might show players that you have to perform to get in our team, I actually think Jorginho although poor recevtiy makes an effort but to show no one is undroppable and get Kante back to his best position. 

 

I’m not sure how to embed this but this is jose’s analysis on the game 

https://mobile.twitter.com/beINSPORTS/status/1086691170393026560?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-25623864901702369700.ampproject.net%2F1901081935550%2Fframe.html

Edited January 20, 20197 yr by WalterWhiteCFC

8 minutes ago, WalterWhiteCFC said:

Honestly I like that he called them out now he has to back it by dropping the players, they also take us for granted as fans as we always support our players and don’t whinge and moan at home games like other teams have.  

 

I would pick: 

Dave    Rudiger    Luiz    Emerson 

                       Kante 

             Barkley            RLC

CHO                                        Hazard 

                      Higuain 

 

it’s not our strongest team but it might show players that you have to perform to get in our team, I actually think Jorginho although poor recevtiy makes an effort but to show no one is undroppable and get Kante back to his best position. 

 

Although that probably would be our strongest team, barring Barkley, RLC is currently injured and Higuain doesn't currently play for us.

Edited January 20, 20197 yr by WhiteWall
update

1 hour ago, WalterWhiteCFC said:

I’m not sure how to embed this but this is jose’s analysis on the game 

https://mobile.twitter.com/beINSPORTS/status/1086691170393026560?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-25623864901702369700.ampproject.net%2F1901081935550%2Fframe.html

Hit the arrow to copy the tweet link, paste it here, and then you will be prompted to change it to plain text.

My analysis... Arsenal game plan... press... sit back and catch your breath... press again... eventually the pressure will break Chelsea at least once, and you can sit back and not worry about conceding. Hard to get beat by a team who doesn't put a shot on target.