32 minutes ago, abramovich said:

I'm sure Carlo and Franco would stay if asked, but I believe we'd need a more experienced manager to steady the ship.

Yes i agree, i don't think Zola is the answer. 

I still have faith in Sarri. 

Like most fans, I couldn't believe Sarri's stubbornness last night when it came to his substitutions. I understand that he wants his players to get used to the new system, but there's nothing wrong with mixing things up and replacing some defenders with forwards to try and nick a goal in the last 20 minutes.

His stubbornness and our fan's complete lack of patience will most likely be Sarri's downfall, but if you look at the table you'll see that we're 1 point off 4th and level on points with Arsenal. We also have a cup final to look forward to on Sunday. We're having a better season than a Arsenal, but there is no talk at all of Emery getting the sack. 

We took Sarri on knowing that we needed to make some big changes. We have a very stale squad and we wanted to completely change our style of play. Whoever came into the club last summer was always going to experience difficulties. You only have to look at how Emery is doing now and how Klopp did in his 1st season at Liverpool. It's not an easy fix.

I'm of the opinion that we need to get behind Sarri and the team and evaluate things at the end of the season. The man deserves more than 7 months - it's not as if we're fighting relegation. 

Lets not forget that he's lost his last 2 games to City and United, the 2 most expensively assembled squads in the country.

I just remember he didn't sign an extension. Why? 
Maybe we should have backed him, but we didn't. Something didn't happen. 
I can't see how we'd be definitely better. We are 1 point off 4th and the players are in a better mood than may last year. 

If the players are really in a better mood right now than they were during Conte's time, it simply means they are happy because unlike Conte's time when they had to train hard in order to win trophies, they are now training and playing under a less ambitious manager whose aim is simply to be famous for managing a team that can pass the ball around aimlessly in order to have more possession than his opponent.
Now I don't know if that is really a good thing to celebrate!

1 hour ago, Remodez said:

Swapping a more defensive full back for a more attacking fullback is a fairly box standard thing done by all managers.

When the player coming on has barely played all season and is clearly not good enough? Totally disagree - in the context of that game and our squad it was a truly baffling decision.

5 hours ago, EdinburghBlue said:

Would you trust a managers opinion that swaps a RB for a worse RB at 2-0 down at home in a cup game with less than 10 minutes to go? 

I would love to sit down with Sarri and hear an explanation behind that change because there is absolutely no logical reason to make that sub.

Of course fans don’t know everything but once the fans turn, particularly match going fans - it usually only goes one way.

Between an average fan yes, fans think with their heart which is a good thing in a lot of ways but in terms of having a say in how the club was run it would be horrible. For example, if fans had a say in recent times Mourinho, Lampard, Cech and Conte would have never darkened our doors. Of Course the pro's (be it managers or board level) make some bad mistakes but there's a reason very few even relatively successful clubs are run with fans having a say.

3 hours ago, Nibs said:

We really wouldn't.

All these rumours about "Conte didn't want to be here - we had to sack him". All bollocks. Look at Conte in that first season. He was loving life at CFC and we loved him. Something went wrong, no doubt, but if the Club had put themselves out and backed him, he would have stayed and we would 100% NOT be in a worst position to we are now with Sarri-ball.

Conte rage quit at his boyhood club, it was always wishful thinking that he wouldn't do the same with us sooner or later, ideally it would have been later but he was always going to explode eventually. We didn't see him in his full "glory" due to his broken English meaning he couldn't express himself as much as he would have liked but at his most volatile he makes Mourinho look like Ancelotti and i have no doubt we would have seen that side of him had he spoke English to an expressive level.

A fully motivated Conte is a world class manager (probably not that far of peak Mourinho) but no matter how bad Sarri's reign goes i will never miss the version we got in the second half of last season.

The question the board/ Roman needs to ask themselves is - how much do the club really want attacking football? How patient are they willing to be? 

They haven’t really provided Sarri with the correct resources or conditions to develop it. They have done a half baked job by just providing a manager. No strategy or vision for it. Admittedly Sarri has not helped himself one bit I know  

I suspect that the club are not willing to be patient and when it comes to it, they would rather see winning football than attacking football. 

If they sack sarri then we know that they are not really fully behind it and it’s just a “nice to have” rather than “must”. 

1 hour ago, DannyVblue said:

I still have faith in Sarri. 

Like most fans, I couldn't believe Sarri's stubbornness last night when it came to his substitutions. I understand that he wants his players to get used to the new system, but there's nothing wrong with mixing things up and replacing some defenders with forwards to try and nick a goal in the last 20 minutes.

His stubbornness and our fan's complete lack of patience will most likely be Sarri's downfall, but if you look at the table you'll see that we're 1 point off 4th and level on points with Arsenal. We also have a cup final to look forward to on Sunday. We're having a better season than a Arsenal, but there is no talk at all of Emery getting the sack. 

We took Sarri on knowing that we needed to make some big changes. We have a very stale squad and we wanted to completely change our style of play. Whoever came into the club last summer was always going to experience difficulties. You only have to look at how Emery is doing now and how Klopp did in his 1st season at Liverpool. It's not an easy fix.

I'm of the opinion that we need to get behind Sarri and the team and evaluate things at the end of the season. The man deserves more than 7 months - it's not as if we're fighting relegation. 

Lets not forget that he's lost his last 2 games to City and United, the 2 most expensively assembled squads in the country.

 

I think he deserves more than 7 months as well, however last night's sub with Zappacosta was surprising to say the least, I understand he wanted a more attacking approach down our right, but it should have been CHO, especially as we were running out of time..

What I cannot blame Sarri for was the schoolboy defending for both Man Utd goals. It was comical defending. I also thought that Kepa should have done better for the 2nd goal. I have also said before that we have a soft underbelly, and that was more than evident again when we went one down. There is no movement upfront, and there is also not enough players getting in the box when we have the ball out wide. The amount of times we went to cross the ball and there is only Higuain and 3, 4, or 5 Man Utd defenders around him.

The squad as you say is stale, and several players over 30 with one foot out the door, and not really bothered about Sarri's style. 

With the fans turning on him though I think he's gone, but without change from the board and bringing in a DOF we will back here again no time soon. 

I didn't see Zola in the dug out last night, anyone know why ?.

Edited February 19, 20197 yr by Osgood is Good

Been saying this for a long time. Chelsea need a DIRECTOR OF FOOTBALL it’s so f**king obvious. 

16 minutes ago, JM7 said:

The question the board/ Roman needs to ask themselves is - how much do the club really want attacking football? How patient are they willing to be? 

They haven’t really provided Sarri with the correct resources or conditions to develop it. They have done a half baked job by just providing a manager. No strategy or vision for it. Admittedly Sarri has not helped himself one bit I know  

I suspect that the club are not willing to be patient and when it comes to it, they would rather see winning football than attacking football. 

If they sack sarri then we know that they are not really fully behind it and it’s just a “nice to have” rather than “must”. 

With RA living abroad and no longer committing to a new stadium, it becomes just a business.

As a business when a sizable sum of your clientele are unhappy with the product you become concerned and look for changes.

Judging by the claim fans were turning against Sarri suggests a change will need to be made before people vote with their feet by not attending or not renewing season tickets.

1 hour ago, DannyVblue said:

I still have faith in Sarri. 

Like most fans, I couldn't believe Sarri's stubbornness last night when it came to his substitutions. I understand that he wants his players to get used to the new system, but there's nothing wrong with mixing things up and replacing some defenders with forwards to try and nick a goal in the last 20 minutes.

His stubbornness and our fan's complete lack of patience will most likely be Sarri's downfall, but if you look at the table you'll see that we're 1 point off 4th and level on points with Arsenal. We also have a cup final to look forward to on Sunday. We're having a better season than a Arsenal, but there is no talk at all of Emery getting the sack. 

We took Sarri on knowing that we needed to make some big changes. We have a very stale squad and we wanted to completely change our style of play. Whoever came into the club last summer was always going to experience difficulties. You only have to look at how Emery is doing now and how Klopp did in his 1st season at Liverpool. It's not an easy fix.

I'm of the opinion that we need to get behind Sarri and the team and evaluate things at the end of the season. The man deserves more than 7 months - it's not as if we're fighting relegation. 

Lets not forget that he's lost his last 2 games to City and United, the 2 most expensively assembled squads in the country.

I admire your positivity even though I think it is misplaced.

Emery will always be given time at Arsenal. They have a track record of longevity and stability and have appointed a well respected coach who has won things already. Sarri was never going to be afforded such luxury. IF we were seeing positive signs and improvement than fair enough but things are getting worse by the game and his decisions getting more & more baffling and bizarre. 

I'm guessing he will remain in charge for the final (not looking forward to) and the Spurs game next Wednesday but if we suffer two more bad defeats I won't expect him to still be here for the game against Fulham.

  

12 minutes ago, Osgood is Good said:

I think he deserves more than 7 months as well, however last night's sub with Zappacosta was surprising to say the least, I understand he wanted a more attacking approach down our right, but it should have been CHO, especially as we were running out of time..

What I cannot blame Sarri for was the schoolboy defending for both Man Utd goals. It was comical defending. I also thought that Kepa should have done better for the 2nd goal. I have also said before that we have a soft underbelly, and that was more than evident again when we went one down. There is no movement upfront, and there is also not enough players getting in the box when we have the ball out wide. The amount of times we went to cross the ball and there is only Higuain and 3, 4, or 5 Man Utd defenders around him.

The squad as you say is stale, and several players over 30 with one foot out the door, and not really bothered about Sarri's style. 

With the fans turning on him though I think he's gone, but without change from the board and bringing in a DOF we will back here again no time soon. 

I didn't see Zola in the dug out last night, anyone know why ?.

Sick with the lurgy 

Or with Sarri, ?

57 minutes ago, EdinburghBlue said:

When the player coming on has barely played all season and is clearly not good enough? Totally disagree - in the context of that game and our squad it was a truly baffling decision.

Zappacosta, albeit not that good, is probably better going forward than Azpi. Willian had already had come on, so it left only Giroud to come and let's be honest, Giroud isn't going to change that game. Our bench was crap.

If we had Fabregas there it would have provided us something different but he's gone. This is why Sarri wanted someone else in if we sold Fabregas. Loftus-Cheek can't stay fit, so leaves us with little options in the bench. 

6 minutes ago, Osgood is Good said:

I think he deserves more than 7 months as well, however last night's sub with Zappacosta was surprising to say the least, I understand he wanted a more attacking approach down our right, but it should have been CHO, especially as we were running out of time..

What I cannot blame Sarri for was the schoolboy defending for both Man Utd goals. It was comical defending. I also thought that Kepa should have done better for the 2nd goal. I have also said before that we have a soft underbelly, and that was more than evident again when we went one down. There is no movement upfront, and there is also not enough players getting in the box when we have the ball out wide. The amount of times we went to cross the ball and there is only Higuain and 3, 4, or 5 Man Utd defenders around him.

The squad as you say is stale, and several players over 30 with one foot out the door, and not really bothered about Sarri's style. 

With the fans turning on him though I think he's gone, but without change from the board and bringing in a DOF we will back here again no time soon. 

I didn't see Zola in the dug out last night, anyone know why ?.

I agree with you and with the post you quote. I like the idea of the football tht Sarri wants us to play, but unfortunately the players are stale and more suited to other type of football relying on their dribbling ability more than on the one touch football Sarri wants. The midfield and attacking lines don't move enough into the space, William or Hazard wait to receive the ball and instead of one touch passing and run to the next space, they try to dribble their way into the box. Only Higuain gets regularly inside the box while the others are outside looking around rather than moving into the space or creating it.

But what is letting us down massively is the defensive line. I get why he plays Luiz, but Luiz-Alonso is a suicide and most goals come from their mistakes/misplacement/unawareness. I'd try Christensen - Emerson for the rest of the season, lets have some solid defending.

Other than that, I don't think Sarri should be sacked but he must realise that the team needs changes. Play Christensen, Emerson, CHO, Ampadu, use them to revolutionise the team morale and they may even play better attacking football and be more suited to Sarri's idea. It is the continuous formation that we get every week that gets me annoyed, not the football he wants us to play.

28 minutes ago, enigma said:

Zappacosta, albeit not that good, is probably better going forward than Azpi. Willian had already had come on, so it left only Giroud to come and let's be honest, Giroud isn't going to change that game. Our bench was crap.

If we had Fabregas there it would have provided us something different but he's gone. This is why Sarri wanted someone else in if we sold Fabregas. Loftus-Cheek can't stay fit, so leaves us with little options in the bench. 

2 nil down with 10mins to go, I would say it's the perfect time to take off a defender and put a big man up front. I don't rate Giroud but what he does give is another option and an alternative which is something Sarri doesn't like.

32 minutes ago, Osgood is Good said:

I think he deserves more than 7 months as well, however last night's sub with Zappacosta was surprising to say the least, I understand he wanted a more attacking approach down our right, but it should have been CHO, especially as we were running out of time..

What I cannot blame Sarri for was the schoolboy defending for both Man Utd goals. It was comical defending. I also thought that Kepa should have done better for the 2nd goal. I have also said before that we have a soft underbelly, and that was more than evident again when we went one down. There is no movement upfront, and there is also not enough players getting in the box when we have the ball out wide. The amount of times we went to cross the ball and there is only Higuain and 3, 4, or 5 Man Utd defenders around him.

The squad as you say is stale, and several players over 30 with one foot out the door, and not really bothered about Sarri's style. 

With the fans turning on him though I think he's gone, but without change from the board and bringing in a DOF we will back here again no time soon. 

I didn't see Zola in the dug out last night, anyone know why ?.

They said that Zola was ill last night, which is why he wasn't on the bench.

You're right about our defending, it's been so poor for the past couple of months now. I feel like we're going to concede every time a team attacks us and I don't think that's on Sarri. We just don't have good enough defenders.

I've been complaining about the soft underbelly of the team since the spurs game back at the start of December. We're nowhere near aggressive enough. I look at our players and I don't see a mean/hard player anywhere (maybe Rudiger?). 

The thing is, Sarri could get the fans back on-side immediately. All he needs to do is start playing CHO/Ampadu/RLC and change things up tactically during the match if things aren't going our way. I think he's too stubborn to make these changes though.

He desperately needs a couple of big performances against City and Spurs.

I'm not a fan of booing the coach and players at all. It does more harm than good in my opinion.

45 minutes ago, Osgood is Good said:

I think he deserves more than 7 months as well, however last night's sub with Zappacosta was surprising to say the least, I understand he wanted a more attacking approach down our right, but it should have been CHO, especially as we were running out of time..

What I cannot blame Sarri for was the schoolboy defending for both Man Utd goals. It was comical defending. I also thought that Kepa should have done better for the 2nd goal. I have also said before that we have a soft underbelly, and that was more than evident again when we went one down. There is no movement upfront, and there is also not enough players getting in the box when we have the ball out wide. The amount of times we went to cross the ball and there is only Higuain and 3, 4, or 5 Man Utd defenders around him.

The squad as you say is stale, and several players over 30 with one foot out the door, and not really bothered about Sarri's style. 

With the fans turning on him though I think he's gone, but without change from the board and bringing in a DOF we will back here again no time soon. 

I didn't see Zola in the dug out last night, anyone know why ?.

Problem is we have to cross the ball as we are so predictable and easy to defend against. Stick someone close to Jorginho and get men behind the ball and counter. Chelsea create barely anything most games so make them go wide and they have Dave crossing one side and Alonso who is either too slow to cross or standing inside ready for the opposition to counter our left side with Luiz. Hazard, Willian, Pedro wont get in the box and theres no point mentioning Kovacic. 

We have been so predictable for months and it's too easy for opposition managers to manage against. It wasnt working again last night and 2 nil down at halftime it's a chance to change things. It's a one off cup game so do something different, show initiative and make a change to personel and formation. All we got to see was same old same old. OGS and his staff knew the subs and times weeks ago, then Sarri decided to go against everything he believes in and make the most random sub ever.

Tweeted by Simon Phillips:

”The Guardian believe that Maurizio Sarri will be sacked if Chelsea don’t win the Cup Final on Sunday. 

But the final decision will be made by Roman Abramovich.”

 

Seems harsh to sack him after a cup final defeat. 

21 minutes ago, Ernie_blue said:

2 nil down with 10mins to go, I would say it's the perfect time to take off a defender and put a big man up front. I don't rate Giroud but what he does give is another option and an alternative which is something Sarri doesn't like.

I think we're clutching at straws here. What has Giroud shown previously that would be better than to continue with Higuain in the game? The options on our bench are limited. 

Out. If he can't admit that he needs a Plan B then he's no better than Wenger was and we'll become the new Arsenal, scrapping for 4th, finishing 5th or 6th year in year out. Maybe the occasional cup win but never a title tilt.

It's too early for Lampard, I've no idea who in earth could sort out this mess. Honestly I think the problems run deeper than just the manager.

14 minutes ago, DannyVblue said:

They said that Zola was ill last night, which is why he wasn't on the bench.

You're right about our defending, it's been so poor for the past couple of months now. I feel like we're going to concede every time a team attacks us and I don't think that's on Sarri. We just don't have good enough defenders.

I've been complaining about the soft underbelly of the team since the spurs game back at the start of December. We're nowhere near aggressive enough. I look at our players and I don't see a mean/hard player anywhere (maybe Rudiger?). 

The thing is, Sarri could get the fans back on-side immediately. All he needs to do is start playing CHO/Ampadu/RLC and change things up tactically during the match if things aren't going our way. I think he's too stubborn to make these changes though.

He desperately needs a couple of big performances against City and Spurs.

I'm not a fan of booing the coach and players at all. It does more harm than good in my opinion.

We have the same defensive lineup (bar Rudiger) that won the league only two years ago. Now suddenly they're crap? I'd say United's last night's backline was no better than ours, I wouldn't want any of Young, Lindelof, Smalling or Shaw at Chelsea. The difference was not the personnel, it was down to either manager to prepare them properly and motivate them. Solskjaer clearly knows what he's doing, Sarri unfortunately doesn't.

6 minutes ago, enigma said:

I think we're clutching at straws here. What has Giroud shown previously that would be better than to continue with Higuain in the game? The options on our bench are limited. 

If your using the point what has Giroud shown previously then what has Zappacosta shown previously? 2 nil down with 10mins to go and nothing to lose, what stopping the manager playing two centre forwards, actually do something different with the formation or stop subbing like for like replacements. Bringing on a big man for the last 10mins doesn't take great management.

2 minutes ago, abramovich said:

We have the same defensive lineup (bar Rudiger) that won the league only two years ago. Now suddenly they're crap? I'd say United's last night's backline was no better than ours, I wouldn't want any of Young, Lindelof, Smalling or Shaw at Chelsea. The difference was not the personnel, it was down to either manager to prepare them properly and motivate them. Solskjaer clearly knows what he's doing, Sarri unfortunately doesn't.

We were playing with 5 defenders 2 years ago. I don't think the comparison to United is fair. Their defense looked strong last night because they were playing with 9/10 men behind the ball and counter-attacking. If we want to play possession based attacking football with most of our players in our opponents half, we need a different type of defender than what we've currently got. 

1 hour ago, enigma said:

Zappacosta, albeit not that good, is probably better going forward than Azpi. Willian had already had come on, so it left only Giroud to come and let's be honest, Giroud isn't going to change that game. Our bench was crap.

If we had Fabregas there it would have provided us something different but he's gone. This is why Sarri wanted someone else in if we sold Fabregas. Loftus-Cheek can't stay fit, so leaves us with little options in the bench. 

It didn’t though, there was a host of things he could I’ve fone with 10 minutes left. Giroud on with Higuain and go two up top. CHO on and go 4-2-3-1. I agree we don’t have a massive pool of talent (particularly at the full backs at the moment) but was has Zappacosta shown us since he’s been here that he’s suddenly going to help drag us back from 2 down with 10 to go?

2 minutes ago, EdinburghBlue said:

? It didn’t though, there was a host of things he could I’ve fone with 10 minutes left. Giroud on with Higuain and go two up top. CHO on and go 4-2-3-1. I agree w?e don’t have a massive pool of talent (particularly at the full backs at the moment) but was has Zappacosta shown us since he’s been here that he’s suddenly going to help drag us back from 2 down with 10 to go?

Why would we do those things? We are the only team in Europe to not deviate from the same formation for every minute of every game. Don't you know that's a record we should be keeping ;)