3 hours ago, wallosh said:

11 hours ago, enigma said:

If he stays, I would like to see us bring in Koulibaly. Start to phase out Luiz and bring Christensen in. It may be difficult to negotiate with Napoli, but there was rumours that Koulibaly would be granted the option to leave in the summer. Bring Reece James back to compete with Azpi for the RB spot. Bring in a goal scoring, creative CM. Stick with Pulisic as RW, and if Hazard leaves then either play Hudson-Odoi on the LW or invest in a world class wide attacker. Probably gonna need a top class striker too. If we are allowed the summer to spend money on players, then can see the club investing a hefty amount on players, as well as selling a handful too. 

What's the hype with Koulibaly? The guy is 28 and we will have to spend a fortune to get him. Don't forget the EPL is much different to the Italian league, by the time he clocks 29 or 30 he will like struggle with the intensity and pace of this league and Napoli would have invested a little of our money in a younger promising defender.

And that said, Rugani would be much better than Koulibaly.

15 hours ago, Sindre said:

Seems to me that him facing the prospect of getting sacked has made him realize he needs to adjust to this league.

Our last two games have been promising in that sense. Now we need to keep these performances up.

Good call benching Kepa too. Willy should stay in the team until he makes a few mistakes for me. 

Why let him make mistakes? We're at a point where every mistake puts us closer to no CL football next season. Willy should start against Kiev IMO but after that it's back to Kepa unless Willy is a 9/10

 

Back to Sarri, he should keep up with this gameplan. Even against lower level competition it may benefit us to allow them to come out of their shell and leave some space for us to attack or let them play a bit instead of hoofing it downfield at every opportunity which IMO is where Spurs looked most dangerous

Edited February 28, 20197 yr by TheChelseaBlues

I think the win against Spurs last night has bought Sarri some time. I think had he lost he may have been sacked because we'd be close to being out of the race for a top four spot. 

March is a huge month for us now and it's going to be interesting to see if Sarri is going to continue with the playing style we've seen in the last couple of matches. 

We've got games against Fulham, Wolves, Everton and Cardiff and I don't think we should be getting anything less than 10 points out of those matches. 

Let's remember we didn't play deeper all the time, sometimes we were pressing so high up the pitch that Lloris was struggling to find an unmarked player, I think it is fairer to say we varied the press. 

19 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

I think the win against Spurs last night has bought Sarri some time. I think had he lost he may have been sacked because we'd be close to being out of the race for a top four spot. 

March is a huge month for us now and it's going to be interesting to see if Sarri is going to continue with the playing style we've seen in the last couple of matches. 

We've got games against Fulham, Wolves, Everton and Cardiff and I don't think we should be getting anything less than 10 points out of those matches. 

I'm hoping the intensity stays the same, but I think we will press further up against all those sides. It's very hard to play on the counter, if the opposition are also set on playing on the counter, and all those sides would happily take a draw from us, do the onus will be on us to force the issue. 

Hopefully we are clinical, we dont make sloppy mistakes at the back, and we dont over commit leaving ourselves exposed. 

 

3 minutes ago, big blue said:

I'm hoping the intensity stays the same, but I think we will press further up against all those sides. It's very hard to play on the counter, if the opposition are also set on playing on the counter, and all those sides would happily take a draw from us, do the onus will be on us to force the issue. 

Hopefully we are clinical, we dont make sloppy mistakes at the back, and we dont over commit leaving ourselves exposed. 

We're probably going to have to take the game to those team more than we did Spurs and City but I'm hoping we're going to have learned from the last couple of games to move the ball forwards quicker and earlier to create better openings for ourselves. 

Not revert back to passing endlessly between the two centre backs and Jorginho in a desperate hope of coaxing the opposition to press us. 

Something in my gut tells me Sarri is not under CL qualification pressure from Chelsea this season, and he's been given time considering short pre-season, last year's performance etc.

I wanted him gone after the MU debacle but I was too hasty in my disappointment at that and other recent performances.

Reckon hes bought some extra time at the helm after yesterday, Sunday was a good performance but the keeper drama made him look a fool.  Need to go on a streak now vs these 'lesser' prem  teams- paradoxically they seem to be the ones that cause him/ the team some of the most trouble in matches, if he can do that he has my backing, but I'm still on the fence, need wins to get me off it.

7 hours ago, wallosh said:

15 hours ago, enigma said:

If he stays, I would like to see us bring in Koulibaly. Start to phase out Luiz and bring Christensen in. It may be difficult to negotiate with Napoli, but there was rumours that Koulibaly would be granted the option to leave in the summer. Bring Reece James back to compete with Azpi for the RB spot. Bring in a goal scoring, creative CM. Stick with Pulisic as RW, and if Hazard leaves then either play Hudson-Odoi on the LW or invest in a world class wide attacker. Probably gonna need a top class striker too. If we are allowed the summer to spend money on players, then can see the club investing a hefty amount on players, as well as selling a handful too. 

What's the hype with Koulibaly? The guy is 28 and we will have to spend a fortune to get him. Don't forget the EPL is much different to the Italian league, by the time he clocks 29 or 30 he will like struggle with the intensity and pace of this league and Napoli would have invested a little of our money in a younger promising defender.

He's as good as VVD and VVD is the same age. Alderwiereld is almost 30, and they are arguably two of the best centre backs in the league. He would easily be the best defender we have. He is fantastic and has pretty much everything, along with a 6'5 frame. There's a reason he's worth crazy money. VVD went for £75m, so Koulibaly would go for similar for sure. It's the price worth paying for a world class CB. If Man Utd get him, we wil regret it. Without VVD, Liverpool wouldn't be near challenging for the title. His presence alone has brought a stability and strength to their backline. 

Edited February 28, 20197 yr by enigma

I am fairly convinced that Sarri needs to be given time unless we're out of Europa League and have no real chance of finishing top-four.

 

There's no reason to believe that any other manager will do any better with the core of players we have. 

Ranieri is available...

34 minutes ago, Munkworth said:

Ranieri is available...

5 hours ago, Slojo said:

Good, it might be a lesson for our fans to be more patient. 

Tbh i can understand why some lost patience but the chant was too much.

Are we still talking about this? 

3 hours ago, EmeraldBlue said:

Something in my gut tells me Sarri is not under CL qualification pressure from Chelsea this season, and he's been given time considering short pre-season, last year's performance etc.

I wanted him gone after the MU debacle but I was too hasty in my disappointment at that and other recent performances.

I'll hold my judgment until after Fulham, we need to beat the minnows as well as the top 6.

4 hours ago, EmeraldBlue said:

Something in my gut tells me Sarri is not under CL qualification pressure from Chelsea this season, and he's been given time considering short pre-season, last year's performance etc.

I wanted him gone after the MU debacle but I was too hasty in my disappointment at that and other recent performances.

This would make sense - it aligns perfectly with all of his remarks lately about not feeling any pressure.

I just think last night was the do or die game for Sarri. Lose and he was gone. Tottenham, the history, 48 years, them on the coat tails of an EPL title, well, we all know what it meant.............. a lot and more!

I said in the match thread, I wouldn't have picked that starting line-up, I wouldn't have subbed Hazard, Jorginho certainly wouldn't have been on the pitch after the 1st half. But I am not the manager, (thank God, Venom and Brutos shout), Sarri is and whatever we all believe beating Tottenham last night, effectively ending their season and prolonging ours, is our high point this year so far. And a result most of us didn't expect. And he did it.

Is he changing? Is he realising what works in Serie A probably won't work in the EPL? IMHO, I don't know and I am still not convinced he is the right man for the job. " Sarriball " as a entertaining, winning, football philosophy doesn't completely blow me out of the water as it does others on here. I am old enough to have witnessed the Ajax and Holland Total Football culture,  the Sacchi AC Milan era, and the Gods of Brazil 70, who are still the football dream benchmark IMO. Sarriball doesn't even come close. But times change, things move on, and Sarri  won himself a reprieve last night. Some time. I hope he has learnt  from all that has happened this season, that he might have to adapt his tactics, change his personnel, have more than an inflexible Plan A to be successful in the EPL.

 

Edited February 28, 20197 yr by just

8 hours ago, ForeverCarefree said:

We've got games against Fulham, Wolves, Everton and Cardiff and I don't think we should be getting anything less than 10 points out of those matches. 

Honestly we need to be winning all of these games.  No game is easy but that's a dream run at an important time in the season.  If we win all four we're well and truly back in the top four, we just have stay there at that point.  We're also 4 behind Arsenal in terms of goal difference, so we should be looking to try and put 3 or 4 past Fulham and Cardiff.

On ?25?/?02?/?2019 at 20:21, mwblue10 said:

You ever had a cramp before?  They are recurring and treated by stretching and hydration, both of which he received on each occasion.  The only nonsense I see is you thinking that a player's position determines whether or not he can get a cramp.

I do agree that Sarri should not get off scot free from the incident, but at the same time, I truly believe it is quite overblown.  I'm more upset about Jorginho's stupid ass penalty than anything regarding the Kepa substitution non-substitution.

Obviously a players position doesn't determine whether a player gets cramp or not. The main cause of cramp in the legs is highly intensive activity which can overwork the muscles. Of all the positions within a football team which would you consider to be the least likely to be subjected to such intense activity. It was even reported in The Daily Mirror that he was time wasting. Do you honestly think he had cramp?

39 minutes ago, Andy North said:

Obviously a players position doesn't determine whether a player gets cramp or not. The main cause of cramp in the legs is highly intensive activity which can overwork the muscles. Of all the positions within a football team which would you consider to be the least likely to be subjected to such intense activity. It was even reported in The Daily Mirror that he was time wasting. Do you honestly think he had cramp?

Interesting point.

The Spanish I know love salty food, I started having a salty snack after my evening meal for a while yet started getting leg cramps in the night. Magnesium supplement stopped it or just cutting out the salty snack. My Dad loves salt on his food even processed meals and he gets cramp, he takes medication before sleep to stop it. 

Edited March 1, 20197 yr by Strider6003

I'm on the fence still. The performance against Spurs was exceptional in one respect. Four players ran over 12km during the match. The effort given by the players has made me reassess my view of Sarris ability to motivate the players. This, along with the dropping of Kepa has lead to think there may be life in the old dog yet. I've witnessed players motivating themselves in the past (CL 2012) and therefore waiting to see if the new found effort was just for the one game. What made the difference? Was it Sarri or was it the players themselves? Time will tell.

Looking forward Sarri needs to build on the last two performances and use the squad a bit more. I've been impressed with RLC in the last two games and he should replace Barkley. I think he needs a run in the team. We've been rotating Barkley and Kovacic with varying levels of success but I see a bit more strength in RLC. He can dominate other players. I think we need a bit more strength in the team. We also need some fresh young motivated legs. Now is the time. With this in mind I think its time to use CHO on a more regular basis. I'm all for starting him in place of Pedro or Willian now. I understand the importance of experience but to have some new blistering pace in the team at this time of the season is a real bonus. The other teams don't know how to play him either. At least put him on the bench and give him 30 mins on regular basis.

Maybe Sarri is learning. RLC has had a couple of good substitution appearnces. He has been effective when he comes on. I previously thought one of Sarris main problems was his reluctance to change things. Now he has changed a couple of things, false 9 City etc, maybe he can take confidence from the improvement seen after some changes.

COYB!!!

Edited March 1, 20197 yr by Andy North
gramatical error

1 hour ago, Andy North said:

I'm on the fence still. The performance against Spurs was exceptional in one respect. Four players ran over 12km during the match. The effort given by the players has made me reassess my view of Sarris ability to motivate the players. This, along with the dropping of Kepa has lead to think there may be life in the old dog yet. I've witnessed players motivating themselves in the past (CL 2012) and therefore waiting to see if the new found effort was just for the one game. What made the difference? Was it Sarri or was it the players themselves? Time will tell.

Looking forward Sarri needs to build on the last two performances and use the squad a bit more. I've been impressed with RLC in the last two games and he should replace Barkley. I think he needs a run in the team. We've been rotating Barkley and Kovacic with varying levels of success but I see a bit more strength in RLC. He can dominate other players. I think we need a bit more strength in the team. We also need some fresh young motivated legs. Now is the time. With this in mind I think its time to use CHO on a more regular basis. I'm all for starting him in place of Pedro or Willian now. I understand the importance of experience but to have some new blistering pace in the team at this time of the season is a real bonus. The other teams don't know how to play him either. At least put him on the bench and give him 30 mins on regular basis.

Maybe Sarri is learning. RLC has had a couple of good substitution appearnces. He has been effective when he comes on. I previously thought one of Sarris main problems was his reluctance to change things. Now he has changed a couple of things, false 9 City etc, maybe he can take confidence from the improvement seen after some changes.

COYB!!!

Andy where do you get the players running distance from?

I ask as that would appear to be a guide as to whether the players are really trying.

^^^
Agree with most of that but bear in mind that RLC's back pain has been a major impediment in getting more game time. Also, Kova?i?, and Barkley(not always) are decent players. CHO is a little less developed and for now is more likely to be used when we are sitting comfortably and/or playing weaker teams.

2 hours ago, Andy North said:

Obviously a players position doesn't determine whether a player gets cramp or not. The main cause of cramp in the legs is highly intensive activity which can overwork the muscles. Of all the positions within a football team which would you consider to be the least likely to be subjected to such intense activity. It was even reported in The Daily Mirror that he was time wasting. Do you honestly think he had cramp?

Ah if the media reported it as time wasting, then it must be true!

Its definitely possible he was actually cramping.  Intense activity is relative.  City had 61% of possession, of which most was in our half.  That would mean Kepa, for roughly half the game (I’ll concede that when City have it deep in their own half this wouldn’t apply as much), was in the “ready” - knees likely slightly bend, exerting strain on his upper leg muscles. If he was not properly hydrated, it would be quite easy to get a cramp.

I think it’s far more likely that the time wasting aspect came on the treatment side of it, with him acting like he wasn’t ready to get on with it, when he probably actually was after a swig if water and a quick stretch.

2 hours ago, Strider6003 said:

Interesting point.

The Spanish I know love salty food, I started having a salty snack after my evening meal for a while yet started getting leg cramps in the night. Magnesium supplement stopped it or just cutting out the salty snack. My Dad loves salt on his food even processed meals and he gets cramp, he takes medication before sleep to stop it. 

interesting point 2. Drink Indian tonic water, the quinine will stop cramps.