Yet another uninspiring performance. Cannot see us doing anything other than coming up empty handed this season, with this poor level of quality match by match.

If this is Sarri-ball you can keep it, because it's cr@p. If this is not Sarri-ball because the players still don't understand it, it raises even more questions, in my mind, regarding the manager. If you can't get a team playing to a set pattern in 8 months of training day in day out, that's pretty poor.

Yes it took Klopp and Guardiola some time. Not gettting the pattern, it didn't. That was done pretty quickly. Yes getting the results took a while but they nailed down the style pretty quickly. It looks to me that this team just completely ignore him and play the way they want. I see virtually no difference between this and Conte's style.

Happy to get a win but very concerned looking at the tired legs. It was really a tale of two halves with Chelsea looking increasingly tired in the second half and letting Fulham in the game. Sarri, better learn to rotate more and be able to get some fresh legs in the pitch, there are still many games to play and at this rate we are going to crash and burn when the end of the season is near with nothing to show for it.

No team consistency whatsoever, William only plays for himself, the midfield is messy when moving the ball around, the defence is abolute chaos, not enough clear goal situations are created and very few of them are finished properly. There are a lot of mediocre players in this team.

Happy to get a win but very concerned looking at the tired legs. It was really a tale of two halves with Chelsea looking increasingly tired in the second half and letting Fulham in the game. Sarri, better learn to rotate more and be able to get some fresh legs in the pitch, there are still many games to play and at this rate we are going to crash and burn when the end of the season is near with nothing to show for it.

Well that was a pretty poor show after the performance against the spuds.

Looks like we have reverted back to sarri high press.

CHO can hand in a transfer request ( & i criticized him for doing it)  as he aint getting nothing here.....

Its 3 points but so underwhelming.. 

 

 

The moaning hilarious really it wasn't great but we won sometimes you need luck

Standard Sarri-ball. Carved open at ease, luckily we played the worst side in the league and Kepa was on form. Worrying performance

 

My god we have got away with this.

 

i said this would be tough! And it was but we looked pretty poor defensively. And we definitely should have put a few chances away.

motm kepa 

9 minutes ago, Brutos said:

The moaning hilarious really it wasn't great but we won sometimes you need luck

We certainly rode our luck in the 2nd half.

Nothing wrong with a good moan if it helps get it off your chest....

Its 3 points wether we moan or not.

Decent for about 55 mins then we lost control of the game for 15 mins. We should've been well out of sight at that point but for some sloppy finishing. 

I thought jorginho played pretty well, great goal and made 2 great chances which were squandered by higuian and Willian. 

Kepa made some good stops, he had that one wobble, but he did well considering he has put himself under a bit of pressure.

Barkley wasn't great, neither was emerson. 

Not vintage but an important 3 points. 

 

Ffs there you go wait wait wait and do the most predictable useless substitutans

Something I found weird. Pedro came on, and he had NO IDEA who he was supposed to press in the Fulham backline. I think there were two instances where he looked as if he was caught in between two minds on whether to press, or whether to drop off. He literally just stood there, made a step as if to go press, then stopped, and then ball watched as he got bypassed.

Now, when it comes to pressuring opponents, Pedro is actually one of our better frontline pressers. He presses with intensity, is very quick to close down, and always gives 100%. 

For him to look so lost, I wonder if there was some kind of tactical communication breakdown in the last 20 minutes? Like if Sarris was telling him to drop off, but then the rest of the team was still playing a very disjointed high press? 

Or maybe this goes back to what Rudiger was saying...how Sarri overloads the players with details, causing them to make mental errors 

Either way, it was very, very confusing to watch

3 points ... and now in the race for 3rd, let alone 4th !

Two good goals and we could have been out of sight by half time.A wins a win,UTC !

In sh*te weather, away, and against a team of guys each auditioning for a future with a new manager, and with us nervy about not losing any of two games in hand - not a bad result. We won: get in! ?

34 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

Yet another uninspiring performance. Cannot see us doing anything other than coming up empty handed this season, with this poor level of quality match by match.

If this is Sarri-ball you can keep it, because it's cr@p. If this is not Sarri-ball because the players still don't understand it, it raises even more questions, in my mind, regarding the manager. If you can't get a team playing to a set pattern in 8 months of training day in day out, that's pretty poor.

Yes it took Klopp and Guardiola some time. Not gettting the pattern, it didn't. That was done pretty quickly. Yes getting the results took a while but they nailed down the style pretty quickly. It looks to me that this team just completely ignore him and play the way they want. I see virtually no difference between this and Conte's style.

Have to completely disagree on Klopp and Guardiola getting their "styles" nailed down pretty quickly. Guardiola in particular was under massive pressure throughout his first season, barely spoke to the media by the end and looked damn close to walking. He was consistently hounded for putting system first despite the players' (particularly goalkeeper and defenders) struggles. 

Not suggesting it's all clicking into place just yet but we at least appear to have some direction and footballing philosophy, and despite the bumps along the way we're doing OK. The team seem a lot more together than they did under Mourinho or Conte, and despite the media narrative we keep showing glimpses of brilliance in this setup, I'm happy to be patient and see it develop. 

This was an important win, made all the more difficult given Fulham's managerial change, and but for better finishing would've been a more comfortable scoreline. I just don't like the negativity, it's another 3 points and we're one game in hand from the top 4, I'd say we're on the right track.

Edited March 3, 20197 yr by spadefx
Typo

After the absolutely huge effort over the past week in both the cup final and the Spurs game, I think it was always going to be the case that we started to look tired at some point. We should've been out of sight and able to coast the rest of the game in fairness, but it was never going to be easy, given it is a derby and they were trying to ride the wave that teams often get after a manager gets sacked. Tiredness or not though, it's clear there are still some issues, but for now the 3 points is very welcome.

Onwards and upwards, we're halfway to being back in the top 4!

First of all, in the end, three points is the most important thing, so good for the team, fingers crossed it'll make a difference when it comes to finishing in the top four. Higuain scored a good goal, still getting used to the pace and physicality of the English game, the intelligent movement is there, there were some good signs.

I thought Emerson had a shocker defensively, if he wants to start ahead of Alonso that's the wrong way to go about it, very disappointing. Hazard has been average. The marking for Chambers' equalizer was criminal, like I said before, whoever is in charge of defensive preparation on Sarri's staff is stealing a living.

The last half hour we were crap, no two ways about it. Better side would have taken all three points off of us, because we looked completely spent. Thank God Kepa was on his game.

Overall, some good signs, but there are still more questions than answers. Still trying to figure out what Sarri is trying to implement here. 

P.S. By the way, Higuain's goal was our first away goal in the league in 2019. Given how few chances we create upfront, it's hardly a surprise.

Edited March 3, 20197 yr by abramovich

Unfortunately, I have missed the game. Happy with the win, but while reading the comments it seems like our performance was poor. 

My thoughts, bare in mind I lost my stream at 87.

Very open match and feel we should have won by more yet Fulham looked dangerous all match.

Hazard was quiet by his standards and did not have much end product though his second half cross along the 5-yard line should have been put away yet everyone was looking for the cutback. He did put in a shift defensively too.

Higuain took his goal well though arguably should have had more. At one point he was closing down the keeper then beckoning as though our other forwards were right behind him, they weren’t they were 15 meters behind, whether that is miscommunication or players not following Sarri’s instructions not sure.

Willian good work rate throughout the game with little end product though did link well, he made the wrong decision a couple of times. Had some good battles and won free kicks.

Barkley did ok, nothing spectacular though was prominent in our build up play, more so for me than Jorginho. He had a shot off target and defended well.

Kante as always high work rate, prominent in build up play, couple of passes intercepted yet worked hard to get the ball back. At times out-muscled by the Fulham ‘giants’. Sometimes when he breaks no-one offers him a lay-off option.

Jorginho, not one of his better performances yet he scored a good goal. A couple of passes intercepted, took another card for the team defensively. He seemed less involved in the buildup play then Barkley, not sure if by plan or necessity. One point a couple of times he tried to provide assists to Higuain, feel these will provided assists.

Emerson, did ok. Good energy and work down the left, didn’t see enough of the buildup for their goal to assess whether he was at fault though it was on his side.

Azpi did ok, was good to see him getting forward more often with the occasional good cross creating goal scoring opportunities. Feel he is pushed to the limit defensively as a RB.

Rudiger. Solid mostly defended well and contributed to the buildup play.

Christensen, good performance considering he is not a regular and looked comfortable playing the ball out of defense. A sticky moment when he got a head injury after we had made all three subs.

RLC – looked good when he came on and the most likely to get us the extra cushion of another goal.

Pedro – seemed to take up a left midfield position and rarely noticed him in an attacking sense (my stream stopped at 87).

Kovavic looked a good sub bringing in more energy through the defensive area of midfield and linking up well.

Kepa played well and made a number of good catches and saves. MOTM for me.

Other points

Fulham must be the tallest team, at times it looked like men against boys.

This was probably Fulham’s cup final and with a new manager, they worked hard and, on another day might have had a draw or possibly a win.

We are still not clinical enough with our chances.

A strange weekend, City, Utd and us all won by a single goal.

14 minutes ago, IliyaKrostin said:

Unfortunately, I have missed the game. Happy with the win, but while reading the comments it seems like our performance was poor. 

Not really. And it was a great game to watch too.

Good to get 3 points in a away London derby match, Kepa was very good but have to ask how a dog n duck side like Fulham had so many chances ? Otherwise uninspiring all round. No surprise that the players still don’t understand what the coach wants and sadly neither do us lot. 

A great result to keep up our hopes of a champions league spot!

This was never going to be as easy as some fans were expecting. Performance could have been alot better but Fulham were fighting for their lives and you have to give them credit for the way they played.

Higuain has 3 in 5 now in the league

Jorginho scored a great winning goal in a derby hopefully that can help him win over a few fans.

Arse v Manure next week so this was a vital 3 points and this is the time when every game is a slog to get the 3 points.

Keep your chins up and KTBFFH!!!

 

1 hour ago, Strider6003 said:

My thoughts, bare in mind I lost my stream at 87.

 

Very open match and feel we should have won by more yet Fulham looked dangerous all match.

 

Hazard was quiet by his standards and did not have much end product though his second half cross along the 5-yard line should have been put away yet everyone was looking for the cutback. He did put in a shift defensively too.

 

Higuain took his goal well though arguably should have had more. At one point he was closing down the keeper then beckoning as though our other forwards were right behind him, they weren’t they were 15 meters behind, whether that is miscommunication or players not following Sarri’s instructions not sure.

 

Willian good work rate throughout the game with little end product though did link well, he made the wrong decision a couple of times. Had some good battles and won free kicks.

 

Barkley did ok, nothing spectacular though was prominent in our build up play, more so for me than Jorginho. He had a shot off target and defended well.

 

Kante as always high work rate, prominent in build up play, couple of passes intercepted yet worked hard to get the ball back. At times out-muscled by the Fulham ‘giants’. Sometimes when he breaks no-one offers him a lay-off option.

 

Jorginho, not one of his better performances yet he scored a good goal. A couple of passes intercepted, took another card for the team defensively. He seemed less involved in the buildup play then Barkley, not sure if by plan or necessity. One point a couple of times he tried to provide assists to Higuain, feel these will provided assists.

 

Emerson, did ok. Good energy and work down the left, didn’t see enough of the buildup for their goal to assess whether he was at fault though it was on his side.

 

Azpi did ok, was good to see him getting forward more often with the occasional good cross creating goal scoring opportunities. Feel he is pushed to the limit defensively as a RB.

 

Rudiger. Solid mostly defended well and contributed to the buildup play.

 

Christensen, good performance considering he is not a regular and looked comfortable playing the ball out of defense. A sticky moment when he got a head injury after we had made all three subs.

 

RLC – looked good when he came on and the most likely to get us the extra cushion of another goal.

 

Pedro – seemed to take up a left  right midfield position and rarely noticed him in an attacking sense (my stream stopped at 87).

 

Kovavic looked a good sub bringing in more energy through the defensive area of midfield and linking up well.

 

Kepa played well and made a number of good catches and saves. MOTM for me.

 

Other points

 

Fulham must be the tallest team, at times it looked like men against boys.

 

This was probably Fulham’s cup final and with a new manager, they worked hard and, on another day might have had a draw or possibly a win.

 

We are still not clinical enough with our chances.

 

A strange weekend, City, Utd and us all won by a single goal.

 

Alteration above under Pedro and forgot to add our fans were in fine voice, shame about the home fans though they are in a sticky situation.