closed PAOK 0-1 Chelsea

[petre.ispirescu 4,928]

22 minutes ago, Vesper said:

Kai Havertz is a BEAST. I would give up Kante (for a massive price) and take him in a flash. Kante is wasted in Sarriball. He is only 19 and a terror at AMF.

I invite all to watch Bayer's EL game tonight.

Now Bailey comes on. Those 2 are must buys.

No offence mate, I don't deny your passion, nor your intentions, but what about you enjoy the moment for once and stop complaining about X or Y and the lack of youth and so on. I've been enough on football forums to know that fans like you don't have a long life on those, seems like you want to live your Football Manager career in real life. 

I think Sarri knows better how to run his squad at the moment and who gives a fuck really who is playing and who is not in September when the season is just a couple of games in? There is plenty of time for Ampadu and Hudson Odoi, if you can see their potential be sure Sarri sees it too.

For now it is all about the momentum and keeping the wins rolling while getting used to his philosophy. It was important after 5 out of 5 to get the 6th one also and playing away in a hostile environment. Maybe a 2nd string formation would have done it too, but who knows, maybe not. He wanted to be sure we keep the confidence high winning another match, hence he put a strong team there away at the hardest ground in this group. 

I have no doubts the likes of Ampadu, Hudson Odoi, Loftus Cheek, Christensen are going to start the next EL matches, especially those at home, but for now it was all about confidence and getting another win to top the other ones and keep the momentum going. 

[Sideshow Luiz 2,310]

1 hour ago, Vesper said:

to put a name to vote, Christensen is my MOTM

Jorginho 2nd

I know you despise Luiz and Love Christensen, but I have to disagree here.  Rudiger was our best defender again.  I thought that Christensen did his job, but nothing more.  Which is fine, but not MOTM.

[!Hazard! 3,394]

Barkley was also near MOTM. Top performance from him

[Vesper 27,283]

10 minutes ago, petre.ispirescu said:

No offence mate, I don't deny your passion, nor your intentions, but what about you enjoy the moment for once and stop complaining about X or Y and the lack of youth and so on. I've been enough on football forums to know that fans like you don't have a long life on those, seems like you want to live your Football Manager career in real life. 

I think Sarri knows better how to run his squad at the moment and who gives a fuck really who is playing and who is not in September when the season is just a couple of games in? There is plenty of time for Ampadu and Hudson Odoi, if you can see their potential be sure Sarri sees it too.

For now it is all about the momentum and keeping the wins rolling while getting used to his philosophy. It was important after 5 out of 5 to get the 6th one also and playing away in a hostile environment. Maybe a 2nd string formation would have done it too, but who knows, maybe not. He wanted to be sure we keep the confidence high winning another match, hence he put a strong team there away at the hardest ground in this group. 

I have no doubts the likes of Ampadu, Hudson Odoi, Loftus Cheek, Christensen are going to start the next EL matches, especially those at home, but for now it was all about confidence and getting another win to top the other ones and keep the momentum going. 

Luiz is obviously  a tactical choice, same as RW, but these have long term spillage in terms of losing players. If AC feels as though he plays 2nd fiddle (or 3rd) for rhe next 3 years (we are talking about renewing Luiz for 2 more years after this season) he may want to bolt. CHO  is on with Hazard, contract-wise. They both will leave on a free in 2020 if they refuse to renew and we dont sell them in summer 2019 (or worse, panic sell im January 2020). Willian is not our future, and his valuation drops each window. I feel I am fully justified in my medium to long term event horizon concerns. Same with Morata. A 1 nil win over a shit Greek team has done little to alleviate this. It actually exposed the weaknesses more concretely. Time stands still for no one, especially in footie.

[Sideshow Luiz 2,310]

57 minutes ago, BlueLyon said:

Just a shame Sarri isnt playing any youth. 

Odoi, Ampadu not even on bench. Rlc not playing either.

Very sad.

I think they will get their opportunities.  This was our toughest fixture of the group.  I think that Sarri is very concerned about getting the team philosophy down first.  Wholesale changes might result in looking like we did in preseason.  

Now, if we hit the end of the group stage and CHO, RLC, and Ampadu have barely played, I'll be a little disappointed then.

[Sovieticus 743]

It's like having Torres all over again.

[Jase 43,479]

 

[Vesper 27,283]

7 minutes ago, !Hazard! said:

Barkley was also near MOTM. Top performance from him

He would be my 3rd choice, and probably 1st if he had a 2nd half as good as his first. I rate Barkley really high (as I do with most of our players, except for my well-known issues with Luiz, Morata and Willian).

[blues.bridge 340]

i'm worried  like Vesper.
A team should be aggiorned every year.
The ideal would be give new contract to hazard and CHO, purchase and under 25 strong and sell willian, pedro and morata before they value decrease!
Instead for now seem like the opposite:
we give a new contract to player like Luiz or Willian while Hazzy and CHO risks to go away, in the 2020 instead to have hazard and CHO ( that will be 20y/o)  we will have pedro, willian and others like luiz etc,  in short players with 33-34 or more years old witout  young that can take they place (CHO for example) becouse we when could have done they the opportunity to play we had prefered to play old players.

Also economically is a suicide!
Willian now you can sell him for £65B
Pedro something like £40B
Luiz £30B
total around £130B

Hazard value is  abot £220B and will go up  under sarri ( like £300B)
but without extention we probably loss him for less than £100B.

Now without make all passes and cases,  if we loss hazard and CHO and keep the others instead of monetizing before (willian, pedro, luiz etc) loses they value.
we could lost considering also price of substitude players that at that point we should do for force is easily something about: £300B only for a bad gestion! 

 

[Vesper 27,283]

5 minutes ago, blues.bridge said:

i'm worried  like Vesper.
A team should be aggiorned every year.
The ideal would be give new contract to hazard and CHO, purchase and under 25 strong and sell willian, pedro and morata before they value decrease!
Instead for now seem like the opposite:
we give a new contract to player like Luiz or Willian while Hazzy and CHO risks to go away, in the 2020 instead to have hazard and CHO ( that will be 20y/o)  we will have pedro, willian and others like luiz etc,  in short players with 33-34 or more years old witout  young that can take they place (CHO for example) becouse we when could have done they the opportunity to play we had prefered to play old players.

Also economically is a suicide!
Willian now you can sell him for £65B
Pedro something like £40B
Luiz £30B
total around £130B

Hazard value is  abot £220B and will go up  under sarri ( like £300B)
but without extention we probably loss him for less than £100B.

Now without make all passes and cases,  if we loss hazard and CHO and keep the others instead of monetizing before (willian, pedro, luiz etc) loses they value.
we could lost considering also price of substitude players that at that point we should do for force is easily something about: £300B only for a bad gestion! 

 

Thank you!

[Iggy Doonican 4,186]

27 minutes ago, blues.bridge said:

A team should be aggiorned every year.

Pretentious moi ?. Don't think that a football forum is the best place for words like that son

[Blue Armour 4,158]

2 hours ago, BlueLyon said:

Just a shame Sarri isnt playing any youth. 

Odoi, Ampadu not even on bench. Rlc not playing either.

Very sad.

Yeah..my only gripe so far.

Moses on the bench instead of Odoi.

I think we can expect to see lineups like this until we have more or less secured the group stage.

So another 2-3 more matches like this.

[Yeboii 1,844]

Seeing some comments on here dissing Rudiger. What did he do wrong exactly? He pushed the opposition player hand away at a free kick scenario. Nearly every player does that now and again. Then the player tried to make it look like he punched him and Rudiger scolds him (rightly so, we all should be able to agree on that this kind of faking has no place in the game). When Rudiger scolds him the player puts his hands on his throat!

Then he tries to shake the players hand after the game and he is being bitter about it still, even after everyone knows he faked it.

Rudiger is now getting a rep for being a "dirty player" because of the Pavard incident, which was an accident btw and even Pavard said it was not a problem. Players will try to use that to their advantage now if people keep on with this propaganda. Just you watch...

[BlueLyon 9,359]

5 hours ago, Vesper said:

Kai Havertz is a BEAST. I would give up Kante (for a massive price) and take him in a flash. Kante is wasted in Sarriball. He is only 19 and a terror at AMF.

I invite all to watch Bayer's EL game tonight.

Now Bailey comes on. Those 2 are must buys.

Please dont even underestimate Kante like this again. There is not a single player in the world available that could do the job that Kante and Hazard do for us. More so, there isnt a single player in the world that does Kante job better than Kante. A decade since a proper DM was praised this much like Kante is now.

Havertz, Brandt and especially Bailey are quality players indeed, I said many times Bailey is must buy for or RW whenever we go in the market for new winger. But damn, not at the expense of Kante The wee baldy man is anomaly that happens once in a decade. We have all these fancy attackers in the spotlight all the time, then comes this hard working lad who goes toe to toe with best players in the world. Football is a team sport and getting good attacking player isnt hard. But getting a proper hard working DM who always puts team mates ahead of his personal glory and is still called in same breath as best players in the world, thats a rare thing that doesnt happen many times.

I was in belief that all fans, nevermind Chelsea fans finaly saw how great and important player Kante is. In a world when all we hear is who scores more goals, who makes more assists, more dribbles, when its all about attackers, with defenders and DMs underappreciated as fuck, Kante literaly shone the light to football world that you can be equaljy appreciated even if you are DM with no fancy stats and no fancy football style. That you can be in same league, equally important as those best attackers in the world. That you dont have to live extravagant style and show off, but being humble and respectful to others and still get ton of fans around the world. A DM that won the best player of the year award ahead the likes of Hazard, Aguero, KDB, Coutinho,...

You do understand how fucking great you have to be in the game itself to be so appreciated when you have no fancy stats and tricks to back you up? When you have world beaters who score screamers every week, dribble past half the field, decide the matches on its own as competition and you still get fans and other players to vote for you?

BUT then you come and throw Kante for fucking Kai Havertz? I may not agree but I would understand if you said Messi or Ronaldo, Drogba in his prime or something like that, but Kai Havertz? Realy?

Please never again.

[Strike 6,958]

6 hours ago, BlueLyon said:

Just a shame Sarri isnt playing any youth. 

Odoi, Ampadu not even on bench. Rlc not playing either.

Very sad.

this was my initial reaction too

But I'm willing to wait till Matchday 3-4 to really assess how the youth are played. I think when Chelsea have tougher league games in the weekend, Sarri will be resting more of the team

[Fulham Broadway 16,386]

1 hour ago, BlueLyon said:

Please dont even underestimate Kante like this again. There is not a single player in the world available that could do the job that Kante and Hazard do for us. More so, there isnt a single player in the world that does Kante job better than Kante. A decade since a proper DM was praised this much like Kante is now.

Havertz, Brandt and especially Bailey are quality players indeed, I said many times Bailey is must buy for or RW whenever we go in the market for new winger. But damn, not at the expense of Kante The wee baldy man is anomaly that happens once in a decade. We have all these fancy attackers in the spotlight all the time, then comes this hard working lad who goes toe to toe with best players in the world. Football is a team sport and getting good attacking player isnt hard. But getting a proper hard working DM who always puts team mates ahead of his personal glory and is still called in same breath as best players in the world, thats a rare thing that doesnt happen many times.

I was in belief that all fans, nevermind Chelsea fans finaly saw how great and important player Kante is. In a world when all we hear is who scores more goals, who makes more assists, more dribbles, when its all about attackers, with defenders and DMs underappreciated as fuck, Kante literaly shone the light to football world that you can be equaljy appreciated even if you are DM with no fancy stats and no fancy football style. That you can be in same league, equally important as those best attackers in the world. That you dont have to live extravagant style and show off, but being humble and respectful to others and still get ton of fans around the world. A DM that won the best player of the year award ahead the likes of Hazard, Aguero, KDB, Coutinho,...

You do understand how fucking great you have to be in the game itself to be so appreciated when you have no fancy stats and tricks to back you up? When you have world beaters who score screamers every week, dribble past half the field, decide the matches on its own as competition and you still get fans and other players to vote for you?

BUT then you come and throw Kante for fucking Kai Havertz? I may not agree but I would understand if you said Messi or Ronaldo, Drogba in his prime or something like that, but Kai Havertz? Realy?

Please never again.

Agreed. He is, and has been for a while, the engine, and the most important player. Makalele on speed.

[Vesper 27,283]

1 hour ago, BlueLyon said:

Please dont even underestimate Kante like this again. There is not a single player in the world available that could do the job that Kante and Hazard do for us. More so, there isnt a single player in the world that does Kante job better than Kante. A decade since a proper DM was praised this much like Kante is now.

Havertz, Brandt and especially Bailey are quality players indeed, I said many times Bailey is must buy for or RW whenever we go in the market for new winger. But damn, not at the expense of Kante The wee baldy man is anomaly that happens once in a decade. We have all these fancy attackers in the spotlight all the time, then comes this hard working lad who goes toe to toe with best players in the world. Football is a team sport and getting good attacking player isnt hard. But getting a proper hard working DM who always puts team mates ahead of his personal glory and is still called in same breath as best players in the world, thats a rare thing that doesnt happen many times.

I was in belief that all fans, nevermind Chelsea fans finaly saw how great and important player Kante is. In a world when all we hear is who scores more goals, who makes more assists, more dribbles, when its all about attackers, with defenders and DMs underappreciated as fuck, Kante literaly shone the light to football world that you can be equaljy appreciated even if you are DM with no fancy stats and no fancy football style. That you can be in same league, equally important as those best attackers in the world. That you dont have to live extravagant style and show off, but being humble and respectful to others and still get ton of fans around the world. A DM that won the best player of the year award ahead the likes of Hazard, Aguero, KDB, Coutinho,...

You do understand how fucking great you have to be in the game itself to be so appreciated when you have no fancy stats and tricks to back you up? When you have world beaters who score screamers every week, dribble past half the field, decide the matches on its own as competition and you still get fans and other players to vote for you?

BUT then you come and throw Kante for fucking Kai Havertz? I may not agree but I would understand if you said Messi or Ronaldo, Drogba in his prime or something like that, but Kai Havertz? Realy?

Please never again.

I meant in that role (AMF) and I deffo came across farrrr too harsh in my tone towards Kante. I had one too many martinis! Not joking. I would never trade him straight up for Havertz unless we are talking a 32yo or older Kante for 24yo or so Havertz (provided Havertz has continued to progress 5 plus years from now, of course).

I am however, I admit, having trouble seeing Kante being used most effectively atm. He seems betwixt and between. I think he is the best DMF by far on the planet, but doesn't seem to play that role in Sarriball very much.

If you could point me to some info on what Sarri actually wants out of him in his system, I would appreciate it.

Cheers

 

[Unionjack 7,531]

1 hour ago, Vesper said:

I meant in that role (AMF) and I deffo came across farrrr too harsh in my tone towards Kante. I had one too many martinis! Not joking. I would never trade him straight up for Havertz unless we are talking a 32yo or older Kante for 24yo or so Havertz (provided Havertz has continued to progress 5 plus years from now, of course).

I am however, I admit, having trouble seeing Kante being used most effectively atm. He seems betwixt and between. I think he is the best DMF by far on the planet, but doesn't seem to play that role in Sarriball very much.

If you could point me to some info on what Sarri actually wants out of him in his system, I would appreciate it.

Cheers

 

I can't point you at owt to read mate cause Ive seen nowt but my take on what Sarri has in mind for the wee baldy man doesn't work right now.

Sarri wants the WHOLE TEAM to press as one single unit in formation. As high up the pitch as possible taking the ball from them as soon as they get it.

Right now we haven't fully mastered it yet. So it leaves the defense open and as we have half our defenders (as in Alonso and Luiz) not the best defenders, it causes us issues.

BUT once we have got the high pressing fully sussed the WBM will come into his strength. Not back near our nox but up near theirs.

OK theres alot that are saying put him back to cover Jorgi nut that would be like giving in.

We have to go into this 100%  - everyone. Or we might as well not bother.

I was of the mind to let him be a B2B and in some games I do still think he should. But I'm all for giving N'Golo  a bit of a change. Give him some freedom to go forward. Hes not a bad little dribble when he wants, nippy little bugga and I think he likes having a shot at goal.

I say give it a chance for a few months.