Clockwork

After seeing Alonso for so long, he made us think there was Dani Alves playing tonight.

Also helps that the opposition best defender Alonso is not there to congest the middle and frustrate the heck out of him.

Not sure who thought that was a good idea, same summer Paredes went for for around 23m+4m add on. Don't think you could have a worse summer than the one we did on the back of a PL title. Bakayoko and Morata are already gone, and Drinkwater is so shit no one wants him. Paredes would be a good addition regardless who the manager is; technical, work rate, passer, above average athletically, etc. So a fine all around midfielder that would benefit any side.

ParisUnited is a terrible source though.

Funny thing is though if he was like them, he would have left Chelsea long time ago.

Maybe, but look at the teammates those two players had, they have been immensely helped by playing with some of the greatest players of their generation and some i would argue are the best at their position ever. On the other hand with Hazard we are talking about okayish players like Mata, even at his peak he could barley get a game for Spain NT. When you look at their careers on the NT, Hazard actually compares quite well the achievement of Ronaldo and Messi, and who by the way still has a good amount of years to even surpass them.

If we want him, better finalize this as soon as possible. PSG maybe start looking elsewhere, but i can see City moving in for him now that Frenkie De jong is headed to Barca.

Hamsik is a proper midfielder though, much more well rounded player. He has quite bit of experience as pivot midfielder, 3 man midfield and as a #10. Lampard esque in ability.

Creating chances falls in line with attacking instincts in that sentence, where he was deployed more like a second striker behind Lukaku. The chances he created was from quickly passing to the striker, cross, dribbling, etc. It wasn't slow and deliberate passing from midfield. Maybe i didn't phrase that properly in the original post, and maybe you read that to your own liking. Point of that post was Ross Barkley game mirrored more of a forward than a midfielder. His movement, run into space, aggressiveness when receiving, etc. Barkley is a terrible fit for 3 man midfield, his technical and physical ability is much better fit as a forward. He simply does not having the intelligence or the consistent passing to thrive as a midfielder.

Robertson and TAA are world apart from our FB, especially in attack they are incredibly influential offensively. Mane, Firmino, and Shaquri are better than anyone we have in our attack beside Hazard. Liverpool biggest weakness is midfield, but that is minimized because they basically bypass it with quick passing to the FB and FW. You really can't think it is that simple, that Salah would be anywhere near as effective as he is on this team.

When Sarri was appointed i was a bit surprised to see Barkley in midfield, i thought his attributes fitted as a forward much more. At Everton he was known for his diagonal runs, attacking instincts, and ability to finish off goals. Do not like him in midfield just doesn't have the IQ to play there, you can clearly see he is thinking too much. RLC on the other hand i am not sure; he is great with his back to the goal and holding the ball. Just not sure about his finishing and movement off the ball.

One of Salah, Ronaldo, and Bale best attributes is movement off the ball and making goal scoring runs. That is not Hazard game, he is dangerous on the ball and his best off the ball movements is interchanging not the runs that put him in a position to finish off goals . That is why the false #9 doesn't suit him, you have to be very active off the ball and make goal scoring runs. That is why i think Pedro would have been ideal to play there if Sarri wasn't happy with Morata and Giroud.

I am not understanding the logic behind benching Jorginho. I see no reason to bench our most important player in our buildup and distributor, by benching him you basically make the job easier on our opposition now they don't have to worry about him. Kovacic is on the pitch for great amount of time Jorginho is. If he can distribute and build our attacks than he should have no reason for not doing it at the LCM role when Jorg is on the pitch and man marked. Jorginho is fine, defensively he is solid. At the moment he is stretching himself more offensively leaving himself more exposed defensively mainly because of our struggle to score goals.

That is my point, i mean he is similar to Ronaldinho in that sense he is not as ruthless as Messi and Ronaldo. A player who loves to enjoy the game and let the game come to him. Accept Hazard for who he is a superb player, one of the finest players with the ball at his feet.

Hazard is more like Ronaldinho than Messi and Ronaldo, give the guy a break he has been surrounded by less than superb players for majority of his Chelsea career especially in attack.

He isn't a true B2B player either. It is quite clear this type of football does not suit him neither role is probably optimal, but the question remain where would you rather see him playing far up the pitch or deep in midfield. I would rather see him play deeper he has much higher qualities to impact the game there than where he is now. His influence on the game is so minimal under Sarri, basically remind me of Ramires where he was praised simply for his energy and running. Kante is one of the best midfielder in the world, he is nowhere near that level on this team. I personally would like to see Kante play deeper, and have Jorginho higher up the pitch. Give him the freedom to roam more, and makes it more difficult to man mark him. I think the current system asks a lot from Jorginho. Precisely why every opposition know his value and make him a priority to stop.

Would rather have Sarri still, you are completely removing the blame from Conte for the signing he made. Bakayoko, Drinkwater, and Morata were all players Conte wanted. Look at the players we have singed under Sarri completely different skill sets. Biggest reason for the shit squad we have right now is due to the donkeys Conte signed. I am not convinced by Sarri, leaning toward him not being the answer. But at least we are moving in the right direction, most likely the next guy can capitalize.

The demand for width in the PL is much higher, they also had Jose Callejon who played more like a true winger to compensate for Hysaj. Also Hysaj is just much more comfortable venturing forward when needed either on the ball or making runs. We keep bringing up Napoli to rationalize some players on the squad, but damn they didn't win shit and struggled mightly outside of Serie A. Their CL record was abysmal.

I see. I personally don't care about our rivals and do not judge Sarri based on others. I honestly think Sarri is a good coach, from a perspective of improving players and coaching them. But there lies the other aspects which is very important to a manager success. He simply goes into every game with the same mindset, during game is the same change he makes regardless of the situation or players performance. He is playing his two best players out of position, and nowhere near getting the best out of them. He persist with the 4-3-3 and lineup thinking he will achieve something and build some sort of foundation. But he isn't, a lot of those players are not going to improve and should not be part of the squad moving forward. Alonso, Willian, Pedro, Barkley, and Kovacic for sure imo. There are also players like Azpi who i don't think is optimal to this style, and there is also Luiz who has been phenomenal this season but also out of contract. After the Arsenal loss i am looking forward to see how he responds.

They have used 4-2-3-1 a lot this season, and sometime their formation look like 4-4-2. Both Klopp and Pep have a certain style but they can deviate from a specific way in achieving that. It is crazy to me if you can not acknowledge how rigid Sarri has been, he is on a another level to anyone i have seen. People keep bringing up Pep, not even close to similarity. Pep has stayed true to his attacking philosophy, but he has experimented with formations, players, and considers external situations. Sarri does not take any consideration to deviate from his way.

How patience should we be with a rigid manager as Sarri? I can be patient but Sarri is reaching the level of insanity with doing the same thing again, again, and again. It really makes it very easy for fanbase to turn on a coach who doesn't try and think he can make a brake through by banging his head on the wall constantly. He talks about lack of motivation from his players, maybe it is time to drop some players to make a point. Look at Pep he dropped Kyle Walker who is arguably the best in his position for 3 straight games after subpar performances. What does Sarri do? he rewards the players.

In a game where we had Zero shot on target, coincided two goals basically from set plays, and this forum fuming over Jorginho. lol.

no thanks to Spalletti, i have had my fill of Italian managers for a while. know nothing about Cardoso. Paulo Fonseca of Shakhtar Donetsk interest me though.

Not ready to call for Sarri sacking, but i desperately want to see something i mean anything at this point. Sarri has literally played the same players and formation since arriving at Chelsea. Well i guess minus playing Hazard as a false 9 that is change he has made, but complete abomination. Every substitutes he makes in game is like for like regardless of the situation. I have honestly never seen a manager as rigid as Sarri. After publicly shaming his players for lack of motivation, i have no doubt he will reward the same players with another 90m on the pitch against Spurs.