Blue Armour

Interesting that a shift in our attitude happens always after a meeting with Spurs. Happened with Mourinho too. The poultry has been slowly taking revenge in form or another, ever since we knocked them out of various cup competitions. And agree with your post. Our players slow down when they reach the final third. Dribbling around the box. The problem is when we face a defense like Newcastle in the PL. You can't expect a diminutive winger like Hazard to slug it out against 3 CBs. Same goes for Pedro and Willian. Their best bet is to break out of the lines, like Pedro did for his goal. In the beginning matches we were playing with a recognized striker and it helped. Now both strikers are shot of confidence and Sarri doesn't have faith in either. We need a new CF

Hey Sarri, if you're reading this, I think Alonso can use some rest. At least a little. Please.

Get a new striker in, quick! Hazard is experiencing shades of last season's suffer-ball playing in the false 9 role.

Nothing to comment about this other than play captain obvious and call it a stop-gap signing. I'll definitely rate this higher than the Alexandre Pato signing from a few years ago. Just hoping it can be a lot better than that. If he isn't going to be putting balls in the back of the net, then he is pretty much useless. We already have Giroud as a target man.

Yeah can hardly blame Southampton for yesterday's result. Maybe the jackass referee, but not much else.

This is the full quote from BBC

Seriously though, we need a goalscorer and a new full back. I hope we're just not going to let sit through this transfer window doing nothing.

Fewest goals scored in the top 6...SMH at that stat. We were scoring for fun at the start of this season, averaging nearly 2 goals a game. Now its all dried up.

lol...I hope that's just Sarri's English.. if not...meh...don't know what to make of that. At least that's a headache only for the next season.

Hahaha...glad I'm not the only one who noticed. His dribbling style does remind me of Hazard,...more like Hazard playing at a slower pace (not even kidding). Young Hazard was just electric. Still, hoping for the best. Hopefully Sarri's football would have taken root by the time he gets here.

One goalscorer this window...Pls Don't care what position he plays...striker/winger/midfielder... Even a clown whom we can setup to take successful shots at goal.,and does nothing else, would still be welcome

I'm Sarri man. Aright. That was my cue

Yeah that's true. And apparently, the entertainment factor comes from the small team sticking it to the big team, even if it means a 0-0. Nothing to do with scoring goals. Anyway, we kept a clean sheet. I'm grateful for that.

Sounds like we were robbed by the linesman again. I know its like clutching at straws, but when you face a team that just sits and parks the bus, even one chance like that can go a long way. Plus, I hate it when linesman make decisions in favor of the defending team in close call situations. Cowardly approach, for the cowardly style of football favored by majority of the teams in this league today. That's why they won't bring in VAR for things like this.

Just postulating mate...Lamps alone would suffice. ATM, I'd dream of anything to distract me from what we're seeing on the pitch.

With my earlier post, I was not advocating for Sarri to bite the dust. Just saying it as I see it. Right now, he seems as much a victim to his 4-3-3 as Conte was to his 3-at-the-back formations. Maybe Laurentiis in all his ramblings had a point after all. Honestly right now just wish I could fast forward to when Lampard/JT get to the dugout.

Lousy football. No real evidence that it works, unless Hazard or someone else produces a moment of magic. Barring 1 or 2 matches this season, its been the same stuff over and over. Pointless possession with no end product. Same boring line ups with Willian and Kovacic. Nothing bold. More likely to see Zappacosta on the pitch, than Hudson Odoi Unless he gets squad enforcement like Pep got with City, we will have to endure this same shit on a stick football.

Honestly don't know the answer to that...but you have to agree that we're screwed 9 times out of 10 whenever that happens, at least based on what we've seen. That's why I made that claim. I pretty much agree with the rest of your post. Also, nice to see you back UJ. Love your new sig.

Can we stop dissing Hazard at least while he's still playing here? IMO, the most important player for us this season. Yes, more than Kante.

Hazard with that defense splitting pass..changed the game around for us. And today the rest of the team was superb. See? It can work EDIT: Just realized the corner for Luiz's header was whipped in by him too. 2 assists, not bad

I think Giroud will start this one for sure. I would prefer Pedro to start, and he still might. RLC might be a surprise entry, or at least a sub. Barkley might also make a cameo. The back 4....I don't even want to talk about it.

You're right. You put Hazard in any top team, he will still pull off fantastic stuff, just like he does at Chelsea. But he's not superhuman. He will have off-days. The real difference is what happens during those off-days The problem is that the rest of the team can't do shit when he is having an off day. kellzfresh hit the nail on the head when he said that we no longer have a Diego Costa to compensate with goals.

Regardless of Hazard's current state of mind...who would you prefer, Pedro or Willian? Or someone of the likes of Pulisic (which is another debate)? My point is, I don't think Hazard has anything to do with CHO getting more game time.

I'm still ruing that game against United. Ashley Young and his fellow thugs did a number on Hazard that game and he hasn't recovered his early season form since. Hazard's form dropping has turned us from title contenders to struggling for fourth place, possibly even worse than Arsenal, at least at the moment. Be careful for what you wish for. I'm all for developing CHO, but I don't think Eden playing is the reason he hasn't got a chance. Plenty of others that are pushing him down the pecking order. I'm pretty sure CHO and RLC (especially the latter based on recent games) benefit from combining with Hazard.

After what happened between the lion and the rooster, I'm not too sure of what to make of this encounter