OneMoSalah

I dont think an assistant managers place is that regardless of who it is. Be it Zola, JT, Drogba, Lampard whoever. Manager is the top dog , assistant managers are more a buffer between the players and manager, and thats probably the case at a lot of clubs. The manager is more likely to get the team up as opposed to anybody else. The players also have a responsibility to motivate themselves too. Zola doesnt have a massive status st the club ? Are you joking? Zola is arguably one of the best players who has ever put on the shirt. Thats big enough surely??? Please, ask anybody who watched Chelsea in the 90s and tell them that Zola doesnt have a massive status here. I dare you. Again how do you know that? Are you in the dressing room? Most clubs want everyone in the dressing room to speak one language so everyone is aware of what is being said. Be it Celtic FC, PSG, Chelsea or Hamburg or whoever. Most players these days are bilingual but again Ive heard stories about certain players (Bale at Madrid, being told to speak in Spanish as opposed to English and various foreign players at Celtic being told to speak English in the dressing room so others can follow) and I doubt its just a few select clubs. So I suppose Conte and his staff where the same or Scolari and his staff? Or Jose and his? I doubt Sarri is sitting speaking in Italian behind players backs, even then how many players can speak Italian at the club? Zappa, Emerson, Alonso, Jorginho, Higuain... its hardly as if theyre speaking in Mandarin. Id imagine English club, first language in the dressing room would be English. Some of Sarris pressers have had Italian but I think your overplaying it. Kepa situation was a disaster, players should of made him go.

Emenalo was technical director when all of those players signed (officially or unofficially). Signing a player and scouting them is 2 different things. Campos probably didnt scout every player hes been credit but he signed them. Same with Monchi. Monchi establish hundreds of scouting networks in various countries at Seville. He signed those players hut that doesnt mean he initially discovered them. De Vissier was merely a scout, nothing else, he didnt have the authority to sign players, he could only recommend them.

I dont think so. To many Zola is one of the finest players to have ever played for us and his experience in English football is valuable even if his coaching career hasnt been impressive. If someone who was voted the best player in the clubs history at one point cant connect with the team then we really are fucked. Zola and Sarri being Italian means nothing. Zola has been speaking English for probably close to 25 years considering he came here in 1996 (and I would imagine Italians are also taught English as a second language - like British are taught in French, Spanish or German as a second language at some level in their education - so maybe even longer....). I would like to think everyone, the players and the manager, have been strictly encouraged to speak English in the dressing room so everyone can follow. Obviously theres huge cultural differences and difference of nationalities in the dressing room but you hear about it at clubs all over the continent, they speak the language of wherever the club is based first and foremost in the dressing room. Regarding Terry, Zola can do the exact same, speak about his experiences and passions about the club so again, doesnt make a huge difference I would say. Maybe Terry coming through the academy different slightly but again, Zola came and made a huge mark here too. I dont think appointing him was a bad move at all. It was a pretty good move, someone who demands respect from the fans and players here and also allover England and the UK from his playing days.

Think Ake is better physically and thats it. Christensen needs to become more physical, he reads it better than Ake and technically is probably superior although Ake can play LB and DM too(CB best role undoubtedly though).

Emenalo essentially signed Courtois, Lukaku, Hazard, KdB, Salah, Zouma, van Ginkel, Cesc, Costa, Mata, Azpi, Filipe Luis among countless others. As well as probably being involved with signing Christensen, Musonda, whoever else too under 18. Just shows if the results on the pitch arent there who youve signed means jack shit in all fairness people will always complain about something. Or if your last batch of signings dont work nobody will care about the others.

Campos would be a good move although I still think, as seen with Monchi at Roma, it is not guaranteed to work. Theres a lot of parameters which need to be looked at. 1) progession for young players to the first 11/18 man squad and developing them more in house as opposed to out on loan 2) signing the right profile of players for the philosophy Sarri is trying to implenent. 3) the actual working relationship with Sarri and the rest of the board. Will be the biggest one for me, how will they manage it. 4) short and long term planning, weve alwaya focused on 1 or 2 years down the line and competing without also thinking more long term. The likes of Christensen, CHO and RLC are proof of that, they should have been used more regularly this season (Sarris first season, RLCs back hasnt helped and managers lack of rotation) but hopefully next year they feature a lot sooner on a regular basis and will have shown Sarri he can lean on them more, similarly like Christensen showed Conte last season for a good few months before struggling. 5) signing ready made players as well as younger ones. Another big issue I think. No point flooding our 18 with just young guys because weve seen how demanding the PL is and having players in their best years is also very helpful, look at our team under Jose, Cesc, Hazard, Costa all very established players already by then. We need that balance. Even Liverpool and City, guys who are very established and experienced have helped their new guys settle in while remaining competitive.

Sarri sung high praises of him after Brighton game. Said he was motm. Hopefully he gets more minutes in the run in of games left. Think him and Luiz look better with each other than him and Rudiger tbf.

It doesnt matter who our owner is, for 2 windows at least we wont be able to sign anyone. Theres no doubt we could do with a few top quality additions coming in but thats been the case since Joses third season. Theres still plenty in this squad to be doing better too but I didnt expect Sarri's first season to be plain sailing either. Time is needed regardless.

Interesting. Was almost sure he would go for Barca but he would give Real more options and that would seal Kovacic's future there as non existent. Zidane is not a massive fan of him and rarely started him unless it was a cup game or there were injuries.

New contract and a loan move to Leipzig under Nagelsmann who is an oustanding manager with a reputation for developing players across the board. That would be a win win. He wouldnt instantly start but Lookman from Everton was in same boat and went over and made a huge impression, I dont think hes much more talented than Mount either if at all.

Hazard FC... no video of the big chances hes squandered also or games he was very poor. No longer surprises me. When he goes in the summer I wonder who will be the next player to be considered the only person in the team worth anything.

Exactly. Great post. Some younger fans from all over the world would never have even been interested in Chelsea as a team to follow if Roman hadnt invested so much which helped catapult this club into a European superclub so to speak. His influence is hard to deny and a big reason why we have won several trophies upon trophies since he took over. No way would we have signed half the players or managers weve gotten without Roman either, willing to compete against traditionally bigger clubs for the likes of Essien, Robben, Cech, whomever else in the early days and also other calibres of players who I doubt many guys, who have supported the club for 50 years or more, guys like my Grandad, would have imagined we would have ever signed. People talk about a lack of spending but he made 170m avaliable this season alone to be spent on Jorginho, Kepa and Pulisic. The season beforehand he made 200m avaliable to be spent on Morata, Bakayoko, Drinkwater, Rudiger, Emerson, Zappacosta, Giroud and Barkley. Just because they didnt work out doesnt mean he needs to spend more. I very much doubt Jim Radcliffe would come in and drop 300m a season like at City who are owned by Saudi royalty. I think its understandable for people to think weve won titles before with this squad so why cant it be achieved again? Although for me its painfully obvious 3 or 4 guys in the 11 are expendable and could be replaced, if the right signings were to be made. The issue isnt the owner. The net transfers have come up for a while but we won the league under Jose having sold Luiz, Mata, De Bruyne for huge profits and being in the plus. The board were called geniuises by many on here because we were beating FFP and winning. Complacency has been the issue here. Not a lack of investment. Also a lack of long term planning but in the past it has always worked.

If we can lose Zappacosta it has to be considered. Unless we were to go for Wan Bissaka although we are transfer banned and gave him to Palace on loan for a year.

It was probably just before or around this time with Napoli he blew a title challenge due to not rotating a few seasons ago. The bad run of form hasnt helped us, I thought after he started rotating Emerson and Alonso he would continue to rotate more with the likes of RLC, Christensen, Giroud and CHO but a lot of bad results may have forced his hand into picking a more settled XI over a more rotated one like tonight for instance. Who knows. I think next season if he gets kept, he will trust the likes of Andreas, Callum, Ruben and Emerson a lot lot more. He has to in all honesty.

Hes been reasonably good for a few games now but because he isnt a hugely pacey fullback, although hes no slouch, he is going to have limitations against some teams. Regardless Id rather have somebody as defensively solid as him than a more offensive and weaker defensive fullback. The issue necessarily isnt our fullbacks being poor (well could argue about Alonso and Zappacosta tbf), its more often or not they arent wide enough or we dont create enough 2 on 1 opportunities to isolate opposition fullbacks in the final third in wide areas to gain an advantage. Ironically, hes been very decent offensively throughout his career here despite the fact people seem to think when he first joined he wasnt offensive enough and now some believe hes past it. His evolution in terms of his versatility and also improving technically (quite a big improvement too, which was even more evident in a back 3 under Conte) is a huge credit to him. Regardless of what people think, can only say £7,000,000 well spent.

Based on how he played tonight and how Ross has played recently for us, RLC would start the next match for me. But Ross played very well in the early stages of the season and also for England in the internationals. I dont think theres a huge difference in how good they are, both play within themselves at times particularly when we arent having a good spell or good game and for them to push on and become top top players they both need to be able to grab a game by the scruff of the neck and be dominant in that midfield. Personally I think Barkley hasnt ever played as well as he did under Martinez when he was 19 or 20 years old, if he played like that he would probably be starting every week for us.

Fitness would be the obvious reason. Hes had continous back problems throughout his career, hes starting adding goals and assists to his game which for me was ultimately what he had to do to prove himself here unlike at Palace, but his fitness is still a concern and hopefully he gets a devent amount of minutes to the end of the season and can rest well and come back for next season without any fitness issues or injury issues.

I think so because theres less burden on him to provide width, Pedro and Willian when theyre on the right like to come centrally congesting the pitch and making the chance for 2 on 1s minimal in comparison to what we seen with Callum tonight. Azpi also got in the box a few times too. Azpi isnt going to blow anyone away with pace but creating 2 on 1s gives him a chance.

Its the sort of thing they get criticized for also. Unfortunately you cant have one standard for one guy and not for the other. All top pros should be able to be technically proficient, that goes for everyone in the team though. The technique some of these guys have is scary and some of the shit you see at times is ridiculous haha. Great play for the goal. He stayed wide giving width, which weve sorely lacked at times all season. Pedro and Willian are different players with different characteristics who could do that but they seem to come inside more often to play quick combinations but the variation Callum gave by staying wide creates that chance for him to isolate Knockaert who isnt strong defensively. Then the rest is simple, good low centre, good finish. Need a second goal now.

Theyve been linked but I dont think they would fancy dealing with his wife. Icardi is ex Barca although I doubt that would hugely influence his decision but never know.

Great goal, inital pass from Eden to Callum was great, excellent low centre and finished well by Oli. Eden should have scored chance few mins before tho or at least hit the target.

He apparently had that last summer too. Personally I think Madrid will go for him. Lot of rumours last year that they were interested, plus his goals from attacking midfield would help them a lot seeing as they are missing goals in attacking positions.

Decent start, winning the ball back quickly, something we have needed to improve on a lot. Giroud unfortunate with that half chance but was tough to do much more, good find by Jorginho.

Chelsea aren't chasing Coutinho for 3 reasons.... 1)Price, 2) most importantly of all, transfer ban and 3) I very much doubt he would want to come here at all. Rumors Barca coach Valderde will leave after this season and be replaced by the current Real Betis coach. He has sort of rejuvenated Sergio Canales and got more out of Lo Celeo than PSG did so I think Coutinho will be fine if Barca do change manager and Setien goes there. He was never gonna Iniestas heir as many thought, for me Thiago Alcantara was basically ready made for that/or even Xavis role but he left years ago.

Transfer ban means theres no chance we are signing any wingers for next season. Pepe will have plenty of offers, like Jovic, so I doubt we will get any of them.