OneMoSalah

Kante won the ball back and intercepted it though especially in the second half which was vital to continually putting Palace under pressure and stop them getting out to counter with Zaha and Townsend in the wide positions. I agree his passing today wasn't great at times but still think theres a point in him playing in MF to recover the ball higher up (not all he does unfair to say hes only playing for that but a big skill which is useful in a pressing team), also his energy and mobility because Jorginho is quite slow. I think we'll truly know towards the tail end of the season, think we still need to give the team a good few months yet to see what Sarri truly wants the team to do. Still so much improvement to be made without the ball and defensively, as well as offensively. Still lots of positives and despite thinking we could improve we are 2nd and unbeaten...

It means the club's have to play them though or they will lose them. I think B teams still need to be introduced to bridge the gap between academy and PL standards. Loaning guys over 21 years for me is quite pointless unless it's an exceptional circumstance like say they've had a year out with injuries similar to Marco and Kurts loan deals in the past after they did their ACLs to get regular minutes and continuity. Guys aged 21 or more should be in the squad for me because youd think they'd be at a good level to compete and offer something. This is an issue all over the PL, guys like Andreas Pereira at United went to Valencia although was definitely at a good enough level to play at United when you consider they were using a lesser player like Scott McTominay regularly. Fair enough some footballers develop later than others but 9 times out of 10 , you'd expect somebody who comes through the academy at a club to be good enough to compete for first team football at 21 at one of these club's, wouldn't you? Or at least you'd hope. I look at Ajax, guys like Frenkie de Jong and Matthias de Ligt. When these guys are say 23 theyll be ready to play for elite clubs like Bayern, Barca, Real, Juventus week in week out and will go on and have hugely impressive careers. Here they'd be loaned out and still probably never end up making it here because the loan system for me is more a business than an actual pathway to the first team. Look at how many players we've loaned out and sold for profit. Losing the amount of guys we can loan out as a business tool as opposed to a pathway to bringing young guys through is probably more of an issue for Chelsea and that's the harsh reality.

Anyone got a video or gif of that Kepa 40 or 50 meter pass to Azpi when he came out his box? Was an absolute worldly not sure if he meant it or not but was brilliant 😂 Mixed performance today, Morata dug us out a hole with 2 goals and good to see Pedro get a goal but a bit of sloppiness in MF from everybody in phases. Defence wasn't great, Luiz did some good things and then some bad things. Same with Azpi and Alonso. Thought Azpi was pretty solid against Zaha when they had him drift out wide in all fairness but gave the ball away a lot.

The Kovacic and Hazard link up is exceptional though. They understand each other on and off the ball and often look to find each other. Kovacic is a better footballer than Ross and Ruben (fair to say he's similar to Morata in regards that hebplayed for a top top club but never really started) and has got similar footballing intelligence to Eden which is why they combine so well I think, even in the Arsenal game when he came on for his debut, within his first 5 minutes he and Eden combined and you could just tell. The Liverpool match as well for me was a big proving point that Eden and Kova are great together. I think Ruben could be a more rounded box to box player with a bit of work defensively and positionally. I think Ross and Kovacic are more forward thinking than him, although he can carry the ball well but his final pass isn't as good as theirs. Ross offers much more of a goal threat than both of them for me but he offers more, even at Everton he was a creative hub for them and now he has a bit of maturity to his play. Bit panicky today at times but it wasn't a brilliant performance from the team, sloppy with the ball, got some luck and also had some good David Luiz moments like that excellent block in the first half. Nobody in MF bar Jorginho passed well in the first half I thought. Even Jorgi gave some balls away but there is a much better decision making process when Ross gets the ball, which even when he makes bad passes or mistakes he still gets on the ball and still manages to find his team mates. Kante and Azpi were more concerning for me in regards to giving the ball away today, a lot of sloppy passes after 1-1.

Get them out asap. Also regarding the loans, it's the right thing to do, not only a problem for us but many teams but if people want PL teams to bring youngsters through its only logical step. Also means we will have to sell but makes us money.

Thought he was one of the best guys on the park. Two good finishes. Unfortunate with last one but confidence is high obviously or he wouldn't be trying to lob somebody one on one. Really dug us out of a hole today but again constant criticism.

If true sack the board 😂 Also wish Martin Keown would fuck off, Daft bastard.

Think comparing 9 games against 150 is daft but no doubt he's improved his game here this season. Even last season he looked lost when he played.

Did the keeper not save them? He's certainly looked better recently although for the money he cost you want more yes.

Both would be interesting players to sign. Lozano still has to prove himself at a tougher level but he's got good potential, looks very raw although he was good at world cup for Mexico and has scored goals regularly in Holland.

If he can't displace Brandt and Bellarabi then maybe we should re think our interest until the summer. He's got talent but we need somebody who can instantly add to the team and quite frankly if he can't get ahead of those two (although Brandt will be a top top player) does that mean he could struggle to get games ahead of Willian and Pedro too? Would consider Suso who is more mature and known to Sarri as the wiser move. Also his agent and management team stink and are making a lot of issues for him, could be a turn off for the club negotiating with them? Generally thought if we signed him in the summer he wouldn't be an instant starter and still have the same feeling, he showed a lot of good things last year but has also showed a lot of bad things for Leberkusen this season.

I think a 20 goal a season striker, a CB and RW will bring the team up (obviously need to be the right players) but I wouldn't panic yet regarding Kante he's impressing me in this new role, bringing different aspects of his game to the fore and getting involved more offensively. He improved under Conte and will do so under Sarri in this different role. I agree we lack goals from MF, some top teams have had this but had an appropriate amount of goals in attacking areas. So it remains to be seen what will happen, RW and CF is areas we could see improvements in.

He turns 18 this month. He'll get minutes this season but dont expect him to be a regular, too much expectation too soon. If anybody expected him to amass even a quarter of the minutes guys like Mbappe, de Ligt, Kluivert, Auoar, Sancho etc have or will amass this season then they are dreaming. When have Chelsea ever done this with youth players? I did hope he'd feature more in the Europa, Carabao Cup, FA Cup etc and he still might do to be honest the seasons still young. Jadon Sancho's rise at Dortmund has shown that it can be done by young Englishmen in foreign league but that has raised the expectations and now the likes or Foden, Hudson Odoi or every second, third or fourth PL youngster is being linked with moves to Germany etc. Think we shouldn't panic yet. Him and Ampadu still have plenty of matches to contribute to. I think he'll pen a new deal, Sarri was impressed with him the same way Conte was. Hopefully we shift Moses, Drinkwater and Cahill in January, that will free up more chances of Europa/Cup matches for the two of them to play in some capacity.

Honestly I think Kante-Jorginho-Kovacic is our best MF 3 still. Has a nice blend of everything, except for physical size, which isn't necessarily important but useful in some games. Kantes role is still vital, gives the team balance in MF. If you remove Kante the midfield is too offensive minded, too unbalanced. I am not saying Kante is Busquets but that great Barca teams MF needed Busquets because he offered balance without the ball, Kante is similar in a different way, he is the only out of the three that positionally understands the defensive roles of a midfielder, Kovacic gets stuck in and has come leaps and bounds since his Inter days but can still be caught out positionally, which is something which attributed towards not being trusted at Madrid in big games if they had MF injuries. I mean still Kante averages 2 tackles and 1.8 interceptions a game. Fair enough it's not the stats he usually gets but in a possession based team recovering the ball is still important and there's not any better than Kante in the world at it. Kovacic averages 1.4 tackles per game and 0.4 a game, Ruben averages 0.8 tackles and 0.2 interceptions a game, Cesc averages 0.5 tackles a game and 0.3 interceptions, Jorginho averages 1.6 tackles and 1 interception per game and Ross averages 0.5 tackles and 0.3 interceptions per game. Kantes role is exactly the same as Allan's was for Sarri at Napoli. The best way to fit him in is in a 3 man MF or Sarri wouldn't do it if he didnt believe he suited the role... unless you know more than Sarri.. It seems balance is still the most underrated concept in football. Even City and Liverpool have got good balance now. You can have 70% of the ball but if your not able to have some balance of some sort in your team you'll concede goals left right and centre.

After Ramos' comments as well as Perez' influence on transfers its not a surprise Conte isn't going there. Probably a smart move in all fairness. Think he will end up back at Juve eventually, Allegri is still a wanted man (Real, United and Bayern all been linked and mentioned in the past a lot) and if he manages CL success with that Juve team it would be ideal time for him to go I think.

Tbf playing Kante as a DM is going to affect our play. Kante is decent with the ball but Jorginho and Cesc offer so much more from that position, which is key to helping beat a press or get through the lines faster. Just look at when Conte played Kante as a 6 in 433/4141 against West Ham, Liverpool, Arsensl etc, he did a good job defensively but looking back on it we struggled to get through the lines and had to work the ball round another way to get into the final third. With Jorginho or Cesc we can go straight into more dangerous positions as a result of this, getting to the front players quicker as well as retaining possession better because these guys constantly want the ball every time the CBs, FBs or GK have it and know when to pick the correct pass through the lines or when to keep it simple. Id imagine on average the deepest lying midfield player (Jorginho/Cesc) completes the more passes and has more touches than anybody else in this team, so giving Kante that role and that responsibility could affect things massively. Plus i like seeing him in this new role think he has got so much to offer, similarly to Allan who played it for Napoli. Kantes biggest strength is winning the ball back and intercepting it for me, which in a team who want to have 60% of the ball or more, always be on the front foot, that skills much more useful higher up when we lose it. Having him in that playmaker role is a waste and would disrupt how we play.

Tbf looking on how the game went, the pair of Kovacic and Kante had to play, they give us plenty of energy in MF. Maybe he could have dropped one of them and used Ruben more centrally or used Ross but had Pedro not been brought off the other week then he'd probably have started and we might have seen that. Again, he's not hugely known for rotatiom and you can see why perhaps. The back 4 was all over the place because they've hardly played together, the spaces between the defence and MF was quite alarming (been an issue with our first 11 at times never mind a second string team).

Kovacic has to be first choice. Ramsey is a good player but if we have to choose one or the other it's an easy choice. Fact Arsenal are willing to let him go for free says a lot too... also Liverpool 😂 he's never gonna get a game, is he stupid? Keita is the more advanced player in that MF, Lallana can play there too.. then they have Oxlade Chamberlain too...

Surprised Barca willing to get rid of him he started the season on fire for them, arguably their key player for first 5 or 6 games.

Honestly Christensen was just as poor I felt. Didn't matter who he took off if the defence didn't play as bad he'd of been able to make positive changes. Pedro needed minutes, thought Ruben plays well but was a sensible sub to make.

Cahill, Christensen and Emerson all were shocking defensively. Christensen wants more game time then he has to improve ten times over, even with the ball offers nowhere near what Luiz or Rudi can, can't break the lines and always seems to be more concerned with going backwards or sideways when he can look forward. Cahill is finished here, shocking on the ball, pass to Cesc before that Derby goal was shocking, gave Cesc no chance. Emerson looked decent going forward but struggled coming back.

A lot more creative than Pedro as well I would say. Brilliant player when it comes to receiving the ball on the half turn, always forward thinking, not very very quick but good in 1v1s, decisive in the final third, still room to improve. His form at Milan the past 2 years has been impressive considering their struggles for consistency.

I think if Hazard resigns then signing Kovacic should be the next logical step along with recruiting a top striker and another CB in January or the summer. He really is a key part of the team, he may not always play with Ruben/Ross also available but he can play Kantes position as well as that more advanced role. Also his current age and the fact hes still got a lot of growing to do is even more attractive in terms of signing him. Having 5 or 6 top MF options is excellent and we've lacked this for a while, Jorginho, Cesc, Kante, Ross, Ruben and Kova is the competitive MF options we need to keep everybody on their toes. No need to keep the likes of Bakayoko and Drinkwater either if we get this deal done. Hope Sarri and him push to get this move done for the summer.

Hendrichs struggled at Leverkusen last season, he has talent but it wouldn't necessarily be an instant improvement this is the real world not FIFA or PES. Also Azpi will still be the undoubted starter still. Also again Pellegri May be extremely talented and maybe a special player one day but that won't happen here, he'd be farmed out on loan 4 or 5 times lets not kid ourselves. Reece James is a right back. 1000%. Jay Dasilva is a left back. Perhaps who your thinking of. Guys like Lazaro, Hakimi etc need to prove themselves still, not even half a season in yet. Benjamin Pavard for me will be a top RB though, absolutely top class defensively solid and able to go forward. Been keeping an eye on him for a few seasons now and world cup he was excellent.

Personally thought he was pretty good today. The dive wasn't great but the guy doesn't get enough credit when he does play wel, always gets criticized.