OneMoSalah

There has been a lot of time for him and the players to reflect on whats gone wrong. I doubt he'd say he was committed last season at the end if he wasn't, he had to be convinced not to walk away last summer due to huge disagreements regarding funding and transfers apparently so the fact hes not decided to walk this summer says something, either he knows hes not first choice and is entitled to a large pay off or he wants to sort out the mess from last season, which I would think would be more likely as its not only affected the club and players reputation but also his own. If he does stay, I have no doubt that he will have to change how he approaches things, last season was a nightmare in the summer regarding recruitment then through in the the whole Costa situation, Matic and Terrys departures and constant speculation regarding Conte and the board falling out repeatedly. If he stays, which is looking more and more likely each week, the club 100% have to back him and go for better and more developed players and certain players have to raise their levels from last season again, especially the guys who played halfheartedly after January because there is no guarantee that Sarri coming in actually changes anything regarding some of last seasons inconsistencies from the players. The commitment hasn't just got to be to the coach but to the club and the likes of Hazard and Courtois need to show good intentions and resign or to be blunt, fuck off somewhere else. Even Courtois said himself speculation regarding his future possibly affected his performances. Well eliminate that speculation by signing or leaving...

Dont say that....

Really? Dont be stupid. Unless Alonso or Emerson leave we will not sign a LB. Would be pointless to sign a third LB in the space of 2 years. Considering if we change manager as well you think hes going to prioritise a LB when we already have 2 he hasn't actually seen in the flesh yet to spend 60m on Alex Sandro? A summer after the club refused to go over that? You must be dreaming. Hazard being able to link up with a LB for the first time in his career bla bla bla not this shite again. Alonso and Moses playing as wing backs free'd the likes of Hazard and Willian/Pedro up so often in the last 2 years, purely by staying so far wide and occupying those wider spaces. Why do you think the year we won the title Hazard played unbelievably? He was so much more freer than he had ever been under any Chelsea manager in the past. He had next to no defensive responsibilities. Played as a wide 10 in half spaces. Where as in stark contrast, he played as a second striker a lot last season and was so much more isolated and at times, after a promising start, struggled because he didn't have as much space as he did in the front 3 more or less as an attacking midfielder. The wing backs still created width but it was only Hazard and Morata/Giroud. When Willian/Pedro played with him and Morata/Giroud you seen we looked much better because there was more offensive players for the opposite defences to be worried about. The 343 system firstly sorted our defence out when it was first introduced and free'd up our attacking players, while being able to retain some width. I still think Hazard is better coming from the left, the centre of the pitch is always so congested and I reckon if Sarri does come he will get that width from the full back regardless of if it is Alonso/Emerson to create those little pockets for Hazard/Willian etc.

Must admit, really liked the look of him. Great set piece deliveries as well. Room for improvement still but he looks pretty damn talented.

If he plays like he did last night I'd rather keep him and give him a big pay rise than spend 70m on Alisson. Never ever looked convincing for Brazil at the tournament. Hes a good keeper but 70m? Fuck off not a chance. Think last night was just a little reminder for everybody how good Courtois can be in big games when he needs to be. Sure people will bring up the Barcelona game etc but hes a world class keeper without a shadow of a doubt and if it were up to me I'd be pushing the boat out to convince him to stay rather than pursue Alisson or Butland or whatever average player we will be linked with next. There are not many upgrades on Courtois out there. People talk about distribution, I'm more convinced of a goalkeeper by their actual ability to save shots first and foremost and Courtois is excellent at that, as well as collecting crosses and commanding his box. Hes also a proven winner, having 9 trophies at 26 years old. Sure hes a massive pain in the arse cause he speaks a lot but so does Hazard and so do many other players, not just here but all over Europe. People keep bringing up Cech and how we let him go but we can't let sentiment cloud what turned out to be an excellent move, Cech was declining and still is. Courtois was arguably one of the best keepers in the world while at Atletico and still is now. Sure Cech was a leader too and a huge cog in the recent history of Chelsea but so was Lampard, Terry, Drogba, Cole, Essien, Makalele etc and they all had to go at some point too. If it were up to me I'd be focusing on trying to get him to renew along with Hazard when they come back from the world cup, rather than looking for lesser replacements at huge costs. Quality not quantity is going to improve our squad and keeping arguably one of the best GKs in the world should be high up the list.

Lets be honest, Antonio Conte or not, 9 million pounds is a lot of money to receive and lets not kid ourselves football is a business and as a manager if you can get 9 million pounds to not do your job for a year because you weren't wanted? Its hardly pathetic. If he doesn't want to leave then the club have to pay him that. That is a given and that is why contracts are contracts, he resigned the same contract last year for more money, it was a clever move, the club wanted to give him more money and he probably understood that with the history of the club in terms of managers he had to protect himself as much as anything else. Really its on the club more than anything for deciding to give him a pay rise. How often do you see a coach actually leave at their own accord? And the whole pay off thing coaches do it the whole time. Every time we've sacked a coach over the last god knows how long how many have gone straight into work? Not many because they sit for a period of time, do fuck all and take wages. Its hardly anything new. Its just the club haven't had the balls to sack him, which is the most pathetic thing about this whole situation. I don't see how anybody can question Conte regarding this because he said he was dedicated to the club at the end of last season, last season was poor and its not only hurt the clubs reputation but also his, so why would he just quit? Regardless if he stays or goes, he wins because he either stays and has a top job (in terms of the clubs stature) still, with similar conditions to his first season (lower expectations, no CL, more time to train the players, more rest time etc) or he leaves and gets his pay for nothing and probably takes the full year to do whatever he wants to do. Another thing is how disorganised pre-season will be, if the club really do want Sarri (everyone keeps saying oh it will be announced on Monday, then the next and the next and the next etc), then they have to move fast because it starts on Monday and for him to come after its started and change things (no way him and Conte's methods are going to be identical, everyone has their own ways of doing things)? Its going to put a lot of pressure on him and the players to hit the ground running too with having not had a full pre-season, the same with recruitment, a full pre-season helps players integrate better.

This is becoming infuriating. If the club want Sarri, Jorginho, whoever else. Fucking pay the money to sack Conte and get him in. Sign the players. This is embarrassing. Absolutely terrible. A ball hasn't been kicked and we are already potentially a laughing stock purely on a managerial pursuit that may not even happen yet and will end up with a coach who either is not wanted here or doesn't want to be here 100%. If that was Liverpool or United or City, we'd find it hilarious. If Conte stayed and he was as motivated as the first year I'd be happy enough, but if he stays and doesn't or the players he has annoyed don't respond again, we are fucked.

Don't think we should go for Serri at all, don't think hes anything special, average at best. Kovacic on the other hand? Get him in. Its such a shame hes used so sparingly at Madrid because he could be an excellent player with the continuity of playing every week, fair enough he could still improve but he'd be an excellent signing.

To be honest who cares what he said about Jordan Pickford. Shouldn't have any bearing regarding him and leaving or staying at the club because he made a criticism of a keeper who yeah should probably have done better for that goal...

Think hes a better keeper than Pickford and should be Englands no 1 in all fairness but again 30m... Berdnt Leno went to Arsenal for like 20M and hes better than both.. Stoke got relegated too so they dont really have any bargaining power in all fairness to demand an excessive fee if he gets another chance of going to the PL.

Yeah definitely agree regarding RLC. Dont think Hazard will ever play as a 10 here under Sarri or any other manager. He played as a second striker which is similar last season and in after a few good games really didn't look like that positional chance gave him more freedom or more influence on the game. Even for Belgium at the world cup hes looked a bit indifferent at times. Think hes better coming from wider and expect him to be returned to LW under Sarri if he comes.

Honestly for me he was worse than bang average for Palace. He had maybe 4 decent games over the course of the season. Fuck knows how he made the England world cup squad. 2 goals 3 assists as a wide player/attacking midfielder.....

If Barca will offer 60m, we will take it. Cant see him being happy if he doesn't get to go in all fairness, Barca is a huge opportunity for any player and especially for a 30 year old. Coach situation also doesn't help.

Been aware of him since he started making waves at Rangers but again he’s a different player, more offensive minded. He’s extremely talented but to brand him with elite level talent or whatever attributes is just too much expectation already although as a Scotsman, I see him breaking the mould with the players we’ve recently produced but again expectation has been the downfall of many promising young players at Chelsea. Still think with the right coaching Ampadu could improve and become a good DM. A Sarri team will always have passing options, options for players to play through the lines with passes, the system helps and it would improve players like Ampadu 10 fold. Whether or not he remains in the squad or plays regularly is a different story. I don’t think he lacks what it takes to play in that position.

Similar to Zieleinski imo. Decent alternative. Looks a good technician.

Never ever seen a 17 year old have elite passing or vision (most of the top class talents even don’t have that, they have the picture but “elite level” stuff is a progression which can only be developed by playing at the elite or highest level). He has the right tools to be a good player and he’s already shown in limited time here he is more than adept to be a DM if needed to be, so don’t see why not having elite passing or vision at 17 years old has anything to do with it, who at 17 actually has that? Even then Jorginho right now is a class player but he looked like a beyond average player until he started working with Sarri. Even then he needed time to break into the Napoli team. Nothing is impossible. Diawara is a great talent too but he has had the chance to develop that ability by playing lots of games at the top level in Italy. Ampdu with regular minutes and also in a Sarri team where the guy on the ball can have at least 3 or 4 options can develop and improve that passing and vision. Definitely. It probably won’t happen because I think Sarri will have his own ideas and quite possibly Kante is more than good enough to play as a pivot in a 3 man MF.

Is he really much better than Loftus-Cheek? Loftus-Cheek got bullied by Dembele and Fellaini tonight and when he did get the ball his final end product was shocking. Wouldn't happen with Milinkovic-Savic. Plus SMS is another level completely.

What we need in MF is somebody who can lesser the burden on Kante in terms of defensive output and offer something going forward or mask Cesc's deficiencies in the physical aspect (in a 3 man MF with Kante and another more rounded solid player I think Cesc will potentially be a vital player if Sarri comes in, how many players are better with the ball than him in the squad - sure last season was poor but the season before hand he struggled then got into the team and was excellent - ?). I think Ruben will be a sub more than not if he stays here next season, I think hes a number 10, he has to play off the front, in advanced positions, where he can have an impact on the match and even then he needs to increase his output in terms of key passes and shots which ultimately lead to goals and assists. He is too laid back, he'll be a squad player here if he keeps going this way in my eyes, I think he has the right attributes perhaps to come off the bench and break down a team as a player off the front but don't think he's going to waltz into the team next season like some people tend to think. He can carry the ball from deeper positions too but I don't think that what he wants to be doing, he wants to be playing higher up the pitch although like previously mentioned between Mourinho, Conte, Hodgson and Southgate he has played as a DM, CF, RW/LW and a CM, there is no clear indication of where hes best.

I think its an impossible task for him to be able to shoehorn every world class player into his team because they have always needed balance due to the overwhelming amount of top class attacking players they have. I agree that Banega should start for Argentina in MF, they have nobody who can play quick passes from deep in between the lines for the likes of Messi, Di Maria, Aguero to be in mode advanced positions. Messi is excellent at dropping deep to do this for Barcelona but the movement is pretty dire in comparison as well, plus the deeper you have him the less of an influence he has on the attacking play in my eyes, hes one of the best I've ever seen for playing little one two combinations around the box to get into goal scoring positions. I think not taking Icardi is one of the strangest decisions I've ever seen in a world cup squad selection, considering he has more to offer than Higuain for example, who although he is extremely clinical in most games, lacks some of the attributes Icardi has. There is an over reliance on Messi though, when he has the ball they all seem to stand and watch, there is no clear structure and the other players like Di Maria, Dybala, Aguero are more than capable of being built around as well to give them some variation in their play. Also their defence and keeper, lets be fair, extremely limited and perhaps need extra protection. Its a shame about the rumours regarding the whole bust up in the camp if they are true because Sampaoli is a pretty innovative coach who was incredibly well thought of by many teams in Europe, considering how well he done with Chile and also a very good season with Sevilla before taking the Argentina job.

I'd like to see Pulisic here but I think Morata will not be allowed to leave already. Batshuayi on the other hand? Who they were interested in? Worth a try. Also I think in Sarri's system Morata will thrive.

Don't know think somebody like Sampaoli is so much more suited to club management, for his sort of high intensity style we seen at Sevilla, he obviously needs a lot of time to work but also at Chile but he had a lot of time to develop it and the team, Argentina is a bit different I feel they have that we have world class players we need to be instantly successful, although they scraped qualification (making me think that perhaps there is a deeper lying issue than just the manager). I don't get how Willy Caballareo is the number 1 for Argentina though, isn't there not a good younger goalkeeper at Sociedad who is Argentine? Geronimo Rulli I'm sure his name is? He was mentioned a lot when City were after a goalkeeper..

I am sorry but have you seen our transfers in the last 3 years. Selling Willian for 60M we'd still replace him with some shower of shite, winger version of Bakayoko. People who are willing to see Willian go to United as easy as that are delusional. Even more delusional than the people who think we will get Martial in return for him and that Martial will all of a sudden develop into a good right winger, which is a position he does not play to any great effect. Willian was shite today. As were Brazil I thought. They looked okay in the first 45 minutes in the first match but, all the big teams except Portugal and Spain have disappointed I think.

There is a gentleman agreement in place that if we get Sarri we cannot activate any release clauses.... so I doubt we're getting any Napoli players via release clauses, which means we aren't getting any because no way are we paying shitloads more for them. Plus I think we'll see a totally different Pedro if Sarri comes in, I know Pedro isn't an outstanding footballer by any means but in a team with a style similar to Napoli, I can see him being a different player completely. Although we still need attacking improvements, not saying we don't by any means.

Wouldn't put all our eggs in one basket. Appointing Sarri is a start but recruitment has got to be good if he is to have any chance to hit the ground running because theres certain areas where we fall short in comparison to other teams in the leagues. We will want to be competitive as well as play attacking football, which means reinforcements of a higher standard is needed.

Thought he was very good, didn’t put a foot wrong for Denmark on a huge stage after a difficult end of the season for him. Fair play.