Joe Ay

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-7378813/Chelsea-news-Callum-Hudson-Odoi-set-sign-stunning-new-five-year-52m-deal.html

If true, that’s a pretty hefty sum for somebody still unproven. Puts even more pressure on him. Hopefully he fulfils his potential and doesn’t go the way of a Walcott.


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He is spot on with his assessment. Us fans have questioned this for years and I'm glad he's had the bottle to come out and say it. You only have to look at the likes of Hazard, Willian, Luiz, etc on these social media videos and interviews, etc. Their natural mentality and approach to life in general is carefree and laid back. When some of the main players at the club have this mentality it will rub off on the squad in general especially given the lack of leaders we now have at the club. 
But Sarri in turn has to show some flexibility because his stubborn ways are killing us at the moment. I'm not expecting him to abandon his philosophy but some of the personnel need changing, even if its simply to give them a rest. Alonso and Jorginho are being slated but they literally are rolled out every single game. If Sarri believes they are the best players at the club to play that position then I'm fine with that, but he has to learn to rotate a little more and give them games off. I can't understand why he hasn't tried Kovacic in Jorginho's position in some games, especially against some of the weaker teams. He's played deep for Madrid before, is technically proficient to play the role Sarri demands of that player and he is also more mobile than Jorginho.
Playing Hazard left wing and bringing in a striker who (1) understands what Sarri is wanting and (2) a proper striker who will lead the line should have a big impact on our attacking ability regardless of who plays on the right. But the other position we are struggling in which doesn't get mentioned enough in my opinion is the attacking midfielder (Kovacic/Barkley role). We do not have a player like Hamsik who will chip in 10 goals a season from a deeper position. I'll probably get roasted because he's a lot of people's public enemy number 1 on here, but I wouldn't mind seeing Sarri try Willian in that role. I think he could play that role and whilst he's never been a big goalscorer he is capable and willing to shoot from distance and coming into attack from a deeper position might be a benefit to him. I remember Ancelotti doing something similar with Malouda in the title winning season when we had some injuries and he played alongside Lampard in midfield and if anything he got better and scored even more goals coming from a deeper position.

I think Jorginho has been good in recycling possession and moving the ball forward when the play is in our half of the pitch. He’s been average and borderline poor lately when play is concentrated in the opponent’s half.

Also, I don’t think he was brought in by Sarri to a creator but more to set the team’s tempo and build-up. Don’t think he has the creativity or technique of a Pirlo, Xavi or Modric hence I think we should measure him against similar players like a Busquets (though he’s nowhere as good).

He really needs a Hamsik-type midfielder to play alongside him to be truly effective. Right now having Kovacic/ Barkley there just makes our midfield look average and devoid of creativity.


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After extended run of Hazard false 9, I think we can all agree that this is not a good long term solution. I honestly thought when we try it hey Messi was breaking records as false 9 under possession manager, maybe hazard can be one too. Hazard link up play is good but his movement in the box is not good enough for a no 9.
For short term, honestly what option do we have. We have pretty much given up on Morata. Giroud is pretty much a plan b guy at this point of his career. 

I think Jorginho has been good in recycling possession and moving the ball forward when the play is in our half of the pitch. He’s been average and borderline poor lately when play is concentrated in the opponent’s half.

Also, I don’t think he was brought in by Sarri to a creator but more to set the team’s tempo and build-up. Don’t think he has the creativity or technique of a Pirlo, Xavi or Modric hence I think we should measure him against similar players like a Busquets (though he’s nowhere as good).

He really needs a Hamsik-type midfielder to play alongside him to be truly effective. Right now having Kovacic/ Barkley there just makes our midfield look average and devoid of creativity.


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Hazard started the season so strongly but I must say he’s been pretty average in the last few games. Other than the assist to Willian in the last game, he’s been guilty of losing possession with too many dribbles and fancy flicks. He looks out of depth in the false 9 position as he doesn’t seem the type to make too many runs off the ball. We need a proper centre-forward ASAP, heck I’d even go for Troy Deeney to fill the role, a proper battering ram of a striker in the Diego Costa mould.


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My concern is whether his head has been turned by Madrid, and I honestly think him being played as a false 9 is further disillusioning him! He's actually done nothing for us, bar yesterday's assist, since the Watford game. 

Hazard started the season so strongly but I must say he’s been pretty average in the last few games. Other than the assist to Willian in the last game, he’s been guilty of losing possession with too many dribbles and fancy flicks. He looks out of depth in the false 9 position as he doesn’t seem the type to make too many runs off the ball. We need a proper centre-forward ASAP, heck I’d even go for Troy Deeney to fill the role, a proper battering ram of a striker in the Diego Costa mould.


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If you believe the rumours, Coutinho may be looking for a move with Neymar heading back. Wishful thinking - but I think we should go for him if he’s available. Will add an attacking dimension to our midfield to ease our over-reliance on Hazard to create.


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Would like to see him in the Jorginho role. He’s comfortable with the ball and can play under pressure. That would free up his position to a more attack minded midfielder like Loftus-Cheek in the Hamsik role. Right now he doesn’t really offer much offensively and like Barkley, plays it way too safe.


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Hazard started the season so strongly but I must say he’s been pretty average in the last few games. Other than the assist to Willian in the last game, he’s been guilty of losing possession with too many dribbles and fancy flicks. He looks out of depth in the false 9 position as he doesn’t seem the type to make too many runs off the ball. We need a proper centre-forward ASAP, heck I’d even go for Troy Deeney to fill the role, a proper battering ram of a striker in the Diego Costa mould.


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Hazard started the season so strongly but I must say he’s been pretty average in the last few games. Other than the assist to Willian in the last game, he’s been guilty of losing possession with too many dribbles and fancy flicks. He looks out of depth in the false 9 position as he doesn’t seem the type to make too many runs off the ball. We need a proper centre-forward ASAP, heck I’d even go for Troy Deeney to fill the role, a proper battering ram of a striker in the Diego Costa mould.


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Would like to see him in the Jorginho role. He’s comfortable with the ball and can play under pressure. That would free up his position to a more attack minded midfielder like Loftus-Cheek in the Hamsik role. Right now he doesn’t really offer much offensively and like Barkley, plays it way too safe.


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Strange but my mate only suggested him to me last night - but that was after the pub!
But hes another 30 year old so we really need to get away from them if possible. He has scored 4 in last 6 games but only 5 and 2 assists in 19 games
 
I bloody said we would be lucky to get £70 / £80 mill for him
CHEEKY CUNTS!!
 
REAL FLUSH Chelsea and Spurs braced for Real Madrid bids for Hazard and Eriksen
The pair are Real’s top targets and having one season left on their deals will lead to approaches at the end of the season and the bidding will start at £50m for each star
https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/8181779/chelsea-spurs-real-madrid-hazard-eriksen/

Hazard started the season so strongly but I must say he’s been pretty average in the last few games. Other than the assist to Willian in the last game, he’s been guilty of losing possession with too many dribbles and fancy flicks. He looks out of depth in the false 9 position as he doesn’t seem the type to make too many runs off the ball. We need a proper centre-forward ASAP, heck I’d even go for Troy Deeney to fill the role, a proper battering ram of a striker in the Diego Costa mould.


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I thought he was a replacement for fabregas as well as backing up  jorginho or kante. RLC could be out for a while and barkley hasn't been playing well.

Rooney is not a good example.
Ronaldo is the best athlete i will give you that.
For the rest they play for teams that play 90% of their matches in the opponent's half and have 65-70% of the ball.
They aren't killing their midfielders to run like mad men, their defence is pushing higher and everybody is close to the others.
Us we play with the back line sitting deep and not very close to the midfield.
That's why I don't understand why many here hates the possession play, finding it boring while it's the best way for the players to not push themself to the ground as the matches agaisnt average team, you should not have to push that much if you're a good possession team.

I'm of the view that Rami is a tremendous player for us if we're set up to play on the break, where his burning pace and stamina can exploit gaps in the defence and open up room for others. But against teams that sit back and deep, he doesn't really add much to our play as we need someone more controlled and composed.
I think Rami is best suited to play in the big games where we let other teams take the initiative and while we play on the counter. Against the smaller teams like WHU or WBA, might be worth exploring playing Oscar in the pivot with Matic, having Hazard as CAM and having Schurrle / Salah on the wings with Willian.

Think Oscar has performed ok for us this season. However, fans expecting a traditional (i.e, flamboyant) Brazilian no. 10 or a Mata-type player will be disappointed. That was never his game from what I've seen of him at NT level and with us, Oscar is more of a fetch and carrier type player with the odd bits of skill and creativity. He plays a selfless role in keeping the play moving, allowing others like Hazard and Willian to shine. He reminds a bit of Zinho from Brazil's 1994 World Cup winning team. Not too flashy, but plays a job. You need vertical players like him to rotate the ball in midfield and make the runs to open up play.
I hope he can evolve into an Iniesta-type player, but he needs to improve his strength on the ball first and be more careful in retaining and distributing the ball. He still at times loses possession easily or makes the wrong pass. Reminds me of Hazard a little early this season when he kept squandering possession up the field. Hopefully Mourinho can iron this out of his game.

Think Oscar has performed ok for us this season. However, fans expecting a traditional (i.e, flamboyant) Brazilian no. 10 or a Mata-type player will be disappointed. That was never his game from what I've seen of him at NT level and with us, Oscar is more of a fetch and carrier type player with the odd bits of skill and creativity. He plays a selfless role in keeping the play moving, allowing others like Hazard and Willian to shine. He reminds a bit of Zinho from Brazil's 1994 World Cup winning team. Not too flashy, but plays a job. You need vertical players like him to rotate the ball in midfield and make the runs to open up play.
I hope he can evolve into an Iniesta-type player, but he needs to improve his strength on the ball first and be more careful in retaining and distributing the ball. He still at times loses possession easily or makes the wrong pass. Reminds me of Hazard a little early this season when he kept squandering possession up the field. Hopefully Mourinho can iron this out of his game.

Think Oscar has performed ok for us this season. However, fans expecting a traditional (i.e, flamboyant) Brazilian no. 10 or a Mata-type player will be disappointed. That was never his game from what I've seen of him at NT level and with us, Oscar is more of a fetch and carrier type player with the odd bits of skill and creativity. He plays a selfless role in keeping the play moving, allowing others like Hazard and Willian to shine. He reminds a bit of Zinho from Brazil's 1994 World Cup winning team. Not too flashy, but plays a job. You need vertical players like him to rotate the ball in midfield and make the runs to open up play.
I hope he can evolve into an Iniesta-type player, but he needs to improve his strength on the ball first and be more careful in retaining and distributing the ball. He still at times loses possession easily or makes the wrong pass. Reminds me of Hazard a little early this season when he kept squandering possession up the field. Hopefully Mourinho can iron this out of his game.

True shirt numbers are just shirt numbers. But sometimes it helps a player to be assigned special numbers like 7 or 10 to show how important they are to the club...like Rooney being assigned 10 from 8, Messi from 19, Ibra from 18 (PSG), etc. The number 10 has always had a certain aura and significance to it in the history of the game. No doubt it also helps to boost a player's ego and marketability as well. Perhaps Hazard can make 17 as famous as how Beckham made 23 or Cryuff made 14 famous in the world of football.

HOW THINGS HAVE CHANGED!!!
From minute 1 I was against this deal to even happen. Always had my reservation against him and the rumors that we would be breaking all transfer records just always made it a no-no for me.
But at that point of time, if u even expressed a doubt over torres, u generally would have got 50 notifocations in the next 5 minutes, 49 of them would be death threats and the other one would be calling u "a fucking plastic".
Even in 11-12, I remember how much ridicule I had to face when the great AVB started him over DD and I used to be shouting at the top of my voice.
But like I said, how much things have changed. The staunchest of torres supporters ( and I remenber a lot of them) have changed sides. But the point is can u blame them? Uptil last year, torres' performance showed his exact sentiment towards the club. He simply dint give a shit. Determination and effort my ass, he dint show the basic passion that u would associate with a player.
As for his contribution, only on this forum would u get an argument as silly as he won the corner which led to the goal when said to list out torres' accomplishments. He scored the goal against barca when he should have been defending his ass off. Instead he loses the ball twice ( one of those led to meireles sacrificing himself for the team and taking a yellow) and in the other one it LUCKILY ended as a goal. Goals against city and arsenal, well, after more than 3 years in a team and in a league which boasts of 6-7 big teams, when u can count a strikers important goals on your fingers, then u can guess what a flop he has been.
Anyways, coming back to this season, it has been a new torres. One who has worked hard, has had poor moments (missing a sitter against city) but also has had some good moments (like setting up our first goal moments later in the same city match and also scoring the goal towards the end as well as hitting the post).
There is no denying that it has been an improved torres that has played for us this season (like there could have been anything worse than what he was last season). But there is also no denying the fact that for someone who earns 175kpw and is supposed to be our no.1 striker, he simply is not good enough. He needs a new start as much as we need a new start from him. Simply put, he should not be in our squad for the next season.

Best players in two years? Mata has been the best signing we've made in fucking years since Lamps, Drogba and Makelele imo. Also in terms of talent (bar Hazard who will be better than Juan for sure) hes been the best we've had since Zola.
In fact you know what, Mourinho is right then, I'll just leave it at that. Shows how little people have appreciated an immense player who has been outstanding for us since day one until the start of this season. Idiots.

I will really miss him, he is a fantastic player but having time to think about it Jose could be spot on with this.
In the last 15 years or so, the frenetic pace of the Premier League has seen the most successful teams play with pace, power and directness. (I think of United who have always used wingers, Arsenal with Overmars and then Henry, us with Robben and Duff and now City) Teams that have played a more possession based style have not really enjoyed success. Arsenal are the best example of this in the last decade and we have been very similar over the last couple of seasons. When it comes off, the football looks superb, but it's perhaps no coincidence we've also been very inconsistent in recent seasons and struggled to challenge.
I think Jose understands the style required for success in the Premier League and as a result is building a new, younger team to suit. Mata doesn't fit this (nor De Bruyne) compared to the likes of Willian and Hazard. It will actually be interesting to see how United fit Mata into their team. To get the output we have from him, he must be the central figure in the team. So with that in mind when he, RVP and Rooney are all fit, how does Moyes utilise them. Mata's acquisition for United may actually cause more questions than answers.
I think if the same situation arose at Inter Milan, Jose would have incorporated Mata and built the team around him, similar to Sneijder. In a league where the pace is much slower and more tactical for unlocking a defence.