Sideshow Luiz

This is echoed in this article: https://statsbomb.com/2019/01/chelsea-and-the-challenge-of-sarriball/ The problem isn’t that Chelsea don’t create scoring opportunities. In both the loss and the draw, they more than their season average of 15.81 shots, an average which is itself the second highest in the league. The problem is that so few of those shots are good. Their xG per shot of 0.10 is exceedingly average. Only nine teams take worse quality shots on average than Chelsea do. The combination of high volume attack and average quality makes for the third best attack in the league by expected goals, clocking in at 1.51 per game. We are currently taking high volume, low quality shots. Our xG looks good because it all adds up, but we need to find ways to fashion better chances.

I really detest Lamela. So dirty.

Giroud or Pedro for Willian, please. Preferably Giroud, Pedro needs to play on the weekend.

I admire the way he worked hard to get to know his new role, and I hope that he's able to use his time here to re-ignite his career, with another club.

I think that he thought the ball came off a Chelsea player and was offside.

Looking at the replay, it looked like the problem was not having any pressure on the passer. We're supposed to press as a 442 up front, but either Hazard or 1 of the midfielder was supposed to be pressing.

It's the right call. He's onside and that's a pen.

The Alonso-Barkley "partnership" is not exactly dynamic.

FFS Alonso. You can't lose the ball in those positions. That's how we conceded the last time we played them.

Blue smoke, hot days. I don't remember us being this active in January. Ban is surely coming.

Suggests that this Sevilla thing is a strong possibility. And, if he's off, we have to be bringing in a striker.

Any chance of a Drinkwater sighting? I'm expecting Jorginho to have to start as there's no Cesc. Wouldn't mind seeing Kovacic or Kante or both get another day off before the weekend. CHO - Morata - Moses Barkley - Jorginho - Drinkwater (yes, this means we'll lose) Alonso - Ampadu - AC - Azpi Kepa

It's not a "so called" half a season, it's "literally" been half a season of senior football. If he wants to leave now, it's impatient because the window for him at this club is right now. We've got aging players and a contract situation in line ahead of him. I agree with above posters that have said that if he didn't kick up a fuss, he'd be treated like another youth, and I think he was right to do so. He knows he's promising, so put some pressure on the club to play him. But, to actually leave to Bayern Munich where he's got no more guarantees than he does here (actually less in the next 6 months) is impatient, IMO. I've never said he shouldn't be playing more, in fact, I've been moaning about it just as much as anyone else.

I think he's being impatient because he's only been with the senior squad for half of a season. I think he's deserved more of a shot as well, but it's only been half a season and the need to overhaul our wingers because of age and contracts is clear.

Sure. I've been all about the "why isn't CHO playing" train. But, even if he'd even had twice or 3 times the amount of minutes he's got now, that doesn't mean he would have signed a new contract. He's 4th choice behind 2 30+ players and another that talks openly about leaving and has 1 year left on his contract. As much as I want to see him succeed here, I think he's being impatient. I honestly think he'll get more minutes with us for the rest of the season than he would get with Bayern.

I think he should have been playing more this season, and I want to keep him, badly. However, he's only been in the first team squad for half a season. As an 18 year old, it's not crazy to be the 4th choice on the wings after Hazard, Willian, and Pedro. I'm not really mad at Sarri or the board, what could they have done? Even if he played in those few EL matches, would that have been enough for him to sign a new deal?

So are Madrid fans

Yup. He's above average at a bunch of other stuff. But, claiming crosses he is elite at. You asked what he's good at......

I think he's excellent at claiming crosses.

That's just who he is. I remember a touch he took in the CL final in 2012. It was a cross fizzed in and while facing goal, he took a touch with his thigh, to set the ball up, then cleared it with a volley. He's got full confidence in his skills. It's always been his marking that's an issue. But, with the ball he's still immense.

Tried to post this video, but it wouldn't embed. So, a tweet with the footage.

We haven't even discussed the 40M Drinkwater move (god, I wish we had Ox, he would have fit our AM role). But, when it comes to quality, we hum and haw over 5M here and there.

Pretty good article if you like xG data. It compares us to last season https://statsbomb.com/2019/01/chelsea-and-the-challenge-of-sarriball/

Cheers. I was under the impression that the ruling would come down the winter with the ban starting in the upcoming summer.

I want CHO to succeed here as much as anyone, I'm also fine with Willian moving on (was hoping the Barca deal would happen or a move to Utd, his value is surely much lower now). But, I'm still not of the mind that CHO is currently better than Willian. There are games like today where CHO's direct play was instrumental, but then there are matches like we played against City where Willian was an important. His defending was really good and the way he absolutely busted a lung beating Walker back to set up the first goal was pure graft. However, when we take in to account the age difference, the fact that CHO is HG, if we had to pick between the 2, in the current state of the squad, it has to be CHO. However, this season, there really is no reason to have to choose. We have 4 wingers and Hazard has been playing as CF. I think the reason this is so frustrating is that the board want to pinch pennies, but for some reason are okay with selling a young HG promising player that could be an important part of the squad for the next 12 years.