robsblubot

Play him striker for the rest of the season. Always more likely to score than any of our strikers anyway.

Heh and bale is always a popcorn toss away from another long layover. Crazy money.

This is the kinda thing that many folks here keep repeating, and it always sounds crazy to me. In a low scoring sport like football (lowest of them all), a player who scores the winner, in an away game where we did not play well (making it harder to impact the game), cannot possibly be in a list of worst players. I did not watch the game and frankly won't even if it replays, but I don't care if Alonso was nutmegged 5 times in a row, because he won the game.

Disagree. I mean he’d need protection in any other system than the one we try to implement. passing is as much about movement of your teammates as it is about the passing ability of a given player, and make no mistake Jorginho is a great passer. he’s far more easily pressed at Chelsea than he’d be at city. At city he’d have a lot more options for passing and they don’t chase players as much as we do. while we try to rely on possession for defending, city actually does that. When they don’t have the football every player (even aguero) swarms the opposition to regain it. They still struggle without it and are vulnerable to a direct style... classic paper scissors.

Yeah definitely normal at his age, but that’s the reason any manager might think twice about starting him in a tough away game for ex. on the other hand, comparisons with mbappe are a bit to much for me. As promising as odoi looks, he does not seem to be mbappe level imo.

Can’t get past the idea of more expensive bacon... definitely good for the pig though. OK. Odoi is starting games and will play a lot. Time to sign on the dotted line, or was it all BS?

of course we did make the game easier, but two participate in a joust... We have vastly superior players, played at home, and the game mattered more to us than them. We did certain things in the game that a better team would have punished us for. Like I said, job well done. Not getting carried away though that's for sure.

Kante was dominant in the center of the pitch, but still cannot finish. RLC did very well minus a coulple of missed silly passes. Odoi with moments of brilliance and others of naïveté. it was an easy match tho. Our players are better in every position, so no surprise there. Whu were not very physical, and were very slow to close down our players who ran a lot with the ball. Perhaps because they don’t care too much. Yet, it was the hazard show. The game opened up after that amazing goal. job done... now on to the decisive matches

Anderson seems to be a good player, but arnaut is not. WHU fans were commenting that hazard would have lots of spaces because arnaut does not track back at all. I'm not a fan. It’s still entirely besides the point whether they have one or two good players tho. these smaller sides pose a much bigger threat when playing in their home ground, where they can press and impose their game. Of course sometimes a visiting small side can cause problems, but it’s different, being mostly about counter attacking. To be clear I want to see more of Emerson when he's being pressed. I thought he did very poorly when pressed before.

I’ve written like 10 posts saying that I haven’t seen enough of Emerson in tough away games because he rarely plays them. So, I just don’t know how good Emerson is at defending because the one away game I watched him play, he was awful. If you want to read too much from a home game against shitty opposition, please go right ahead.

Nope math Too few players (who are good at) defending... CHO, and RLC in the center. Emerson = Alonso at defending (bad) hence the need for cover (kovacic). come on folks this was an easy home game... don’t compare the incomparables.

The movement was better because we played a weaker opposition at home who does not pressure our passing. That’s my take anyway, people will always see causality to fit one’s agenda. will be convinced once this line up does well in tough away games, but personally I think it’d be suicidal.

Game recording... will catch on hazard show tonight. so rhe takeaway is that we discuss players and lineups during the week, just for hazard to win the game by himself on Sunday/Monday... A bit troubling that we need to rely on him to beat whu at home tho.

Fair enough, we fundamentally disagree on whether Alonso is a good footballer - remember you were never a fan even as a LWB and despite his strong contributions under conte. IMO he's really good at passing, ball control, and first touch. Great at winning high balls. Poor at crossing and fairly slow. However, reckon many times Alonso was not able to pass the ball well, esp in away games due to lack of movement and others did not do too well in that regard either. As a classic LB, Alonso seems unplayable, but nobody is holding a gun to Sarri's head and saying that's how we have to play or how alonso has to play. That's what I see regarding tactics: Alonso does play as a LB who needs to drop back very often esp in away games when we are under attack. The whole defense works in a high line, which I also dislike. Azpi goes up way too often considering how poor he is in attack, and so does Kante. Seems like you may also not like possession systems, because defending in possession systems is mostly done by keeping possession. Those sides don't usually do too well without the football. Let me emphasize that the discussion would've been very different if we were talking about a sure quality player to replace alonso. And yet, we are discussing Emerson, who again, has mediocre stats while playing far easier games in average.

Really depends on what type of football we want to play. If it is possession, then I'm afraid Zouma is never going to work for us. If a different manager goes back to a more direct style, then he can certainly do well and could even become an important player for us.

Disagree. That’s very arbitrary and static view imo, a bit classic too if you consider how dynamic the possession sides play these days. The stats are incomparable for the reason I mentioned above: Emerson played in FAR FAR easier games in average. Alonso has just helped us win an away game we were going to lose! tactics exist so that teams can make use of the best attributes the players have. If the player is capable of winning games, he should be allowed to try. Others who can't should cover for him. therefore alonso being poor defensively should never be an issue with so many players in the squad who are not really contributing with goals and key moments. If kovacic cannot cover Alonso’s runs then what exactly does he do? Should kante drop back a little more so alonso can attack, win headers and games? Can't Azpi drop back and become the CB while alonso attacks? These are all possible with tactical tweaks. let me put it his way: If alonso moved to Leicester the manager would immediately tweak the tactics so that alonso could win games for him. Even if he has to give him sort of a free role. That’s how important game winners are imo. we have so few game winners in the team that I find it incredible that the one we do have is ostracized and hated by fans. Just because this manager insists in making him play like a classic LB. While I don’t disagree alonso has been poor, I disagree with the reasons for that. I also find folks here a bit inconsistent regarding their position with sarri.

Those were not pl right? Perhaps why I missed them. yeah we have a big disagreement on what having a good game means: for me if the player directly helps us winning points, like winning that header in a tough away game, that’s def good game for me. so for Emerson to be average, he needs to contribute something to the team. Merely looking like lb and running well is just not enough. I’ve hardly seen him play, but so far, his actual contributions are not even on par with an underperforming alonso.

Is he though? I don't actually know because he usually plays against the weakest opposition. So much so that I have barely watch him play: the games he starts usually don't show in the US. Wish he would start more games away from home, when we have the in-your-face players at all times, which makes passing a lot harder.

wow that'd be a long-ass deal, if true. Speaking of which, wonder how big his ass will be at 32 or so.

While Sarri may not have been a good choice to develop youth, the club knew that. Also, since it is a recurring thing, it's easy to guess that the contracts with the managers do not list developing (and start) young players, or at least not as a high priority goal. With all that out of the way, it's going to be very hard to find managers who will give meaningful minutes to a 18yo CB, who's not even that tall.

If Odoi broke a leg, you know one of those clean fractures (no ligament damage), which would merely delay his development. Would that be good or bad for Chelsea? I'd say probably very good for the club, because the likelihood of the player signing a new deal would probably be extremely high. I'm not wishing this on the player - chelsea will go on with or without him. Just a hypothetical to illustrate a situation where the interest of the players and the club, can be vastly different.

Tactics were exactly the same. Just fielded the players fans wanted to see against awful opposition. We will struggle against better teams same as we have before. Still don't see top4 this time around, regardless who starts.

yup. However, hope they are different lawyers than the ones who assured the club that signing Traore was OK in the first place.

Mostly because the opposition does not press high up, I'm afraid. Much easier and quicker to pass the ball without pressure. Careful not to compare the incomparable.

fair enough, it just wasn't explicit and I've seen this mistake here in these forums quite a bit, so not entirely directed at your post. Sarri's system, as well as Guardiola's simply do not use DMs. Take fernandinho from City: as a sole DM, or even pivot he's awful, but works in possession quite well. Keep the ball at all times and the opponent cannot attack. Sure, but RLC just isn't good enough in defense to help there. Same with CHO. That's why we'd lack in numbers when playing stronger opposition. That's a problem for a diff time tho.