kellzfresh

Sarri got the tactics right. We were defensively solid, which is what we needed in this game.

He did very well to get our team so compact without the ball. The distance between our defensive line and attack was about 15 meters throughout the match, very compact. No spaces in between our midfield and defence for Silva to have joy in, and thats what made the big difference today. Kante was playing so close to Jorginho and didn't leave him isolated today. Sarri did well motivating the team today, he has to get our team to remain that compact (15 meters) in every game.

Post-Match Press Conference: Chelsea 2-0 City Interview/Presser Sarri on win: "We had Eden for the first time in that position. I think for the first 20-25 minutes we didn't defend well in the opponents half, fortunately we defended well in our own. After the goal the game changed, I think." He adds that Chelsea deserved to win. Sarri on beating City: "For me it is not easy to win against Guardiola, as you know. I am happy." He adds "we need to find the right determination in other matches." Sarri on Hazard false 9: "Maybe he deserved to score, it is a good option. Maybe he will play there more." Sarri on abandoning his traditional tactics: "We had to defend in our own half but it wasn't a choice. No! We knew very well that ball possession that we usually have would be a problem today and that there would be more spaces for counters" Sarri on Kante: "Today Kante scored by chance. Today he played closer to Jorginho than in the other matches. I thought he defended very well. He was in some counter attacks, he was in the box for the first goal, today he played in the right position." Sarri on Chelsea title chances vs Man City: "As I say always, I think that it is impossible to cover this kind of [points] gap in one season. We can play them in one match, of course, but it is very difficult to cover the gap. They are the best in Europe." Sarri wants to see intensity continuing: "In this kind of match it is easy to have great motivation, determination and agression. But then during the season you have to play against lower teams, for example in the next match vs Brighton there will be 3 points [to grab]" Sarri on lack of Morata: "The reason is clear. We played with Hazard as a striker. If we had to change something, there was Giroud, I thought it was useless to have two strikers on the bench." #CHEMCI Sarri on beating Guardiola finally: "I am happy but not for that. I am happy for the win but not for that [beating Guardiola]." Adds "they are a step ahead" which makes him extra proud for the win on the day. Sarri asked if it was David Luiz's best performance: "Yes, I think so, but I am really very happy with him from the beginning [of my time at the club]."

Colossal performance from him. They attacked his wing relentlessly and he held strong. My man of the match along with Luiz today.

Cancelo made a run off the ball, beat his marker for pace, the pass was made to him and he dribbled his marker and put an accurate cross for Mandzukic to score. Alonso cannot do anything that Cancelo did for that goal ,We have Giroud and Morata who are good with headers but no fullbacks who can do their jobs in attack. It's very frustrating honestly.

Just having Icardi and a right winger that scores (Pedro instead of willian) we win this game. Very annoying really

He's not wrong. We lack a lot of movement in attack and that comes down to playing people like willian who likes ball to feet and DOESN'T MAKE ENOUGH RUNS OFF THE BALL, morata who is always getting OFFSIDE or losing the ball and wasting attacks and Alonso who doesn't bust his gut to make runs off hazard creating width like other attacking fullbacks do. When you watch Sane, Aguero and Mendy you see they are in a different level from Willian, Morata and Alonso. So much movement OFF THE BALL and technical quality to match it. Using Opta's sequences model we can see that they are the only two teams this season to record more than 300 possession sequences of 10 or more passes, considerably more than the other teams in the "big six". But while a third of City's have ended in a shot or a touch in the penalty area (defined as a build-up attack), only 18% of Chelsea's have, not only a lower proportion than City, but also Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham as well. In simple terms, City's domination of the ball offers epoch-defining penetration, while Chelsea are on the ball a lot, but too often without much end product. Team 10+ pass sequences Sequences ending with touch in box Correct as of 3 December Manchester City 347 112 32.3% Arsenal 206 49 23.8% Liverpool 254 53 20.9% Tottenham Hotspur 184 36 19.6% Chelsea 328 60 18.3% Manchester United 155 20 12.9% And most of our attacks die down due to this lack of movement. RLC's goal against fulham is one of the rare moments of quick movement and selfless runs made off the ball, and Morata's goal against Southampton is another one but the top teams do this 7, 8, 9 times in a match while we do it only once or twice. We cant be holding possession so slowly without running off the ball and expect to break down teams, that's why all our possession doesn't get us into danger areas, few touches in the box where it matters.

So basically Alonso is starting because of his set pieces. This is a problem

That money needs to be invested in a striker. Get Icardi for 100mil

Why Chelsea are still adapting to Sarri as Man City approach footballing nirvana https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/46442319

He is being targeted by every team because of his weakness. They block the middle and leave space for Alonso to receive the ball, once Alonso gets it in the opponents half, he is swarmed and then Alonso loses it or passes backwards to Luiz. He cant beat anyone 1 on 1 or have the pace to get into a dangerous position before opponents close him down, and most especially he has no recovery pace so this tactics is as easy as pie to implement. I would have overlooked all these weaknesses if he at least was putting in dangerous crosses for our strikers to shoot, but he cant even do that too?? I've had enough.

He's clearly our most influential player. He's inconsistent and once he's not having a good period, we struggle. We used to have Costa's goals to rely on to carry us over the line but we don't have this anymore and it shows. We badly need a striker and more players in the team without obvious weaknesses everywhere.

Honestly, I'll take a manager who can offer me that right now over anything. How this fraud keeps getting picked I don't understand....

Missed a clear chance to get us 2-0 up and then gifted Wolves a goal with his diving. How he has scammed so many chelsea fans into thinking he's some great player I don't understand.

He has not had a good game right from the Manutd match. Poor, poor poor

He has to start taking some blame now, if he cant get Emerson and Pedro/CHO to play over Alonso and Willian. Ive had enough of those two

And willian missed a golden chance to put us 2-0 up from that hazard pass. If that was pedro, we win today. Willian and Alonso have been getting away with it

Pep has walker or Lahm play narrow because he has Sterling/Sane stay wide and high in attack. But on the left wing, Hazard likes to come inside, so unless we want to change our best players game-play by telling him to stay wide only, then Alonso has to stop running into the box every second and make wider runs to get into crossing/cutback positions. There must be width on each side of the pitch to ease the mid-block everyone is using against Jorginho. I admit Hazard can do better, but trust me Hazard will prefer to play with an Ashley cole 11 times out of 10 over Alonso. A selfless fullback making runs off the ball, putting in dangerous crosses and beating his marker 1 on 1 is what Alonso is not. I hate this feeling I get from matches where the opponent is marking everyone else and leaving Alonso free, and once we switch the ball to a free Alonso, he is too slow to take advantage of the space and they cover him immediately. (Hes looking like the last year of Ivanovic in all honesty)

https://as.com/futbol/2018/12/03/primera/1543873622_443814.html

Teams have started blocking us in the middle, knowing Jorginho controls our tempo, knowing Hazard likes to drift into the middle. It has been tough for us in recent weeks, but tactically, packing so many players in the middle against us means there should be space on the flanks. Who do we have on our flanks? Alonso and Azpi. At least I see Azpi assisting Giroud with crosses, but what does Alonso contribute if he doesn't score a worldie in the match? What did Alonso do with all that space he got from fulham packing players around Jorginho? He couldn't supply one of the best headers in the game with one cross, he just crossed it into the stands, couldn't make runs into the space for our midfielders to find him, couldn't beat a marker 1 on 1...... These are things Robertson, Trippier, Mendy, Marcelo, Carvajal, Alba, Alaba do on a daily basis. These guys don't score every match, but with the way they play, any attacker ahead of them enjoys a lot of space because of the threat from the fullbacks. Alonso is a weakness and is beginning to stifle Hazard with his play style, I mean, why does he make runs inside and force Hazard wide (away from the danger area) instead of keeping the width and forcing a defender to go wide to mark him hence creating space in the middle for a more dangerous Hazard? It's annoying really. His only strength is his shooting ability and that attribute is more useful to an attacker or midfielder.

Just watching Aubameyang, Lacazette and Kane in that North london derby strut their stuff, I just wonder how we got here with Sissy Morata

I hope we dont put in 70 mil for him (he's not worth that) even thorgan Hazard is having a better season. But I think he is better than willian.

I think that morata doesn't receive those passes because he is always offside, or losing the ball by falling to the ground everytime. It's infuriating for fans, just imagine how infuriating it is for the players. They cant trust him to keep the ball or pass it back, so why bother? Giroud is trustworthy and that is why he is located more with passes than Morata.