kellzfresh

Madrid actually need goalscorers than creators like Hazard, they have creators in abundance. If they don't get FFP to pile pressure on PSG so that they can get Neymar, then they'll come for Hazard. In that case I wouldn't be against getting Isco + 80-100mil since Isco has some problems with the coach.

I prefer him to pulisic by far, and he's left footed which we really need on our right wing. He can cut in to shoot or go wide to cross, variety/unpredictability matters

Balls over the top can be countered by high pressing from our attackers, offside trap and Sweeper keeper (Kepa) coming out to clear long balls. If we do it right, long balls will mean that we recover the ball back immediately. You could see from the first half against city that we couldn't even go over the top against them even if they were pressing right at our 18 yard box

Morata to Barcelona Update : "If the rumours are true, Morata would be welcome at Barcelona." - Jordi Alba

The main thing about this match is that we have other freekick takers in the team and I hope Sarri won't use freekicks as an excuse to keep playing Alonso if he shows poor form again

Look no further than this video

Just watched a video on some inside info about the club. Things don't look very good for our future if this is true and this guy is usually reliable

I would not be against getting someone like Depay to replace him, Hazard is obviously better but there's nothing we can do if he doesn't sign before the end of the season (He cant go for free). His constant bickering about Madrid must be tiring the chelsea players as much as us fans. Madrid's No. 1 target is still Neymar, and he'll have to hope FFP doesn't come down on PSG (especially after the football leaks) to force them to sell before Madrid consider him first. They're not willing to give their No. 7 to someone who cannot guarantee 20 goals at least.

Manchester United have been quoted a price of over £90m for Kalidou Koulibaly. Senior United officials recently met with Napoli to explore the possibility of a January deal. [Duncan Castles, The Times https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/manchester-united-quoted-90m-for-napolis-kalidou-koulibaly-gh0tpxs0d Not good.

https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/chelsea/how-terrifying-maurizio-sarri-inspired-chelsea-to-win-over-man-city-after-pain-of-wolves-loss-a4012941.html

Rudiger: “After the Wolves game Sarri was terrifying. He was going crazy. But that was okay because we shouldn’t have lost. The day after he was very calm. He made it clear that we have to believe in ourselves. He wanted us to go into the City game looking for a win”. https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/chelsea/how-terrifying-maurizio-sarri-inspired-chelsea-to-win-over-man-city-after-pain-of-wolves-loss-a4012941.html

Rudiger: “After the Wolves game Sarri was terrifying. He was going crazy. But that was okay because we shouldn’t have lost. The day after he was very calm. He made it clear that we have to believe in ourselves. He wanted us to go into the City game looking for a win”. https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/chelsea/how-terrifying-maurizio-sarri-inspired-chelsea-to-win-over-man-city-after-pain-of-wolves-loss-a4012941.html

Start from 6.05 to watch, thats where Guardiola said it.

I'll find it. I trust the twitter handler though, he doesn't post rubbish

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