closed Arsenal 1-1 Chelsea

[Vesper 30,186]

Pedro disappeared this game, that is a tad worrying.

[Pizy 18,918]

Pressing and midfield should look better when Kante and even Willian are back. Not concerned about that.

I am very concerned about where the bulk of our goals will come from as well as our defending in wide areas.

[dimmas 131]

That second half ia horrid to watch

[Vesper 30,186]

Just now, Tomo said:

The first half i felt was terrific, we totally dominated an Arsenal side further ahead in preparation than us and dealt with Auba very well despite a high line.

 

Wasn't terrific, as Morata is our striker and he was a massive FAIL. Its not like a position were our best (like Hazard) is out on holiday still.

 

Morata has been on footballing holiday since January.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

We need to solve some of the players future first, before buying some players.

[Vesper 30,186]

Just now, RoyalBlues said:

We need to solve some of the players future first, before buying some players.

That is 10000% on granny and the board. They are not giving Sarri the tools to play his style of ball with.

I am sure many just think all will come good once the real season kicks off. That to me is delusional thinking.

[Tomo 21,751]

1 minute ago, Vesper said:

Wasn't terrific, as Morata is our striker and he was a massive FAIL. Its not like a position were our best (like Hazard) is out on holiday still.

 

Morata has been on footballing holiday since January.

I touched on finishing being a worry but our combination play was carving Arsenal open at will.

[Vesper 30,186]

Just now, Tomo said:

I touched on finishing being a worry but our combination play was carving Arsenal open at will.

Yes, it was but no end product, which is the bottom line unfortunately. I am going to try and walk myself off the ledge and think positive thoughts. I am already so sick of whinging about Morata my head hurts.

[Laylabelle 9,535]

Bit of a carry on from last season really...

[Superblue 6,372]

If batshuayi can't come in and prove a better option than morata do we seriously have to start looking at one of our midfielders playing a false 9 role. Hazard or hudson-odoi doing a mertens?

Not ideal but then again morata is far from ideal.

[Tomo 21,751]

Just now, Vesper said:

Yes, it was but no end product, which is the bottom line unfortunately. I am going to try and walk myself off the ledge and think positive thoughts. I am already so sick of whinging about Morata my head hurts.

Yeah, but the golden rule in football is eventually the performances catch up with teams. When we were scoring with minimul chances in 2015 under Jose it was always likely to bite us in the end and did, i'd be more worried if we weren't creating anything.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

1 minute ago, Vesper said:

That is 10000% on granny and the board. They are not giving Sarri the tools to play his style of ball with.

I am sure many just think all will come good once the real season kicks off. That to me is delusional thinking.

It certainly will get better and better once other players return. Not even Zidane could works his magic on this team who is without Hazard, Willian, Courtois, Bats, Kante, Giroud on it. That's 5 starter missing.

[FabHazard 655]

16 minutes ago, Jason said:

1. Seven goals in last eight games, including the three pre-season friendlies so far. BIG concern. Morata at the front of it.

2. While we look much more positive going forward - hard not to be given how the dull the previous regimes ultimately were - we look like conceding every time when we have to defend. No cohesion in the pressing (yet, I hope) and keep getting exposed out wide. Wide players also forced to track all the way back (imagine Hazard and Alonso on the left flank!).

3. Speaking of Alonso, WHAT IS HE DOING AT LEFT BACK?!

4. Hudson-Odoi looks class. Obviously not the finished product yet but he's like a mini-Hazard.

 

Agree with all your points...No goalscorer in the team except may be Pedro....it is really a big concern.... striker position must be sorted out

Wingers tracking back is something the likes of hazard will not enjoy...I think our team is better suited to 3-4-3

 

[dreamcfc 182]

Few things that worry me after todays game. I thought Alonso would be ok but he does not work in a back 4, way to slow. Maybe when Kante comes back it won't be so bad but he should be able to hold his own and he can't, the amount of times he was just passed out the game was insane.

Barkley has now had minutes in all our pre-season games and I haven't seem him do anything to say he deserves his spot in the starting 11. He made a few mistakes today also, much to learn for him.

Sarri used RLC and Bakayoko in what I would assume  was his take of shutting up shop , neither of these players are up to this job, we will be conceding so many late goals with these 2 as our options to close down games, they are too clumsy for me. 

Morata needs to go, we can't have another Torres situation, the longer we keep him here, the more we lose on him. I would be more than happy for him to fill a bench role but it doesn't look like we will get anyone else in unless he goes. For me this is the most important, I think this game would have been over at half time if we had a better striker.

[Vesper 30,186]

5 minutes ago, RoyalBlues said:

It certainly will get better and better once other players return. Not even Zidane could works his magic on this team who is without Hazard, Willian, Courtois, Bats, Kante, Giroud on it. That's 5 starter missing.

Thats what I am telling myself. LOLOL

If ever there was a HUGE opportunity for Bats, NOW IS IT!

He surely has to be better than Morata at this point.

I hope Sarri can work some magic.

RLC poor performance (not talking about the pen) I will chalk off to long post WC layoff.

Rudiger looks a rock, AC looked really good too, as did Ampadu.

I am not worried about CB much. LB is not so good. Alonso was shambles IMHO. I still cannot (normally do not have trouble at all) rate Emerson. He is so hard to judge.

Other than one horrid pass, Jorginho looked fine. Barkely and Pedro were non existent. CHO the star by far. Bakayoko at least made no huge errors. Azpi was low key, didnt do many overlaps. Bulka looked amazing for a 19yo with little experience. 

[Superblue 6,372]

One thing that does need to be considered is Sarri has been training us for 2 weeks. In that time too we've travelled to Australia and back. This is going to be a work in progress and i don't expect us to fully click until we're a few weeks into the season. There are however some clear and positive signs in such a short space of time.

[coolhead23 1,147]

Disappointed for losing to Arsenal ... only respite is that it is just a friendly (damn it's still Arsenal) 

My 2 cents on the team:

- Odio has been the star in the pre-season. Loved the attitude and energy he has. Seriously making a claim for the first team. 

- We lacked leadership and organsation specially in the defense which is one of the reasons we conceded. 

- The shape of the team was what Sarri wants though it needs some work. With every passing session we should improve. 

- Bats over Morata if we dont sign a striker. Dont see Giroud fitting into Sarri's system. 

- We need players badly ... yes we would improve once you put Hazard & Kante in the eleven but there are major gaps which needs to be filled. 
 

... And less than a week to go before the window closes. 

[YorkshireBlue 3,277]

28 minutes ago, Superblue_1986 said:

One thing that does need to be considered is Sarri has been training us for 2 weeks. In that time too we've travelled to Australia and back. This is going to be a work in progress and i don't expect us to fully click until we're a few weeks into the season. There are however some clear and positive signs in such a short space of time.

Think its 19000 miles chelsea have travelled 

[whats happening 1,615]

1 hour ago, Superblue_1986 said:

If batshuayi can't come in and prove a better option than morata do we seriously have to start looking at one of our midfielders playing a false 9 role. Hazard or hudson-odoi doing a mertens?

Not ideal but then again morata is far from ideal.

pedro is the obvious choice.

[Vesper 30,186]

10 minutes ago, Mana said:

Why are you guys disappointed that we lost to Arsenal FFS?

This was coming like I said in the first couple of pages. We aren't good enough. FFS, we still couldn't score than 1 goal.

Just be prepared to see these kind of performances next season. I mean it. Then you wouldn't be disappointed.

I could not care less about the loss in some meaningless preseason game.

I do care that our obvious weaknesses are looking worse each game

 

LB, GK (Bulka aside) RW, AMF, and especially Striker.

NONE of those are auto-fixed (other than GK with Courtois playing for one last hurrah then out the door on a free) by ANYONE missing (maybe maybe Willian at RW, if he isnt sold)