closed Chelsea 3-2 Arsenal

[Pizy 18,858]

Jorginho was excellent again but I do see people here and there having a pop at him for his defending. You have to remember that in this system he's basically by himself on an island in midfield. When the ball turns over quickly that's when he's vulnerable because Kante will be up high pressing.

Just something we have to work on.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

 

[robsblubot 3,595]

3 minutes ago, OhForAGreavsie said:

I'll have to watch it again then but it looked to me like it was on Ross. At no point did I think Willian was to blame but maybe I'll see it differently with the replays.

Fair enough. yeah my initial impression was that Willian did not move towards the ball at all. Kinda hoping arsenal player would miss the interception.

Would like to watch it again from a different angle, but that was my impression.

That was also in midfield with plenty of players behind the ball. So, while an unforced error, not really the end of the world IMO.

[Vesper 30,100]

32 minutes ago, DYC. said:

Luiz is an enigma. He's very important when Chelsea are in possession as his passing game gives Chels an edge offensively. But his defending is suspect and he can let you down from time to time.

Christensen is the better defender (though he lacks that physicality Luiz brings) but doesn't offer that edge Luiz does, making Chelsea weaker offensively.

If Christensen manages to get that weight up, he'll force himself into the team.

Chelsea needs to give him a £10K gift cert to https://www.gymnordic.com/category/weight-mass-gainer.html 

[Jase 43,479]

 

[Vesper 30,100]

14 minutes ago, DYC. said:

 

This also confirms Moses is a winger in Sarri's eyes and (most likely) ahead of Hudson-Odoi in the pecking order.

[OhForAGreavsie 6,058]

8 minutes ago, Robguima said:

Fair enough. yeah my initial impression was that Willian did not move towards the ball at all. Kinda hoping arsenal player would miss the interception.
 

Would like to watch it again from a different angle, but that was my impression.

That was also in midfield with plenty of players behind the ball. So, while an unforced error, not really the end of the world IMO.

No, I think it was a bad error. The mistake was marginal in that another quarter of a metre on the ball and it would have launched an attack but in that situation, playing the ball square with the press on, you have to get the weight of pass right. After that they were running at a wrong footed back four, and also benefitted from a deflection which fell perfectly for them. To cap it all, it looked to me like Kepa got a hand to the shot.

One mistake doesn't determine the quality of a performance, but it was a mistake by Ross all the same. It's only a question of whether Willian compounded the problem, or if he was blameless.

[Vesper 30,100]

9 minutes ago, Pizy said:

Jorginho was excellent again but I do see people here and there having a pop at him for his defending. You have to remember that in this system he's basically by himself on an island in midfield. When the ball turns over quickly that's when he's vulnerable because Kante will be up high pressing.

Just something we have to work on.

What is your solution, as this seems UTTERLY key to the entire scheme?

Could not we drop Kante back further to give support to Jorginho (who gets no slag off from me, as you are 100% correct on the alone-on-an-island analysis)

It just seems an utter waste of Kante to not use him as the destroyer of midfields that he is, surely Kovacic is more than capable of going further forward (instead of Kante, or am I wrong,and BOTH need to go forward in Sarri's scheme?), as he is a a near WC (in potential) all-rounder in talent and skill.

[BlueStorm1003 539]

Just found out about the result

Great to know we won

How did the lads do?

[Vesper 30,100]

25 minutes ago, Robguima said:

agreed. While Kovacic is obviously a level above him, Ross did very well especially in the second half. He finally looked like doing something with the football.

This is a team with far more quality as in technique all around. Good to watch!

A shame he didn't score on that shot! I thought he played very well, with a few hiccups defensively, but that error sequence seemed more structural/holistic team positioning thing. I wish to hell he could play RW!!! sigh

[Cosmin 2,484]

11 minutes ago, BlueStorm1003 said:

Just found out about the result

Great to know we won

How did the lads do?

Great and awful. You missed a roller coaster. At the end of the day, it was a great football game and a good result for us, but considering what happened during the last 20 minutes of the first half, your heart should be thankful for missing out on that one.

[Vesper 30,100]

2 minutes ago, Cosmin said:

Great and awful. You missed a roller coaster. At the end of the day, it was a great football game and a good result for us, but considering what happened during the last 20 minutes of the first half, your heart should be thankful for missing out on that one.

It was very entertaining footie!! Far moreso than a Jose 1 nil park the bus, 17th minute OG snoozer of a win.

[petre.ispirescu 4,928]

Gung ho football in the 1st half but I am sure defence is going to get better when all the players click together and Sarri puts his print on the team. And for me personally it is going to happen in a few months, maybe by mid November when we are going to see the so called Sarri-ball. 

I remember Napoli during the last two months of last season's Serie A - they were fighting for the title and played away to Inter, AC Milan and Juventus during March and April and limited Inter to one shot on goal, Milan to two shots on goal and Juventus had no shot on goal in their own stadium and Napoli totally dominated them. So the problem does not lie to Sarri's defensive drills, but rather to team cohesion at the moment. He's more Guardiola than Mourinho/Conte/Simeone, defends by having the ball and pressing up the pitch, rather than meticulous defensive organisation. 

[Iggy Doonican 4,186]

I was awoken at 3am this morning 3 pricks in Arsenal shirts playing football with a poor cat the wankers.

I was just about to ring the police and the RSPCA when the cat went one nil up.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

My few cents about the game

1.) Some of most exciting football at SB in long long time. Those quick passes were amazing. Lot of improvement in such a short time, cant wait to see us in two months and next season.

2.) Defence was super shit whole first half. But players will get used to play smarter. At 2:0, next time, we will step on ball and not exploit ourselves at back so much. This second half was already better, but Arsenal realy didnt test us. They could have gone all out and we would probably have trouble again, but thankfuly they stayed back. You also have to know that Arsenal is still one of best drilled attacking sites in PL, I see only City to be more fluid in attack (taking chances in another thing, but in creativity and chance creation Arsenal always did quite well)

3.) No youngsters again. I hope Sarri wont keep this as his standard. CHO wasnt there, RLC neither. No Christensen either so far. I hope, if Alonso, Luiz, Willian keep underperforming, Sarri will have the balls to actualy play some younger players instead of same old player power.

4.) Morata finish was sweet. He was also quite agressive in some duels, finaly. If he can keep this for next 10 games, that will be improvement though, but for now I wont jump to any conclusions.