closed Chelsea 3-0 Malmo

[Vesper 27,282]

10 minutes ago, eemanyooel said:

Sorry for been a party pooper.. Alonso will start on Sunday against City... 

[whats happening 1,439]

willy/kepa

azpi rudi luiz alonso

jorgi

kante barkley

willian higuain hazard

will be the line-up vs city.

 

btw willian captain is a fucking disgrace for our club, one of many lately.

[Jase 43,479]

6 minutes ago, Jason said:

Will face one of these lots in the Europa League R16.

RB Salzburg
Dinamo Zagreb
Arsenal
Eintracht Frankfurt
Napoli
Zenit
Sevilla
Valencia
Villarreal
Inter Milan
Sparta Prague
Krasnodar
Rennes
Dynamo Kiev
Benfica

No draw restrictions. Anyone is possible as opponents. #CFC

The draw is on Friday, Feb 23 at 12pm GMT.

[Vesper 27,282]

8 minutes ago, Jason said:

The draw is on Friday, Feb 23 at 12pm GMT.

deffo hope it is one of

Dinamo Zagreb
Zenit
Sparta Prague
Krasnodar
Rennes
Dynamo Kiev
 

[ChelseaFanUK 1,014]

It'll be the same 11 most probably because let's face it, he isnt a big fan of CHO, it seems

 

1 - tonights lineup gave a massive clue.  the only maybe is Kepa.   I think left back possibly, too

2 - He has already said he wont change his style or personnel, its mentality

3 - Tonight was a home Europa League game against a absolutely woeful team, who are still in pre season. Our entire academy would have beaten them. 

[BlueLyon 9,359]

2 hours ago, eemanyooel said:

To be back against City... 

Thats why I said its a good day and not week

[Vesper 27,282]

17 minutes ago, OneMoSalah said:

If they get a favourable draw they are dsrk horses for the whole competiton I reckon. Them and Valencia, who are a hugely solid no thrills but very effective side.

I would swap Valencia for Sevilla in terms of La Liga chances, as Valencia have a had a really disappointing year (but NOTHING as bad as poor Villarreal) 

BUT you are correct in that they deffo have the talent to be a big threat as well

[NikkiCFC 7,563]

Bring Zenit! Would love to see Ivanovic ass one more time at the Bridge.

[Magic Lamps 11,446]

As good as Karen Cairneys analyses have been before, today she is dreadful. "A helpful draw can be handy". duh.

[Laylabelle 9,292]

First half was dodgy.. Least manage to get it together 2nd. The going backwards was annoying and nearly was costly a few times. 

Good to see CHO score. 

Malmö fans were fun! The pitch invader.. Just seems daft! 

Hope we don't get arsenal

 

[Unionjack 7,531]

All 3 goals were great.

Quelle surprise Kante had a good game! He doesn't have to stay at the back and he can go forward!

Only thing that pissed me off is them Booing Jorgi. I'm ashamed of them. I woulda been going bonkers at them.

Tomorrow noon draw on BTSport

Lets have a good end of season. fuck all the negativity bollox.

[Special Juan 27,093]

8 hours ago, Mana said:

Remember guys that the only reason CHO played tonight is because Pedro was ill. If Pedro was fit, CHO wouldn't have played.

And for Emerson, Sarri is resting Alonso for Sunday.

As I said before, you can read Sarri as a book. Expect normal service on Sunday with no surprises.

This.

Matters little what CHO did, his goal his contribution etc, same with Emerson.

In all honesty Sarri wants sacking just based on his starting selections.

[Jase 43,479]

We got Dynamo Kiev in the Round of 16. First leg at home!

[YorkshireBlue 2,823]

3 hours ago, Special Juan said:

This.

Matters little what CHO did, his goal his contribution etc, same with Emerson.

In all honesty Sarri wants sacking just based on his starting 

Dunno where this whole starting selection has come from not like our bench is overflowing with talent lol 

[mccg 1,528]

Two Chelsea stars named in Europa League team of the round

https://www.whoscored.com/Articles/gs1-EyL8H0SS4nTqakP8tw/Show/Two-Chelsea-stars-named-in-Europa-League-team-of-the-round

[robsblubot 3,205]

21 hours ago, Mana said:

Remember guys that the only reason CHO played tonight is because Pedro was ill. If Pedro was fit, CHO wouldn't have played.

And for Emerson, Sarri is resting Alonso for Sunday.

As I said before, you can read Sarri as a book. Expect normal service on Sunday with no surprises.

Fans usually have the very wrong idea that the only way to change things is to change personnel or formation; that's why they say Sarri changes little.

Right, he has preferences as Conte did before him and the next manager will too. The next manager will play Pedro (and William) over CHO every day of the week and twice on sundays, despite what the vocal minority says here. Mostly because Pedro (also William) is like twice the player, and the manager's job is first to win games, develop his system (to play and win games in his way), and then as a distant third develop players. Should CHO be playing more in Cups? seems like it, but maybe he's leaving anyway, in which case developing a bayern player does not seem like a high priority to me.

Sarri thinks Alonso is a lot better than Emerson. How do I know that? because he's trying to recover Alonso's form (personal and team) by playing him/them, tweaking, and repetition. I can't say whether I agree with that (much that will do), because I've hardly seen Emerson play, since he only faces these very weak sides, but did not do too well well last time in the PL. And other potential changes? I think he plays our best players most of the time - though rotates little.

If the next manager picks Alonso and Pedro, like Sarri and Conte did, will that be a surprise to you? Would you then think that the said manager should be sacked too?

What if the next manager (or even Sarri himself) gives both Emerson and CHO a run of games and our team tanks (yes it can always get worse) and ends in 10th, would that make folks here wrong? like when we gave Mikel a run of games because Matic was in bad form.  For the record, the only time Mikel would play over Matic is if the latter was missing a leg.

[robsblubot 3,205]

4 hours ago, Mana said:

Yes because things are looking pretty good now right? I mean, you are talking as if what Sarri is doing is a godsend and our team is playing sexy football.

Nope, not saying that at all. You are the one talking as if the Manager did X, things would've been better. I'm just pointing out that neither one of us know that.

Quote

Pedro and Willian are 30+ year old players. That have passed it. If the next manager doesn’t see that, then he won’t be lasting long either. It’s idiotic that you know these players aren’t good enough, but you persist playing them. Maybe Pedro would do better on a different system. But in a Sarriball system? It ain’t working.

Maybe they are, but there are plenty of players playing at high level way past 30. It still does not make CHO a solution at this level. Once again, developing a player who may be committed to leave is not in our best interest.

Quote

And it will be Sarri’s downfall. How can Alonso be better than Emerson? I know you are going to say something like “trust the manager” but, that trust is gone for me. Alonso has been playing shite for a season and a half now. Throw in the towel.

I've seen Alonso play Very well in the past and I've never seen Emerson play well. Again, lets not rewrite history, Alonso had MoTM performances in the recent past. Emerson? My point remains we know nothing of Emerson, but managers (2 so far) and coaches there seem to think Alonso is vastly superior, since Emerson barely even rotates. Which makes a manager trying to recover the player not that crazy to me.

Quote

Yes, it will surprise me.

But if this said manager can work with Willian, Pedro and Alonso... and we have a solid system of us scoring goals and Alonso not getting exploited time after time...you’ll not here a word from me criticising the manager. In fact, he pulled off a miracle.

These players are sought after by other big clubs. William has had good games recently. They are not as bad you make them. When the system is not working everything and everyone looks bad, throwing youngsters in the mix rarely works.

Quote

The what if scenario. Why do you want our potential future to play that awful? Are you a fan of Alonso or something?

But let’s play your game. I’ll put my hands up and say I was wrong if these two turn out to be even more shit then Willian and Alonso. However, I don’t see this happening at all.

Hardly a fan of Alonso (don't think I'm a fan of any player), just don't agree with the hate he gets around here.

Us not seeing it in our heads can be very different from when things happen on the pitch.  I'm sure some thought we'd defend better with a "proper" LB against Bournemouth, but then things were all the same. I'm not claiming that Alonso would've done better, I'm just questioning the *assumption* that Emerson is the better player without any evidence other than wishful thinking and a handful of games against the weakest opposition.