Chelsea Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2019/2020

grumpymunster

Good God apparently Gattuso in Milan now comparing Bakayoko to Desailly, that is some turnaround. If true fair play to Bakayoko for getting his head down.

hots

grumpymunster wrote: »

Good God apparently Gattuso in Milan now comparing Bakayoko to Desailly, that is some turnaround. If true fair play to Bakayoko for getting his head down.

That's mad, he was very publicly slating him at the start right? I don't think he would have ever cut it with us, and definitely not in the new system so fingers crossed they fancy taking him full time.

GavRedKing

grumpymunster wrote: »

Good God apparently Gattuso in Milan now comparing Bakayoko to Desailly, that is some turnaround. If true fair play to Bakayoko for getting his head down.

hots wrote: »

That's mad, he was very publicly slating him at the start right? I don't think he would have ever cut it with us, and definitely not in the new system so fingers crossed they fancy taking him full time.

Apparently he hass been MOTM in 3 of the last 4 or 5 games and had a very good last 2 months for Milan.

If they do buy him, I'd use the money to get Kovacic from Real, if they dont want to sell, at least we'll have 2 good options in RLC and Barkley.

hots

GavRedKing wrote: »

Apparently he hass been MOTM in 3 of the last 4 or 5 games and had a very good last 2 months for Milan.

If they do buy him, I'd use the money to get Kovacic from Real, if they dont want to sell, at least we'll have 2 good options in RLC and Barkley.

I know we can't pass up players like Kovacic if we can get them... but it'll be a shame to stunt RLC any more, he'd have to look to leave imo.

GavRedKing

hots wrote: »

I know we can't pass up players like Kovacic if we can get them... but it'll be a shame to stunt RLC any more, he'd have to look to leave imo.

Barkley could be sold too in a year if we really wanted to make way.

RLC and Barkley, because he cost only 15m, would make us an insane profit given that they're English and still not at their prime yet.

Both would probably go for 30m+ if sold tomorrow.

You also have to consider Mount, who has played in the advanced CM role for Derby and Vitesse, which is where RLC/Barkley/Kovacic all operate from in the Sarri system.

One thing is for sure, we need more quality in the squad and if it means stock piling talent in CM, so be it.

RLC and Barkley are far superior in their goals return than Kovacic but hes a very good player.

I'd prefer to be in the situation of having Mount, Jorginho, Kante, RLC, Barkley, Kovacic than last year having Cesc, Drinkwater and Bakayoko.

Garzorico

grumpymunster wrote: »

Good God apparently Gattuso in Milan now comparing Bakayoko to Desailly, that is some turnaround. If true fair play to Bakayoko for getting his head down.

I'd love to see Bakayoko back at the club - a beast of a box to box player is in there somewhere!

grumpymunster

If he ever gets over his injury we also have MvG who scored a bucket load of goals and captained PSV to the title from that position, big if sadly.

GavRedKing

Garzorico wrote: »

I'd love to see Bakayoko back at the club - a beast of a box to box player is in there somewhere!

I dont know, the only role he could play is RCM, Kante wont be shifted on from there at all.

Like if Milan stump up the cash, I'd take it and run.

GavRedKing

Sarri wants to extend Cesc and Luiz's stay with us.

Madness, both are hoovering up some serious funds and are barriers to the first team for younger players.

Alonso and Kovacic both injured during the Fulham game but everyone is fit for Wolves.

RLC wont be leaving in January.

Says Alonso has to improve after a poor showing against Fulham and the back injury wasnt an excuse.

Lukker-

Fabregas would be on half his current wage you would imagine.

GavRedKing

I wonder will we rest Hazard tonight for City on Saturday?

Hes still not 100% and its hurting us and him.

I'd be in favour of resting him tonight and maybe giving him 15/20mins towards the end.

GavRedKing

Jaysus, Michy scored last night in the Cup for Valencia.

GavRedKing

Ross Barkley is 25 today

peteeeed

GavRedKing wrote: »

Ross Barkley is 25 today

thanks for that

GavRedKing

peteeeed wrote: »

thanks for that

I know you like to be kept informed.

peteeeed

Yes

https://twitter.com/chelseafc/status/1070388613656047616?s=21

Johner

Morata.

Loftus-Cheek.

Garzorico

Watching the Wolves game and the ‘tv’ signal has frozen. I’m not having Loftus-Cheek at all. He does nothing in a game as far as I can tell. Christensen isn’t a first teamer either. Fabregas legs are gone. Morata is woeful and shouldn’t start again for us.

Dreadful performances from every player on the pitch tonight. Top 4 looks a million miles away judging by this performance.

TomSweeney

Oh dear

TomSweeney

Well ... that's the end of top 4....

The Davestator

TomSweeney wrote: »

Well ... that's the end of top 4....

The arsenal v utd match ending in a draw or Utd win would help. Fingers crossed.

kev1.3s

Simple fact is that we don't have the players to implement "sarri ball" and sarri doesn't seem to have a plan B. We were 1-0 up and still allowed wolves to counter us twice.
To make matters worse we seem to be doing our best to sign up the players who don't seem to be flourishing in the system and anybody who thinks hazard, one of the only players who may work in it will be here next season is deluded.
I taught Ruben was OK certainly not any worse than anybody else on the pitch and should have had an assist to go with his goal if we had anybody other than moratta as a striker.

TheBoyFromAus

That was piss weak from Willian for the second goal. And once again Alonso was consistently beaten on our left.

kev1.3s

TheBoyFromAus wrote: »

That was piss weak from Willian for the second goal. And once again Alonso was consistently beaten on our left.

Alonso was forever running back too late to try and make a last ditch tackle. How many times was there a man free at the back post on Azpi's side?

Garzorico

Another bad day at the office.

Time for Roman to splash the January cash for a decent striker - Morata is dog dirt. Giroud is an ok option off the bench and Batman is as bad as Morata. This run is all very reminiscent of last seasons crap form that cost us a CL place.

If we beat City on Sat then poo will be top and if we dont its 3 lost out of 4 - this does not make me happy.

This does not bode well for the xmas period. We dont even have champions league matches to be contending with either.

kev1.3s

Garzorico wrote: »

Another bad day at the office.

Time for Roman to splash the January cash for a decent striker - Morata is dog dirt. Giroud is an ok option off the bench and Batman is as bad as Morata. This run is all very reminiscent of last seasons crap form that cost us a CL place.

If we beat City on Sat then poo will be top and if we dont its 3 lost out of 4 - this does not make me happy.

This does not bode well for the xmas period. We dont even have champions league matches to be contending with either.

I know that paok are not premier league quality but in The game that our so called second string played was by far the most entertaining game of football I've seen us play all season. Players like pedro and William are nowhere near consistent enough to be regular starters for chelsea, moratta and giroud aren't good enough to even make the bench at the moment.
Surely it's time to give Hudson odoi even a place on the bench?

Tubbs4

Saw 1 nil up did not expect to lose to wolves. Really need to ship mortata as it seems he will never be a player to score.
Happy that we rotated players before kick off but after you know why the same teams nearly lines up.

Garzorico

Wolves ffs

Tigerbaby

basically playing with 10 men when Morata is selected.

immediate disadvantage.

play false 9 for 60 mins, then super-sub Giroud ?

peteeeed

Tigerbaby wrote: »

basically playing with 10 men when Morata is selected.

immediate disadvantage.

play false 9 for 60 mins, then super-sub Giroud ?

giroud was poison when he came on as well , the most alarming was Christensen , he was very poor when coupled with alonso , the left hand side was where all the wolves attacks came from
emerson has to get his shot now and a CB and a striker bought in Jan

GavRedKing

Wolves have been exceptional against the big sides this year so this is no surprise if you look at the result in isolation of the fact we had some 70% of the ball and dominated for 60mins and should have been 3 up before they scored.

The biggest issue is we're just not clinical enough, I seen the highlights and Hazard could have had a hat trick, talks of 40 goals from him after a good start are laughable, he'll struggle to 15/20 as per usual, its not all his fault he is the sides only threat in open play.

I wont start on Alonso, hes an absolute fraud of a FB, yes he scores big goals every now and again but his contribuition to the defensive side of the game is awful and once he gets forward form LB, hes a liabilty as hes too slow to get back, he cant beat a man and he rarely finds a cross despite being good from FKs, its baffling what Emerson has to do to get a game.

Morata should have had a penalty too for the chance he "missed", he was caught before the ball came in, something VAR might have picked up but ya, he was sh*te too.

Willian is easily the worst player that consistently starts for us and maybe from any of the top 6 sides, hes f**king awful, I cant describe how much of a f**k up it was not selling him in the summer was. The 2nd goal is all on him losing the ball and trotting back like its a game of 6 a side with your mates. He was also put through by Hazard 1 vs 1, took a hoorendous touch and instead of squaring the ball to RLC or Morata for a tap into an empty net the thick f**ker was going to swing at it with his left. Hes the most brain dead footballer I've seen at Chelsea.

It all harps back to being clinical, we've nobody in this squad who'd I'd put my house on if a chance fell to them in the box or in a 1 vs 1 situation.

There was never a PL title run in this side anyway, its far too soft but I'm still happy enough with where we are in the PL, if we didnt have City in the next game it wouldnt be all doom and gloom.

Sarri's biggest issue is the squad isnt setup to play his style, if we accept Sarri, we're going to have to accept performances and results like that for this year at least, all we can hope is that we either finish top 4 or win the EL and make the CL as his job will be impossibly difficult to try and recruit better players and we're going to lose Hazard for a song in the summer to Madrid.

GavRedKing

Its going to be tough losing 3 out of 4 to City this weekend too but its for the greater good so I'll allow it.

grumpymunster

Of the back 4 Christensen was possibly the only one not to be poor. We are giving up too many chances and now our luck seems to be running out - and relying on luck is not a good defensive strategy. This was pretty much a carbon copy of the Fulham game looked comfortable in the first half then stayed in the dressing room for the second half - Kepa made two very good saves before we closed the game out with the second.

Willian, Morata and Alonso should be given a long rest just not good enough, at this stage we should play Emerson at left back Alonso is bringing nothing to the table. How Willian keeps his place ahead of Odoi is simply beyond me.

grumpymunster

I would not be in the least bit surprised if City put 5 or 6 past us, the only upside to that is it could be the finish of Luiz and Alonso at the back, Dave needs to find some form soon as well. Rudiger was poor last night but will forgive the odd poor game.

mobby

Bad loss last night I thought them days might be over.:(

On a side note I see Steve Clarke the former Chelsea player and coach as guided Scottish Premier League side Kilmarnock to top spot. They were bottom and looked in real trouble when he took charge a couple of seasons ago. Fair play to him.

GavRedKing

Lets be honest, the players dont really suit the system.

Only handful of them are comfortable in it and even then, some of those that dont excel are in a fine line of being a liability or an asset.

As it stands, we've 2 severely limited FBs that offer very little to the team and in Alonsos case, an actual liability on the left flank. Luiz has a decent passing range but a head like a sive and costs us more than hes worth.

A CDM being deployed RCM who can tackle and intercept and is slowly adapting to his new role but it still a worry.

2 Play makers that are slower than a wet week and in Cescs case, a player thats done, physically, at the elite level.

A usual RW whos more of a liability to the attacking side of the game than any other players.

2 CFs who wouldnt score in a brothel.

Some of the players havent had a fair whack of the stick, Odoi and Emerson being two which I think should be at least on the bench and in Odoi cases, I'd completely drop Willian and go with Pedro, Hazard and Odoi.

The bright sides of the team so far have been :

Kepa
Rudiger
Jorginho
Any of the 3 LCMs (Barkley, RLC, Kovacic)
Hazard

So what we need is a FB that can cross and take a man on, Emerson doesnt get used enough.
A proper CB that isnt entirely limited on the ball.
Another option to the RCM issue as Kante is struggling to find consistency.
A RW thjat can play football and thats 5 years younger than Willian, alternatively, play Odoi.
A CF who isnt a waste of a jersey and can score goals.

None of the above will happen in January so we're going to have to wait until the summer and we'll have to replace for Hazard too, which is impossible, even if we were given a fair price for him.

Right now, I hope we win the EL over finishing 2nd, 3rd, 4th but we have to do one or the other as CL is a must for us.

peteeeed

sarri ball needs sarri players might take till the end of the summer window to get that

GavRedKing

peteeeed wrote: »

sarri ball needs sarri players might take till the end of the summer window to get that

100% we wont get any reinforcements in January.

Maybe if Cahill, Moses, Cesc and Drinkwater go we might get 1 or 2 short term options but we wont get anybody thats going to push the club on for the next few years.

We'll have to wait until the summer for any marquee signings.

kev1.3s

GavRedKing wrote: »

100% we wont get any reinforcements in January.

Maybe if Cahill, Moses, Cesc and Drinkwater go we might get 1 or 2 short term options but we wont get anybody thats going to push the club on for the next few years.

We'll have to wait until the summer for any marquee signings.

We might not get the opportunity in the summer. What I fear most about sarri is the lack of a plan B. We have dropped stupid points this season because of an insistance on sticking to his system where over at arsenal the game plan is becoming very fluid to adapt to the team they are playing.
In short we have become the new arsenal and I'm not looking forward to playing city at the weekend.

GavRedKing

kev1.3s wrote: »

We might not get the opportunity in the summer. What I fear most about sarri is the lack of a plan B. We have dropped stupid points this season because of an insistance on sticking to his system where over at arsenal the game plan is becoming very fluid to adapt to the team they are playing.
In short we have become the new arsenal and I'm not looking forward to playing city at the weekend.

Our biggest issue is goal scoring.

We wont get a CF in January that will be a long term player for us or be a top level player.

Best we could hope or is Michy back or take a punt on someone like Wilson of Bournemouth for about 40/50m and that would be such a Chelsea thing to do.

The January window opens in what 25/26 days, I'd be shocked if we see any major transfer in to Chelsea in January. The biggest mistake we made was not given Dortmund last January Michy and buying Aubayemang.

The board were penny pinching with the funds and we missed out on top 4 because of it.

We spent a fair wedge in the summer on Kepa and Jorginho so im not sure the club will rush out to spend again, unfortunately the days of outspending the rest are done and dusted and unless we go down the financial doping route of City/PSG, or suddenly turn into the biggest club in England, like Utd, we wont have piles of cash to throw at our problems.

hots

kev1.3s wrote: »

We might not get the opportunity in the summer. What I fear most about sarri is the lack of a plan B. We have dropped stupid points this season because of an insistance on sticking to his system where over at arsenal the game plan is becoming very fluid to adapt to the team they are playing.
In short we have become the new arsenal and I'm not looking forward to playing city at the weekend.

It was his biggest criticism coming in too, he won't change in that respect unless he really has too. In fairness I'm still surprised he rotated at all against Wolves.



I think we're reacting a bit severely at the moment. We've been cruising comfortably most of the season until now, outperforming our ability I would say. If we slip more than a win outside of the top 4 then it's time to be worried imo.

SureYWouldntYa

kev1.3s wrote: »

We might not get the opportunity in the summer. What I fear most about sarri is the lack of a plan B. We have dropped stupid points this season because of an insistance on sticking to his system where over at arsenal the game plan is becoming very fluid to adapt to the team they are playing.
In short we have become the new arsenal and I'm not looking forward to playing city at the weekend.

In a way I like the way Sarri has a system and sticks to it no matter, as in if we're the best team and do our thing then others will just have to adapt to us because of how good we are

In reality it's not working like that though, iirc he didn't have a flying start at Napoli either so maybe once the players really get used to what Sarri expects then we'll be better, City weren't perfect in their first season under Pep so we'll see how things go moving forward it's not just a situation of things being all rosey or all cloudy, it's somewhere in the middle for now

kev1.3s

I'm not advocating for sarris dismissal but if the board want instant results they have to back the manager with the players he needs to play in his system. Otherwise we have to adopt the Tottenham model where the manager is given time to integrate academy players with some frugally bought talent but that takes time and in Tottenham case hasn't produced any trophys.

SureYWouldntYa

There was a decent chunk spent in the summer with the key to his system in Jorginho and a keeper who can be here for 10-12 years in Kepa

We do have a lot of deadwood though, and if they along the normal summer budget could be turned into a new CB, LB, CM, RW and ST then we could be more than solid if they're real Sarri players

It's funny though how limited we are in some positions yet 3 of our best performers all play the LCM slot only in Kovacic, Barkley and RLC

smuckers

Sarri needs time, arrived late in the summer again due to our inept board which means planning was rushed. Should have addressed the important areas like centre back full backs and striker then he would have something to work with. One thing which riles me is his reluctance to play CHO, Willian is stagnating he won't improve whereas the former will. Also I wouldn't buy Kovacic from Real doesn't score or create, Ruben and Ross have to play more. If in a few months Sarri Ball still hasn't occurred, then he he will have to change personel, but he,s stubborn though and set in his ways.

smuckers

Also we haven't played well since Liverpool home, and even that was in patches.

duploelabs

kev1.3s wrote: »

We might not get the opportunity in the summer. What I fear most about sarri is the lack of a plan B. We have dropped stupid points this season because of an insistance on sticking to his system where over at arsenal the game plan is becoming very fluid to adapt to the team they are playing.
In short we have become the new arsenal and I'm not looking forward to playing city at the weekend.

Conte didn't have a plan B, neither did Jose 2 (although Jose 1's plan B was to put Huth or JT up front)

kev1.3s

duploelabs wrote: »

Conte didn't have a plan B, neither did Jose 2 (although Jose 1's plan B was to put Huth or JT up front)

True with conte but Jose mk2 started with his plan B and quickly returned to form after we got thumped by spurs.
Conte probably just wasn't bothered coming up with a plan B in his second year.

GavRedKing

We're not going to suddenly burst into life and become great again, not with City operating on a different level financially.

They spent some 130m on 3 FBs last year, we cant do that.

Peps first season was a disaster for him and the hype that surrounded him, what City done was listen to him and got in the players he needed/wanted and he broke nearly all records last year.

City added another layer of gold paint by getting Mahrez this summer and theyre out in front again this year.

One thing we can take form City and Pep is that if the players arent up to scratch, we have to buy the right players in the summer and bin the deadwood, Pep went in and cut out a lot of them, Yaya Toure, Navas etc and we have to do similar really but we dont have the finances to match City.

grumpymunster

GavRedKing wrote: »

We're not going to suddenly burst into life and become great again, not with City operating on a different level financially.

They spent some 130m on 3 FBs last year, we cant do that.

Peps first season was a disaster for him and the hype that surrounded him, what City done was listen to him and got in the players he needed/wanted and he broke nearly all records last year.

City added another layer of gold paint by getting Mahrez this summer and theyre out in front again this year.

One thing we can take form City and Pep is that if the players arent up to scratch, we have to buy the right players in the summer and bin the deadwood, Pep went in and cut out a lot of them, Yaya Toure, Navas etc and we have to do similar really but we dont have the finances to match City.

If you have a good manager there is a lot to be said for letting him manage, Pep binned Hart fairly quickly (excellent decision grossly overrated). Had issues with his replacement, went to the well again and in my opinion has a super keeper now.
OK City have a lot of money but we are not paupers by any stretch, what we do not have and City have is a plan. Therein lies our main problem.