Chelsea Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2019/2020

GavRedKing

grumpymunster wrote: »

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.

Having footballing men in charge of the club before the board gets involved is key.

They took a few ex Barca people on board and they've been investing pretty wisely for the arrival of Guardiola for nearly a year before it but they had the bo**ocks to back him in the summer too after they finished 3rd.

peteeeed

Sarri press conference ahead of City:
1️⃣No injuries at all for Chelsea
2️⃣#MCFC might be the best team in Europe
3️⃣#CFC need more leadership as they "lack determination"
4️⃣Admits Alonso not playing well but insists he isn't tired, likes his set-pieces
5️⃣Emerson could replace him

Garzorico

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.

to me this is not an issue rather an excuse - there are more than 23 footballers good enough to win the league. Leicester won the league a few years ago and I dont recall them spending a fortune - Conte wont the league with the same (arguably) squad that finished 10th the previous season.

players + good coaching = good team

GavRedKing

Garzorico wrote: »

to me this is not an issue rather an excuse - there are more than 23 footballers good enough to win the league. Leicester won the league a few years ago and I dont recall them spending a fortune - Conte wont the league with the same (arguably) squad that finished 10th the previous season.

players + good coaching = good team

I wouldnt use Liecester win is anything other than the biggest anomaly to happen in sports, every team that year was awful and they won the title with 81 points, 10 ahead of Arsenal. It was the second lowest winning margain in nearly 2 decades.

Anyway, City have the above in bold and are better in every position 1 - 11.

I'm not playing the poor mouth card, that would be absurd but their resources and more importantly, how they used them, has pushed them into a position that we cant compete with it right now.

Sarri needs at least 1 season, like Pep, to get the system right and the players to play within, if we accept that Hazard is gone, we also need a serious overhaul and to replace at least half a dozen players and potentially 4 starters.

Its going to be a tough summer but if we've CL in the bag it will at least ease the pain somewhat.

GavRedKing

KDB and Aguero out of tomorrows game, only drops the probability of a City win down to about 90%.

grumpymunster

Might only put 4 or 5 past us so

GavRedKing

grumpymunster wrote: »

Might only put 4 or 5 past us so

It cant be as bad as last seasons double header against them when they racked up over 900 passes against us and we were dominated.

Duck Soup

Well, that's reassuring.

https://www.joe.co.uk/sport/maurizio-sarri-admits-he-has-no-idea-how-to-beat-manchester-city-211450

Tubbs4

No striker starting. Well it better than mortata starting at least.

Tubbs4

Good win today and played much better in 2nd half. Starting the hype train again soon

GavRedKing

That result really pi**es me off because we've only just lost to wolves in a game at 1 0 we were robbed dor a penalty.

Winning that would have put un in a good place to be an outsider in the PL but not now, were still playing for 4th due to stupid dropped points and inept officials

kev1.3s

Certainly got the tactics better today. It does highlight how poor a result midweek was and also howpoor our strikers are.
It's so much sweeter when you dont expect the win.

ebbsy

Well done.

Tigerbaby

Tigerbaby wrote: »

basically playing with 10 men when Morata is selected.

immediate disadvantage.

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

ahem !

dont want to blow my own trumpet here !

ha ha

kev1.3s

kev1.3s wrote: »

Certainly got the tactics better today. It does highlight how poor a result midweek was and also howpoor our strikers are.
It's so much sweeter when you dont expect the win.

And the Draws with west ham and Everton look bad now

peteeeed

Love it , sore head today , time to push on now

kev1.3s

Just a shame that a couple of morans chose to drag us through the mud again. We'll see how much exposure this will get in comparison to the banana throwing last week.

Obi_Wan_Kenobi

The force was with Chelsea yesterday .... may it continue!

Good thing I got a decent stream in this poxy desert world I've been confined to live in ...

GavRedKing

Playing Vidi on Thursday with the group wrapped up is a great time to send over the youngsters and bench players.

Its a free game so its a chance to make huge changes.

Team should be

Caballero
Zappa Cahill Christensen Emerson
RLC Ampadu Cesc
Moses Morata Odoi

Subs : Bulka, Azp, Barkley, Piazon, Willian, Pedro, Giroud

duploelabs

GavRedKing wrote: »

Playing Vidi on Thursday with the group wrapped up is a great time to send over the youngsters and bench players.

Its a free game so its a chance to make huge changes.

Team should be

Caballero
Zappa Cahill Christensen Emerson
RLC Ampadu Cesc
Moses Morata Odoi

Subs : Bulka, Azp, Barkley, Piazon, Willian, Pedro, Giroud

Should be.....

But this is Sarri

GavRedKing

I think he'll make a lot of changes because theres nothing to lose, it might not be as drastic as the above but there will be changes.

Cahill and Moses mightn't play, if they're off in January they might be wrapped in cotton wool until then.

kev1.3s

When I seen Christiansen warming up on Saturday when luiz was injured I nearly shāt myself, I think cahil is still a better option than him.

GavRedKing

kev1.3s wrote: »

When I seen Christiansen warming up on Saturday when luiz was injured I nearly shāt myself, I think cahil is still a better option than him.

CB and GK are probably the only 2 positions you really need players playing regularly week in week out to be at their best.

I'd still think Christensen has a huge Chelsea future but Ampadu looks like he could be better than any of the current CBs if he gets the right exposure to first team football in the next 18/24 months.

For all Luiz's faults and there are many of them, hes the kind of character you need around the dressing room, a charismatic leader of men and we're fast running out of them.

duploelabs

Luiz's game on Sunday is like Morata scoring two in a match, he's consistently terrible bar one barnstorming game. All is forgiven but I guarantee, he'll revert to type in the next game

GavRedKing

Drinkwater is meant to be off to Fulham in January, it would make sense given that Ranieri knows him well from his Leicester days but at this stage we really need to cut or losses on players like him and never sign those bang average English players again.

peteeeed

kev1.3s wrote: »

When I seen Christiansen warming up on Saturday when luiz was injured I nearly shāt myself, I think cahil is still a better option than him.

yeah his dip in form is worrying

grumpymunster

Didn't see that coming on Saturday, credit where it is due Luiz was excellent but Alonso continues to be a liability. Dave and Rudiger were immense also but where was that Rudiger at Wolves?

As for Thursday would try something different me, I would go


Caballero
Zappa Cahill Christensen Emerson
Berkley Ampadu Cesc
Moses RLC Odoi

Would certainly be interesting

peteeeed

https://twitter.com/SiPhillipsSport/status/1072106513207054336

GavRedKing

peteeeed wrote: »

yeah his dip in form is worrying

CBs need consistent minutes IMO or else they wont have any form.

Its also very hard for CBs coming off the bench to get up the speed of games so being out for 2 or 3 weeks at a time cant be good for him long term.

SureYWouldntYa

duploelabs wrote: »

Luiz's game on Sunday is like Morata scoring two in a match, he's consistently terrible bar one barnstorming game. All is forgiven but I guarantee, he'll revert to type in the next game

It's the same with Alonso scoring papering over the fact he's not doing the proper job of a LB

I have friends, Man U and Liverpool fans, who won't hear that he isn't the best lb in the league since he's the top scoring defender in fantasy football

GavRedKing

SureYWouldntYa wrote: »

It's the same with Alonso scoring papering over the fact he's not doing the proper job of a LB

I have friends, Man U and Liverpool fans, who won't hear that he isn't the best lb in the league since he's the top scoring defender in fantasy football

Theres no way a Liverpool fan doesnt rate everyone of their players as the best in the PL, sure 1 - 11, they have no equal.

But ya, Alonso scores some important goals but Christ, is he a bang average LB, as a LWB his defensive duties werent as important as he often had players inside covering, he doesnt have that protection now and hes either too slow to supplement the attack or hes too slow getting back once we turn it over.

Its no wonder that between Hazard, Kova/Barkley/RLC, Alonso and Luiz all on the left side of the field, that teams have had the most joy against us down that flank. I'd be instructing all of my teas play through my right side if I was playing Chelsea as Kante and Azp are covering the other side.

ebbsy

kev1.3s wrote: »

Just a shame that a couple of morans chose to drag us through the mud again. We'll see how much exposure this will get in comparison to the banana throwing last week.

Actually that incident was brushed under the carpet.....

grumpymunster

It was and that was blatant, but that was Spurs and they are the media's darlings

GavRedKing

grumpymunster wrote: »

It was and that was blatant, but that was Spurs and they are the media's darlings

You only have to look at the Mails posting off articles relating to Foden, a young rich, white Man City kid compared to the fellow youth graduate whos also rich, young but black to see the issue in Britain.

If more knuckle draggers approached life with a similar outlook or view, it sets a very dangerous precedent.

But ya, I'm surprised more hasnt been made of the banana skin being thrown at a black player, thats something you'd see out in Russia and while all racism is bad, the kind you can easily and visually identify with the image of a banana skin being thrown is reprehensible.

blueser

Credit where credit's due. You club has acted quickly to take initial action after the unfortunate incident on saturday tea time. Also, congrats on your win. You shut us down well in that second half, we didn't look like we were going to score one goal, never mind two.

kev1.3s

blueser wrote: »

Credit where credit's due. You club has acted quickly to take initial action after the unfortunate incident on saturday tea time. Also, congrats on your win. You shut us down well in that second half, we didn't look like we were going to score one goal, never mind two.

Chelsea acted quickly against the fans in the psg incident too but I suppose they have to given the history, which incedently we don't have anyway.
I actually taught you would score when kepa threw the ball out to you close to the end, if you had of scored there it would have made for a nervy finish.

McDave

Latest reports on Hazard winding down his contract.
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/transfers/chelsea-fc-transfer-news-eden-hazard-real-madrid-january-interview-rmc-a8677136.html

Cash in now. Time’s up. No Tbo 2.

GavRedKing

He wont be sold in January but the summer is very, very likely.

We wont get anywhere near his real value either which is an absolute shame but if he leaves with us back in the CL, theres nothing we can do but wish him well.

Hes handled himself better than Tbo anyway.......so far.

duploelabs

McDave wrote: »

Latest reports on Hazard winding down his contract.
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/transfers/chelsea-fc-transfer-news-eden-hazard-real-madrid-january-interview-rmc-a8677136.html

Cash in now. Time’s up. No Tbo 2.

Easy there now,
His agent is negotiating the biggest contract of his career, for one of the arguably best players in the world. I'd wager He is not speaking 'off the cuff' but it's a manicured, scripted public response to a private contract offer from the club in an effort to strengthen his negotiating position

GavRedKing

duploelabs wrote: »

Easy there now,
His agent is negotiating the biggest contract of his career, for one of the arguably best players in the world. I'd wager He is not speaking 'off the cuff' but it's a manicured, scripted public response to a private contract offer from the club in an effort to strengthen his negotiating position

I dont think he'll stay, the allure of Madrid is too hard to turn down.

Although we're giving out contracts to beat the band at the moment so I live in hope but I'd be fearful he'll be sold in the summer for a fraction of his worth and we'll not replace him.

Although if it means Odoi gets more game time to develop in the long run its not the end of the world for Chelsea.

duploelabs

http://www.espn.in/soccer/english-premier-league/23/blog/post/3724976/why-the-premier-league-should-be-afraid-of-sarri-ball-once-chelsea-master-it



The Premier League currently finds itself with the most impressive array of managers in its 27-season history, and the eclectic cast includes three managers who have contributed significantly to the evolution of modern football.

The first is Manchester City's Pep Guardiola. His hugely successful Barcelona side repopularised possession football across the continent before he became an increasingly flexible manager during his period in the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich. The second is Liverpool's Jurgen Klopp, whose use of pressing and gegenpressing at Dortmund created a high-tempo, all-action side that won two Bundesliga titles and reached the European Cup final.

The third is Chelsea's Maurizio Sarri. Unlike the other two, he can't point to a glittering list of honours, but anyone who consistently watched his Napoli side was blown away by the intricacy of his side's possession play.

Sarri hasn't entirely imposed his Napoli model on Chelsea, but his contributions to the Premier League could be particularly significant over time. In fact, they could eventually push the Blues to the title.

Guardiola and Klopp borrowed from one another. Klopp was influenced by the speed at which Guardiola's Barca won possession. Guardiola was impressed by the pace of Klopp's Dortmund on the counter-attack and increasingly worked on new structures to guard against such speed on the break. Between them, they have developed new ideas on possession play and pressing, the two major concepts in modern football.

Sarri's sides are slightly different. He's much closer in style to Guardiola, but his approach is a response to sides that have adopted Klopp's philosophy and made pressing the fundamental part of their philosophy. Guardiola's early Barcelona side played out from the back under little pressure because pressing wasn't such an ingrained concept. When it became increasingly popular and Barcelona and Bayern were pressed more, they were forced to adapt and bravely play through it.

Meanwhile, Sarri actively encourages his sides to be pressed. His Napoli side was notable for the long periods it spent holding on to the ball in defence, teasing the opposition with quick passes between the defenders, baiting the strikers to push forward from their deep block and engage high up the pitch. Once Napoli succeeded in drawing the opposition forward, they'd cut through their lines with slick one-touch passing, and therefore their attacking was a mixture of Guardiola's possession play and Klopp's quick attacking.

"How do you beat Guardiola's sides?" Sarri was asked in his Friday news conference. "I don't know, against Guardiola I've lost every match," was the response. "You'll have to ask someone else." But maybe now Sarri knows.


The nature of Chelsea's opener against Manchester City on Saturday evening was significant. The goal hadn't been coming; in fact, it was entirely against the run of play. After 20 minutes, Chelsea hadn't completed a single pass inside Manchester City's third of the pitch, and their opening goal came from their first shot.

Chelsea's buildup play sometimes looks ponderous, but this is Sarri's attempt to lay a trap for the opposition to facilitate quick and purposeful attacking. A couple of minutes before half-time, Cesar Azpilicueta had the ball in Chelsea's right-back position, 15 yards from the halfway line. Manchester City were in a medium block, packing the middle third of the pitch. City's most advanced player, Riyad Mahrez, was positioned next to the centre circle. In this compact shape, Man City would be difficult to play through.

Azpilicueta passed the ball backward and inside to centre-back Antonio Rudiger. City didn't press.

Rudiger returned the ball to Azpilicueta. City didn't press.

Azpilicueta passed back to Rudiger, a slightly overhit ball. Now Mahrez led the press, charging toward Rudiger while checking over his shoulder that his teammates were backing up. Rudiger transferred the ball to David Luiz, who played the ball out to Marcos Alonso. Chelsea's passing had taken the ball all the way across their defence, from right-back to left-back.

At this point, Manchester City were aggressively engaging Chelsea high up the pitch. Five of Guardiola's players -- Mahrez, Bernardo Silva, David Silva, Raheem Sterling and Kyle Walker -- found themselves in the vicinity of the ball, which was at the feet of Alonso. Two others, Leroy Sane and Fernandinho, were in advance of the position Mahrez had taken at the start of this passing sequence.

Chelsea had baited City higher up.

Alonso returned the ball inside to David Luiz, who checked onto his right foot and arrowed a huge diagonal pass out to Pedro Rodriguez, holding his wide position on the right flank. The pass itself was a fantastic, perfect, pinpoint ball, but what occurred beforehand was more significant: Chelsea had created the possibility for that pass by drawing City's press.

What happened next? Pedro played the ball onto Willian, who was breaking into the final third. His cross was headed up into the air, Alonso collected the knockdown and passed to Eden Hazard, who played a cut-back for the late-arriving N'Golo Kante's late run, and the Frenchman hammered the ball into the top of the net. Chelsea were ahead on the stroke of half-time, and from that point on, they were dominant. David Luiz was also responsible for the second key moment, heading in a corner to make it 2-0.


"Chelsea beat us with one counter-attack and one set-piece," Guardiola said in his postmatch news conference. As a manager determined to pack his sides with small, technical passers, that recipe has often proved his undoing.

But his analysis was wrong. The first goal wasn't a counter-attack: It didn't come after Chelsea had broken quickly from a spell of Manchester City possession. It came after Chelsea broke quickly from their own spell of possession play. It was superior to counter-attacking, which involves giving yourself space to break into but also means you lose control of possession.

On Saturday, Chelsea had the best of both worlds: They had the ball, and they had created the space in behind City. This wasn't counter-attacking or counter-pressing but something different entirely. "Active press-breaking," perhaps?

Chelsea remain unlikely to win this season's Premier League title with both Liverpool and Manchester City boasting historically good points totals at this stage of the season. Overhauling one will be tough; overhauling two is probably impossible. Stylistically, though, the introduction of Sarri and his post-pressing possession play might prove the most significant development of 2018-19. Guardiola and Klopp, you suspect, will be further inspired.

McDave

duploelabs wrote: »

Easy there now,
His agent is negotiating the biggest contract of his career, for one of the arguably best players in the world. I'd wager He is not speaking 'off the cuff' but it's a manicured, scripted public response to a private contract offer from the club in an effort to strengthen his negotiating position

I don’t believe Chelsea and Hazard have mutual contractual interests any more. If they had, Hazard would have signed a massive contract with a suitable buy-out clause, and a UCL qualification clause.

I hope I’m wrong, but the only thing keeping Hazard at Chelsea will be Madrid having interests elsewhere.

duploelabs

McDave wrote: »

I don’t believe Chelsea and Hazard have mutual contractual interests any more. If they had, Hazard would have signed a massive contract with a suitable buy-out clause, and a UCL qualification clause.

I hope I’m wrong, but the only thing keeping Hazard at Chelsea will be Madrid having interests elsewhere.

They'll go for mbappe, better investment

GavRedKing

duploelabs wrote: »

They'll go for mbappe, better investment

That would cost an insane amount of money, not even Madrid could pull that one off.

GavRedKing

We're the 5.55PM K/O tonight.

Should be big changes too and hopefully Odoi can impress again in all aspects of his play and grab a goal or two.

GavRedKing

Travelling squad is :

Willy Caballero
Marcin Bulka
Jamie Cumming

Davide Zappacosta
Ethan Ampadu
Andreas Christensen
David Luiz
Emerson
Marcos Alonso

Cesc Fabregas
Jorginho
Ruben Loftus-Cheek
Ross Barkley
George McEachran

Willian
Pedro
Callum Hudson-Odoi

Alvaro Morata
Olivier Giroud

Based on that, I'd love to see the following

Big willy
Zappa Christensen Ampadu Emerson
RLC Cesc Barkley
Pedro Giroud Odoi

duploelabs

GavRedKing wrote: »

That would cost an insane amount of money, not even Madrid could pull that one off.

PSG need to sell one of Mbappe or Neymar, and the former presents the better investment

grumpymunster

I still think Neymar left Barca for PSG to smooth the way to Madrid, might be madness on my part of course but logical.

He is a bigger name than Hazard as well so putting FFP into the equation and hoping Santa brings us what we want that will happen.

This is Hazards last really big contract his Mr 10% (his Dad is it not?) will ensure its right which is the way it should be. The club will always look after itself.

GavRedKing

I dont think Madrid have the money to sort it out.

Theyre not as cash rich as PSG or City but they do operate in a super, elite club level with Barca, Bayern and Juve.

duploelabs

grumpymunster wrote: »

I still think Neymar left Barca for PSG to smooth the way to Madrid, might be madness on my part of course but logical.

He is a bigger name than Hazard as well so putting FFP into the equation and hoping Santa brings us what we want that will happen.

This is Hazards last really big contract his Mr 10% (his Dad is it not?) will ensure its right which is the way it should be. The club will always look after itself.

Either way, Hazard is third choice so there's some high priced musical chairs to happen