Chelsea 2018/19 - 3rd and European Champions. Sarri, not sorry

He clearly doesn't expect to go back with that post. Could stay with us or go elsewhere, he wont be cheap if has a good season, that's for sure.

Looking forward to seeing the line up for tomorrow, thinking Kepa and Kovacic going straight in the team. Luiz and Rudiger probably starting CB. Probably Jorginho, Kante, Kovacic midfield, Hazard, Morata, Pedro front 3. Not sure of fullbacks.
 
Mb194dc said:
He clearly doesn't expect to go back with that post. Could stay with us or go elsewhere, he wont be cheap if has a good season, that's for sure.

Looking forward to seeing the line up for tomorrow, thinking Kepa and Kovacic going straight in the team. Luiz and Rudiger probably starting CB. Probably Jorginho, Kante, Kovacic midfield, Hazard, Morata, Pedro front 3. Not sure of fullbacks.
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There's probably an option to buy that either hasn't been announced yet or is a gentleman's agreement. He's definitely not going back to Madrid.

I think Kepa is definitely starting. He's been training with Bilbao for 3 weeks+ now. Strongly doubt Kovacic will start though he missed a lot of training in a bid to force a move away and he's not even as knowledgeable about Sarri's system as the rest of the team at the moment. Probably Barkley.
 
el3mel said:
There'n no option to buy in this loan deal. Madrid rate him and aren't going to sell him that easily. He's just loaned and will return next season.
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Whether there's an option to buy or not, he's not going back to Madrid, hence the strong links to Thiago over the past few days.
 
Kilmonger said:
Whether there's an option to buy or not, he's not going back to Madrid, hence the strong links to Thiago over the past few days.
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Madrid are the only ones who have a say about that. If they want him as a bench option, they'll keep him. If they want to sell him they'll do. It's up to them.
 
el3mel said:
Madrid are the only ones who have a say about that. If they want him as a bench option, they'll keep him. If they want to sell him they'll do. It's up to them.
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They didn't stop an unhappy wantaway Ronaldo from leaving and you think they're going to stop Kovacic from leaving? Especially when they know there are hundreds of other players out there who could replace him that are dying to wear the Madrid shirt? They're not going to stop him from leaving. Just forget about it.
 
Kilmonger said:
They didn't stop an unhappy wantaway Ronaldo from leaving and you think they're going to stop Kovacic from leaving? Especially when they know there are hundreds of other players out there who could replace him that are dying to wear the Madrid shirt? They're not going to stop him from leaving. Just forget about it.
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Kovacic statue as a player is completely different from Ronaldo's one. Ronaldo can do what he want. He has been mind controlling Madrid pretty much every season with rumors of him leaving. Kovacic is just a player around here. If they want to keep him as a bench warmer because they rate him and don't want to lose him, give me one thing that will prevent that. If they don't rate him and want to sell him, they'll do like they did with Morate.

Why didn't they agree with Chelsea on an option to buy in the loan deal ? Because they want to have full control over the player's position coming the end of this loan.
 
el3mel said:
Kovacic statue as a player is completely different from Ronaldo's one. Ronaldo can do what he want. He has been mind controlling Madrid pretty much every season with rumors of him leaving. Kovacic is just a player around here. If they want to keep him as a bench warmer because they rate him and don't want to lose him, give me one thing that will prevent that. If they don't rate him and want to sell him, they'll do like they did with Morate.

Why didn't they agree with Chelsea on an option to buy in the loan deal ? Because they want to have full control over the player's position coming the end of this loan.
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Uhhh I can give you few things; Ceballos, Llorente, Modric, Kroos, Casemiro and now possibly Thiago. Also, Madrid 'not rating' a player doesn't mean anything. Makelele, Sneidjer and Robben weren't rated by Madrid either. Every club has examples of players they misjudged or just couldn't keep that went on to do well elsewhere. We're currently experiencing ours at Chelsea with Salah, De Bruyne and Lukaku. It's normal in football. You win some, you lose some.

Also, you don't know for sure that the option to buy wasn't agreed, especially since there were conflicting stories (Chelsea media vs Madrid media). For all we know, there could have been just a gentleman's agreement to sell next summer. From our perspective, buying Kepa meant that we wouldn't even have been able to buy Kovacic outright this summer anyway, so it had to be a loan.

I've never seen a loan player post a permanent goodbye on his social media to his parent club when he knew for sure he was coming back. It doesn't happen that way. There's no need to beat yourself up over it. You have the best midfield in the world and won 3 CLs in a row with them and you're about to add another top quality CM to it with youngsters waiting on the wings that have high potential too. Kovacic isn't irreplaceable to Madrid. Let it go.
 
el3mel said:
Kovacic statue as a player is completely different from Ronaldo's one. Ronaldo can do what he want. He has been mind controlling Madrid pretty much every season with rumors of him leaving. Kovacic is just a player around here. If they want to keep him as a bench warmer because they rate him and don't want to lose him, give me one thing that will prevent that. If they don't rate him and want to sell him, they'll do like they did with Morate.

Why didn't they agree with Chelsea on an option to buy in the loan deal ? Because they want to have full control over the player's position coming the end of this loan.
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el3mel said:
Kovacic statue as a player is completely different from Ronaldo's one. Ronaldo can do what he want. He has been mind controlling Madrid pretty much every season with rumors of him leaving. Kovacic is just a player around here. If they want to keep him as a bench warmer because they rate him and don't want to lose him, give me one thing that will prevent that. If they don't rate him and want to sell him, they'll do like they did with Morate.

Why didn't they agree with Chelsea on an option to buy in the loan deal ? Because they want to have full control over the player's position coming the end of this loan.
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If a player wants to leave he can leave. Its very simple. They can refuse to train, refuse to do anything, they have the millions to pay any fine. Clubs won\t keep a wantaway player seeing as Kova contract isn't a long term one. if the player refuses to train or be disruptive clubs prefer to sell than to keep
 
el3mel said:
Kovacic statue as a player is completely different from Ronaldo's one. Ronaldo can do what he want. He has been mind controlling Madrid pretty much every season with rumors of him leaving. Kovacic is just a player around here. If they want to keep him as a bench warmer because they rate him and don't want to lose him, give me one thing that will prevent that. If they don't rate him and want to sell him, they'll do like they did with Morate.

Why didn't they agree with Chelsea on an option to buy in the loan deal ? Because they want to have full control over the player's position coming the end of this loan.
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I was under the impression they wanted to keep Morata, but he asked for the move and they complied.
 
Kilmonger said:
Uhhh I can give you few things; Ceballos, Llorente, Modric, Kroos, Casemiro and now possibly Thiago. Also, Madrid 'not rating' a player doesn't mean anything. Makelele, Sneidjer and Robben weren't rated by Madrid either. Every club has examples of players they misjudged or just couldn't keep that went on to do well elsewhere. We're currently experiencing ours at Chelsea with Salah, De Bruyne and Lukaku. It's normal in football. You win some, you lose some.

Also, you don't know for sure that the option to buy wasn't agreed, especially since there were conflicting stories (Chelsea media vs Madrid media). For all we know, there could have been just a gentleman's agreement to sell next summer. From our perspective, buying Kepa meant that we wouldn't even have been able to buy Kovacic outright this summer anyway, so it had to be a loan.

I've never seen a loan player post a permanent goodbye on his social media to his parent club when he knew for sure he was coming back. It doesn't happen that way. There's no need to beat yourself up over it. You have the best midfield in the world and won 3 CLs in a row with them and you're about to add another top quality CM to it with youngsters waiting on the wings that have high potential too. Kovacic isn't irreplaceable to Madrid. Let it go.
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You didn't give any reason why Madrid will want to sell him. You gave reasons why he would want to leave, not the opposite actually, and I was talking from Madrid perspective not the player.

Whatever the situation is, you can't deny that without an option to buy, Madrid is under complete control of the player's future post the upcoming season.
 
el3mel said:
You didn't give any reason why Madrid will want to sell him. You gave reasons why he would want to leave, not the opposite actually, and I was talking from Madrid perspective not the player.

Whatever the situation is, you can't deny that without an option to buy, Madrid is under complete control of the player's future post the upcoming season.
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Well yes, but the whole point of this is that Kovacic's post strongly suggests that there is in fact an option to buy or at least a gentleman's agreement - players don't post farewells like that if they plan to return.
 
TheMagicFoolBus said:
Well yes, but the whole point of this is that Kovacic's post strongly suggests that there is in fact an option to buy or at least a gentleman's agreement - players don't post farewells like that if they plan to return.
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That was what I thought when I read it too, I think he's out next season.
 
Solid win. 3 points. Job done.

Even as chubby he is at the moment, Hazard looked gunning for the new season.
 
Very sloppy and disjointed first half and then it was like a switch was flipped at half-time and we looked a completely different side second half. In total control.

Under Conte, even against small and inferior sides like Huddersfield we would often surrender possession and get forced deep. Here we just stroked it and and completely dominated possession. They didn't really get a sniff in the second half.
 
Orc said:
Very sloppy and disjointed first half and then it was like a switch was flipped at half-time and we looked a completely different side second half. In total control.

Under Conte, even against small and inferior sides like Huddersfield we would often surrender possession and get forced deep. Here we just stroked it and and completely dominated possession. They didn't really get a sniff in the second half.
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Wasnt at our best first half but played well in patches. Second half dominant and moved the ball with ease could have had a few.

We are going to need to be patient to see sarri ball, but there was definatly glimpses today. Our style of football was already better than at any point last season.
 
2nd half improvement was confidence factor for me. We didn't win a pre season game in 90 minutes, players learning a new system and Hazard not starting. Going in 2 0 was a huge confidence boost.

We need Kovacic in the team for our system to work well imo. Barkley and RLC have a lot to learn.
 
Orc said:
Very sloppy and disjointed first half and then it was like a switch was flipped at half-time and we looked a completely different side second half. In total control.

Under Conte, even against small and inferior sides like Huddersfield we would often surrender possession and get forced deep. Here we just stroked it and and completely dominated possession. They didn't really get a sniff in the second half.
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Yeah, you completely killed them off with your ball retention in the 2nd half, that Pritchard fella was giving you problems surprised he was taken off.

I thought Rudiger was really good. I was arguing with a friend about Luiz saying this is the type of setup he can excel in, do Chelsea fans see Luiz as possibly a mainstay in your defense this season, he was pretty good today I thought.
 
Bergman said:
Yeah, you completely killed them off with your ball retention in the 2nd half, that Pritchard fella was giving you problems surprised he was taken off.

I thought Rudiger was really good. I was arguing with a friend about Luiz saying this is the type of setup he can excel in, do Chelsea fans see Luiz as possibly a mainstay in your defense this season, he was pretty good today I thought.
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I’ve got quite a lot of faith in Luiz fitting well into this system. Hopefully Christensen can get plenty of minutes too though, to help him break through. Rudiger is just class, and I have few doubts he’ll make that position at right CB his own.
 
duffer said:
It's a well trodden path, get binned off at Chelsea, take the step down to Man United. Jose, Matic, Mata. You'll be in for Bakayoko when Pogba fecks off to Spain in January.
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Terrible attempt at a WUM.
 
duffer said:
It's a well trodden path, get binned off at Chelsea, take the step down to Man United. Jose, Matic, Mata. You'll be in for Bakayoko when Pogba fecks off to Spain in January.
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When do you open your new stadium? You know, the one that got panned as you can't fill the famous Bridge.

At least John Terry got to play infront of a packed Villa Park before he finished.
 
Dumbstar said:
Chelsea are going to win the league again aren't they?
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Wait to see how the back 4 looks against anyone decent. Huddersfield refused to attack in many games last season and their front players are pretty medicore.

Will actually be an interesting match v Arsenal next week, Conte always seemed to struggle v the Gunners for some reason, think it was 1 win in 6.
 
If we can get Kovacic fit and in the team for Arsenal that will be a big, and Hazard starting obviously. Barkley and RLC not ready for this style of play.

We need to keep the ball so the back 4 aren't continually put under pressure. We're going to push up the pitch and can't afford cheap turnovers leading to counters.
 
Sarri having a good moan about the World Cup players coming back late. Much like Mourinho did.

I don't remember managers using that excuse after previous cup summers.
 
This Chelsea side reminds me so far (2 games of Pep's first season at us). There will be some great football, some hammerings dished out and the odd one or two received along with conceding goals that make you think "did our CB really do that." "Why can't we defend" etc.. but you'll end up doing well with a decent goals conceded stat. Next season you'll be much tighter and further along the road. Think you are going to be really entertaining at both ends of the pitch this season.

Gotta say a midfield 3 of Kovacic, Kante and Jorginho is probably as strong as our trio of KDB, Silva and Fernandinho. Probably more solid but not quite as creative.
 
Bergman said:
Yeah, you completely killed them off with your ball retention in the 2nd half, that Pritchard fella was giving you problems surprised he was taken off.

I thought Rudiger was really good. I was arguing with a friend about Luiz saying this is the type of setup he can excel in, do Chelsea fans see Luiz as possibly a mainstay in your defense this season, he was pretty good today I thought.
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Yeah thought Luiz did very well and was probably our best defender overall today (not saying much as it was Huddersfield, mind). His struggles in a back 4 have been overblown for a while, and his ability to retain possession and distribute will be huge assets in a Sarri system - it'll be tough for opponents to mark both Luiz and Jorginho out.

Overall an efficient performance I thought; very glad personally to see that the team didn't sit on its laurels after going 1-0 up as we would have done last year (especially considering Huddersfield hit the bar at 1-0; if this had been last year we'd have defended with 7 behind the ball for the rest of the match). The second goal was key as it took the wind totally out of Huddersfield's sails and they never looked like getting back into the match. Excited to see what Hazard can do in this system as well once he's 100% fit and on board, his cameo today was mouth-watering.
 
Postives: We won, players are looking better in the system more and more they are making the spaces making the passes and are moving within a structure.

Cons: We were poor first half and need to have more vertical passes and take a bit more risk with our passing and players need to be quicker with their passing.

All things considered, we had a good day, a good match and the players seem to be adapting well.
 
whatwha said:
Sarri having a good moan about the World Cup players coming back late. Much like Mourinho did.

I don't remember managers using that excuse after previous cup summers.
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Believe I read that this is the quickest turnaround yet. Plus, he's only been at the club for a few weeks. Every right to moan for me.
 
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