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

jmaggio said:
I’ve said this before in this thread but I really think Chelsea will have another “Boom” season this time around. Sarri plays football which is suited to the league and I think the midfield 3 of Kovacic-Kante-Jorginho is the best in the league potentially.

I don’t mind because I have several Chelsea mates , and If clubs like Chelsea stay strong, it reduces the chances of the scouse winning.
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Who is going to score goals for them?

Hazard is a great player but doesnt score that much, William is not as good as Hazard but still a very good player but also doesnt score that much. Morata has been pretty bad for Chelsea and doesnt look like he is going to be their topscorer anytime soon.

That midfield also isnt going to provide a lot of goals i think... Chelsea could be good but i think they lack goals atm.
 
Stadjer said:
Who is going to score goals for them?

Hazard is a great player but doesnt score that much, William is not as good as Hazard but still a very good player but also doesnt score that much. Morata has been pretty bad for Chelsea and doesnt look like he is going to be their topscorer anytime soon.

That midfield also isnt going to provide a lot of goals i think... Chelsea could be good but i think they lack goals atm.
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Over the last 5 years, Hazard has had 14, 14, 4, 16, 12 goals. That's not bad for a winger, and now we're trying to become a more attack focused side (plus he seems to be growing even more as a player) its not unreasonable to think he could reach 20. Pedro is 7, 9, 4, but he's very much familiar with playing a similar style to Sarriball from his Barca time, so that could be 10-15. Similarly Willian has 5, 8, 6 so expecting around 10 goals from him doesn't seem outrageous.

If they can turn in those numbers, then that's 40-45 odd goals just from the wings.
 
Goals are worry this season. With Morata failing the attack lacks focus. Against Arsenal I wouldn't be surprised if he gets pulled on 60mins and Giroud comes on and scores the winner against his old club.

Hoping Hazard is fit enough to make an impact from the start or the bench. Think Pedro is looking dangerous and if Cech can do his old club a favour we should win this one. We should win it anyway but I think it could be high scoring as both sides have holes in their defense.

Just had a free ticket come my way.

COYB!
 
Looks like Kovacic will play a part tomorrow, good news. Fabregas out though, Hazard probably off the bench. Better to be patient, don't want him injured for months like de Bruyne. Morata starting not surprisingly, hopefully he'll get his confidence soon.

Should be a good game with both sides pretty attacking. Good test for us.
 
Chelsea are basically doing what I used to do in FM. Get talented kids on long contracts. Ship them out on loans where their wages are covered. Get some loan fee. Hope the value increases. If someone is good enough for the first team, then great.. if not, sell them for a profit.


Do it with 50 players every season.. Rake in the money.
 
Yup, the club are trying to make a profit these days. The only loanne who actually made the first team is Courtois, that I can think of. Some never got real chance like De Bruyne, most of them just arn't good enough and end up in the championship or European clubs.

There are several young players in the squad at the moment who hopefully might make it with us: Christensen, Ampadu, Hudson-Odoi, RLC, Abraham. They actually need to play first team games though, which is difficult with our massive squad. Or we might loan them as well, especially Abraham who I can't see playing much, he seems the kind of striker who could thrive in the Bundesliga if we can find a club there to loan him to.
 
Mb194dc said:
Yup, the club are trying to make a profit these days. The only loanne who actually made the first team is Courtois, that I can think of. Some never got real chance like De Bruyne, most of them just arn't good enough and end up in the championship or European clubs.

There are several young players in the squad at the moment who hopefully might make it with us: Christensen, Ampadu, Hudson-Odoi, RLC, Abraham. They actually need to play first team games though, which is difficult with our massive squad. Or we might loan them as well, especially Abraham who I can't see playing much, he seems the kind of striker who could thrive in the Bundesliga if we can find a club there to loan him to.
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A 23 man squad isn’t that massive, especially when you consider we have EL games this year. Agreed about Tammy, I think it’s probably too early for him to try and get into the squad for real.
 
Stadjer said:
Who is going to score goals for them?

Hazard is a great player but doesnt score that much, William is not as good as Hazard but still a very good player but also doesnt score that much. Morata has been pretty bad for Chelsea and doesnt look like he is going to be their topscorer anytime soon.

That midfield also isnt going to provide a lot of goals i think... Chelsea could be good but i think they lack goals atm.
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I agree that they lack a great centre forward (how the would have loved lukaku!) but the midfield 3 that you said lack goals, Kanté and Jorginho already scored in their opening game ...:lol: I personally think they will chip in where needed , but their lack of a quality CF won’t hinder their league position Hugely IMO.
 
Mb194dc said:
Yup, the club are trying to make a profit these days. The only loanne who actually made the first team is Courtois, that I can think of. Some never got real chance like De Bruyne, most of them just arn't good enough and end up in the championship or European clubs.

There are several young players in the squad at the moment who hopefully might make it with us: Christensen, Ampadu, Hudson-Odoi, RLC, Abraham. They actually need to play first team games though, which is difficult with our massive squad. Or we might loan them as well, especially Abraham who I can't see playing much, he seems the kind of striker who could thrive in the Bundesliga if we can find a club there to loan him to.
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I'd say Christensen has broken through properly at thus stage.
 
jmaggio said:
I agree that they lack a great centre forward (how the would have loved lukaku!) but the midfield 3 that you said lack goals, Kanté and Jorginho already scored in their opening game ...:lol: I personally think they will chip in where needed , but their lack of a quality CF won’t hinder their league position Hugely IMO.
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Kante scored 7 goals in his career and Jorginho 12. Luke Shaw also scored in the opening game but i dont really expect him to become topscorer this season..
 
Stadjer said:
Kante scored 7 goals in his career and Jorginho 12. Luke Shaw also scored in the opening game but i dont really expect him to become topscorer this season..
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‘United lacking goals? Feckin’ Luke Shaw averaging one per match, mate. Not been paying attention?’
 
I've got 27 players in the first team squad?

Granted we only have 3 CF including Abraham. Barkley, Fabregas, Hazard and others could play there as well if we really needed. I can't see Cesc fitting in to our midfield against any half decent side as he doesn't have the legs. It might actually make sense to play him as a false 9, or with Kante, and 1 of Kovacic/Jorginho covering a lot of ground defensively, not sure what else we can do with him.

Christensen has played quite a bit, he's still developing though and only 22. He made some mistakes last year, can definitely improve and go on to be a great player. He shouldn't be first choice though, not ready.
 
Stadjer said:
Kante scored 7 goals in his career and Jorginho 12. Luke Shaw also scored in the opening game but i dont really expect him to become topscorer this season..
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They’ll chip in with a good 10-13 goals this season between them, and countless more assists. You have also under valued hazard a bit. As far as I remember he averages around 15? And that has been under 2 pretty pragmatic coaches in Conte and José, they will attack with much more freedom under Sari and it wouldn’t be beyond the realm of possibility for him to push for 20+. Also Pedro and Willian will get decent numbers.
 
Mb194dc said:
Yup, the club are trying to make a profit these days. The only loanne who actually made the first team is Courtois, that I can think of. Some never got real chance like De Bruyne, most of them just arn't good enough and end up in the championship or European clubs.

There are several young players in the squad at the moment who hopefully might make it with us: Christensen, Ampadu, Hudson-Odoi, RLC, Abraham. They actually need to play first team games though, which is difficult with our massive squad. Or we might loan them as well, especially Abraham who I can't see playing much, he seems the kind of striker who could thrive in the Bundesliga if we can find a club there to loan him to.
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This is what I don't get. Why sign Barkley and Drinkwater when you have RLC? There are other examples too.

Just seems like really poor management from the top down.
 
I think two reasons, first is they're homegrown and we don't have enough. (Christensen is though which is good, only realised that today.)

Second they were cheap, especially Barkley, was only £20m odd. We won't lose money on them, actually fitting them in the team is a secondary consideration. Roman happy to watch good football, (hence Sarri) and make a profit imo. We've actually won things as well though which is a bonus. Roman has been a good owner and don't think many fans will be complaining.
 
Yeah no way this lot are struggling for goals this season. If anything, I think with how high up their FBs play, their problem will be getting found out verses the Cities/Liverpools and maybe us.

Edit : as just happened against Arsenal , Willian and Alonso letting players play easy passes. They attack well but their defence looks a bit braindead
 
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David Luiz in a back 4.....:lol:

Sarri will probably scrap it even earlier than Conte did.
 
Almost as bad as Arsenal defensively. Like Napoli in the Champions League.
 
If they win the league where do we see Sarri managing in 2 years time?
 
We don't have balance, too gung ho. Kante was at CF at one point. Full backs getting exposed, constant cut backs. Midfielders and wide forwards need to tuck in and defend. Kovacic on for Barkley please.

We're going to ge very entertaining this season, we won't win anything without balance though.
 
We're getting some signs of what the first eleven will be. That's two games in a row that Willian has been substituted instead of Pedro, and although Barkley wasn't bad today you'd have to imagine Kovacic start in midfield if fully fit. They'll have to sort out who defends the penalty spot when an opposing winger gets to the byline as we could've had five goals scored against us from identical situations in the first half. There's been some questions regarding where the goals will come from this season. Looking at the squad I don't really see a 20+ goal player, but we've scored six goals in two games so obviously something is working.
 
We will struggle against the top teams who have the quality to punish us which is what we expected. But with this new system where we boss possession and control the tempo should see us dominate most of the smaller sides. I hope so, anyways.

We totally controlled Arsenal in that 2nd half. Having two CM's who are excellent on the ball in Jorginho + Kovacic makes such a massive difference compared to Chelsea sides of that past few years.
 
Think they will be pretty good, but this system needs time. They went from counter-attacking to something fully opposite, so they will be suspicious at the back for the large parts of the season imo.
Jorginho - Kante - Kovacic looked much better in the second half and Hazard is absolutely crucial for them to hold with that attacking line. The only question is how much time will Roman give to Sarri as I think they will have some great games and some surprisingly shocking ones which will leave them in the battle for top 4 and not much more. Next season, though, they might become a proper team and maybe challenge.
 
It makes sense for him to play Kante ahead of Jorginho. Kante has bigger lungs and can get round the pitch but the problem is Jorginho doesn't seem defensively aware.
 
Adisa said:
It makes sense for him to play Kante ahead of Jorginho. Kante has bigger lungs and can get round the pitch but the problem is Jorginho doesn't seem defensively aware.
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It's in the instances where the ball turns over very quickly that Jorginho gets caught out because he's basically alone in the middle. It's something we have to work on for sure.
 
Adisa said:
It makes sense for him to play Kante ahead of Jorginho. Kante has bigger lungs and can get round the pitch but the problem is Jorginho doesn't seem defensively aware.
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Yeah but what happens when Kante finds himself in advanced position with the ball ? He doesn't seem natural there with his decision making.
 
We're a work in progress. Jorginho has to get used to the Premier League, the defence has to get use to not always having Kante so deep and the whole team needs to get used to "Sarri-ball" instead of "Conte-ball".

Seems like it will be fun at least but I do expect us to concede a fair whack of goals.
 
Lost their way for about twenty minutes in the first half, although Arsenal should have been leading at half time. Mostly controlled the second half.
 
Their defense is not shit.

A. Need to take out Luiz if they play 4 at the back
B. Arsenal do have a good attack
C. Kante needs to get back to being a DMF

They'll be fine I think
 
kouroux said:
Yeah but what happens when Kante finds himself in advanced position with the ball ? He doesn't seem natural there with his decision making.
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Thought he did well in that regard today. In fact, he nearly scored once and could've tested Cech another. He's very intelligent in his forward running.

What I think will happen as we get further into the season is we'll see Kante stay a bit further back to help Jorginho defensively while Kovacic/Barkley/RLC will be the midfielder to go forward more.
 
Dirty Schwein said:
Their defense is not shit.

A. Need to take out Luiz if they play 4 at the back
B. Arsenal do have a good attack
C. Kante needs to get back to being a DMF

They'll be fine I think
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No chance of that happening under Sarri. I love Kante to bits but he can't do what Sarri wants from the player in that position.
 
They were very lucky in that 1st half.

Though they were in control the 2nd half.
 
Kovacic hazard link up at the end was awesome

Not at full strengh today but in patches you can see how much theyve learnt already.
 
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