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Wouldn’t be a problem if he was 30 yards further back.

To be fair Sarri is to live or die by that particular decision so I’m not going to criticise him for it too much even if to me and most people on earth who like football it seems wrong - he’s going balls out. And most Chelsea manager in the end just retreat into themselves.

Kante is not 300k a week box to box midfielder though so the decision in the end has to be whether to start Kante.

I dunno we’ll see. Chelsea were horrific against Spurs whereas they’ve looked good for a while.

Spurs probably won’t win for a month now anyway now they’ve shot their load.

That's what I said. Chelsea most likely threw money at him to keep PSG away.

For specifically the role in Sarri's system. I wonder if Rabiot would possibly be better than Kante. Because we may as well let PSG have him if Chelsea are going to go all-in on Sarri's idealism.

We'll see how the team recovers though. It was a disaster against Spurs but minor shifts could alleviate many issues.

Dropping Willian and Luiz for a start would probably do us justice. Those two are fair weather af.

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I hate to post 3x back to back but....

Liverpool, what the absolute fuhk? They are about to be Chelsea's biggest threat in Europa.

[Sparked_26]

That's what I said. Chelsea most likely threw money at him to keep PSG away.

For specifically the role in Sarri's system. I wonder if Rabiot would possibly be better than Kante. Because we may as well let PSG have him if Chelsea are going to go all-in on Sarri's idealism.

We'll see how the team recovers though. It was a disaster against Spurs but minor shifts could alleviate many issues.

Dropping Willian and Luiz for a start would probably do us justice. Those two are fair weather af.

You were bang on. A box to box man who will score 3 goals a year?

I can see why Luiz plays out of what we have but Willian has been doing my head in for about 18 months now. He’s a nice enough player but he hasn’t actually got a good work rate which he is inexplicably credited for and he just doesn’t do enough in the final third, never has and never will. Hindsight is 20:20 but Willian has seen off KDB and Salah tbh, lol.

He gives Azpi zero protection.

Willian only really comes to the fore when Chelsea are terrible. He’ll have a great spell around January and February like always and that will keep him at the club. He’s also great in broken play. The Sarri/Pep/Possession based style is based on the play never being broken.

Really I would have sold Willian in the summer and went for someone a bit more mercurial. Willian does not protect the full back. That’s a massive misnomer. He doesn’t work that hard. I would have had a punt on Wilf - 100%.

You notice these guys when you see games live more than anything. On the tele it is different because the camera follows the ball. So Willian will lose a ball and press hard to get it back. What he won’t do is track a runner every time.

Willian and Alexis Sanchez have red light work rate. It’s not proper. How did Sanchez get
On under Pep?

So really you can replace hi. I’d replace him with Pedro now. That’s a massive head scratcher for me more than even the Kante position.

Maybe Fenomeno can tell us but I’m sure the Napoli right winger the little
Spaniard Callejon? Whose whole job was to make out to in runs and try and get in behind. Pedro’s whole game really. Pedro is probably slightly passed his best but surely that is Sarri’s Guy? Not an elite Futsal player.

Willian should have been sold a few years ago. Maybe as many as 3 seasons ago.

[Sparked_26]

The age old question is what Jorginho is coming up on though.

Can he play in England?

We know his style of play, we know what he is good at, we know he is integral to Sarri's football philosophy.

However, if you can get marked out of the game and cant recover because the speed of the league. Then your abilities really dont matter. You are just a luxury at that point.

Even Ozil came up on the questions of if he can play on England. He came to answer those questions very well but never the less even a world class #10 nearlt failed in England if not for him adapting his game.

Jorgi is coming up on the time to answer those questions. The big issue with it is that he wont be afforded 1 year to do so like Ozil. He will have to answer immediately because once Sarri gets sacked. He is going to have to show that he can be more versatile than a recycler of possession in a niche system.

With Pep, im certain he could get away with it because Pep will do things to cover his liabilities but say Mancini... Jorgi, in my opinion would have been up schit's creek at City if he cant adapt his game.

Fenomeno doesn’t tend to question players once he has made his mind up. Even the form is always temporary. And players have to be left out and brought back in.

Jorginho is a proper metronome but already something needs to be changed now because if he gets boxed in - he and Chelsea
Can’t do a thing. But he makes up only 33% of our midfield.

I’ve always maintained that he is very, very niche. He’s gonna need to drop further and further back.

He is at the same time a premium signing. That has nothing to do with how he even performs. He was just a first choice manager pick and he was signed whilst in direct competition with a team who are better than us. So it is a coup regardless.

I dunno. I think the Kovacic and Barkley position is an issue too. Kovacic simply doesn’t have a goal in him so I can’t see how he can start. Ahead of Barkley or even RLC.

And he was another that looked very good to start with.

Even then Chelsea’s midfield is still better than it’s been for 3
Seasons,lol.

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Willian should have been sold for his dissent and unprofessionalism alone. He even said on a Brazil sports show that he would leave Chelsea for United if Conte stayed. He tried to play it off but the intent was there. He's Aaron Lennon with Adebayor's attitude. Should have been sold.

Luiz is just reverting to type. I dont see the point in his long ball play if the style is to play out of the back. Christensen isnt a finished product but he can at least be moulded to play in Sarri's style. Whereas Luiz is always going to be that guy who gets megged and scored on by Falcao 3x.

The midfield is a weird bit because there is a possibility that we play better without the best midfielder we have.

Weird but a midfield 3 of Barkley, Kovacic and Jorginho probably do better than any combination with Kante not as the holding mid. Because the ball will always move faster than the man and all 3 play the ball better than Kante. Even Barkley (when he isnt imitating Henderson).

As long as Pedro is playing wing over Willian though. I have to add that because Sarri's system requires pressure from the front 3 and Pedro always pressures from the front while Willian cant be arse. Even in practice, he cant be arsed.

[Phenom]

You would think Chelsea are fighting relegation reading this thread smh

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Can say that about any club really.

How does RJJ put it?

"Desperately need a lb because a midfielder is hurt and cant play lb because a 40m pound left back is injured." -Cityzens

[Outworn]

[El Fenomeno]

If Milan beat PSV, we need to beat barca at the camp nou to go through on GD

It's head-to-head, they've got Inter beat on head-to-head so if they both finish on the same points GD doesn't come into it and Spurs would go through.

You were bang on. A box to box man who will score 3 goals a year?

I can see why Luiz plays out of what we have but Willian has been doing my head in for about 18 months now. He’s a nice enough player but he hasn’t actually got a good work rate which he is inexplicably credited for and he just doesn’t do enough in the final third, never has and never will. Hindsight is 20:20 but Willian has seen off KDB and Salah tbh, lol.

He gives Azpi zero protection.

Willian only really comes to the fore when Chelsea are terrible. He’ll have a great spell around January and February like always and that will keep him at the club. He’s also great in broken play. The Sarri/Pep/Possession based style is based on the play never being broken.

Really I would have sold Willian in the summer and went for someone a bit more mercurial. Willian does not protect the full back. That’s a massive misnomer. He doesn’t work that hard. I would have had a punt on Wilf - 100%.

You notice these guys when you see games live more than anything. On the tele it is different because the camera follows the ball. So Willian will lose a ball and press hard to get it back. What he won’t do is track a runner every time.

Willian and Alexis Sanchez have red light work rate. It’s not proper. How did Sanchez get
On under Pep?

So really you can replace hi. I’d replace him with Pedro now. That’s a massive head scratcher for me more than even the Kante position.

Maybe Fenomeno can tell us but I’m sure the Napoli right winger the little
Spaniard Callejon? Whose whole job was to make out to in runs and try and get in behind. Pedro’s whole game really. Pedro is probably slightly passed his best but surely that is Sarri’s Guy? Not an elite Futsal player.

Willian should have been sold a few years ago. Maybe as many as 3 seasons ago.

Callejon was the main 'worker' of the front 3 in Sarri's system, yeah.

To be honest I'm not sure Kante is really Sarri's type of player, it's square pegs in round holes at the moment. I am an advocate of giving players time to adapt to a system though so we'll see how he is in another 3 months time. Sorry to use another Napoli example but in purely footballing terms I think he'd love to swap Kante with Allan from Napoli to play in the 8. Obviously that isn't feasible.

Wouldn't be surprised to see you go for Allan in the summer though.

Can say that about any club really.

How does RJJ put it?

"Desperately need a lb because a midfielder is hurt and cant play lb because a 40m pound left back is injured." -Cityzens

Need a DM because a 50m left back is injured and Delph has to play there again, get it right.

[MOTHERDUCKER]

This thread has really gone to ****

No respect for United's heroic 1-0 injury time win over Young boys in this thread?

Instead lots of talk about a Europa side