Jump to content

Chelsea 2017-2018


Nick.O

Recommended Posts

On 5/6/2018 at 11:32 AM, MoJames said:

Bakayoko didn't play half bad.

Oh ee oh, Tiemoue Bakayoko!

Quote

Yesterday, however, Bakayoko showed none of those negative qualities. In a game that saw Chelsea make fewer than half as many passes as the visitors (354 to 763), his successful pass rate of 86% was not only the second best in the team (excluding the late substitute Pedro) but was also vital when transitioning from defense to attack, making the most tackles on the team (tied with Fabregas) and the fourth most interceptions.

 

 

Also if you guys didn't see it, Giroud not only scored the goal, he ran over to celebrate with Geezer.  Really fantastic signing.

 

 

 

Nice to get some positives lately after such a run of negativity out of CFC.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/6/2018 at 5:05 PM, RichUT said:

Conte has done a solid job keeping the team in it. Would have been easy to pack it in after the home loss to Spurs.

We should totally sack him. emoji849.png

After today's decision, I am past Conte.  He went into a game with all the momentum in the world needing 3 wins to end the season in a fashion that one could argue he should stay.

He sits out Hazard 60 minutes of the game and we get a draw essentially removing us from the Champions League. If Barcelona or Real needed 2 wins to finish a La Liga season to try to secure a Champions League spot, you are damn well certain they will be playing 100% of those games.  He has done this throughout the year, pulling Hazard out of games so that he would have the legs to end the season, and what do we do, we sit far and away our best player.

Good bye Conte.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I won’t argue that dropping 2 points to Huddersfield with UCL qualification in the balance is acceptable. That said, changing managers every 2 years is a vicious cycle that we need to break if we ever want any level of consistency.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm feeling the yellow for sure.  3rd is interesting, but we usually need those ~5 times per year.  I would never buy a 3rd shirt for myself because they always end up looking pretty bad.  The black and orange is the only recent exception.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So you think he forgot how to manage in under a year? Seems unlikely. Some of it has to fall at the feet of the players as well.

Of course, most of this is the board’s fault for fucking around during the window last summer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And goal zone nailed it on the head, Conte wants to be fired.

First our board shits the bed in the summer, now our manager has just stepped away from his responsibilities.

At least we dont have any world class players needing to sign contracts.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, RichUT said:

Conte is a quality manager and we’d be smart to give him time and the financial backing to build his vision. Odds are good that we will do neither, but I’d love to be proven wrong.

I'm not optimistic

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Quote

According to Gianluca Di Marzio, the preliminary stages of the said talks were held today and the likely outcome? A new bumper deal for Sarri, with a reported annual wage of €4.4 million after taxes being discussed. While more follow-up talks are scheduled for tomorrow, there is, apparently, a resounding optimism from De Laurentiis’ camp that the manager will stay on in Naples and spurn advances from other clubs.

Looks like Sarri is staying.

 

https://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/chelsea-fc-transfer-rumours-news/2018/5/16/17361826/sarri-set-to-stay-at-napoli-after-positive-contract-talks-report

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Happy for Conte, but based on what is flowing out from players it appears there is quite a rift with him and some of the players.  I still can't believe Willian sent out that photo.  Who knows what happens from now, Sarri is staying one second, ours the next and now might be heading to Zenit. We still haven't signed either Hazard or Tbo.

 

I think I'll go purchase the latest FIFA and just fix this myself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Quote

Maurizio Sarri has moved to try to position himself at the front of the queue to replace Antonio Conte at Chelsea as Aurelio De Laurentiis appeared to confirm his departure from Napoli.

Chelsea have been deliberating over a number of potential candidates, including Luis Enrique, but Napoli manager Sarri is pushing hard to land the job ahead of the Spaniard.

Telegraph Sport can reveal he has employed an English-based intermediary to try to convince the Stamford Bridge club he is the right candidate to succeed head coach Conte, who is expected to be sacked.

And there are other moves behind the scenes aimed at making a Chelsea move for Sarri as smooth as possible.

Carlo Ancelotti has agreed to take over at Napoli, whose president De Laurentiis fuelled the belief Sarri is on his way out with a message posted on Twitter that read: “I'd like to thank Maurizio Sarri for his valuable contribution to the Napoli cause. He brought joy and prestige to Naples and Napoli fans all over the world with an entertaining brand of football that drew praise from all quarters. Well done, Maurizio.”

Sources in Italy claim that talks have taken place aimed at convincing Napoli to allow Sarri, whose contract contained a £7m release clause, join Chelsea for free if they let David Luiz to move in the opposite direction.

Luiz fell out of favour under Conte and also suffered recurring knee injury problems this season. He has one year remaining on his contract and, aged 31, is yet to hold talks over an extension.

Finding a buyer for Luiz may well be attractive to Chelsea, who paid £34m to re-sign the Brazilian from Paris Saint-Germain in 2016. His value has dropped significantly over recent months and there are major concerns over his ability to play regularly in the future.

There are also suggestions that Willian would support the appointment of Sarri, who is viewed as an attacking coach.

Willian is another player who has grown unhappy under Conte and the winger is expected to ask to leave Chelsea if the former Juventus manager remains in his post.

But, despite interest from Manchester United, Willian would be prepared to stay at Stamford Bridge if Sarri came in.

Sarri, who speaks English, has not won any major trophies in his managerial career and has been involved in a number of controversial incidents.

In 2016, he was accused of being a homophobe by Roberto Mancini, who was in charge of Inter Milan at the time, and subsequently fined 20,000 Euros. And, this season, he had to apologise for sexist comments made to a female reporter.

Chelsea would no doubt want guarantees over the behaviour of Sarri, who is a chain smoker, before making any sort of firm offer to him.

Former Barcelona manager Enrique would be a far safer appointment, but the Spaniard will need to lower his wage demands.

Enrique had been the overwhelming favourite to succeed Conte, but Chelsea started to look elsewhere after finding out the 48-year-old would want to earn over £10m-a-year.

Conte has been left in the dark over his Chelsea future since winning the FA Cup on Saturday and returned to Italy for Andrea Pirlo’s tribute match.

As revealed by Telegraph Sport, he will consider taking a break from management if he is sacked and that could be expensive for Chelsea, who face a potential compensation bill of £9m.

Conte has seen the Italian national post go to Mancini and PSG appointed Thomas Tuchel, which means he could wait for another big European job to become available before jumping back into management.

Other than Sarri and Enrique, Chelsea had been interested in Mauricio Pochettino but the Argentine is expected to sign a new Tottenham Hotspur contract after holding positive talks with chairman Daniel Levy.

Words.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here is a good post from reddit on Sarri.  Word is meeting with Conte tomorrow in a last ditch attempt to resolve issues.

 

Quote

SarriBall

Sarri’s philosophy revolves around keeping possession whilst also ensuring that the ball circulation is quick and precise. The idea is to play out from the back, with the centre halves required to being comfortable with the ball, and able to play them ball into midfield despite being under pressure. This part of the philosophy is also coached by Conte, and won’t be require a huge learning curve for the likes of Rudiger, Christensen, Luiz and even Ampadu.

Triangles are very prominent within Sarri’s sides. Every single player on the pitch is comfortable on the ball and is able to pass the ball with either foot and this allows the team to adopt a quick passing sequence that often results in a chance being created. As soon as the ball crosses over into the oppositions half, the movement of the midfield three and the attacking trio changes as the striker and the left winger will often come short to link up with the midfielder.

How we would play with the current crop of players we have (no inclusion of potential signings):

On the left side of the pitch there is a special relationship between the left back (Ghoulam), the left central midfielder (Hamsik) and the left winger (Insigne). The LCM for us in this system would have to be Loftus-Cheek. The LCM is usually the player that the back four plays out and gives the ball to, the first player to receive the ball in the middle of the park. This is the transitional midfielder, who moves the ball forward and often gives it to the left winger, who comes short to collect the ball. The left winger for us being Eden Hazard, then can free up space for the left back who can exploit the space with his attacking ability. The left back for us would have to be Emerson over Alonso, purely since he has the pace and defending ability to play so high up without getting caught out. The LB either cuts inside to take a shot/makes a cross, or the ball back to the LCM to continue attacking play. The rotation between the LCM and LW is so constant that the opposition does not know who to mark.

While on the right side on the pitch, it’s a completely different rhythm. This is the workhorse side of the team, consisting of the right central midfielder (Allan), the right winger (Callejon), and the right back (Hysaj). The RW for us would be Willian, and the is as he is pivotal the system as he’s on the move for 90 minutes, making runs into spaces, dragging the markers into the box, so the right back or the right central midfielder can move into the space that is left. The RCM for us would be of course Kante. He is constantly running all game, and has to be a box to box player, helping out in both defence and attack. While the right back, in this case for us it has to be Zappacosta, has to be a modern-day fullback. He must excel both in defence and attack, running through the channels and space created by the right winger to create chances.

These two triangles that are operating on a different side offer two different outlets and styles but they are just as effective and important as each other. At the heart of the team is the regista (Jorginho). For us this role would be played by Fabregas. He will be tasked with orchestrating play. He collects the ball in a deep position and looks to move the ball forward to potentially create a chance. In this system, like Jorginho at Napoli, Fabregas will be spoilt for choice because of the movement of the players in front of him. The regista must have an excellent range of passing which enables him to either pick out one of the wingers with a long pass, moving slightly forward to find one of his other midfielders or looking to put a player through on goal with a precise through ball.

In Sarri's system though, the left back is very attacking while the right back is quite defensive in actuality, and forms a back 3 with the two centre backs, and the left back joins the attack. Azpi slots in the Hysaj role very nicely.

What does this style of football mean for us?

From a selfish perspective it simply makes watching our team more entertaining. Though, the main question is why it matters to Marina, the new DoF, Guy Lawrence and co. It simply makes us a much more attractive destination, the type of football we play will attract so much more transfer targets, we won’t just have to rely on our track record of winning big trophies or the history of the club to attract targets. Before we didn’t have to worry about stuff like this due to our wage offers, but those days are gone. Furthermore, his Barcelona-lite type of football he would bring to Chelsea could potentially reignite the passion in Roman to fully back a manager once more and to build something special.

Also often there's talk on this sub-reddit that we have weak mentality players. Often this talk has come under Mourinho 2nd stint and Conte. These types of managers rely on huge amount of motivation, you willing to die for them on the pitch or off it, and playing heavily defensively oriented football for you to get results. However, once results aren’t going perfect after a few seasons, a lot of the attacking players find they’re not enjoying the gruelling football and aren’t getting results either. KDB, Salah, Lukaku in the past were accused of weak mentality with Mourinho, and now Pogba and Martial at United.

Youth?

There’s a belief that Sarri is ‘not a fan’ of youth and not the best thing for our youth academy, and the future direction at the club. Napoli’s youth academy is very poor in comparison to ours, Napoli’s Primavera hasn’t reached Italy’s playoff-style finals since 2012/13, when they lost in the first round to Chievo. At Empoli he had a very good youth track record, but it could be argued it was at a club with lack of pressure. Still, in his two seasons in Serie B – reaching the promotion playoff final, then winning automatic promotion – at least 10 players 22 or under played significant roles.

Even at Napoli, he has brought through Zielinski (a player he developed at Napoli), Marko Rog and Diawara.

Transfer demands

His lack of refuge in the transfer market is a huge advantage: He’s always been a manager who’s respected the boundary between the coach and the board. More than that, he’s always preferred to work with the players he’s given and isn’t a fan of seeking support from the board. He said this after asked if he’ll be asking for reinforcements considering how poor Koulibaly has been:

“The transfer market is for people who don’t want to talk about football,” he snapped when asked if defensive reinforcements would arrive, preferring instead to work with the players already at his disposal. “It’s something that bad coaches seek refuge in.”

After losing 4-2 to Pep’s Man. City side he said:

“I think this match will boost our conviction and confidence that we can compete with top teams. This is another step forward because we now know that we can dominate great sides like Manchester City”

How our squad would look without signings or youth

First XI

Hazard – Morata – Willian

RLC – Fabregas – Kante

Emerson – Rudiger – Christensen – Azpi

Courtois

Second XI

Kenedy – Giroud – Pedro

Drinkwater – Barkley – Bakayoko

Alonso – Luiz – Ampadu – Moses

Caballero

As you can see the gaps here for a quality squad is we’re missing a right back, left central midfielder, a right winger and potentially a new regista.

How our squad could potentially look after a proactive summer transfer window

First XI

Hazard – Morata – Bailey

Thiago – Jorginho – Kante

Emerson – Rudiger – Christensen – Azpi

Courtois

Second XI

CHO – Giroud – Pedro

RLC – Fabregas – Bakayoko

Alonso – Luiz – Ampadu – Moses

Caballero

Read more/my inspiration for analysis write-up:

https://thesefootballtimes.co/2018/03/22/why-maurizio-sarri-represents-chelseas-best-option-in-replacing-antonio-conte/

http://breakingthelines.com/tactical-preview/the-sarri-effect/

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, MoJames said:

Here is a good post from reddit on Sarri.  Word is meeting with Conte tomorrow in a last ditch attempt to resolve issues.

 

 

That is utter fucking tripe. Sarri doesn't rotate, is hyper rigid, and hasn't won shit. Conte actually does rotate, is very flexible and wins all the time.

 

The fact we are trying to can him is face melting stupid. There is one problem. That problem is our players suck. Period.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...