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Chelsea 2018-2019: Sarri, not sorry


RichUT

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The Bakayoko AC Milan relationship might have hit a snag, granted I don't think Gattuso is going to be their coach next season.

edit:

Nvm, he appears to have been quite an issue as of late.

Bakayoko is a moron, Milan wanted to buy him but he's f*cked that up with the Acerbi incident and lying about the reason he was late for training. Ruined his opportunity

Edited by MoJames
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Tier 1 apparently

According to Josep Pedrerol (El Chinguirito TV) Real Madrid will buy Chelsea's Eden Hazard for €130m. And according to Kristof Terreur they might present him after the Champions League final to distract attention from a potential UCL trophy win of Barca.

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7 hours ago, MoJames said:

they might present him after the Champions League final to distract attention from a potential UCL trophy win of Barca.

Guess now they can present him whenever they want.

I'm gonna miss that magical little dude. 

 

Edited by TexArcher
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1 hour ago, Longhornfan1024 said:

I guess it's a good thing with the transfer ban, but I hope we're able to relegate him to backup so that we can eliminate his stupid errors that consistently lead directly to goals.

Well we will see as CB is one position we have in spades on the Loan Army.

Luiz, Rudiger, Christensen, Ampadu, Zouma, Tomori

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Mixed emotions. I’m happy to be back in the UCL, but not excited about year 2 under Sarri. The gulf between the top 2 and our squad is enormous, and I have little faith that the combination of Sarri and our board is capable of closing the gap.

Under normal circumstances, this offseason would be critical in terms of addressing the holes in our roster. With the transfer ban and Hazard’s departure looming, it feels like we’re in for a depressing few months of watching our competition get stronger while we stand by.

Good times.

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3 minutes ago, MoJames said:

I think CHO or RLC would get first dibs.

Correct me if I'm wrong, there's a chance a player might not take it because of the associated pressure, correct? 

Or is it so sought after that you wouldn't think twice if offered. 

(sorry if a stupid question - not super well versed in traditions such as this)

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1 minute ago, ztejas said:

Correct me if I'm wrong, there's a chance a player might not take it because of the associated pressure, correct? 

Or is it so sought after that you wouldn't think twice if offered. 

(sorry if a stupid question - not super well versed in traditions such as this)

With Chelsea the only number that has that type of superstition is 9.

https://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/2019/1/23/18194046/gonzalo-higuain-latest-brave-soul-to-take-on-cursed-chelsea-shirt-number

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14 minutes ago, MoJames said:

Thoughts and prayers for Higuain. So there haven't been enough legends to wear #10 that it's a huge pair of boots to fill, where as it might be at some other club.

I'm guessing Willian, RLC and Pulisic will wear some permutation of #20, #22 and #10

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Just now, ztejas said:

Thoughts and prayers for Higuain. So there haven't been enough legends to wear #10 that it's a huge pair of boots to fill, where as it might be at some other club.

I'm guessing Willian, RLC and Pulisic will wear some permutation of #20, #22 and #10

Hazard has set the bar really high, and past that some good but not great players. Juan Mata was before Hazard, Joe Cole had it for a while and Mark Hughes. Honestly, I don't know if CHO wants it, but he was number 11 for the England squad suggesting he isn't attached to the number 20.

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11 minutes ago, MoJames said:

Hazard has set the bar really high, and past that some good but not great players. Juan Mata was before Hazard, Joe Cole had it for a while and Mark Hughes. Honestly, I don't know if CHO wants it, but he was number 11 for the England squad suggesting he isn't attached to the number 20.

Yeah meant CHO not RLC. I bet he takes 10, Willian 20 and they let Puli keep his 22. 

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From Reddit

Goalkeepers

Nathan Baxter- The now 20 year old played a total of 38 games for Yeovil town this season conceding over 60 goals. Despite this though the youngster has set two records this season, firstly whist in goal his team didn't concede in 9 hours and 33 minutes setting a club record as well as becoming the only current teen to make over 100 senior appearances in english football.

Jamal Blackman- Jamal joined Leeds for the season to help them with their current lack of keepers but unfortunately broke his Tibia in an under 23 game and was sent back to Cobham, ending his loan deal there, leaving Leeds with only 1 senior goalkeeper.

Eduardo- The old Portuguese player went to our partner club Vitesse this season where he has played 27 league games, his contract runs out this summer with Chelsea and it doesn't appear as though he will be given an extension

Defenders

Reece James- Reece has had one of the most promising loans this season going to Wigan in the Championship. Over 45 games he solidified his position at right back and even progressed into a deep-lying midfield role. He won Wigan's player of the year and got into the Championship team of the season. As thanks he was given the captains armband for the final game of the season (which they won). Expect to see him in the pre season squad at least.

Baba Rahman- Baba has had fitness issues this season due to injuries at Schalke. In the end the loan was terminated and in January he wen't on a 6 month loan to Reims in France where he is starting to pick up match fitness making 10 appearances since January.

Trevor Chalobah- Similarly to Baxter, Chalobahs loan to Ipswich ended in relegation after his team came 24th in the Championship only keeping 3 clean sheets over 46 games.

Dujon Sterling- Despite being given his debut in the EFL cup last season by Conte, Dujon was sent on loan to Coventry. His side was newly promoted to the third tier in English football and helping with 38 league appearances his club finished a respectable eighth, with Sterling starting all but 9 games in their long league season.

Clarke-Salter- Despite having made a senior appearance in 2016 Clarke-Salter hasn't been anywhere near the first team since. He has made 27 league appearance for Vitesse and doesn't look like he'll make it to the first team any more.

Todd Kane- now 25 and on his 8th loan Kane is as far from the first team as it gets. Having made 39 appearances for Hull, hopefully he'll find somewhere to settle permanently soon.

Matt Miazga- The young US international spent the first half of the season on loan at Nantes. After making only 8 appearances he returned to Chelsea under "mutual consent". He then went on loan to Reading for the rest of the season where a few solid performances helped to secure championship football for the club for another season.

Fikayo Tomori- The young Englishman (born in Canada) has made the second most appearances for Frank Lampard's Derby. The ball playing centre back who helped the Rams to a playoff spot also received their player of the year award. Hopefully he'll be in the squad next season or playing premier league football at least.

Kurt Zouma- After recovering from his ACL injury at Stoke for a year, Zouma has spent the season at Everton where he's been part of a solid back line. With him in the back line his side kept clean sheets against United, Arsenal and Liverpool. With the injury issues in defence this season Zouma could make his return to Chelsea next season.

Ola Aina- After signing a 3 year deal with Chelsea, Aina went out on loan to Torino in Italy. Under the tactical management of Mazzarri, Aina played as a right back, right wing back, left back and left midfield. Torino have just missed out on European football, but it looks as though they plan on making Aina's deal permanent at around £9 million.

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Midfielders
Lewis Baker- Once it seemed as though he would break into the first team, Lewis spent the first half of the season on loan at Leeds. It took until November for him to make a start for Bielsa, and he ended up leaving the loan short in January with only 14 appearances, mostly from the bench and only 1 assist. He spent the second half of the season at Reading where he started most of their games making 19 appearances and getting a goal and an assist for the side that didn’t escape relegation by much. He won Readings POTM for April finishing the season in good form.

Mason Mount- The attacking minded midfielder followed up a successful end to the season with Vitesse, with a loan move to Lampard’s Derby. Mount made 35 appearances in Lampard’s pressing side playing a left midfield role, where his Lampard style runs into the box and range of passing helped him to achieve 8 goals and 5 assists in the league. Whilst injured his side picked up 10 points out of 27. When he returned for the last 9 games of the season his side won 18 of 27 points showing how vital his role in the side is.

Mario Pašalić- Pašalić spent the year playing for Atalanta in mostly a holding and box-to-box role. His creative numbers have been fair creating over one key pass per game. He has outperformed his expected assists of 1.5 getting 4 in a role that saw him sitting deep and providing balance on defence and attack.

Tiémoué Bakayoko- The Frenchman has spent the year at AC Milan under the fiery management of Gattuso. He took his form (or lack of it) from his Chelsea days into his new role and it looked as though the loan would be terminated within the first few months. However, a turn in form made the CDM vital to the side despite not having the best relationship with Gattuso. Bakayoko played almost every game in the back half of the season, winning 4 man of the matches, averaging 86% pass completion and making over 2 tackles per game. It remains to be seen whether Sarri thinks he can fit his system.

Wingers
Kenedy- At Rafa’s Newcastle Kenedy was mostly a rotation player making almost half of his appearances from the bench. The Brazilian only got a goal and an assist in a season where he failed to show ability as an impact player late on in games, on average he was dispossessed 1.6 times per game and had 1.7 bad controls per game. Overall he played only 300 minutes more this season despite being involved in 12 more games showing his drop in game time under the Spaniard.

Charly Musonda- The Belgian winger who had previously been compared to a young Neymar with his locker of tricks to beat defenders moved to Celtic last January but lack of minutes lead to him being called back by May. This season Charly was sent to Vitesse after missing out on our premier league squad. A knee injury (his third of this sort since October 2018) caused him to be side-lined for a total of 234 days and only played 15 minutes of senior football.

Christian Pulisic- The young American returned to Dortmund after signing over Christmas. Being used as a rotation and impact player this season he has 7 goals and 5 assists in a season where Dortmund have pushed Bayern to the wire. Christian is versatile and can play on either wing. This season his game time has mostly been dropped due to the form of Sancho and Reus rather than a drop in form of his own.

Forwards
Tammy Abraham- Abraham has again shown how successful he can be in the Championship, scoring 26 goals and getting 3 assists to help get Villa to a playoff place. Always in the right place and good finishing have helped him average a goal every 125 minutes. With Villa offering us £25 million and an £18 million by Wolves in the winter, Chelsea need to decide if he’ll be helping us next season if he can make the step up to the Prem again.

Michy Batshuayi- The Belgian started the season at Valencia but he wasn’t a prominent force in front of goal only netting once in 500 minutes in the league. By January the loan was cut short and Batshuayi moved on to Palace where he improved netting 5 times in 11 games. With an expected goals per 90 of 0.43 he was much improved and formed a good partnership with Zaha upfront. Statistically speaking it looks as though his time with Valcenica was an anomaly with all his stats crashing down, but found his feet with the Eagles.

Alvaro Morata- After 16 games at Chelsea the Spaniard had 5 goals. After moving to Athleti, Morata’s form practically mirrors this with identical xG per 90 (0.61). It was thought as though this form would be enough for the Spanish side to buy Morata for ~£50 million but over the past few days it looks as though the loan may be terminated over the summer. With this form, if he had stayed at Chelsea he would have got around 11 league goals which is the same strike rate as Higuain this season.

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(David Ornstein) Chelsea interested in Cavani, Asensio, Zaha and Coutinho.

Brief recap for those that don't want to click into the link:

Ornstein has stated CAS don't plan to review our case until July

Ornstein has said we are in desperate need of a striker, Cavani is a target in that regard

Giroud's contract extension clause will be triggered should the ban stay, we may also bring back Tammy/Michy

Coutinho's agent is Kia Joorbiachan, which is an agent we've done many deals with before.

Zaha is seen as a Hazard replacement

-----

This guy is Tier 1, but none of this sounds good.

Edited by MoJames
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Tier 2 Chelsea have today made contact with Frank Lampard and they're also monitoring Nuno Espirto if Sarri leave Chelsea at the end of this season [Alfredo Pedulla]

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We had warned: Sarri's words ( "Resto qui ") were a trap simply because his future is open to any solution. And we had told how a farewell to Chelsea should be put on a budget for so many reasons: blocking the market, relations at the minimum with ownership, tabloids against without the slightest defense. And with some Italian correspondents stationed in London who got on the wagon of the winners after spending all kinds of criticism. Today also "La Gazzetta dello Sport" reiterated the concrete possibility of a farewell, confirming what we had said in recent days, after having taken the confirmation for granted. The situation remains fluid, however, just like the Italian solutions ( Milan, Rome ) can materialize later. Meanwhile, Chelsea has studied and deepened the profile of Espirito Santo, who did very well with Wolverhampton, but has another two years of contract. And there have been contacts with Frank Lampard , today at Derby County, a flag of the Blues that would have given availability regardless of the vicissitudes related to the blockade on the market. But first we need clarity on Sarri and we still have to wait, not just for the contract expiring in about two years.

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(Matt Law) Chelsea to decide on Maurizio Sarri's future after Europa League final

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Chelsea will leave a decision on Maurizio Sarri’s future as head coach until after the Europa League final against Arsenal.

Despite Sarri still fearing he could be sacked after just one season in charge, in which he has secured Champions League qualification, Chelsea are yet to settle on a definitive course of action.

Winning a trophy and beating a London rival could certainly help Sarri’s bid to start a second season at Stamford Bridge, but he has not been offered any assurances.

Italian reports claimed on Wednesday that Sarri is a ‘dead man walking’ regardless of the result against Arsenal in Baku on May 29, but that is not thought to be the case.

There is interest in him from his native Italy, particularly from Roma who have already been turned down by former Chelsea coach Antonio Conte.

Sarri has publically claimed he ideally wants to stay at Chelsea and in England. His position has improved over the past fortnight, during which Chelsea qualified for next season’s Champions League and finished above Tottenham Hotspur in third place in the Premier League.

But concern remains over the disconnect between Sarri and a section of the match-going supporters, who chanted for him to be sacked and abused his style of football earlier in the season.

The bad feeling towards the Italian has calmed since the victory over Cardiff City, but Sarri did not join the Chelsea players on their annual lap of appreciation at the end of the final home game or go over and clap the travelling support at Leicester City.

A victory over Arsenal could not only secure silverware and ease some of the disappointment over Chelsea’s results against their rivals in the League, but also please some of the discontented supporters.

Defeat, however, could also put Sarri back into a difficult position, when owner Roman Abramovich comes to make a decision over his future.

Abramovich would not have been impressed by Sarri’s criticism of the timing of Chelsea’s post-season trip to the United States for a charity match ahead of the Europa League final.

It is understood that Abramovich was due to be at Chelsea’s ‘Final Whistle on Hate’ match against The New England Revolution in Boston in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Sarri was on the brink of being sacked twice this season, with England assistant Steve Holland lined up as an interim manager, but results and performances improved at the right time.

There is also the potential significance of a transfer ban for Abramovich to consider when deciding on Sarri’s fate. Chelsea are still fighting the two-window punishment from Fifa with the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

But whether or not CAS freeze their ban, allowing Chelsea to sign players this summer, while the case is put together and considered could have an impact on Sarri.

Sources believe that Sarri’s position would be strengthened if Chelsea were banned from signing players this summer, with the theory being that the Blues may be more likely to consider a change if they can make signings this year ahead of a future ban.

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Less Depressing news...

Higuain is unlikely to be retained (unlikely to extend loan)

CHO looks like he will sign a new contract

Kante should be back for the Europa League final

 

 

BUT GOD DAMN WHY ARE WE PLAYING AN UNNECESSARY GAME ON A SHIT FIELD IN THE USA IN MAY...

Edited by MoJames
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Is Sarri a Jew?
The only thing dumber than scheduling this match now was playing anyone significant in it.  Send the U-21s, for god's sake.
 
I'm pretty sure Sarri said he was obviously for the cause but was against playing the game due to the timing. This one is on Roman.
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So apparently we are throwing around the idea of not asking for a freeze on the ban and just serving it as it is felt unlikely that we will have any decrease in the ban length. There is some thought that we go Pulisic and have enough depth with the young guys that we will be in a decent spot next season and there aren't any targets right now that we would likely get if we did get a freeze on the ban.

 

 

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