He also knows the league, the travel, the history, the club. Don't get me wrong, he's fine. Just that fans are quick to throw their heroes into the manager's chair. Interesting to see how Gerrard and Lampard do this year.
Agreed on the last part. I feel the same. I am also really interested in seeing how Lamps does as he is extremely smart and hard-working.
Regarding Zola's management history, it's only fair to point out the clubs he was managing weren't maybe conducive to his maybe slightly diffident management style? Just a thought
I'm sure many of you have seen this graphic comparing Conte's last season to Sarri's current. It's very interesting.
Somewhat I guess. Conte was his own worst enemy. If he had kept a bit quieter and didn’t have a falling out with a few players, he’d still be manager. Just had to go full emo over the summer
Wasn’t sure where to put this but thought it was interesting (albeit not new)... “With Eden, one thing I can say is that outside of the pitch, if I was a coach, I would never give him the armband,’ Fabregas says of his team-mate. ‘He is very quiet, he doesn’t talk or get involved in many things. ‘But on the pitch, I could give him the armband. He is a leader: he always wants the ball, he always wants to make things happen. Yes, sometimes it doesn’t come off, this is the Premier League, a tough league, but he always tries. For every team he plays for, Belgium or Chelsea, he is a very important player.’ ‘I understand what Cesc is saying,’ Hazard responds when we put Fabregas’s point to him. ‘I think exactly the same. Now I am the captain of Belgium, but for me it was strange because I know off the pitch I am not a leader. When I am on the pitch, in a different way to John Terry or Vincent Kompany for Belgium, for sure I am a leader.” https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2...ri--zola-and-taking-responsibility-for-chelse
Funny: Simeone re-ups his contract with Atletico. Valverde re-ups with Barca. Other clubs might doing the same soon to fend off interest (or collect a bigger check) once Chelsea come knocking. Funnier: The links with Zidane. The link itself isn't what's funny (it's entirely plausible), but the other info travelling with it: -Hazard must re-sign (maybe) -200m war chest (LOLOL) -Say in all signings (LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL....)
[QUOTE="Brock Hannsen, ]Funny: Simeone re-ups his contract with Atletico. Valverde re-ups with Barca. Other clubs might doing the same soon to fend off interest (or collect a bigger check) once Chelsea come knocking. Funnier: The links with Zidane. The link itself isn't what's funny (it's entirely plausible), but the other info travelling with it: -Hazard must re-sign (maybe) agree on that one or he would want a similar talent, what top manager would not insist on same -200m war chest (LOLOL) - ??? thats basically 2 or 3 top players these days that will impact a big club with League and CL Silver in mind, and we need at least 2 or 3 more to maintain/have again those ambitions, what top of elite managers would not insist on same -Say in all signings (LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL....) you think Klopp, Pep don't have a say in all near all First team signings?, , what top manager would not insist on near same at this point here now; our biggest personal issues have come about and our present woe in part is because The Club, Em, Marina, Roman have given managers little input on First-team in's an outs starting with Jose the Sequel minus an indulgence or two, Matic return, (did Conti get any ?) Jorginho, heck if Sarri had got Higuin in summer as he wanted, the system of Jorginho in back mf role, lateral passing records, would not be better but we might be looking better for 4th and Sarri could have lingered for 1 more Sarri year. If we had properly backed Conti in summer year 2, who was right about our player shortcomings, we might all be happy now. We are a sarri mess, hard to LOL (not to infer I believe a word of tabloid nonsense but blind squirrel acorns and all that...
Sarri looking a big, unfortunate mistake. Alvaro turning out to be trash was seriously unlucky, I’ll give him/the club that much. We’ve had a shallow squad since 2011. The last time we had a decently rotated team was under Carlo and have been paying for our lack of activity in the 2011 transfer window (as well as poor decisions a la Torres and letting certain players walk) ever since. The reason guys like Benitez could come in and do decently was they didn’t try to complicate things with limited options. Sarri has come in and done the complete opposite with zero room for flexibility and it is for that reason I’d be fine with saying goodbye to him. It’s clear we need some more investment. If not major, then some seriously astute signings need to be made to cover us properly at fullback. Overall, I think this starting 11 makes top 4 with relative ease given a simple approach to our play. If the board tries to get another manager that has a marquee style of play and doesn’t plan on spending half a billion like City, we’re doomed to seeing this cycle repeat itself. It’s a ********ing drag to observe.
On Morata, I don't blame the board on that one so much I thought he would turn out good, though not my first choice. What a quick decline in confidence, passion, desire, drive and fight. All the talent still needs an iron character underneath.
No doubt. He has the talent and physical ability to be a world class ST but just doesn’t have the mental strength. I forget who said it and it was a different sport but still applies... game is 10% physical and 90% mental.
Just read (yes, on ESPN, but not sourcing The Sun this time) that this is a crucial week for Sarri’s future at Chelsea. Have to believe a loss to Malmo would mean a four game slide with City and Spurs coming up. That could be all she wrote. Worried that a win at Malmo and a reasonable loss to City will just be status quo and prolong the inevitable (now that I’ve come over to the firesarri.com camp). If Zidane was really an option (even with CL off the table), I could survive til summer. You have to think Zidane ups the chances of Hazzard staying.
So let's take a look at our upcoming fixtures and realistic results. 2/21 v. Malmo (home): I think we'll win this 1-0 or 2-0 2/24 v. City (League Cup final): We will lose this by at least 2 goals. Maybe 10. 2/27 v. Spurs (home): We'll lose this by at least a goal 3/3 v. Fulham (away): I think we'll win this one 1-0. 3/10 v. Wolves (home): I think we could lose this by 1 goal So where in there does Sarri get the Sack? I figure after we lose the League final to City, the club will want the benefit of a new manager bump against Spurs to reinvigorate our League campaign and try to push to the finals of Europa. But who will take hold of this rudderless ship in a short term situation?
Wow when was the last time you could walk up and get a ticket v tots https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2019/2/20/tottenham-returns-on-sale why just give up on the Cup, let Zola have a shot In the last 3 seasons with Kante playing in his proper place Kante has a miracle 5000-1 League title, back to back League Title with another team who did not make Europa the year before, an FA Cup and a World Cup; just pick the first person you see out the window walking out of Fulham Broadway and appoint him, her, kid, service dog and they will know enough to move Kante back and significantly improve our chances in th next 3 crucial matches
Days later, I still keep thinking about nicephorus' post about the wasted money on average midfielders. Let's take Bakayoko out of it. He was highly sought after and we thought it was a major coup in getting him He took forever to adjust and lost the trust of Conte. He is re-finding himself but from recent quotes, he has no desire to come back here, though a change in managers might fix that. Drinkwater: 38m euros Barkley: 17m euros Now, maybe they are targeted because they were English. But I feel we could have creatively worked around that rule another way. That's a lot of money to fulfill a stupid rule. That's 60m euros (52m pounds). What one fantastic player could we have purchased for that? The mind races. I understand that players also need to want to come to our club, but think about it. (Also, Jorginho cost us about 52m pounds alone.)
What about Kovacic? By all reports, he wants to stay. Do we want him? I haven't been able to identify any attributes that would put him above an average MLS midfielder. And I'm being honest. Is it the system? Or him?
This is the manager thread? Someone just suggested Wenger to be our next manager. Wasn't expecting that.
He’s a good squad player to have but i wouldn’t look at him as a starter and wouldn’t pay that much for him. We don’t need squad players right now we need game changers.
Mostly everyone is looking like a waste of space right now so I'll cut him some slack. Don't disagree though.
Maybe but I don’t think so. He’s a good player and does a lot things well. However, he isn’t great at any one thing. He’s far from a waste of space. Drinkwater, Cahill, Moses... their a waste of space right now for any side with aspirations to be a top side. Kovacic has been a squad player it top sides both club and international. We hoped he just needed a platform to take the next step. We were wrong. He’s still a good player but just not the level we need in our 11 day in day out.
personally i think Kovacic would be much better in a different system, and actually i think he's very good now. but i think we also need someone more offensive minded in that position, when we need a goal and to break teams down he's not the answer. but say we played a 4-2-3-1, then kante and kovacic would be a very good double pivot for example. but i think he's good for controlling games and possession. just, i don't think anyone knows what they are doing right now. all that being said, i like RLC the most of our midfield options (outside of kante....he's kante). i'm just worried that RLC's back isn't going to let him become the player he could be, or he'll just end up with a very solid career at midtable side. if he could stay healthy, i think he'd already be pushing for the starting position in that left side of the midfield three.