Matchday 5 - Chelsea vs. Arsenal

What the heck was Luiz thinking? What the heck was even the run for? He is going to cost us in the coming games. Very very foolish.

 

Luiz now out for the City game. Utterly idiotic.

 

An overall timid performance at home against a wounded Arsenal squad.

Stupid move from Luiz.
Morata looked really good. Just needs his chances.
Baka looks good.
Christensen looks good.
Pedro a spark.

 

Another note on Luiz - he was a monster in defense today and at times provided our only creativity going forward. Not good to miss the City match.

 

1. Lost track of the amount of times an Arsenal player blew past Cesc.
2. We saw again how much trouble Alonso has against pace.
3. Incredibly stupid from Luiz and of course it was red.
vs.
1. Hazard looks ready to be unleashed.
2. Baka looks great
3. Morata had some great holdup/linkup play early on.

 

Arsenal didn't have a single shot on goal in the second half.
parking in the bus?

I think overall we need better link up play between Morata and the attacking mids and wing backs behind him. He has more subtle qualities than Costa, but Costa could hold up the ball better. Morata needs greater support. Fabregas understands this, but he was slow in executing this today. Baka gave us more drive and energy in midfield. Not a disaster game - we just needed a little more from our match winning players

 

Alonso was burned early but he made the correct adjustments.

Would have been nice to see Zap in there at the end running against tired legs.

 

He's thinking he can make something happen. It didn't work out. If this was last year I'd say we're in big trouble. However, with Christensen on the roster I'm not worried.

I'm more concerned by our offense not seeming to be on the same page. A lot has to do with all the injuries and integration of Morata. But hopefully that will improve and we will make a move for more talent in January. Draxler, Di Maria and Sanchez (one of Cities wingers if Sanchez lands there).

 

That's Luiz. More often than not, he makes a play. He never backs down from a challenge and very often, he goes looking for it. He'll get burned every other year. He's still a master at it.

I would take Draxler, who still has add on value like Roman seems to favor. Di Maria at this point, I'd take him cut rate.

 

Yea Luiz really is great at making something out of nothing.

I think PSG will sell both at a cut rate. They need to generate cash and they have a lot of excess players.

 

Moses was and is rubbish.

 

The more I think about it, though, there's no way we're going to go after DiMaria. Just not our MO. And Draxler - I doubt that, too. Too much $.

 

Not true!

He was very solid defensively he does not get enough credit for this, it is not just my opinion many people at the ground were chanting his name.

I am often surprised there is a big difference in perception between watching the game live verses on TV, I guess it is all to do with the overall view you get at the ground against the story the producer wants to show on TV

 

DiMaria won't be targeted but I think he'd be a good addition and cheap. Draxler is closer inline to our boards MO and I think we can get him for cheaper as they need to generate funds. They were smart not selling right away but he shouldn't fetch more than 45... even in an inflated market. And at that price I can def see the board being ok with it. Just not sure Conte wants him.

 

Haven't been any rumors around him. His transfer to PSG was about 35m pounds, give or take. 45 is very cheap as he is only 23. I'm sure his wages are quite hefty, as well, since there's much other reason to go to PSG.

 

There's been rumors that PSG are looking to shed players/wages in prep for FFP. His name has been floated. As has Di Maria, pastore and lucas. While I imagine they'd rather keep him he's also one of their more movable assets.

 

I didn't get to see this unfortunately, however apparently Arse***** hit the post and had one chalked off, did they look the 'better' team? Or was it a case of missed opportunity for us? Manc biased papers here are already starting to 'gush' because the 'media darlings' are one and two (despite Utd having only played against sh*t so far).

 

Yes, rumors to shed players. But not to Chelsea specifically. We don't splash in the market often.

Cavani and Neymar are fighting? Good...good.

 

What would the current Chelsea team look like if Jose was still here? And....go.

 

I watched him make too many passes right to a player in red. He killed many a possession.