We draw Man Utd at home in the 5th round of the cup. I think there are more Championship clubs left than Premier League ones at this point! https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/47021610 Full draw: Bristol City v Shrewsbury Town or Wolverhampton Wanderers AFC Wimbledon v Millwall Doncaster Rovers v Crystal Palace Middlesbrough or Newport County v Manchester City Chelsea v Manchester United Swansea v Barnet or Brentford Portsmouth or Queens Park Rangers v Watford Brighton & Hove Albion or West Bromwich Albion or Derby County
I have just watched Sarri's press conference and boy am I depressed. He is not interested in changing the system because it is not working!! He wants to see it work and then he will change it. He berates the team for running with the ball because they are used to counter attack . He is trying his best to piss off Eden. However I feel that he is pissing off a lot of support
Luke Shaw pulled out of the England squad and CHO has been called in. RLC also pulled out over injury concerns. Again.
I feel the rest of his career will be on eggshells at this rate. It's too bad because he's really starting to blossom.
A dude as big as RLC is probably going to have some fitness issues for the entirety of his career.* Especially with his style of running at people. *: speaking from experience. Thank goodness for yoga.
Lots of talk of a sale again. Sir Jim Ratcliffe who is the richest man in the UK is interested but the price of £2.5b might scare him off. I'm thinking the idea of Abramovich selling the club may end up being the right move. Ratcliffe has another football club who is struggling in the second division in Switzerland but he purchased the Team Sky cycling team and is funding that on his own. I'm grateful for Roman, but in today's climate and his general lack of willingness to listen to outside/inside council maybe it's best. The Times are reporting this (Matt Dickinson).
I don't dislike Sarri. I think it could still work, but his penchant for starting the same ********ing tired Alonso and Barkley, and Kovacic when their form has been poor to say the least is just pathetic. RLC has shown to be our best midfielder going forward and his link up play is better than anyone in midfield. Why not utilize that right away in a match when we are generally terrible? How many 0-0's have we had at half?
1. Who will replace Sarri? In other words, who does the club see as someone who can improve upon Sarri? Any ideas here? 2. I feel like they would have done it already. Russians don't take a dump without a plan. 3. Chelsea repeatedly say the club is not for sale. But everything is for sale.
I think they'll try for a big name but IMO that's a mistake. Not many out there to be honest. Steve Holland might be a good interim manager. As for annactual replacement. Nuno Espirito might be the best of the bunch.
Let's say we keep our current form of possession with no goals and end up 5th or 6th in the league while losing to Napoli 2-1 in the Europa finals ? Does Sarri lose his job ? For some reason, I am starting to think that they have decided to go with him next season. I'm not sure if the ban being lifted for the summer helps or hurts his chances tbh
Pulisic is asking if he can be included in the summer ban. LOL, he's not. But the US will be playing him as the #10 in their upcoming friendlies against Chile and Ecuador. Back on topic, I think Sarri is here next season no matter what and is given players this summer if the ban is delayed/shortened.
5th place and no trophies = failure of a season. If he stays and with no Hazard, I can't see us doing better next season.
I will be ok with that. He has his faults but not everything is on him. Hopefully he will learn quickly.
Herein lies the problem. If we can replace him with a good player or 2 or 3 then maybe we can be fine. We are far too reliant on him as things stand. We go when he goes. No one else can take a game on like he can in our squad. I'd argue right now RLC is our most effective player offensively after Hazard and he's a sub. When we had Costa and Hazard they both could do it. Then there was always the brilliance of a Fabergas pass that could break a team down. Our most effective pass right now comes from a Luiz ball over the top. We just don't have much quality across the board. Our fullbacks are too slow for this system. We don't have any real goal scorer. Our midfield is unbalanced. Our other wingers blow hot and cold by the minute. Say what you want about CHO not being great but at least he takes his chances and actually runs at defenders rather than everyone else just passing backwards and sideways (sideward).
Failure was finishing 2nd the year after winning the double and playing great football to boot. But then The issue, as it has been for years, is that whenever we win a trophy we don't build up/revamp. Or making incredibly ludicrous purchases (Hi Fernando, hello Sheva!) What's always worked was having a team of guys who've won trophies and mix of young hungry players. Our 04-05 team had Paulo and Carvalho, guys who won the CL a year prior. And a manager who knew what it took. Remember when we managed to finally beat Liverpool in the CL (That insane 4-4 game aside)? It was guys like Ivanovic who had something to prove as he scored a brace to help us get through. Outside of RLC and CHO (who is also leaning towards leaving), we don't have anybody who wants to win. We're facing a transfer ban when we needed to rebuild after Conte's first season. Dave is getting older, Hazard is on the wrong side of 25, Giroud, Pedro, and Willian are in their 30s, Barkley has been subpar, Kovacic I like but also subpar, and Jorginho is up and down. Pulisic is a step in the right direction but it's not enough.
That Liverpool game lives in my mind forever. That fire and drive makes up for quality. If we're able to get players with that hunger again, I'm ok with losing Hazard
During the summer, we will lose Hazard, CHO and Giroud. Assuming the transfer ban stays, we will only get Pulisic and the return of loanees. Given Sarri's predictability and his distrust of youth, this is how we will probably line up next season: Kepa Dave, Luiz, Rudiger, Alonso Kante, Jorginho, Barkley Pedro, Willian, Pulisic (one of these three in a false nine position) That would be an even weaker team than now, while other teams improve. Can't see how we will challenge for fourth next season.
I would distrust youth, too, since youth has never won dick. I understand the love affair with Terry, but there were no "old days" where we won with youth players. Terry is an exception, not the norm.