The Sarri Era - Chelsea 18/19

Another solid win. We're on a great run at the moment and we're looking good for top four.

Sarri also said that Moses and Drinks are not in his plans at all. Interesting he didn't mention Piazon. Either way, I expect all three to leave in Jan.

Last undefeated team in Europe's top five leagues

According to the daily mail we're set to sign Pulisic for 70m in Jan. While I am not sold on the rumour, I would love to get him in Jan, and apparently, he is keen on the PL and doesn't want to renew at Dortmund.

Lets make it happen

No way BVB sell in January. Daily Mail lmao. That's simply the obligatory BS rumour accompnying the England-USA game.

Also, I really hope we don't let Pulisic slip to the PL without a fight

Stoked to see Dave sign a new deal. Next has to be CHO and Hazard.

I hope Hazard signs it soon. The longer he postpones the more worried I become that he will pull a Courtois...

Pretty sure Hazard will join Madrid.

Sina wrote:I want to see Willian-Hazard-Pedro front 3 to be tried tbh
Could end being best possible front 3

Yep Yep

Sina wrote:

Sina wrote:I want to see Willian-Hazard-Pedro front 3 to be tried tbh
Could end being best possible front 3

Yep Yep

Not sure it will work against every team, but it worked yesterday!

Merry Xmas all hope we get a nice run going 2019!

I am happy with the Pulisic signing, a great player who will only get better.

It'll be fantastic if Hazard and CHO sign deals, though.

We still need a CF, though.

Cesc and Morata out, likely Higuain and Paredes in.

I am mostly ok with this. I guess we shall see how it ends up.

Was going to say Kramaric  should be your priority in the summer
but realized he will be 28 by the start of next season

Maxi Gomez+pacey wide forward

It seems very likely that the players will turn on Sarri. Just by seeing the carelessness and low effort shown in those last performances, and how Sarri openly criticized everyone repeated times now.

It's like a dejavu from the end of the Mou and Conte tenures. Yikes. Hopefully we go in a winstreak and win the final against City for a morale boost and influx of positive vibes in the club.

The club needs an overhaul from top to bottom.

We firstly need a shift in mentality from Price tag = appearances, and that youth need experience before they can play for us.

Secondly, we need a director of Football. I know some people have called for Emanelo, but I'm not sure he is the man for the job.

Third, we need to clear out the players with weak mentality and I even then we should bring back Terry in some capacity to help with our mentality issues.

Finally, we should settle on a philosophy and give the coach the benefit of time, neither Pep nor Klopp were great in their first season. They were often found out.

So we've been transfer banned for 2 windows, effective immediately. We have lodged our appeal which should allow us to make transfer in the coming window, before losing the following two.

This means that we have a monumental 6 months ahead of us. We are at a cross-road, do we sitck with Sarri or switch out. There is minimal point in changing while banned, so we've got a big decision to make there.

If we stay with Sarri, we need to make signings to make his football work. If we get rid of him, we need to ensure we get the right players for that system.

I hope this also means we begin to properly use our youth because at this point, what is the point in Zappacosta when we have Reece James, Ola Aina, and Dujon Sterling?

I also think it means Hazard and CHO are 100% gone. So we're going to need a winger or two in the summer.

And no to Higauin's loan, send him back.

Kick wrote:So we've been transfer banned for 2 windows, effective immediately. We have lodged our appeal which should allow us to make transfer in the coming window, before losing the following two.

So is the appeal just to gain some time for this summer or is there any chance it will get aaccepted? Damn we must be really dumb to get punished for it after already getting a transfer ban for the Kakuta fiasco years ago.

This means that we have a monumental 6 months ahead of us. We are at a cross-road, do we sitck with Sarri or switch out. There is minimal point in changing while banned, so we've got a big decision to make there.

Honestly I'm still undecided about Sarri. I wasn't a fan of his when we went in that huge unbeaten streak at the beginning of the season because we didn't really play that great, I didn't want him sacked after the 6-0 because I knew it was just a fluke result. Like, I have a feeling there's much more to his style and idea than what we've shown, that we haven't the right personnel for his style of football. But at the same time, he has been so stubborn, he has been making the same obvious mistakes all over again, we've fallen into the same trap again and again. Idk really.

If we stay with Sarri, we need to make signings to make his football work. If we get rid of him, we need to ensure we get the right players for that system.

Sounds obvious in theory, but then again we didn't fully back Conte after he won the title. We went on to spend 60M on Pulisic who I don't think was Sarri's choice. Idk with our board. I don't know what they'll do.

I hope this also means we begin to properly use our youth because at this point, what is the point in Zappacosta when we have Reece James, Ola Aina, and Dujon Sterling?

Reece James looks like the real deal. Maybe he isn't ready yet for us, but it's been so much apparent this season how much we need an attacking presence on the right flank. Azpi looks so clueless at times.

I also think it means Hazard and CHO are 100% gone. So we're going to need a winger or two in the summer.

Hazard looks gone yea. The way  Real has been collapsing this season, and the way we spent 60M on a player for the next season makes that so much obvious. Still have a slimmer of hope that he'll stay and we bought Pulisic due to offloading one of Willian or Pedro or both, but it's looking grim right now.
Selling Cho would be so much catastrophic. At this point it's more worth to us to risk losing him for free but have a season to convince him to stay rather than getting 30/35M for him this summer. He should be our star player for the next 10 years.

And no to Higauin's loan, send him back.

I feel like that depends on whether Sarri stays or not. I think he didn't make an impact right away because he arrived at a time where we had a internal collapse and our offensive play as a team is not that great. I still think he's a quality striker, better than Morata, and I think he'll have a strong finish to the season. He shouldn't be our long term striker but he can be useful next season too.

Fifa have really screwed us over and unless they change their stance. I understand why they are doing it but they fact that they didn't do the same thing for any previous teams is ridiculous.

As it stands, Chelsea are preparing to sell Hazard in the summer and have put everything else on hold.

Apparently loanees who could return are Zouma, Batshuayi, Bakayoko, Reece James, Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham, and Jake Clarke-Salter.

It will also mean the Kova and Higgy cannot sign with us, and they will likely be joined by Cahill, Drinkwater, Zappacosta, Hazard, and potentially CHO on the departures list.

I can see Zouma replacing Cahill, but the rest is worrying, Especially our attack. If both Hazard and CHO leaves, we'll only have Pedro, Willian and Pulisic, Who would be our fourth option? The only possible loanee option is Musonda but he has been injured all season. with our three striking options being Giroud, Bathuayi and Abraham, and I think we can see how that will go.

We need to qualify for the CL next season otherwise we are heading towards disaster. I'd also like to see us increase CHO's game time to keep him happy and around next season, that will make the world of difference if we persist with Sarri.


Is a managable lineup but lacks goals, especially if CHO and RLC don't deliver. The depth doesn't look great either:

Only Zouma is first team quality in that list. Bakayoko too, but he doesn't strike me as a Sarri midfielder, and Milan are likely to activate his release clause if they qualify for the CL. James, Mount, Abraham are good players but they're 1/2 years away from being Chelsea quality.

Our best bet for the CL is the EL. We dropped so many points in the 2nd round of the PL. And teams have figured us out.

CHO needs to start every game now let alone next season without Hazard. It's not even about keeping him happy, he's such an impactful player already and we're worse without him. Already one of my favourite players. Would hate losing him.

If we're unable to sign anyone, we won't have much choice on who and who isn't good enough.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5Z4RdjWsas

This video is worth a watch for two reasons, first, we play these guys on Thursday so it's interesting to see how they attack. Second, with all the attention on Jovic, I think (if we are able to) signing Haller in the summer could be a smart transfer up top.

It's gonna be hard without Rudiger. Hopefully Christensen plays this game and the rest of the season well and cements a place as a starter for next season.

Also first good test for Sarri in this EL. There's really not a huge gap in the two teams compared to the previous round. His job could very well depend on this tie.

Yeah Rudiger is a massive loss.

It will be a massive game, hopefully we get the win though.

If we're not going to persist with Sarri, I wonder if Erik ten Hag would be worth a punt? He has certainly got a lot out of his Ajax team and apparently Bayern are interested in him.

With or without a transfer ban, I think we'd have the players to work in his system:


LW depends on Hazard and CHO's future and our CF options depends on the transfer ban.

I think he has done enough to show he can make the jump to a big big club.

Top four secured

Great result.

So a Carabao cup final, EL final and top 4 finish.

Will it be enough to keep Sarri in a job?