Chelsea thread 2018/19

[Vialli98]

Have to say I really enjoy your comments on Bluemoon, sensible and erudite.

Cheers pal :)

Bluemoon is a very welcoming place to be. I enjoy chatting with you City fans, especially now given we're going the same process City fans went through 2 years ago, so I appreciate the insight I can gather on this forum.

 

[Vialli98]

The second clip illustrates just how important Hazard is when it comes to penetrating the opponent.

 

[CityInWashingtonState]

Kudos to Chelsea for their first 2 games. 6 points is impressive.

I'm still not at all sold that this squad is a top-4 side though. For me it's still:

City
Liverpool
Spurs
Gunners

In that order.

But the "Fake Blues" are performing better than I expected - and Arsenal worse. So maybe the Fakes take one of the top 4 spots.

 

[dave_blue12]

Been impressed with Chelsea and they are only going to get better.

Everyone is bigging up Liverpool as our biggest challengers but it would not surprise me if Chelsea finish above them.

 

[CityInWashingtonState]

Been impressed with Chelsea and they are only going to get better.

Everyone is bigging up Liverpool as our biggest challengers but it would not surprise me if Chelsea finish above them.

I've not been impressed at all by Chelsea. They've won their first 2 games in non-convincing fashion.

Chelsea might finish top 4 this year under Sarri with a complete change of system and personnel that don't fit. I'm still skeptical of this though.

 

[dave_blue12]

I've not been impressed at all by Chelsea. They've won their first 2 games in non-convincing fashion.

Chelsea might finish top 4 this year under Sarri with a complete change of system and personnel that don't fit. I'm still skeptical of this though.

Okay let's see how it pans out. I think Sarri is a better coach than Klopp but time is not on his side.

 

[Thaksins Love Child]

Kudos to Chelsea for their first 2 games. 6 points is impressive.

I'm still not at all sold that this squad is a top-4 side though. For me it's still:

City
Liverpool
Spurs
Gunners

In that order.

But the "Fake Blues" are performing better than I expected - and Arsenal worse. So maybe the Fakes take one of the top 4 spots.

You think Arsenal will be anywhere near top 4?

 

[M18CTID]

The second clip illustrates just how important Hazard is when it comes to penetrating the opponent.

Fantastic move that. It's going to be interesting seeing what Chelsea's ceiling will be this season under Sarri. The obvious benchmark is Guardiola's first season with us where we finished 3rd but as others have said, the players seem to be learning quickly so you could do better than that. There will be occasions along the way where you may wonder if the players have completely forgotten that Sarri is now the manager and the style of play doesn't have the Sarri stamp on it as it's nigh on impossible for him to come in and have you playing the way he wants every game from the off. We had a few games like that in Pep's first season where we weren't on it and those performances reminded me of the apathy that crept in during the latter stages of Pellegrini's reign. But given time, I feel Sarri will be a success. I'm just surprised it's taken this long for Abramovich to go for a manager who plays such an exciting brand of football. That's not a dig at the jobs Mourinho, Ancelotti, and Conte have done at Chelsea but they advocated playing a more pragmatic style of football which seems out of kilter to what Abramovich wants.

 

[Vialli98]

I've not been impressed at all by Chelsea. They've won their first 2 games in non-convincing fashion.

Chelsea might finish top 4 this year under Sarri with a complete change of system and personnel that don't fit. I'm still skeptical of this though.

It was never going to be convincing considering - and this point has been made quite a lot - it's a huge transitional period.

That said, the last 20 mins in the first half aside, I thought Chelsea looked extremely convincing against Arsenal.

 

[Vialli98]

Fantastic move that. It's going to be interesting seeing what Chelsea's ceiling will be this season under Sarri. The obvious benchmark is Guardiola's first season with us where we finished 3rd but as others have said, the players seem to be learning quickly so you could do better than that. There will be occasions along the way where you may wonder if the players have completely forgotten that Sarri is now the manager and the style of play doesn't have the Sarri stamp on it as it's nigh on impossible for him to come in and have you playing the way he wants every game from the off. We had a few games like that in Pep's first season where we weren't on it and those performances reminded me of the apathy that crept in during the latter stages of Pellegrini's reign. But given time, I feel Sarri will be a success. I'm just surprised it's taken this long for Abramovich to go for a manager who plays such an exciting brand of football. That's not a dig at the jobs Mourinho, Ancelotti, and Conte have done at Chelsea but they advocated playing a more pragmatic style of football which seems out of kilter to what Abramovich wants.

That is why I'm delighted that we are picking up points while the team adjusts to the new system. We are witnessing the struggles already, but the two teams we have faced so far have not been good enough to exploit our weaknesses enough. I imagine the team will be better equipped by the time we face Liverpool in about 5 weeks - but obviously if we play against them the way we did vs Arsenal we would looking at a pretty horrible defeat. I think we should be more than good enough a CL spot, based on these early performances.