Football: Sarri state of affairs

[Jordan La Cabra]

58 minutes ago, ljkeane said:

There’s an article in the Times today saying Abramovich is putting Chelsea up for sale. The club have apparently denied it but it wouldn’t be too much of a surprise with him pulling out of funding the new stadium after his visa issues.

I'm one of few that actually think this would be good for the club. Obviously what Abramovich has done for the club is unbelievable. The money he has spent has turned us from a skint football club that were a decent cup side, who might finish in the Champions League or Uefa Cup (as it was known back then) spots into one of the most successful teams in the country since his arrival. I know we have won 15 major trophies in 15 years. Not sure how Man United compare in that time.

The problem for me is that we are falling behind clubs like Manchester City in terms of how we are run. They are, in my opinion, the model football club in England. They have a clear idea of what they want to be, a clear board, with members that have roles that are suited to them. Mainly, they have football people working in football roles.

We did have that, when Michael Emelano was our technical director. Yes, he wasn't a big name player in his day, but he had enough experience with working in football to earn that role. He got a lot of flack from Chelsea fans for some of the bizarre signings we made, but no credit for the excellent ones or the work he did with our academy. Despite not as many players graduating to our first team as he would have liked, the results show we quite clearly have the most successful academy in the country.

Since he quit, it seems Marina Gravoskia has assumed many of his roles, as he hasn't been replaced. We appear to have no clear scouting department - it's like they come up with names on the spot. And we throw massive amounts of money on players at the last minute, rather than getting our business done early. We have no clear footballing philosophy; Chelsea have complained about dull football but continued to appoint pragmatist managers. 

Many football fans seem to hope that without Abramovich, we'd go back to what we were before. What we were before was a team that had just finished 4th to qualify for our second Champions League campaign, and in the 6 years prior to Abramovich's takeover had won two FA cups, one League cup, one Cup Winner's Cup and one Super Cup. Certain teams wouldn't mind a record like that.

Abramovich is certainly no Mike Ashley, and he has been a brilliant owner, but if he were to decide to sell up, I'd see it as an opportunity for a new owner with renewed ambition. 

We are now a global club, with a great commercial appeal and many sponsors and partners from all over the world, which are things we didn't have 15 years ago. I doubt we'd struggle to find imvestors wanting to buy our club, as some other clubs in the league have. 

Apparently Man City's owner's cousin failed with a 2 billion pounds takeover bid for Liverpool. There are investors out there, clearly.  

[Consigliere]

1 hour ago, Jordan La Cabra said:

<snip>

Yeah, I don't think it would be the worst thing if Abramovich sold up. Chelsea would certainly not go back to the level they were in the 90's. Just like City would not go back to the dark days if Sheikh Mansour sold up. Both clubs have established themselves now and are fully self sufficient. 

The only issue I see with Abramovich selling is the £1.17 billion loan that is owed to him. That loan currently sits on the books of parent company Fordstam rather than Chelsea. The ideal scenario would be new owners paying a big enough price for Chelsea that covers the valuation of the club + loan owed. Alternatively, you could end up with the new owners dumping the repayment of that loan on Chelsea's books similar to what the Glazers did to United with their leveraged buyout. 

[Jordan La Cabra]

47 minutes ago, Consigliere said:

The only issue I see with Abramovich selling is the £1.17 billion loan that is owed to him. That loan currently sits on the books of parent company Fordstam rather than Chelsea. The ideal scenario would be new owners paying a big enough price for Chelsea that covers the valuation of the club + loan owed. Alternatively, you could end up with the new owners dumping the repayment of that loan on Chelsea's books similar to what the Glazers did to United with their leveraged buyout. 

Yes, I would imagine it would take a world record takeover bid for him to consider selling the club. There were reports in June that Britain's richest man, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, had failed with a 2 billion pounds bid for the club. It would likely take a 2 billion pounds and more bid for him to enter negotiations.

Contrary to what many Chelsea fans believe, I do feel Abramovich has lost an interest in the club. What with his visa issues and political relations between Russia and the UK - all of which have played a part in the stalling of the new stadium project - it would make sense if he had mulled over the idea of selling up.

The new stadium project was rumoured to cost upwards of 1 billion pounds, and that was just as the planning stages. We have seen with Tottenham's - which began at £400m and now could well end up costing a billion - that the cost of a new stadium for Chelsea is likely to be 1.5 billion pounds at the very least. Why would he consider going ahead with such an expensive project if he wasn't sure he wanted to be with the club for the long term.

[Consigliere]

The 2nd half of Watford/Palace was lively. Great goal by Pereyra. Ward really should have snatched a point for Palace in injury time. Bad miss that. 

[Iskaral Pust]

Good goals in the Watford-Palace game.  Palace were a lot more open than against Liverpool.  Watford have won three out of three.  Another fast start for them like last year. 

[Mark Antony]

Harsh pen. Cant see Newcastle scoring sadly

[ljkeane]

Wow, that’s a terrible decision. The defender’s got loads of the ball. That’s pretty brutal for Newcastle after all that defensive work.

[A Horse Named Stranger]

_{Dortmund - Leipzig is quite entertaining tbh.}

[Jordan La Cabra]

Very pleased with that victory, as Newcastle have been a team Chelsea has struggled against. 

Obviously we had a lot of fortune to be given the penalty, but it looked like Yedlin elbowed Giroud in the build up to their goal.

It's always a sweet victory when you manage to win against a team that plays purely to steal a draw, even at their own ground.

I was quite impressed with how Kovacic and Hazard linked up on the left hand side. Good to see Hazard get the full 90 minutes. I doubt he would have played beyond 60 had we been 3-0 up. It's an encouraging sign that Sarri, despite saying he didn't feel Hazard was ready for 90 minutes, was able to keep our best player on when chasing the game. Hazard spent at lot of the game walking, so was able to manage his energy well enough to see the game out.

Three wins out of three is a brilliant start to the season, considering we are adapting to a completely new style, and in a short space of time, as Conte was still our manager when preseason began.

[Consigliere]

Fulham put on a really impressive performance. Schürrle was outstanding and he deservedly got a goal. The 4-2 scoreline was flattering to Burnley. Fulham were all over them.

[Consigliere]

7 minutes ago, Jordan La Cabra said:

Very pleased with that victory, as Newcastle have been a team Chelsea has struggled against. 

Obviously we had a lot of fortune to be given the penalty, but it looked like Yedlin elbowed Giroud in the build up to their goal.

It's always a sweet victory when you manage to win against a team that plays purely to steal a draw, even at their own ground.

I was quite impressed with how Kovacic and Hazard linked up on the left hand side. Good to see Hazard get the full 90 minutes. I doubt he would have played beyond 60 had we been 3-0 up. It's an encouraging sign that Sarri, despite saying he didn't feel Hazard was ready for 90 minutes, was able to keep our best player on when chasing the game. Hazard spent at lot of the game walking, so was able to manage his energy well enough to see the game out.

Three wins out of three is a brilliant start to the season, considering we are adapting to a completely new style, and in a short space of time, as Conte was still our manager when preseason began.

Didn't watch your lots game today but based on the other two games, it is impressive how quickly Sarri has managed to implement his playing style - it's not 100% yet but the blueprint is already there. Just need to move the ball faster on a more consistent basis. Saw some stats on today's game - Jorginho breaks the PL record for most individual passes in a game (168) and Chelsea broke the record for most completed passes in a PL game (913).

[Jordan La Cabra]

6 minutes ago, Consigliere said:

Didn't watch your lots game today but based on the other two games, it is impressive how quickly Sarri has managed to implement his playing style - it's not 100% yet but the blueprint is already there. Just need to move the ball faster on a more consistent basis. Saw some stats on today's game - Jorginho breaks the PL record for most individual passes in a game (168) and Chelsea broke the record for most completed passes in a PL game (913).

Yeah, considering Sarri's style is completely different to that of the previous two managers, I'm impressed with how it has worked so far. I suppose he is fortunate in the sense that he has a bunch of players that are so eager to finally play under a manager that has a more attacking philosophy that they will quickly buy into his ideas.

We are also fortunate that our first three games have been against two teams that would let us have the ball, in Huddersfield and Newcastle, and one whose new style might be harder to teach to their players, in Arsenal. 

Today we did move the ball quicker, but it was hard to get in behind Newcastle as the game was rarely stretched. 

The best thing about setting those passing records is that, I believe, the previous records were set against us last season in that dreadful, abject performance we put in away to Man City (most passes by a team and by a player. I think the player was Gundogan). It shows how far our style is moving that we are now setting those records.

[Mexal]

Honestly, I think Arsenal played fine against Chelsea style wise. The biggest issues came from individual mistakes. Emery can't really control players missing open goals from 6 yards out or losing the ball in terrible positions. Chelsea just had God on their side that game.

Still, the issues with Arsenal are more player related than style. Playing a high line with CBs who have limited pace and don't anticipate well is a recipe for disaster as is playing out of the back with a back line (including holding MFs and Cech) who are terrible on the ball.

[Jordan La Cabra]

2 minutes ago, Mexal said:

Still, the issues with Arsenal are more player related than style. Playing a high line with CBs who have limited pace and don't anticipate well is a recipe for disaster.

That's more what I meant, really. Arsenal were good against us, and could easily have won the game. But by 'style', I meant the new high defensive line which might not suit the central defenders, who looked limited pace-wise. Although, interestingly, I saw an article that showed recent stats from Arsenal's training and Sokratis recorded one of he highest scores during sprints. 

[Mexal]

2 minutes ago, Jordan La Cabra said:

That's more what I meant, really. Arsenal were good against us, and could easily have won the game. But by 'style', I meant the new high defensive line which might not suit the central defenders, who looked limited pace-wise. Although, interestingly, I saw an article that showed recent stats from Arsenal's training and Sokratis recorded one of he highest scores during sprints. 

I saw that too but I don't buy it. His game speed doesn't match his sprint speed, especially in acceleration. 

ETA: He's better than Mustafi though. At this point, I'd play Sokratis with Mavropanos or Holding.

[Iskaral Pust]

I like Newcastle and Rafa, and I have a lot of sympathy for their attempt to survive with such a limited squad.  But their football is increasingly like Allardyce or Pulis.  I won’t mock them or hate them like I would Allardyce or Pulis, but I won’t watch them either.  

[l2 0 5 5]

Morata is still an issue. Absolutely invisible today. David luiz was a damn statue on the goal. 

[lmanion]

Morata was always surrounded by 3 or 4 or 5 guys anytime the ball was played to him. However I saw him throw himself around a fair bit trying to hold the ball. I think they need to look for him with an early cross much like a few of his goals early last year. Chelsea are a different team with Hazard playing its a shame real didnt come in for him with a silly price.

[Raja]

Man, seeing  a lot of the german players not get behind Ozil is kinda disheartening. And every Bayern Munich mouth piece speaking against him is also kinda unfortunate. 

[Mexal]

15 minutes ago, Raja said:

Man, seeing  a lot of the german players not get behind Ozil is kinda disheartening. And every Bayern Munich mouth piece speaking against him is also kinda unfortunate. 

No surprise. Germany needed a scapegoat and better to be Ozil than any number of Bayern players.