GWT: PL Matchweek 24/25

[Burner Account]

Oh Kyle Walker.

Walker's daft attempt at trolling shows City insecurity

Maybe he learned from Harry Kane's mistakes.

Vardy posts hilarious response to Kane after Leicester beat Spurs to title

 

[maclean]

Oh Kyle Walker.

Walker's daft attempt at trolling shows City insecurity

Being famous and being on Twitter's gotta be the worst

 

[Stray Wasp]

I´ve been waiting for Chelsea to go belly up for a couple of seasons - it might finally be happening.

From Abramovitch arriving in 2003 to Mourinho's comeback title season, Chelsea only finished lower than third the season they won the European Cup. As I think I've pointed out before, not so long ago the idea of them failing to qualify for that competition would have been inconceivable. Now, they're making a meal of avoiding such a scenario for the third time in four years.

Furthermore, twice in three seasons they've suffered an EPL campaign that featured 10 defeats. Only twice between 1998 and 2015 were Chelsea so beatable.

Yes, I noticed they won the league by a street in 2016/17, but the extremes of peaks and troughs only emphasise the doubts over their strength to challenge on multiple fronts. And they can't rely on having the league's reigning MVP parachute into their team for a bargain price as happened prior to Conte's title-winning year.

Going by the ages of Chelsea's starters they should be in win-now mode rather than acting as Bournemouth's doormat. But instead of healthy evolution the growing sense of incoherence between personnel and strategy threatens not only this season, but to turn their summer recruitment drive from one of development to salvage job. And all this is happening at a time when City have taken their template for success and run with it, while Liverpool and Spurs have increased their prestige.

Chelsea's decline is relative, but a decline it is. And one need only look to North London to see how relative decline can quietly construct a glass ceiling that a club becomes unable to cease banging its head against. Don't forget, this is also a club haunted by issues surrounding its stadium.

 

[Corto]

It's just entirely plausible that Sarri-ball doesn't work against even-ground competition.

Remember, in all his memorable years at Napoli he won nothing. Didn't come close to winning anything, actually, and it was all followed up by repeated failings in Europe.

What he did was basically "ManCity" the inferior Serie A teams, looking like a million dollars while hammering them - while Juve just did what they always do, go scrappy 1-0/2-0 and wait out the game.

Sarri-ball, at its peak, and with the right players, is lovely to watch. But it's still to bring top results. Or any trophies.
And Sarri-ball at Chelsea just looks like Lopetegui's tiki-taka without purpose.
It's not just inefficient, it's also boring a lot of the time.

Seeing as Hazard is almost surely gone in the summer, I do think Chelsea have their work cut out for them in keeping up with City/Liverpool/Spurs.

 

[Havre]

Boring when everyone seem to agree

Sarri probably isn't as good as his reputation (here included) at his peak in Napoli, but I think it is difficult to judge if "Sarri-ball" would work in England for a team like Chelsea just yet. I'm a bit old school when it comes to manager. I prefer the stubborn idealistic types. Fewer and fewer of those around - and among pundits pragmatism is almost universally praised these days.

 

[maclean]

I'll admit I was quite jealous when Chelsea got Sarri. Without particularly judging whether or not his brand can/does/will work in the PL, it does soothe my soul a bit that he has not yet managed to repeat his Napoli success. I don't think it's entirely fair to say he never came close to winning, as his team was second most of the time. I always got the impression Napoli didn't bother trying very much in Europe as they were so focused on winning the scudetto.

 

[Havre]

That criticism is a bit unfair in any case. Similar to Pochettino. Napoli in terms of finances are close to Southampton and West Ham - not Juventus.

 

[Ivan13]

Good to see the bigot struggle.

 

[Chimaera]

Pep struggled his first year. I’m not saying he’s Pep, but he hasn’t even been given a full season and they’ve not backed him completely in the window.

Chelsea’s roster needs an overhaul, Sarri or no. The idea that they don’t, or that they’re not aging has been contested here, but it’s fact. They’re not good enough to win, and many parts are past it or not putting in the work.

Hazard doesn’t deserve all the blame, but for as good as he is, he’s not lived up to his potential over a full season, and his comments about not wanting to track back at all are ridiculous. Sure, he’s not the one carrying the piano, but he can’t just stand at midfield and wait either.

 

[Havre]

Not sure if not being "backed" is a good excuse. Not sure who made the decision to burn most of their cash on a goalkeeper, but clearly they could have spend that money on other players if he/they felt they needed more of an overhaul to get his style to work.

For me the key for Sarri should be to show some improvement next year. Problem is of course that he might not be there and the Higuain thing smells a bit of desperation to me (I don't know the financial bit - so maybe Higuain free up some cash by selling off other strikers in the summer).

 

[Stray Wasp]

Pep struggled his first year. I’m not saying he’s Pep, but he hasn’t even been given a full season and they’ve not backed him completely in the window.

Chelsea’s roster needs an overhaul, Sarri or no. The idea that they don’t, or that they’re not aging has been contested here, but it’s fact. They’re not good enough to win, and many parts are past it or not putting in the work.

I agree with this. But at Chelsea, the rule tends to be that the manager carries the can for other people's mistakes.

 

[Chimaera]

I agree with this. But at Chelsea, the rule tends to be that the manager carries the can for other people's mistakes.

Of course. I do buy someone else might be able to get more out of what is there now, but for the long run, they don’t have the right mix and need to cut bait on some players (Hazard included).

 

[East Coast Bias]

They’re 6th in goals. Hazard has 10 goals and 10 assists. They’re a mid table team without him. The fact Sarri has them at 40 goals thus far is impressive.

Outside of Hazard, it looks like an attacking group a team like QPR would throw millions at to starve off relegation.

 

[Evilo]

The Hazard bashing here since he said he loved the game more than stats is amazing.
Tells a lot about who loves the game or not, among the fans.

I'd rather see a team play great football and never win a trophy than scrapping a trophy like Greece or Portugal in the EC.

 

[Cassano]

The undrawables strike again. Now 2nd place.

 

[Jack Straw]

Spurs maximizing the drama these days. Good to have Sonny back.

 

[spintheblackcircle]

Now just sit back and hopefully watch the rest of the top of the table drop points this weekend. Spurs were last to play on Wednesday and first to play on Saturday, thought that was a bit of a quick turnaround but they overcame it.

 

[Blender]

They’re 6th in goals. Hazard has 10 goals and 10 assists. They’re a mid table team without him. The fact Sarri has them at 40 goals thus far is impressive.

Outside of Hazard, it looks like an attacking group a team like QPR would throw millions at to starve off relegation.

Chelsea are 6th in goals...but 2nd in passes, 2nd in touches, 2nd in shots, 2nd in average possession, 3rd in goals against.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

I think the mentality of the players has improved as of late. Become more resilient of some sort.

 

[Blender]

Higuain has managed to connect on more link up plays in 15 minutes in this game than Morata did his entire time here at least.

Edit: Higuain! Great pass from Kante.

 

[YNWA14]

Higuain has managed to connect on more link up plays in 15 minutes in this game than Morata did his entire time here at least.

Edit: Higuain! Great pass from Kante.

I heard Higuain was shit.

 

[bleedblue1223]

The Hazard bashing here since he said he loved the game more than stats is amazing.
Tells a lot about who loves the game or not, among the fans.

I'd rather see a team play great football and never win a trophy than scrapping a trophy like Greece or Portugal in the EC.

I'll take the trophies.

 

[Cassano]

I heard Higuain was ****.

I heard he was no better than Morata lol.

 

[bleedblue1223]

Higuain has managed to connect on more link up plays in 15 minutes in this game than Morata did his entire time here at least.

Edit: Higuain! Great pass from Kante.

It was a good little run too.

 

[YNWA14]

Higuain is a very good striker. If the rest of the team hasn't already given up he could get them a top 4 spot.