Hi guys, sorry it's been a while since I posted on here. After watching Chelsea's abject defeat to Bournemouth, I felt compelled to have a rant on here and see what other Chelsea fans think. We are now in 5th place, only 2 points above 6th placed Manchester United who are in a rich vein of form, and right now this season is looking a very bleak one for us.

For me, the issue clearly is Sarri and his formation. Whilst I don't believe that he should be sacked yet, as he clearly needs more time, I strongly feel that he has to drastically reconsider his tactics. The warning signs have been there for a while now - struggling to score which meant 0-0 draws with Southampton and Everton and losses to Leicester, Wolves, West Ham, Spurs and Arsenal before culminating in tonight's atrocity. We now haven't scored a single time in the last 3 away games for the first time since 2002, which just shows how shit we are in the final 20m of the pitch.

Teams have basically figured out how to play us, after our solid start to the PL season. This has mainly been through marking Jorginho out of the game, so that he cannot set the tempo of the side. We also play far too many passes in the final third, and just cannot seem to manage to score. And yet Sarri does not consider changing his system in any capacity at all. He just sticks with the same old, same old which is clearly not working anymore.

Now, I'm not saying that none of this has been the fault of the players. Pedro and Giroud have both had poor seasons, and despite a good start Alonso has had a run of poor form. Barkley has also struggled to show what he is capable of. But although there have been some players not performing to their highest level, it is obvious that we NEED a variation in formation and tactics. We also need to involve young players like Callum and Ruben more, who have been extremely bright whenever they have played.

I'd love to know what you guys think Chelsea need to do to get their act together this season.

This is pretty much the story of far too many manager, they find a good gameplan that bring them fame and popularity which lead to big move. However, they become too proud because of said fame and popularity and can't seem to realize its flawed to use the same gameplan again and again. Starting to be really worried about Chelsea, hope Sarri wake up and change his tactic, especially if he want to keep his job.

Player power is too big at Chelsea. That is your clubs problem at present.

@emo

That's true, I think you're exactly right. I just hope that Sarri realises now that he has to try something different. It frustrates me so much that he won't even change his game plan when we are losing in game, every sub he makes is just a like for like. Last night it was William for Pedro, Giroud for Higuain and Ruben for Kova

sarriball lacks discipline, hopefully players don't turn sarri into mourinho thing

Right now, Sarri's philosophy and system have no flexibility.

• Kante can't play deeper because he must have his beloved Jorginho there, playing as a regista.
• He can't add another striker when we're down, because the Sarriball system can only have one striker.
• We can't switch to a 3 or 5 man backline, even if that's better suited against the opposition, because Sarriball has to be 4-3-3.
• We can't replace Luiz with a Cahill/Zouma type rock at the back when Luiz is off form, because he values Luiz passing over Cahill's defending.
• When teams sit back and defend, we're aimlessly passing it around for 90', with no killer ball. Sarri got rid of Fabregas who can thread open a defense, in favour of his sideways passing merchant Jorginho.
• Yeah, Morata wasn't great, but Sarri had Giroud who he refuses to use as a 9, preferring Hazard as a false 9. When he does this he takes away the strengths of Hazard and Kante (both out of position) who are World XI players.
• It feels like Sarri has walked into this side with his unproven son Jorginho, and kicked out Hazard/Kante who are the stars of this team. Any other manager would build this team around Hazard/Kante.

I wasn't expecting great results this season, and hoped the board would give Sarri time like Klopp and Guardiola have had, but I was expecting some thoughtful tactical experimentation at the least. This same flawed gameplan every game is annoying us all.

Klopp and Guardiola have their own philosophies to which they stick to, but they are proper tacticians, and readily change lineups and formations based on what's working and what's not working. Sarri has just been stubborn. The same tactics every time. Even his subs are the same.

Winning at 64' : Barkley/RLC on for Kovacic.
Drawing at 64' : Barkley/RLC on for Kovacic.
Losing at 64' : Barkley/RLC on for Kovacic.

Honestly, a couple games ago, Kovacic was having his best game this season while Jorginho was having a 'mare. Guess what happened at the 64' mark? Barkley in for Kovacic.

If he wants to stick with his Sarriball system built around Jorginho as a regista, then that's fine, but would it hurt to try play a 4-2-3-1 with Kante further back and Hazard also dropping further back on the wing to collect the ball???

He tweaked the system against City in the league. We didn't press as hard as usual, we were happy to sit back and defend without possession, and Kante and Kovacic were asked to play deeper and more centrally. Those changes got us a 2-0 win.

I don't know why he's not making these slight changes to the system for every game. In the games against Bournemouth, Arsenal, Southampton, Leicester and many more, our tactics have been exactly the same.

The PL is not the same as the Serie A. Endless passing isn't going to cut it, and Jorginho hasn't played against this level of physicality.

Right now he's looking like a one-trick pony, and that one trick of his has never even won him a trophy.

Hopefully the pressure put on him, forces him to change a few things.

now I know how does it look like playing same nonworking tactic with same subs, Wenger would be impressed!

Now if you imagine this Chelsea without Hazard next season, I think you're going for big trouble. I doubt Sarri is going go change his plan 180 degrees, but he definitely need some adjustments, as Marcus said, this is not Serie A..

Also, I don't want to be insulting to Sarri but despite doing good with Napoli in Serie A, he never did win much over there. So I didn't get why some of Chelsea's fans were talking about Sarri as if he was gonna bring them the PL on a plate. I know thats not the case of a lots of you guys on the forum, but I really wasn't convince myself at first. Sure, he suprised me at first at the beggining of the season by doing well but right now, its not going so well.

Now if you imagine this Chelsea without Hazard next season, I think you're going for big trouble.

Thats for sure. It would be a real shame if Hazard last season for the Blues would be under a manager that doesn't use him at his best position most of the time.

Hopefully the pressure put on him, forces him to change a few things.

Lets hope you are right Eden17, if he doesn't, I can't imagine him staying much longer.

I think Sarri will come good long term, certain players have certainly improved under him ( Rudiger, Jorginho, Kante). Chelsea went from one of the best sides in the world to one of the challengers for 4th. I think Conte's 'changes' fucked it, even though that guy never got any backing from the board. If the board give Sarri what he needs and he still fails to deliver within the next 2/3 season, he is the problem. Right now though, he needs time.

However, I agree with everyone saying that he needs to adapt, because pretty much all you have to do to beat Chelsea is mark Jorginho. I said previously that Chelsea were a ST away from being title challengers, but now you got that ST, I still think they need extra depth in midfield. I don't rate Barkley at all tbh, Drinkwater doesn't play, Loftus Cheek needs chance IMO. But when Jorginho gets injured Chelsea are in crisis mode. Should have gotten a midfielder I feel, more important than LB from what I've seen. People don't rate Alonso but this guy is always a threat vs Arsenal, it's just consistency and the change of his role.

Sack sarri and bring back Conte.

Sarri just has lost the dressing room. The players did not want to play for him again, maybe apart from 2 or 3 loyal players.

Chelsea has a lot of talented players on the disposal, and I think they can use it to their adv. Sarri is a bit too stubborn too, he did not try to change or adapt to different games. I mean I like the way Naples play, but it just did not work with this Chelsea team, which are known for their counterattacking ability.

Three possible solutions:
1) Sack Sarri and bring in another reputable manager. I personally like Lampard, and he can become an interim manager just like the way Ole atm.
2) Wait until the end of the season, to replace deadwood in the team with brand new exciting players.
3) Change in formation and tatics by Sarri (which is highly unlikely).

Brexit uturn has a higher likelihood than Sarri changing his mind. Proper English block this guys Sarri. He has made a decision which only can be reverted by firing him. Maybe, he has a fat early termination clause. He doesn’t even try to change formation and got outplayed by rookie manager.

im curious to know, were the good results at the beginning of the season (when city, liverpool and chelsea were close together) down to luck or sarri's system working? and since then, what change has caused the down turn in form?

Kante is our modern Makelele. Imagine playing Makelele out of his preferred position? Stupid. Just plain stupid.

Chelsea players need to adapt. it's funny how can anyone possibly say that these players are giving their all to the manager like say pep's players who have adapted and believe in the system.
that's the thing : if not everyone becomes part of the system it falls apart; look how easily the Chelsea players have gotten their way in recent years and how many managers have gone through the doors and its always the managers fault, never the players because everyone is bullshitting, saying as soon as there's a few bad games that the system isn't working. systems take time.

if you dont want a manager to try and enforce his system on a bunch of players who dont want to adapt to a system; dont bring in a manager with a specifically styled system

and you can pretend that that might work, but it didn't: remember all the in-betweener managers who went in and out the revolving managerial door at Chelsea because the excuse was then: there's no style of play

the problem at Chelsea is the mentality and the attitude of the players being pandered to by a trigger happy Abramovich.

edit: yes hes been a bit basic in not changing his tactics and trying to try new things but that's the thing: when you eggs get laid you dont immediately smash them because they aren't hatching fast enough: hes trying to build his system and that comes from practice and repetition

well, he should start with playing Kante as a CDM, that's where he is the best player in the world...

I agree players are at fault too, but when you see that manager doesn’t do anything about it then it is management problem. What do I mean? For example, Jorginho has been crap so shit him out of that position and give Kante his preferred position. Alonso hasn’t been performing then replace him with Azpi and put zapocosta on other side. Dave knows how to play I left back.

Pedro doesn’t offer defensive solutions because he doesn’t track so bring Willian from start!! Hudson Odoi can also step in Amean we don’t have a lot of great players on the bench but at least try to fix it by replacing underperforming players then we wouldn’t be embarrassed like 6-0 and 2-0 by United at our home ground. We only had two shots on goal, then perhaps fuck Higuaín and let Giroud in. Christensen is rotting on the bench and he was amazing for us during our title run.

This way fans can at least respect him for it but also Chelsea chanting f@ck Sarri should have sang “f@ck Alonso” because both of goals came from his wing and trashing we got from City was also his inability to defend.

He implement his philosophy with players that are willing to perform but he doesn’t even do that and holly crap when we needed a goal against United he simply replaced player for player. To me it is just puzzling what he is trying to achieve when we only had 2 shots on goal and not a single good chance to score.

Just to make matters worse, this is music to my ears.

let that be a lesson to board. This is our second ban in 10 years for the similar offense. Talk about learning on mistakes. Well, now at least we will have no choice but use our youth :))