Ibn Battuta

It’s an amazing thing they are doing from a legal perspective. Say they stay the ban and the appeal process overrules their initial ruling. They would in that case open themselves up for some amazing lawsuit if Chelsea decided to sue for damages.

Football is not so much about speed and precision as it is about timing and tempo. Jorginho sets the tempo and facilitates the timing of our attacking plays. He is the starting point of most of our attacks. When he has the ball, the entire team is supposed to move and attack as a single unit. He facilitaes that work. He is the man who fires the starting shot. That is why Sarri says that for Jorginho to thrive everybody else has to do their jobs, that is move at the right time with the right tempo and in the right directions. Speed and precision matters less under those settings. Listen, we are all frustrated by the small tedious football we have played this season. But there is potential for something really great here. For prolonged greatness. Guardiola knows: "I see Chelsea and I can understand what they want to do. And after I see them, they do it. Maybe for other people, they don't know exactly what they want to do. But they do it.

Yep. That could be the difference between top four or not, which means 100m has a big cost attatched to it.

Oh and RLC has come alive!

How good was that? Finally starting to see all that tactical work pay dividends. Our form and shape looked impeccable. There was a period of 5-7 min where West Ham looked to threaten but Sarri quickly adjusted. Very very promising stuff.

This is the most painful football I have witnessed Chelsea play. Painful literally.

Courtois is a great keeper but like Cech he will always be a little underrated because he is an effecient keeper rather than an effective one. Efficient (adj.) – Performing or functioning in the best possible manner with the least waste of time and effort. The difference between effectiveness and efficiency can be summed up shortly, sweetly and succinctly – Being effective is about doing the right things, while being efficient is about doing things right. But he never was a proper Chels in my view. So it was good for us that he moved on.

Hazard is almost a certainty. I am however thinking about Kante. We know how much Zidane loved playing with Makelele. Wouldn’t surprise me to see him make a run for Kante. It would solve the problem of that slow midfield immediately. Kante+Modric seems like the type of midfield you want in these Guardiola/Klopp times of high intensity football. He could start a new revolution, and judging by media reports that’s exactly what he wants to do. I guess Perez finally gave a go and opened Fort Knox.

Shouldn’t that be a red for Doherty?

Too little variation in attack. Should consider Giroud to free up Hazard more.

Pretty much. But Kante is world class, so it doesn’t mean Jorginho is crap. Serie A - slower, less dynamic, more tactical. EPL - quicker, more dynamic, less tactical. Jorginho - not quick, not dynamic, very very tactically astute. Main attribute is reading opposition tactics and setting up the right attacking plays with the right players at the right time Kante - supremely quick, supremely dynamic. Kante is in the right league but wrong team. Jorginho is in the wrong league but right team. The conundrum is real and I wonder if Sarri will solve it. I think he will if he can create a Serie A team within the EPL. But that’s like building a Swiss watch in China.

Not only good at holding up play, but he moves like a man with purpose and direction. He is also surprisingly unselfish. He makes runs to free up other attacking players. So refreshing. There was a moment in the game against City were he deliberately made a sharp left flank run in order to free up CHO. I think it was Luiz who played the ball to him in space, and he was vividly upset he didn't play CHO, pointing to his side to illustrate his run was just a planned decoy. Small things, but you dont see it as often as you should. We need more players who play to make others better.

Adapted and dealt with some heavy heavy pressure. I’m impressed. Tactic seemed spot on to me. I said before the game that Kovacic has to play with Kante. That was vital imo. But Sarri made them play smart. Move the ball quickly in the middle of the pitch and keep it simple to avoid getting picked off by their quick midfielders, and instead play the risky passes down the sides where they can’t hurt as much if we lose the ball. Simple tactics but brilliant. Basically took away their biggest weapon.

I wouldn’t want to see RLC AND Jorginho against their midfield. Kante and Kovacic have to play. We don’t match up well with them as they have the perfect weapon in Alli/Son to neutralise Jorginho. Players that can defend Jorginho and at the same time possess the ability to transition to attack very quickly when they win the ball. We have to counter that somehow. I think playing Kovacic or Kante closer to Jorginho is necessary.

Rudiger has been a bright spot and isn’t given enough credit for how much he has improved this season. He can still be a wee bit reckless but rather too much intensity than too little. Captain material for sure.