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The MF is not ridiculously good. Or teams wouldn’t run over us as often as they do. Caicedo is very good, Enzo Fernandez is a passenger most games, Lavia’s always injured & the other lads are young and need to play more in the PL to get a grasp of it (Santos/Essugo). Reece is hit and miss in there. What is ridiculously good about that? Take Cole & Caicedo out of this team and it is pretty poor, which for £2.5bn spend is absolutely mad. Even with both of our starting fullbacks in from the start. Although Cucurella did dig us out of some holes last season in really poor games with goals. The new signings of Joao Pedro & Estevao are looking like they will be good additions. Joao making a big impact already but you cannot just pin everything on them from day 1, particularly not on a 17 year old kid in his first season in Europe. It’s not like they are coming into a side where there are top top players all around them either. When have good teams ever achieved anything big without elite GK or CBs? Thats on BlueCo & the sporting directors. It is clear that the recruitment is not done on Maresca’s say so, like with Potter & Poch before him so BlueCo are absolutely accountable for as much of the issues as the manager, if not more. This is not a major title winning team I am sorry, not even remotely close and to think that is absolutely crazy. A major title winning team has a very strong spine throughout their team… we have 2 top players in Moises & Cole who make a huge difference most games and not much else. Maybe throw Reece in there but again we are so poor defensively.

Matt Law says the club feel like it’ll just be a fine rather than anything serious. If they punish the current players on the pitch or even the ownership who weren’t even here back then it’ll be a complete disgrace.

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I can accept the mistake from Sanchez and the red card. I can accept taking off Estevao. But from then on, there is nothing my head can understand. The subs were just incredible. Beyond embarrassing. I honestly want Maresca to complain about the weather and the pitch. That would be his icing on todays cake. Fucking amateur.

He was fantastic when he was fully fit. Still remember when we used to have nigh guaranteed goals from both left wing and right wing with him and James flying down the pitch.

I know @Vesper is a big fan of the current Liverpool backup keeper! It really is a shame that the Valencia keeper (can't spell his name), Donnarumma, Maignan and even Chevalier were all available in the transfer window and yet the club really thought Sanchez + Jorgensen would be enough to compete for top 4 this season.

Boards don't take responsibility for what they do they take a knife to the man who is in charge but fail to remember they never backed him correctly Marseca is useless, but the board are fucking worse

Without him we're fooked

He can run at pace but thats about it Dortmund laughing at the transfer fee they were able to get for such a limited player.

Context is needed here. Can we stop already using Conference league like it's some sort of achievement, would've been beyond embarrassing if he didn't win it. He scrapped past Top 4 in the last game of the season. As for CWC great win against PSG but an absolutely comical road to the final if we got the draw PSG got we wouldn't even be in the final as Bayern showed.

Not surprised. Imagine being Cole or Reece. Reece especially, one of the best fullbacks in terms of final delivery and being asked to tuck in and play as a number 6 when we have the ball instead of bombing up and down and getting crosses into the box…. Players don’t tend to want to work as hard or as much as they should if they don’t respect/feel the managers tactics/philosophy. Would partly explain the softness in this side aside from the glaring lack of leaders and accountability in the squad because they are all being mollycoddled with the young side tag.

It's collapse season after season....discipline, bad signings, signings we should have made made and a manger that hasn't a clue I have no sympathy anymore

Scored first goal.

I'm bored of watching this team and Maresca

And while I agree Gittens needs more time, its a shame the club paid so much on a player that is clearly still a project. When we have FFP constraints and other positions that desperately need strengthening. It's less about Gittens the man, and more about how the club decides to prioritize things. Seems like a very scatterbrained approach. Just like their inability to secure a permanent shirt sponsor.

Agreed, but I think he needs to be taken off the firing line for a bit and made to come on as a sub, or at the most start games against weaker opponents, like the upcoming league cup game next week.

So we've wasted hundreds of millions of pounds and we still have a mediocre goalkeeper and defense...

16yo Reggie Walsh trained with CFC first team this week Enzo Maresca: "I like all the academy guys but Reggie is the one I like more than the rest. He is doing things I'm demanding from others, but he is doing those things without me asking him. I don't need to ask him." Maresca on Mheuka and Ryan Kavuma McQueen: “They are both in my plans, for sure. Shimmy was already with us and played some games for us last year. Ryan is more of a winger.” Maresca on Mheuka and Ryan Kavuma McQueen: 🗣 "They are both in my plans, for sure. I was watching when Ryan scored four goals against Germany, so I was very impressed, but I already knew him. One of my staff is always watching the youth team; they told me he was very good." [@LloydCanfield]

That's a dream scenario, Lavia gone and Wharton in.....

UEFA have confirmed Chelsea successfully balanced their transfer spending this summer to comply with the terms of a settlement agreement for breaking financial rules. Chelsea were fined €31m in July for breaking UEFA’s football earnings and squad cost ratio rules. As part of a settlement agreement, Chelsea could only register new signings for their Champions League squad if their transfer fees were offset by selling players who were in their Conference League squad last season. The departures of players such as Noni Madueke, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Christopher Nkunku and Nicolas Jackson means Chelsea have been able to include new signings Liam Delap, Joao Pedro, Alejandro Garnacho, Jamie Gittens and Jorrel Hato in their squad for the league phase of the Champions League. Chelsea made a record £314m from selling 23 players this summer. They spent £296m on new signings to end the transfer window with a profit of £18m. UEFA say they checked Chelsea’s Champions League squad to make sure it complied with their requirements: “The squad list submitted fulfilled the criteria of the settlement agreement and it was therefore already reviewed and approved before publication on UEFA's website.” Chelsea are playing Bayern Munich, Benfica, Ajax, Qarabag, Barcelona, Atalanta, Pafos and Napoli in the league phase of the Champions League. Their first game is in Munich on Wednesday 17 September. (@SkySports)

And come Saturday the scousers will probably have the GK we should have been in for, Marmadashvili I'm sure he would have prefered to come here as 1st choice keeper instead of a bench warmer at scouseland.

Who would have thought. The CL returns to the Bridge at long long last and there is no real and proper excitement. So sad what has happened to the club. We used to look forward to these nights as proper European nights. The owners and Maresca have made me feel ‘meh’.

Another coach may not panic every time we get a red card and take off all the attacking options. First at United, taking off two attacking players in the first 20 minutes. Then against Brighton throwing on Gusto, Lavia, Josh. You don't beat a team like Brighton by throwing on "defensive" players and trying to soak up pressure.

There is a player in Garnacho but it was a silly transfer. The Gittens one was worse though but we all know why they were both made. It was even briefed to us why, they don’t even try to hide it now. They have a lot of the fanbase on board with the model now so there is no need to hide it. Fans like Thor ect… you get what you deserve tbh.

Just feel we are going to go round and round in circles..keep sacking managers then when comes to the transfer windows buy complete pointless players or ones who are young so sent on loan..

Exactly this - the bigger problem is their own thinking

City.

Palace beat Pool with the last kick of the game

Honestly despise the way we play football. Up there with 2016 Mourinho.

They fully deserve this lead. Well played Lincoln 👏 They have completely outplayed us in that half. Marescas football is soo predictable. snorefest.

Has the potential to be better than both but we have seen him very few minutes in top level. Think he should be easily better than Tomori(if not already), very comfortable with the ball. Guehi didn't seem to be so promising but reached very high level and maturity during the years. I feel Josh will be like Colvill, when he gets his chance he will stuck in the starting eleven.

Yup, very obvious now from his comments he's at war with the directors and the board (rightfully) I dont agree with the way he's going about it though, i.e. by dropping points through bonehead moves. Fans deserve better. And yeah, a manager at loggerheads with the board. Never a good sign. Winning a single CWC trophy doesn't give you much room for argument.

Whilst he's far from the worst head coach/manager we have ever had.i kinda wish he was one that can't speak English to avoid some of the dismal shit that comes out of his mouth in interviews.

Don’t worry… come January/next summer, folk will be creaming themselves over how we signed 5 or 6 players (that 90% doesn’t include a top GK or CB) with a ridiculously low net spend. Without thinking about how bad the recruitment is/has been due to a severe lack of key signings in key positions. Again. People can’t help but fall for it each window. This club is now merely being run more as a very efficient business as opposed to a competitive football team. That’s what BlueCo want.

Lets be real, Barca weren't going to sell Fermin unless it was some ridiculous transfer fee Not sure why we splashed on Gittens and then missed out on Simons cause we didn't have enough sales to meet UEFA criteria. I miss the good old days of Cech - JT - Essien - Lamps - Drogba.

It’s either that or what Juan said, he is at war with the board. I actually hope it’s because he is at war … if it’s to keep T.Georges value up then this club is beyond repair until these owners fuck off for good. I hate them soo much, it’s fucking with my head daily knowing i can’t enjoy my beloved club with all this shit going on ..

The bloke Maresca and the board are fucking clowns....Sanchez is shite and shouldn't be between the sticks yet we are still talking about him How much have we spent and we are still talking about how shite most, and I repeat most players are....it's tragic We used to be mentality monsters, we are now little kittens, it's fucking pathetic

Just Maresca being Maresca, he is starting to make me scratch my head with choices and bizarre line ups

There are not ALL that many actually 'marquee' AND remotely available players in postions we need GK Diogo Costa Gregor Kobel (not really suited to our style of play) plus 3 older (33, 34yo next summer) ones: Jan Oblak Emiliano Martinez Alisson LCB Alessandro Bastoni Murillo Alessandro Buongiorno RCB (no clear perfect 'big name' targets) Leny Yoro (probably not possible next summer, maybe never) Bremer (but will be 29yo in March) Giorgio Scalvini only IF fully recovered Ronald Araujo only IF he gets back to WC level, which is a big if DMF Bruno Guimarães (but turns 29yo in fall 2026) Aurélien Tchouaméni (probably not available) Aleksandar Pavlovic (crazy hard pull) Adam Wharton Carlos Baleba (insanely expensive) Ruben Neves (wild card, crazy good passer and a less costly fee, a real vet and leader, I love him, but he turns 29yo in March) CMF Nicolò Barella (but turns 30yo in march 2027) Gavi Eduardo Camavinga Sandro Tonali Warren Zaïre-Emery Frenkie de Jong (turns 30yo at the end of next season (26/27) though) AMF Jamal Musiala (IF recovered, and also he would cost well over £100m IF Bayern would even sell and IF he would even want to come here) Morgan Rogers Fermin Lopez (do not think he leaves Barca next summer either) Nico Paz (Real Mardid will exercise their buy-back though, so very unlikely) Winger Kenan Yildiz Rodrygo Bradley Barcola Rafael Leão (hard pass) Malick Fofana CF (all 3 are likely not available, plus almost all top CFs are now locked in at new or old clubs, the 3 listed are the only ones even potentially not situated like that) Julian Alvarez Lautaro Martinez Victor Osimhen so as you can see there are only five main targets for me that would be 'marquee' signings IMHO: Diogo Costa (and probably not needed IF Penders is soon ready) Bastoni (my dream CB signing for years) Adam Wharton Morgan Rogers Kenan Yıldız wild card signing of a non GK vet; Ruben Neves

You don't upgrade GK and CB in the summer and now this will cost you important points .We predicted it what will happen when you not take top gk and cb even without Colwill who was vital last season .

lol the player that is offside try to play the ball

Many people also said the same about cucurella and Caicedo. So they are not always right. With this guy I'm going to give them the Caicedo treatment. Rather wait next season as he is too raw.

What cheating? This is related to agents payments... Zero influence on the pitch.

Agree with this. PSR rules are arbitrary & made to benefit some groups more than others. If we unfairly took direct advantage over other teams in securing multiple top players, or directly influenced match results through unscrupulous means, that's a different story because it mocks the competition and puts other teams on the back foot. The only way BlueCo will look good from this, is if they manage to stave off serious punishment from the FA & the Premier league. Anything else will look like an own-goal from the owners.

typical of the FA, i wonder what kind of wankers they have in charge, always looking to stir shit up when it comes to Chelsea.

we needed to sold NJ to buy simons we get facunco as a emergency plan

Can't wait. We want seven. 🙂

Josh doesn't need to be named I believe