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Hopefully that's Maresca sent home and not in the stands, blokes a clown and we need shot quickly

Just wanted to say sorry about the erratic times of posting game threads. The last two weeks I have been having a lot of testing done for my second go around with cancer. An added bonus of a 7mm mass in my left lung. So far it is looking like medication and possible chemo to reduce the mass. It has been inconvenient to say the least.

Delayed post, but James deserves a lot of credit for his gesture by taking the interim coach to the fans after the City game. Very good character. I've said this before, but one of the things Chelsea fans can take to heart this season, is the growing leadership that both James and Enzo Fernandez have shown on occasion this season. Still a lot more to go, to get near Azpilicueta, let alone Drogba, Terry or Lampard levels. But a good sign nonetheless.

Anyone who can’t see this is in denial.

People celebrating this better think twice. It was the same with Poch. Obviously board doesn't like a manager with an opinion which is every top manager in the world. Also shows that both Poch and now Enzo are not yes man as labeled by fans.

Feel sorry for Strasbourg in a way, we are just taking the piss out of them and stripping them of there manager and coaching staff

Delighted with the result/performance yesterday. I had little hope before the game and the bookies thought we had little chance too. First half, we rode our luck. They were all over us and Haaland hit the post. Second half we improved. Neto missed a sitter and thought we wasn't going to get another chance until Enzo scored. I thought Enzo scoffed it. Only realised it went in until he started celebrating. Palmer, is still frustrating me a bit. He got on the ball more second half but isn't influencing the game enough. He seemed to be outmuscled or lost the ball everytime he took on one of their players. I want to see him back to the player we know. He just wasn't that effective, albeit he was better in the second half than first half. I was surprised we did not add on another attacker as we went for the goal second half. I still thought we were playing it too safe and if the same situation arises again, we really needed to get another winger on the pitch to stretch the opposition. Also said in first page of this thread that City having less rest is only glimmer of hope I had and you can see towards latter stages, City looked knackered and I think the extra rest may have helped us, but balances out considering we had Sanchez, Cucu and Caicedo unavailable. Let me not forget Fofana, Colwill and Lavia all unavailable too. Santos was brilliant when he came on. Won the ball back a few times and mad excellent progressive runs with the ball which broke their press. Delap was really good too imo. He really held the ball up well and brought a different dynamic to the game. Liverpool drawing made that even a more important result. I don't see Liverpool getting anything at Arsenal, so if we beat Fulham, we should be above Liverpool by end of the week, my prediction tells me. Fulham also missing 2/3 key players at AFCON.

I hate that we helped Arsenal

You know it doesn’t matter if it’s McFarlane or whoever in charge…sticking one in at stoppage time is still awesome. Get the F in!!!

I have been asked to speak on BBC Radio 5 Live tomorrow morning at 7:20am UK time about this game

🚨 Breaking News According to a source in Strasbourg, Liam Rosenior's departure to Chelsea "is not on the cards at this stage." ❌️ (@lequipe)

There are marginal gains to be made with a different manager. We need the owners to change their policy and put together a serious squad. Some of our starting players are too young and inexperienced and they want to compete in the toughest league in the world with that squad.

I haven’t watched the last 4 games and will not watch any more until the manager is gone and any one who knows me on this forum knows I like to give managers a chance, I’ve checked out

Merry Christmas all!

Watching that tackle from Reece James in the 77th minute. Insane stuff, covering for that ball watching Fofana who lost his man. No wonder Sanchez gave him a big hug at the end. One of the few players with high footballing IQ in the squad. Would take that over low IQ, high talent players anyday.

wtf is this obsession with Mainoo? He looked really promising when he suddenly burst into the scene but has been completely irrelevant for ages now and can’t get a game in a horrible United midfield. If we seriously chose him over Wharton I’m going to lose my mind. Mainoo isn’t better than any of Santos, Essugo, or Lavia. I’d rather take our chances with constantly injured Lavia than throw Man United another bag of cash for a midfielder that doesn’t even play for them.

It's just one big catherine wheel shit show, I'm not Maresca's biggest fan as a lot know but I have also been seriously critical of this board and still am. The buying policy in the last 3/4 season has been hideous, all youth and the future without any thought for solid experience, I'd have paid extra to keep Thiago Silva around even without playing, but he is still better than Tosin, Badshit and Chalobah. Scrimping on a top class number 9, dodging a world class keeper, not going for a CB when Levi got injured, this isn't on Maresca it's on the cock jockeys upstairs. Maresca has done OK for me in terms of on field stuff but he has also been culpable for some horrendous in game changes, starting line ups and tinkering far too much, that could be a two finger salute to the board, we will never know. Both are very worthy of finger pointing, but this also proceeds Maresca, the whole lack of backing, not just spending millions but spending it where it is needed most of all. I'd have sooner seen us go for a Lewandowski than Joao Pedro, I want more experienced heads in this team, it's crucial at non league level never mind top flight PL stuff. The model isn't going to change, they see a lot of these players as the future, and this is why I always say don't be scared to play Estevao, he won't hide and he won't lose confidence by having a quiet game, every second on that pitch he will learn, you will kill him by not playing him. I honestly think these last few days and Maresca going public, which he didn't need to do, has signed himself high, as soon as you go public and say what he did, which we know is directed at someone above your a dead man, whether you like him or not, he has crossed the board and they will now be out for him at any given chance. We face Cardiff tonight, and I don't want us to lose but I'm telling you if we do, and then lose to Newcastle, which is very very likely at St James's park, he's gone.

i want stability and maresca to stay. lets try 3 years with the same manager, when was the last time we had the same manager for three seasons. glasner iraola and even emeri would be flops here. rosenior? senevth in the ligue 1 with the fourth biggest budget? yes thats what we want. de zerbi is a human piece of trash, he can fuck off.

He's Villas Boas all over again, just trendy at the time I could coach and manage this lot, problem with me is I speak my mind and this woke world we live in players would cry after being with me for five minutes because I would be calling them out. Footballers are babies now, they need calling out but you get sacked for speaking your mind woke world

The BBC are now saying that there was friction long ago because he wouldn’t wear the clubs tracksuit, spoke at something in Italy without their permission & wanted to release a book (again without their permission). These lot are control freaks. Get them to fuck. And where is this information undoubtedly coming from? Probably inside the club, to make them look good & Maresca bad.

Supporters at the stadium need to make the directors’ positions untenable. Banners, booing them, incessant pressure for as long as it takes for them to be pushed out.

Four managers since these guys took over the club. The first one they ran out because he clashed with their “vision” and refused to fall in line with amateurs who knew nothing about football. They then spent an absurd amount of money to go raid Brighton for their top choice who lasted a blink of an eye because he was totally out of his depth. And next both Poch and now Maresca will both go because they fall out with the hierarchy. What a shambolic joke. And these are the same idiots that will be picking our next manager? Why are they not being sacked just like Maresca will be? Appointing the Strasbourg manager who no other club in the top half of the PL would even give a second look is criminal. We’re in this current mess in large part because the squad is so young and naive. So we may appoint a manager who has ZERO big club experience and will be under immense pressure from day 1? There needs to be massive protest by local supporters and boycotts if they do this shit. They’re running a massive club into the ground permanently.

The big question is: which of the other "ex city" players have been decent at Chelsea? Tosin is horrific at CB, Gittens looks a very raw player, Lavia can't stay fit for 3 games in a row, Delap looks like he forgot how to be a striker since leaving Ipswich. The last thing we need is more ex city youngsters. It works when your at clubs like Southampton and you can potentially find the next U-21 gem, give them game time and hope that they kick on without too much pressure.

Top of the table club wants to get reinforcements to become even better, while the club barely in top 5 with a weakened squad and no shirt sponsor thinks everything is fine. Every time I see Eghbali on the screen I keep thinking of his ridiculous statement of how the old Chelsea were not competitive in either a sporting sense or financial sense. Yet he and his cronies have assembled a team that is struggling to keep the club within UEFA FFP rules, has failed to secure a permanent shirt sponsor, and is struggling to make progress on the results from last season. The major achievement is the low wage bill and low average of the squad. Great resale value., which is no doubt their number 1 priority.

I keep saying go for Emery but imagine leaving that job to come here to this shambles of a project Bloke would be deluded

and... Oh look the two teams that are supposed to be in turmoil are now level on points with us, we are a fucking joke (again) Villa are going to muller us. BlueCo absolutely refuse to bring in any CB and a striker. We are so inconsistent it beggars belief. Mind you it takes me back to the only thing we're consistent at is inconsistency. Merry Christmas Y'all🫣

Gittens has looked absolutely dogshit since joining.

Sources: Chelsea up scouting on 6ft 2in France U21 international This one could develop... https://siphillipstalkschelsea.substack.com/p/sources-Chelsea-up-scouting-on-6ft Chelsea are scouting many top young players from around the world right now, this is nothing new. We see them get linked with another new teenager on a daily basis pretty much these days. So you will always see these stories come up. However, this one has a sense that something could genuinely develop here. And also, he’s not a teeanger! SPTC Sources have heard that Chelsea are stepping up regular scouting missions of Rennes centre back Jeremy Jacquet. I’ve now had his name mentioned to me from a couple of sources in the last week or so, which usually means that the interest is very serious. And his name is also out there in the media, with Chelsea’s interest being reported by local press in France. So, there is certainly something real there, a genuine Chelsea interest and perhaps a bit more than just scouting. We still don’t expect much to be done in January, so I think if Chelsea do decide to pursue Jacquet then it will be in the summer. But he’s certainly a centre back name to watch. The 20-year-old is 6ft 2in tall and has been capped 2 times for the France U21 national team, having been a regular coming up through the French youth teams. Jacquet I guess is the next biggest thing coming up in terms of sought-after defenders, with Liverpool and Arsenal also being reliably linked with him. Como First Team scout Ben Mattinson described him as a ‘Rolls-Royce’ centre back. “William Saliba isn’t the only Rolls Royce of a CB to come from Bondy… It’s Jérémy Jacquet’s time to shine now. “Jacquet has the tools to be a ‘Top 5 in The World’ CB. “If you don’t already know about him, get to know.” The full thread here is worth a look. Anyway, let’s see if it turns to anything more than just scouting or not. But it looks like if Chelsea want him, they will need to be quick, with all the big guns now tracking him.

people are overreacting a bit Draw was a decent result. All teams struggle a lot in ths stadium

Until he realised that Reece James only belongs in Midfield in his sleep Fucking madness that he was the best player on the field at RB and a passenger in MF like a headless chicken Needs to stop and now

I don't think it is similar to going for Moyes who was never at a set up like United's before and didn't set up his team anywhere close to how Fergie did. With Maresca there's a lot of similarity to City's shape + Maresca has had experience at a big club now. Would not find the switch a huge jump up like Moyes did.

IF we sell Josh I am going to lose my fucking mind. My biggest issue with Maresca is his continuously not picking him as one of our two starting CBs, especially with the player picked over him is either either Badi or ESPECIALLY TOSIN, ffs. Acheampong is still only 19yo and has MASSIVE upside, potentially (from what I can see) world class potential. IF Colwill (and we had ALL best hope that he does) fully recovers from his knee injury, then I can see Levi and Josh as a superb CB pair for ages. They are the ONLY two CBs we have atm who you can say that about NOW, even on a potential basis, unless Aarón Anselmino or new boy Amadou Sarr explodes. Trevoh is what Trevoh is, a solid squad CB, but will never be WC (and he turns 27yo this summer, so he doesnt have years and years to get there). Same for Fofana, who is very likely never again going to reach the near WC heights he was moving towards before he destroyed his leg with Leicester. Disasi is shit and is soon gone (knock on wood). Tosin is even worse than Disasi IMHO (somehow he has gotten there, ffs) and needs to GO. Badi, well he is above the last two, but is still not at all good enough. Unfortunately, unless we buy a great left footed CB (ie the pipe dreams Bastoni or Murillo, or Buongiorno, or stepping down a wee bit, the crazy expensive Branthwaite, the super hard pull Schlotterbeck, or the semi dice-rolls Lukeba, Inácio or the oft-injured Botman), we are going to be stuck with him for likely a year more (especially as our only other lefty CB is the long-term injured Colwill). Honest Ahanor looks to be a superb young (turns 18yo in February) CB, BUT he is just that: a super young player with bags of potential but not a 'plug him in and he is lock to be a 45 game starter for Chels' type (for now), plus, like Lukeba, he is on the small side (both are 1.84m, although Ahanor could, in theory still grow a bit).

They have better players across key positions CB and ST.

With Lavia and Essugo missing all the time it's not really time to let him go this January, but for a good bid I wouldn't object.. He is not offering too much for current team.

I back the manager, for me it's clear the fools are the board. If they sack him I would not care no more who they pick. They are the problem!

For a season where he has lost his best CB Colwill, best attacker Palmer and lost his best midfielder for 3 games in a crunch time and had a hatful of red cards to contend with, Maresca has done more than alright and anyone who thinks the manager is the issue in all of this are wrong. We also came into the season with a 2 week preparation and no real pre-season. It was also a summer where our global profile was restored after years of mediocrity. We can upgrade Maresca but I can't fault his commitment to preparing the team every week. Only few occasions he's got things wrong this season imo.

Interesting presser after game. Worst 48 hrs of his time at the club so he reckons as people didn’t show him & the team support 😂 Ironic, we finally get a win after 4 or 5 games without one & he comes out with that. Now everyone is talking about his presser & what he could’ve meant as opposed to the win. The guy is an absolute bellend, cannot wait to see the back of him. Moaning about not playing without players due to injuries & suspensions, injuries happen but he can easily stress to the player’s about their discipline record - we had countless red cards on the trot at one point and he said it wasn’t a problem. Seems he wants to be applauded for winning the Club World Cup & Conference League as if they were massive achievements but then he wants to be judged as if he is rebuilding the team. Make your mind up - cannot have it both ways.

Chalobah and Fofana have been excellent today.

good play by Gittens

Andrey Santos coming on for Palmer. While I do see the importance of maintaining the clean sheet, wish Maresca would be a bit more bold and considered Estavao

Just found this from 1976 away games

What a mess. This is basically human trafficking at Sports level. It’s only a matter of time before Palmer, Caicedo, Cucu and others want out. They have undone all Romans hard work. It disgusts me.

He is undoubtedly a problem. SDs poor decision making shouldn’t mask that Maresca is a bang average manager.

Maresca being Maresca, blokes taken us as far as he can, it's time

Maresca is actually a clown. He left Estevao on bench for the whole game. The game was clearly running away from us and his subs were terrible.

Gittens has had some good games lately his passing is top class at times