Mhsc

Jorg in goal again... I feel sick

Also, I hope Sanchez is back today - despite everything. Seriously concerned about Jorg - feels like close to forfeiting to play him again.

There is no point in working on strategies that require Reece James He is semi retired and plays a few minutes for us here and there through a season, not a serious player

Yes agreed on all points - for FFP reasons they wouldn't have done it (or been able to do it) without that loophole at the time. And it has been a shambles. My only disagreement is with this idea that they're running the club "just for money" - I mean, its true in the sense that every business is run for money - but this is a far cry from situations at Spurs or Brighton where results are of no interest to the club and ultimately its about staying in PL and flipping players for profit for the owner. They're trying to build a sustainable long term football club that doesn't depend on a sugar daddy owner to inject cash every year - and they've got a vision to make that happen that involves us being a top team that compete and win things, in my opinion. They've just done a fucking shocking job at making it happen and pissed most of the money away and now it is looking quite tough to turn into a reality - without more spending but the pockets are running empty now, and even if they weren't we know they will just misspend 80% of it.

Haha, agree to disagree then. If it is fan appeasement they're trying for they're certainly doing a poor job! I think they were all bought out of desperation to turn around results. We were trying to save Potter's reign for the Enzo signing and instead of walking away when we got quoted silly money we just went for it - because they thought it might turn the season around. Turned out to do fuck all. I think they really do care about results and trying to have us compete (even if only because winning and being in CL, getting to finals etc all generate revenue and increase brand value) - and are no doubt embarrassed at what a shit job they've done, and how much money they've wasted. Now all of the money that was available to invest has been burnt through and the additional cash injected has largely spent on a bunch of dross We've actually bought a bunch of players since they took over that will only realistically ever be sold at a loss - Fofana, Caicedo, Enzo, Mudryk, Sterling, Pedro Neto, Sanchez, etc etc etc etc They've just spent really badly and many of the "established" players they bought were horrendous duds and have over corrected in the other direction imo Hopefully over the long term we can find a happy medium as they get more experience in "soccer"...

I don't buy that tbh. Wouldn't have spent £100m on Caicedo and Enzo if that was the objective - we'd have a cap to never spend more than £40m or something on players who's value could double or triple - and basically just clone Brighton's approach entirely The sad thing is there IS a project here, that is ultimately about trying to build and run a long term sustainable top club that competes on all fronts. The execution of that project has been quite shameful, but I think the intent is very clear.

Form comes and goes! Or in their case, it just goes

It might feel that way but when you really think about it we are miles ahead! I mean just look at the table and their general situation - genuinely not impossible they'll get relegated Probably the single worst run club in the world Now its not much to say we are doing better than the single worst run club in the world, but I look for what little victories I can :')

As depressing as things are the last couple of months, when you look at the situation at Man Utd, things kinda don't look so bad here.

In general I agree - but I think really it should be a decision for a new set of sporting directors. In general the flow of events that are needed in my mind would be something roughly like: 1. the directors immediately get fired, and go into a retirement as literally no one would hire them after this shambles - fucking disgraceful what they've done with huge amounts of their employers money, found some good gems but with a hit rate of like 20%. 2. the owners, accepting finally that they have really cocked this up and have no idea how to build a squad, take a bit of a step back, finding more established directors who have accomplished a lot more than recruitment at Brighton, and agree on a new shared vision for them to implement - which can still build on the current vision, with some practical reality mixed in: even if the team will be overall youthful, bring more experience and leadership into the squad etc 3. the new directors decide whether we are keeping Maresca or for how long he gets a chance. In my opinion, he should probably get until Jan - after a summer of making a few key signings, let him show what he can do with a squad without fraud goalkeepers and CBs etc (and finally sign a striker to compete with NJ)

He has always said there was no specific target for this year about getting it And that we were performing way ahead of expectations sooner than expected and that people shouldn't get carried away

Tuchel sacked when we were 6th in the league and playing basically exactly the same as we did recently under Maresca. Totally toothless attack and looked completely out of ideas. We were really dreadful towards the end with Tuchel... REALLY dreadful. Most of these managers would never agree to work here under the current regime / strategy (indeed I'm sure several will have rejected us already - Nagelsmann famously did). From the whole list maybe Emery is the only one who is both realistic and could be argued would be better than Maresca - although Arsenal fans would disagree, as they thought he was absolutely terrible in his stint there and couldn't wait to get rid. And for sure, if we sack Maresca and hire any of them - in less than 12 months they're considered terrible, and should be sacked. And another list of the obvious better names we should have got can be produced. Just a cycle of doom. I'm bored of it. We've had almost every top manager going and they got sacked because we figured out they "were shit" - maybe its time we looked at the rest of the club and fixed that first.

I am here 100% saying the board should go my man They have done a shit job with endless decisions, endless money wasted Personally think Maresca is the best of the managers we've had since Tuchel and no one out there is any better - that will want to work here - while we have this situation with the directors, and the strategy for the club. They know what will happen to them - the same shit will happen on the field, they'll get blamed, and be out. If we sack him because - somehow - we've got one of the world's elite managers willing to come here, and the strategy is changing and the directors are all being replaced - great. But otherwise, we may as well just stick with him - he is in my opinion the least of our problems.

All terrible footballers and good decisions from Maresca. What's your point?

Players in the squad that are definitely good enough to play for Chelsea FC: Cole Palmer Caicedo That's it. Every other player has a big question mark over them (hit or miss) or is just outright obviously bad No wonder this GK has barely played - dreadful. Like playing an outfield player in goal - no goalkeeping skills whatsoever, genuinely rather have Sanchez back Directors need to go for sure Personally think Maresca can do a good job if they stop sabotaging him, but understand why others would want him gone - just be careful what you wish for, it wont get any better with any manager that will come here.

Bring Sanchez back

Injury recovery presumably

At first glance looks like its just a straight forward Nkunku for NJ move Bit uninspiring if so, but lets see. Feel like we need a pretty big tactical shakeup without a proper 9 in the team - and Nkunku aint a 9.

Yup, pretty much. And our injuries seem to get mismanaged into escalating chronic, career ending injuries too so..lets just hope we get a fully healthy NJ back at all But season very likely over - only VAGUE hope I could see to be competitive in PL would be Cole as a false 9 and pray.

To be fair, Kane very obviously wanted to leave basically for the entire time - he was just locked into an insanely long contract and his only route out was to try not showing up to training - briefly tried that and ended up just going back to training with his tail between his legs after realising they just wouldn't pay him anymore but wouldn't sell him either, as they called his bluff. Haven't seen many players try that trick ever since that incident in fact. We are in a very good position to keep our good players for the long term - literally copied the Daniel Levy model. No real surprise of course that if you copy the Levy model you might not win much tho.

Doesn't necessarily mean they wont be sent to a bomb squad! Raheem and Chilly are basically impossible to sell but they were both sent there anyway. Probably take a loan deal with us paying a chunk of wages for any of them and just manage them out through the remaining years of their contract, not much else we can do really.

Why so little? Hard to imagine tbh

Yes because Felix wasn't good enough to get into the team If he was, they would have found a spot for him, it just was a convenient excuse. Simple truth is he is bang average and failed to deliver when given opportunities - at club after club after club. Worked hard only when he felt like it. Selfish as fuck with his decision making, which usually comes about 5 minutes after the moment to make a decision came and went. Same old Felix basically, not improved his game whatsoever over the years - got his mind totally closed and no desire to work hard or improve whatsoever.

Um, Enzo regularly plays 4 attackers... Felix didn't play a lot for us because he wasn't very good.

They're refusing him a 2 year extension on £220k a week supposedly - we are 4th in the league and may make CL still. Who knows, much stranger things have happened in football. I would think the main problem would simply be that we wont offer the sign on fee + huge weekly wages it would take, as its against our strategy...