Mhsc

Was your mind made up on Maresca before he even took the job? Kind of feels like no matter what he says or does you would be annoyed? I agree with everything he said tbh, I don't think he is making excuses, just answering questions when put to him in a pretty straight forward and honest way. Also don't disagree he'll probably be sacked in <2 years, probably ~1, he seems like a nice man so I hope it works out with him but obviously history teaches us that it is unlikely at Chelsea. Personally I like that we've moved to playing positional football. Whether Maresca is up to the scale of the job I wont even start to judge until he's had at least a few competitive games, and even then really don't think it makes sense to judge too much until the new year. Everyone is pissed off but its not his fault that the club has repeatedly sacked managers, spent a tonne of money and a lot of it quite badly, and failed to tackle some simple fundamentals. Also I don't really care what happens in the Inter game, why do you? I usually only watch them to get an eye on some of the young players that might come through in the future, like Guiu, or when we have a new manager to have a look at how he might be setting them up - which turned out to be pointless last year as Poch played one system in preseason and then abandoned it as soon as the league started. They are training games, essentially an open televised training session. It is well known good or bad preseasons have no correlation with results in the actual season. I don't really care what the result is vs Inter as long as no one gets injured and we get fitness into the legs of those who are a bit behind and we want fit for City.

Yeah he said after the game that the line was way too high and that he was trying to coach it out of them, "a habit they have from last season" Also in the press conf the other day he mentioned how due to the insane schedule travelling to/around the US and playing every 2 days that the only real training they've done is the 2 weeks before the tour with some players, since then mostly they've just had time for little video sessions to talk about ideas and not actually practice them on the pitch and so it is not really possible to improve the problems until they get back for the ~10 days they've got in Cobham before the first real game. That means some of them (Caicedo, Enzo, all the ones who joined during the tour) have had at best light touch training on the field in the new strategy, and some video sessions. I hate these intense preseason tours abroad tbh. If the club really want to be bold and do things differently they should be contrarian by being the only top club to give their managers a proper pre season, letting them spend it all at Cobham, and just play a friendly a week in the UK or something. Matters a little less a couple of years into an established managers reign maybe but when you change manager every season it is really dumb to give them a shit preseason every year.

Mudryk so bad in 1v1s, only has one idea and its too predictable: cut inside and get a shot off, never take a man on the outside and then decide what to do after...

Mudryk loves to disappoint :(

I mean I never really thought about how Sterling nails his wife before but if you want my guess he is the kind of guy that blows his load as soon as he is fully inside and then just rolls over and goes to sleep In the morning he gloats about how he rocked her world and genuinely believes it (She has a secret toy in a cupboard)

Look at that progression from GK through the field up to Guiu for the shot... The potential is OBVIOUS, I don't care what anyone says.

Think Jorg is much better on the ball and very promising for us in possession. Not close to Sanchez at the rest of the GK game though imo.

Only CB I would immediately transfer list tbh. Definitely keep Chalobah over him.

He definitely is not perfect, but he is our best winger by far at the mo

I'm still trying to process WTF Bads was doing when we conceded I am offended he plays in a Chelsea shirt if he can't be bothered to sprint in that situation. I've got time for players making errors when trying their best but if you can't be bothered to RUN in a clutch situation to cover the goal man idk what to say that is just fucking shameful

Absolutely, he is great in this system, gives him repeated 1v1 opportunities. If he can become clinical after winning the 1v1 he will be insane but if this is his general level great squad player we've got already.

Enzo showing dat quality, Noni top work. Bizarre seeing such high potential in this side but also such obvious problems in different places in different situations. We will be way better with Cucu LB but concerns at CB are very serious tbh

Sterling is a chronic disappointment

Jorgenson hesitant, but Bads should have been back to clear that too tbh... literally just a matter of not slowing down to walking pace and you're back to clear that. Shameful shit honestly, what excuse is there to NOT run in that situation? Even a youth player clears that.

Thought that was an underweight pass from Nkunku as well tbh

We are still pretty bad OOP.

Back 5 wont help. CBs making bad individual errors, both in passing and in simple 1v1 defensive moments. Bads + Colwill both been poor for most of preseason, unfortunately. Rest haven't been much better, if at all.

We have same ol' problems but tbf our quality in build up is noticeable. Created some very good chances already.

He will definitely need time, but the problem really is if he cannot be a guy that bombs forward anymore is he even world class? Or just - on a good day - a decent player?

I have also seen tonnes of people saying they don't want Samu to leave and even that they'd rather not have Julian Alvarez if it means losing Samu. People in Spain and Atletico fans seem to think he is gonna be a star and that in a better team he will shine - he was on loan at Alaves who were relegated and came back up just last season, so we don't know how he might perform in a side that dominates and creates better chances for him - general view I saw was that Alaves is terrible side who create almost nothing and if he can score 8 with them he could score a lot more in a better team. But who knows. This is only small thread but most recent I saw when opening reddit to look just now, first response: "Please add a buy back clause, i'm on my knees" To be fair it doesn't mean he is actually good: fans obviously can get carried away big time with their young guys. We certainly overrated plenty in our time. For me, he looks like an interesting specimen that could possibly be Drogba regen one day - but hard to imagine he will be anything other than a bit frustrating for us at the moment. Problem as always is for him to develop to that kind of level he needs to PLAY and he wont play a tonne here, unless something bad happens. So he will probably stagnate with us.

Osimhen goes wherever (maybe here maybe not) and either way Lukaku goes to them. We're only fucked if they literally can't get rid of Osimhen and/or Lukaku gets injured training before we can make a deal. If they can't offload Osimhen and enter the season with him refusing to play for them then Aurelio De Laurentiis will have no one to blame but himself.

Washington and Fofana are surely considered duds now Guiu probably goes out on Championship loan?

I agree - in the current football era at least, where there's really no one on a spending spree (PL calmed down, Saudi calmed down, PSG calmed down, top Spanish clubs in constant financial distress, China been a dead football market for ages, etc). Fair play to City, consistently doing good deals like this. Only way the fee is justifiable is if the 20m euros add ons are very unrealistic and money they'll be happy to pay if it happens, e.g. league wins + CL wins, Julian winning Balon d'Or, or any of that shit. £65m for him is a minor stretch but not a huge one.

Strengths: – Physical strength (very strong) – Pace (very strong) – Positioning (very strong) – Movement (very strong) – Link-up play (strong) – Work rate (strong) – Athleticism (strong) – Footwork (strong) – Teamwork (strong) Improvements: – Finishing – Composure – Weak foot usage Conclusion: Samu Omorodion is making a name for himself in the football world. This 193cm tall centre-forward has all the right attributes to become a great player. With his little experience in professional football, he already showcases great skills. He is a very unselfish player and his contribution to the team is immense, not only offensively but also from a defensive point of view. Samu has great overall physicality and athleticism. He combines these attributes with his intelligent and efficient movement, which makes him a player who is really difficult to defend. Besides that, he is very well aware of his positioning, which allows him to stay on-side in most situations. Although, there is still a way to improve his finishing and composure, which I think will come with time, what I like about Samu is that he can get himself a clear scoring position in every game. I can see him being a key player for Atlético Madrid in the future. Nothing that wasn't evident from watching a bit of youtube ^. Tbh impact sub and an alternative strategic option to play off a huge ass target man is probably good squad building, but clearly not XI building. He is not close to NJ yet but he is an improvement on Guiu imo - who we were about to enter the season with as striker option number 2. Now Guiu will go out on loan I assume and we'll have Samu as our backup striker. Its not exactly exciting, but it is probably an improvement and we know there are limited striker options these days.

Am I losing my mind or did Caicedo not finish the season playing as a 6 with Cucu inverting to play next to him? And did he not look absolutely world class at all times?