Blue Armour

Hope this guy doesn't read into social media that much. He did very well from an attacking perspective, but there are plenty of people upset because he lost his man during the Brentford throw in that led to goal

I'm worried about the United fixture because of this. They've lost badly against City. Now we play them at Old Trafford. They'll be toughening up to make it difficult, just like they did against Arsenal who barely sneaked a win. With our inconsistent CBs and Maresca rotating players, there are so many variables here.

Smart decision. True, they have the benefit of a better squad with less injuries, but you dont treat a PL game like a cup game against a small team. We have 8 CL games to play. 1 away result against Bayern who are the best team in the group isn't going to be the big deal breaker. Just like last season, Maresca seems to think that every European game is a costly knockout round.

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.

Even if Maresca wanted to rest some players or rotate, this isn't the way to do it. Who rests both available starting full backs (not to mention both right back options in James & Gusto), and plays CBs all across the back line? He did this last season too,.ahead of one of the conference league games

I'd argue even without the Colwill injury, the club should have been in for a quality CB this summer. Clearly they are putting a lot of stock in Fofana and Badiashile..probably because no one else will buy the always injured pair. If neither of them are able to step up their game this season, it will be another mediocre ride.

Not with the current backline. And certainly not without Colwill. With all the UEFA FFP constraints it was going to be tough to bring in a quality CB this summer. Should have got rid of Disasi and others a while ago, and invested in real quality instead of just filling in the squad with numbers.

Yeah the back line is problematic. If it weren't for Maresca, the club would probably be still thinking of Disasi as a solution. Just like they think Fofana and Badiashile are viable options. All 3 CBs proving to be disastrous buys.

Yeah, thats a really great positive. But as usual the negligence shown to our back line for the past 3 years rearing its ugly head. Tosin is a decent squad player. So is Chalobah. And today Tosin was awful. We should ideally have at least 3 starting quality CBs, and only Colwill barely meets that requirement.

Well done Sanchez, lol

King Caicedo. Well done Garnacho

Not sure why the team is taking short corners for everything

Take a normal corner for once please..

Palmer!!!

Gittens like Bambi each time the ball comes to him. He should be brought on as a sub. Not ready to start games

George. Weird sub again Why not bring on Garnacho. Why is the clubs golden boy being protected after all the relentless hype to bring him in.

Would swap Gittens for Garnacho at half time. At least Garnacho has PL experience. And bring on Gusto/James for Fofana.

Gittens has looked so off the pace. Always half a second slow to react to even his own team mates. Looks like it will be a while before he adjusts to the PL.

Buonanotte's first real involvement in the game

He's been anonymous so far this game. Not sure why he started.

Tosin is very poor in 1 on 1 situations. Always backing off. But hey, the club think they are well equipped in the CB department. 3rd least number of goals conceded last year. Sign of a top team for most people I guess.

Not sure what they see in Badiashile. Always injured and not spectacular when fit.

Wesley Fofana and Sterling. Guess they never expected it to deteriorate like this

Media and rival club fans are scratching their heads thinking about this one, lol: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-15066739/Opta-stats-boffins-surprising-list-10-Premier-League-players-far-season-NO-Liverpool-players-included.html#comments-15066739 "And that, according to Opta, has resulted in no Liverpool player making the cut for the top 10 players in the league so far this term. A Chelsea player is top of the list, with four Blues stars included in total. Players from Nottingham Forest, Tottenham, Manchester United and Everton also make the cut."

Wow. You'd think the player and/or his agent would have confirmed these things ahead of time. Unless the club pulled a fast one on them. Wouldn't surprise me.