OneMoSalah

Finally someone fucking crosses the ball, as opposed to a backwards pass, and would you look at that… and that 😂 wow

“Keep passing it backwards and sideways”

Midfield non existent also. Not sure what plan was with Gusto in CM - was it due to mainly injuries? Surely an academy player who is a natural midfielder could have got a run out instead of Malo…

Lavia not helping both CBs there either… one direct ball, shocking. Could be 2-0 down here already.

Only we could make Forest look half decent… a game after beating Liverpool. Style is absolute dross. Estevao should be starting also.

Think he needs a run of games, seems he doesn’t have the managers trust as much as Colwill, Fofana and Tosin do but only one way to earn it: performances like that. In a good place going into the international break but can’t let this be a passing moment, need to kick on and win the next few games. And play more to the standard shown in this game. Next 4 games in October (PL, CL & cup) should all be very much winnable before what will be a tough match against Spurs in November. Then after that, 3 more games we should be winning before playing Barcelona & Arsenal at the end of November. Cant afford to not win these games outside of Spurs, Barca & Arsenal.

He’s been permanently off the board for about 5 years now… Like every time any media outlets tried to say Barca wanted to move him on, he came out and said he has no intentions of leaving basically. And they resolved the wage thing years ago.

Gusto has really regressed under Maresca, he looked good when he played under Poch. Good offensively and solid defensively - thought we got a good deal on our hands - but looks out of his depth in this new set up. It is strange.

Caicedo & Palmer will be looking to leave end of season if we don’t buck up our ideas. Talk about another uninspiring performance…. Another red card. Lot of stupidity. You’d think the manager be banging the drum on keeping your head/not making stupid decisions to even give the referee a chance. We were lucky Moises didn’t get anything in the aftermath of the Brighton game too….

1-0 up, probably against run of play but jesus we look so so easy to play against!!!!

Classic Jose. Usual bullshit before a game. Good job he’s not the manager he was 10-15 years ago because he’d have a game plan that would absolutely kill us drawn up. Will be a difficult game regardless with our half hearted mob.

Some are young still and not played often enough in the PL. The guys like Estevao, Santos, Essugo, Hato etc. For guys like Robert Sanchez (27), Reece James (25), Trevor Chalobah (26), Tosin (28), Marc Cucurella (27), Enzo Fernandez (24), amongst a few others, now they have a good amount of games at the club and even outwith that, a lot of collective experiences between them from club and international level for some good competitive nations. The captain, vice captain & third captain have got nearly 700 games between them at club level if my maths is right. And about 120-130 international caps. So it just shows that it is not necessarily just experience but accountability and actual leadership skills. Said it before, James & Fernandez should’ve never been given those roles under Poch when Thiago Silva was there. Was too quick of a shift in the squad, losing and offloading experienced players who were leaders in there. BlueCo have a lot to answer for.

The sporting directors and board believe they are making the right signings and buying quality though. They have done ever since binning most of the players off from that first transfer window with BlueCo. I alluded to in another thread, the quality in the starting 11 without Cole, Reece & Moises isn’t really there. Not only that, there are guys who need to develop in the squad. This is why you need a mix of players with quality, proven, experienced players in and around the place who are good professionals. Guys to carry the load a bit when youngsters and inconsistent players struggle or pull them through games. And to influence or mentor the guys off the field. The balance is well off. And we have been seeing that for 3 years now. Some of the guys have been here for a good couple of seasons now though and need to take a look in the mirror too, hiding behind this young team moniker and not taking responsibility. Trev alluded to it after the Man Utd game I think about how they’ve played in the PL for years now. Personally feel Enzo Fernandez is one. Defos a few others too. No nastiness or ruthlessness about us at all, just a soft touch, we roll over and the “we are a young team we need to learn from this experience” excuse comes out 99.9% of the time from players or the manager. But we never learn. Never seen the likes of it for as long as I can remember - the recruitment model is snowballing into what looks like a serious lack of sporting ambition also. I remember Jose’s second spell, one season in we were sitting third with a good record in bigger games and folk thought we could maybe be outside title contenders. He said that we were a small horse that needed milk and to learn to jump. Next summer he went out, recalled Courtois, signed Fabregas, Filipe Luis & Diego Costa. Won the title and League Cup.

I don’t think anyone realistically was expecting those two to elevate an already mixed bag of attackers. Let’s be frank, Garnacho should’ve been avoided at all costs after his antics after the Europa League final with United and the Sancho experiment last season (United crying out for wingers and pace yet their head coach alienated both Garnacho & Sancho… says it all, same with Rashford too who will not be surprised if his move in Spain goes sour). Gittens looks like the sort of guy who needs to play in a team that plays more on the counter attack, based on what I’ve seen so far I don’t see him being the sort of player who will be able to play in tight spaces and against low blocks. Will be interesting to see in the run up to Christmas (if Enzo survives to then), if there is an increase or lack of minutes for both. Given the Veiga & Joao Felix situations last season, I would think it would be clear if he is or isn’t keen on them.

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.

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.

Well deserved. Horrendous again. The head honchos need to sack Maresca and change their thinking. End of story. They can change the manager all they want but if they don’t stop making these stupid mistakes in recruitment we will get nowhere.

We might as well just become fucking Brighton then eh? Not like they haven’t been trying to for the past 2.5 years anyway. These cunts who own and run the club are absolutely at it, sooner they sell up and fuck off the better. Disliked by Chelsea fans & disliked by Strasbourg fans. Says it all. Hapless.

Could have done a lot of things. But this ownership & sporting directors are muppets. Saying that if Guehi was at Brighton we’d likely have signed him. I am surprised we didn’t try sign a CB from them this summer…. This is what this team is going to be for the foreseeable unless something drastic changes with recruitment &/or management. Just happy to get in the top 4-6. Balance the books. Cole won’t be sticking around for too much longer if he has any sense.

Hopefully gets his p45. Cannot imagine how bad we will play against these.

Wow. Wins a win but that was fucking tragic. Anyone who thought Gittens & Garnacho were serious upgrades/good signings need to lay off the crack pipe. Would rather Sterling was playing than those 2.

None of the CBs we have would make the bench in any of the past title winning teams of the last 10 years in the PL. Yet alone start. Tosin was a weird signing all round given he is a squad player at best & we already have about 4 CB at that level. Trev just unfortunate he’s been priced out of a move several times although the way he was treated nearly every window before last summer was an absolute disgrace as well. He is better than every CB we have at the moment. Not good enough to play every week if we want to be a top top team but a dependable, solid squad player.

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.

It most certainly isn’t the major coup it is made out to be either. It’s a trophy yes and bought him some more credit in the bank with the decision makers but doesn’t necessarily mean he is the end all or be all of us winning that. The PL & CL results is a better barometer to use to praise or beat him with. Seen enough last season to know how it will end… he will be gone by the summer 100%.

Chalobah’s post match interview “we are not kids anymore” Not so sure, the mantra that’s been coming out of the club and several players is that the team is young & lacks experience. Maybe a lot of them need to stop thinking like that and act like men. Soft soft soft team.