OneMoSalah

Rosenoir will likely a candidate. It will not only be financially viable for BlueCo but also something they’ll see as a real plus with the multi club model. I mean he hasn’t done too badly there but he is definitely not the right guy as he is going to be another spineless BlueCo puppet. Fans can revolt… they won’t care. Look at the situation at Strasbourg, the fans don’t want them there yet they do not give a fuck and are running it as a feeder club. Sporting will be the same if they make it happen. Amongst whoever else these go for. Regardless. Winstanley & Stewart need to go. How many wank signings have those made? How much value for money have we gotten? How many poor managerial appointments? As much as Maresca is hopeless & also needs to go, without changing the personnel above we will never get any real traction. I cannot think of any signings barring Caicedo, Palmer, Estevao & to a lesser extent Pedro Neto which actually look like good signings for Chelsea FC (not Strasbourg) under those sporting directors.

In all fairness Enzo Fernandez can follow him out the door as well if the price is right, he has no right to not be happy at all. Cannot afford passengers in football. He is arguably one of the biggest we have had in years. So slow without the ball. But yes Maresca has to go. As do the sporting directors.

Still yet to be convinced Veiga was a big improvement on what we have already also though. Or am I missing something? I mean our CBs now we don’t need players around the same level. We need top class quality. Same with the GK position. Veiga’s profile maybe would’ve been better for the squad (left foot, cover CB, LB & DM) but one would argue Hato also does the same? Nobody here for sure would’ve been able to say what Veiga’s best position was based on his minutes here because he played all of those roles & was clearly more of a swiss army knife player than someone who specialised as a CB, LB or a 6. I don’t think any of the players Maresca froze out in that January (Felix & Veiga especially), in terms of quality, were vast improvements on what we had/currently have. Felix playing more would’ve perhaps would’ve prevented him from running Cole into the ground but that was about all his worth given how reluctant the manager was to use Nkunku behind the striker. Tosin signing was a bad move though. Always was. Better than what we already had? No. Get the feeling he came into replace Silva in terms of being a more experienced player and it was always going to backfire horrifically because he hasn’t got the same ability or experience. Seen comparisons with him coming in to Cahill signing at the time too. Captaining Fulham and being a non capped England international is not the same.

The striker, wingers, all poor. I am sure you were one of the ones who said these attackers would’ve warranted a title challenge earlier in the season too, no? Clearlake/Stewart & Winstanley have no intentions of us competing at the very top it is so clear. Simple as that. You don’t sign Garnacho, Gittens & Delap when your team has been crying out for top GK & CBs for about 5 years. Even when your manager has said about a CB publicly. The recruitment has been wrong for so many seasons now. The manager also has to be reviewed in the summer because his inflexibility against smaller teams is killing us. Like you need to be able to see these teams off to give yourself the best chance of competing for titles, dropping points against the likes of Sunderland, Leeds, Bournemouth just undoes any points gained against the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs & whoever. Tbf his ability was always there but it was the consistency that was a massive concern. Not to mention the fact he was always a luxury player who lacked the bit without the ball. People forget he’s went under a big physical transformation at City, shed a lot of weight & has had to buy into Pep’s approach where everyone has to work without the ball. I am very doubtful Maresca would’ve gotten that out of him, proof is in the pudding, Cole & Enzo still waltz around as if they don’t have to do their bits without the ball. Not to mention none of the defenders or midfielders seem to want to compete in duels. However its worked out for Cherki - him going there to Pep, with top top players, in comparison to him coming here - it would’ve been a wrong move. I was 100% convinced us signing him would’ve been a bad move & still stand by it.

Seen this coming. Not hard to outperform us. Just roll your sleeves up and make it tough physically. Our lack of physicality and flexibility is glaringly obvious, particularly scary how bad we are without Caicedo. Few more games like this and we will be in a proper fight to try scrape into the top 4 come the end of the season.

Defending aside, any chance these attacking players are ever going to truly flourish under him? Always seems to be whenever we play mid/low table clubs players look reluctant to run at their opposite numbers & pass it backwards/sideways… I know their deeper also & there doesn’t seem to be the same tempo but it is really annoying. Third goal wouldn’t happen if Maresca didn’t have a hard on for us playing unnecessary short passes in dangerous areas also. Was a few close moments with Sanchez kicking it out too. Personnel need to be improved upon A LOT but if it’s not on, don’t play high risk balls for the sake of it, get a feel for the game and be flexible when its extremely high risk. That comes from his philosophy as well as players actions/mistakes. Absolute clusterfuck after a few good results, signs of what will continue to happen unless he starts being a bit more flexible in games against smaller teams.

Disappointing how poor we’ve been at competing for duels & ball recoveries. Like next level abysmal. Tosin 7 ft tall & probably not won a header all night. Enzo given it the big one smashing Madueke vs Arsenal but has probably lost every 50-50 tonight. Cucurella the same. One of the only times Gittens took his man on & beat him, we score a goal. Neto also comes on actually looks to try dribble past his opposite players, couple of crosses but other than that no real quality in the attacking play. Again. Maresca hasn’t got a plan when we don’t play teams who want to play with their backline 25-30 meters higher up the park than Leeds did tonight. Yet isn’t part of the problem? Many many issues to solve from the manager to the first 11. On second viewing of that goal yes nothing he can do but has also kicked it to Leeds countless times tonight anyway.

Why was Gusto passing it to his CB who is maybe 3m away from him? Who is going to be under near instant pressure? And why is he trying to play it to the GK who is another 1 to 2m away and going to be under severe pressure from 2 players? As opposed to Gusto just playing up the line so we can get up the pitch? So avoidable. Don’t tell me thats not down to Maresca’s philosophy as well?

Tosin & Sanchez wow. Relegation fodder.

I’m sorry but don’t talk nonsense. If it was still 0-0 we would be playing the same way as we were in the first half because he wouldn’t think it was a bad performance. The manager wouldn’t have made any of the changes & I would still be watching Badiashile take 40 touches before passing it backwards. You don’t make 4 changes (3 of them attackers) in 15 minutes because not having ball playing CBs/a good defence is the only reason your losing 😂

Lucky as fuck. 2 big challenges that Cucurella & Tosin have to win convincingly regardless. Thats the basics.

Gittens finally takes someone on as opposed to passing it backwards, gets an assist 👍 The philosophy is dire. Could have Arsenals defence and still struggle if we played like we did first half. Or in countless other games v smaller teams.

On a yellow though. And in true fashion, we are due a red card. Regardless, no point playing any wingers if we are gonna keep passing it this slow.

I’m sorry but it’s not the player selection. It’s the philosophy. So one dimensional. Look at it, that back 3 with the ball, they’ve probably completed about 150 passes between themselves, majority sideways & backwards. Wheres the willingness to go more direct into Delap? Or try turn Leeds round quickly on the odd occasion when they’ve pushed up like (which you even see Arsenal doing a lot)? It doesn’t happen because the philosophy of this manager does not allow it… If you look at majority of the games against these sort of lower sides, it is nothing new regardless of the selection. Enzo Fernandez & Andrey Santos aren’t getting the ball quick enough. The same with Estevao & Joao Pedro. Always so predictable when we have got to break down a semi organised side. They were talking about Farke getting sacked a few days ago 😂

Was a clever signing if you listened to some on here though. Guys 7 ft and scared of heading the ball. Wouldn’t get a game at any other top 6/8 team yet he’s an undisputed starter here….. Yep. Did say beforehand that we would get something out of the Arsenal game and struggle here probably. Games like these are more common because you play more of these smaller teams that make it difficult to play through. No point doing well v Liverpool, Arsenal, Barcelona etc if your gonna struggle against Sunderland, Leeds, whoever else…

Is anyone surprised? Fuck sake 😂 Really am sick of saying it regarding Maresca, when we play against teams where we are the favourites our approach play & intensity is always so poor. Yet against Barcelona, Arsenal, Liverpool etc where we are probably seen as the underdogs, its the opposite as he actually makes changes or tweaks to how we plan. Blows my mind how bad we are against these lower teams. So one dimensional. Just need a red card in there now to make it more difficult.

The thing is though, he & the team will go and get us results in games against a PSG or a Barcelona (maybe even Arsenal) when we are the underdogs/mix it up or tweak our approach to expose something but then when it comes to playing lesser teams - we seem to struggle in terms of our performance, the tactical & mental sides particularly. Thats not changed this season. And thats where the majority of the frustration is because he is willing to be more flexible against a PSG, Barcelona etc but then he is absolutely insufferable & stubborn vs lesser sides & we get nowhere convincingly. Wait & see we will play well v Arsenal to follow up with this result then probably struggle v Leeds, Bournemouth, Atalanta & Everton….

Neto & Guiu brilliant there. Really like the looks of Guiu there is a top player in there just needs to keep playing. Tosin & Badiashile are a fucking nightmare though.

Anyone over the age of 26-28 is not being signed by this ownership/sporting directors again. So yes 100% a load of shite on Rudiger returning.

Whispers about us trying to get rid of Lavia getting louder & louder since news that United knocked us back including him as part of that deal for Garnacho…. So much for him, Fernandez & Caicedo being our long term midfield 3/most complete trio in world or Europe (still gets me every time thinking back to it). Not long after the rumours of us being open to selling Enzo Fernandez too if we got offered close to what we paid so yes fair to say that 2/3 have flattered to deceive. Getting rid of Lavia is the right thing to do, you cannot bank on a player who plays 30% of all games each season. Regardless of his potential ability. Will this ownership group ever learn though, signing someone who was already injured only to actively considering moving them on 2 or 2.5 seasons later… will be deemed as another bad move & rightfully so, lessons can be learned. I don’t see us dropping £100m + on either Elliot Anderson or Adam Wharton though & personally neither of them are worth that. It may be the going rate on the market but still we have got Santos & Essugo already on the books so would it not be more like sense to see what they are about before spending on that position again? Particularly given the noise on here about both those lads after loan spells in France & Spain….? I mean Santos in particular was the dogs bollocks last season according to many folk yet can barely get a sniff here 😂

So we were effectively looking at getting rid of him if the chance permitted itself? These co-sporting directors really are thick as fuck, no club is stupid enough to sign injury prone players off of us 🤣

Has to be first name on the team sheet if fit & available, his performances for us & for his NT make it pretty tough to justify leaving him out. I suppose if anyone could find a reason, it would be Enzo fucking Maresca though…..

A sponsor for the front of shirt will generate income though and after 2 seasons without, we could do with a sponsor 🤣

Yes but good squad/team building isn’t achieved by signing 25 x 18-21 year olds. You need to have some guys who are different ages to balance it out. Would get more out of Semenyo than both Gittens & Garnacho over the next 3 seasons probably. He will make an excellent addition to someone else. Our chances sailed the moment we dropped another £100m on 2 young wingers.

Cant be any worse than Tosin. People laughed when I said that last season too but Tosin has been found out as the second coming of Titus Bramble. And another 16 years old who is apparently “best CB talent” someone has seen. Great. He’ll be playing for Grimsby in 5 years probably. I know we don’t need wingers but would be devastated if we aren’t in the running for Semenyo. Looks really exciting. Suppose 25 years old probably makes him too old anyway but would’ve been a better signing than both Gittens & Garnacho. Oh well. Probably goes to City or Liverpool & tears it up. Even if he went to United think he’d do well - particularly after the output & performances they’ve got with Cunha & Mbuemo, PL proven players giving them much more than most expected, ok goals maybe lacking from Cunha but I think you see the all round ability is there. Mbuemo has really impressed me his physicality, dynamism & work rate.