Reddish-Blue

You don't need a world class coach to come in, sometimes as a coach you also need to figure out how to get the best out of the players in the squad. Just look at Howe at Newcastle, they haven't been great this season and their big name signing wasn't exactly lighting it up as a striker, so they decided to use him as more of a midfielder. Just looking at the lineup that was put out in the 2nd half against Newcastle, who actually thought Garnacho - Pedro - Delap was going to get us a goal with Palmer not in form at all? Then you make a sub of Caicedo for Lavia? And then you throw on Hato at LB for no reason?

We've been like this for ages, since Tuchel left with the UCL title. Maresca managed to get Palmer in the form of his life and got us the Conference and CWC titles but other than that, you can look through the whole squad and there's literally no quality. James, Cucurella, Caicedo, Palmer (when in form), Estevao (even though he's raw) and maybe Pedro. Everyone else could be sold 😄

We'll be mid-table by the time that happens Honestly I can see us getting 7th at this rate, Pool will overtake us once they beat Spurs. Haven't seen such a gutless performance AT HOME against Newcastle's backup midfield. Enzo couldn't do anything, Palmer invisible, could barely control a ball, Pedro doing his usual midfield rubbish, Garnacho running inside time and time again and Delap playing like a CB upfront. Can't wait to see how many PSG pile on us at the Bridge, they'll want to make a statement for the next round.

What Strategy? You can't just buy a bunch of players, put them together like FIFA career mode and hope that they produce results. That display against Newcastle (without both Tonali and Bruno...even Joel didn't come on till 60 minutes) was utterly pathetic. Big questions need to be asked about every player in the squad. Palmer was invisible for most of the game and it was rinse and repeat, get the ball, pass it onto the wing, let Garnacho dribble inside for no reason, no shot, no cross, then pass it to the right, give it to James, put a cross in, hope that Delap isn't useless upfront.

The main thing is, can Liam adapt his style to letting Sanchez play the long ball rather than forcing him to pass it out from the back Its just a shame that we have two very average GK's at the club. We really went from Cech/Courtois/Mendy to this

Monaco almost had them knocked out in the UCL They'll be up for our game, hopefully we can get at least a draw and then beat them at the Bridge.

To be fair it was a mix of players that haven't really played together, was always going to be inconsistent performances across the pitch. As soon as I saw Tosin and Badi starting together, thought the opposition would get 2+ goals easily. Good to see Lavia and Essugo get some minutes in, hopefully we will have a decent midfielder on the bench moving forward!

This would also be dependent upon us qualifying for UCL next season. If we somehow fall off and don't get 4th/5th and end up in Europa next season, I would expect players to be sold to balance the books for UEFA. Keen to see what happens with Forest to end the season as I'd love a CB like Murillo to join us in the summer!

I agree with the point but what i'm saying is, I wouldn't be shocked if Panichelli or Barco or Moreira end up at other European sides as there will definitely be interest in their services come the next transfer window!

My only concern with Gittens is that he looks just as raw as Tyrique George and we sent him on loan to Everton. Caicedo/Cucurella took a little time to settle but again they had PL experience from Brighton. I don't see how we carry both Gittens and Garnacho next season and then we very likely have young Quenda coming into the first team squad as well.

They sold Diarra to Sunderland for 30 million. Panichelli will have a choice of clubs assuming he wants to test himself elsewhere. We might own Strasbourg but that doesn't mean we can sign all their players. Would just lead to a UEFA/FIFA investigation and transfer ban.

Emegha hasn't played a game since November 2025, at least Lavia and Fofana will have a new buddy in the treatment room 😆 What a waste of money, we may as well keep Jackson next season as Delap is close to useless upfront.

Knowing our current scouting team, they would just go shopping at Brighton again. So far we have their 3rd choice GK, LB, DM, ST. Penders has the talent to be #1 for years to come, would hate to see him sold on the cheap (unless of course someone like Donnarumma became available in the market)

He wasn't a bad player here, just played different roles for Maresca and put in a good shift for us in the Conference League games. If the rumors are true and Everton goes for someone like Delap, watch him become a serviceable player again.

I just hope Palmer can return to form, our attack looks toothless at the moment.

It was bound to happen post Roman and we got shitty owners who want to use Chelsea like their American 'teams'. We don't have any footballing brains in the club anymore. Its going to be tough for Liam to get us top 4 this season, already dropped 4 points in 2 home games that we should have won and now we have no form heading into a horrible fixture list. If we lose to Villa, we may as well give up on top 4.

Well we are only 2 cards away from equalling the record.....and funnily enough, the young players haven't been sent off this season.

I really hope we don't sell Penders. He's got top level potential like Cech/Courtois

Our next three games are Arsenal away, Villa away and then Newcastle coming to the Bridge. We will get 2 points out of the next 3 games if we're lucky. United have 2 home games and away to Newcastle Liverpool have 2 home games and away to Wolves We might be out of the race for UCL by the time we play Everton.

Exactly. How the fark do you keep a CB on the pitch when he's on a yellow and likes to get into challenges? Stupid decision making and then subbing on Tosin who can't defend for his life. These dropped points to Leeds and Burnley (and many others) will cost us top 5 this season as I see Liverpool overtaking us.

https://www.si.com/onsi/soccer/Chelsea/news/why-Chelsea-players-at-risk-of-significant-pay-cut-next-season-due-contract-clauses-01khy20gwhkz Will be interesting to see what happens if we miss 5th spot this season.

Well with Jackson coming back next season from his 'amazing' Bayern loan and riding the bench, we don't really need Delap. Everton makes sense, he'd probably do well for them, just like KDH

Its really up to the players, by the time United come to the bridge in April, we will either be in the top 4 race or well out of it. Liverpool have a decent run up until Everton away and then a tricky run-in for the last 4 games.

I thought we already had that issue with Palmer being in and out of the side? Reece has missed a few, same with Fofana playing like 10 games. Will be a great experience for Hato and probably Gusto (assuming Reece/Josh play RB as needed).

Maybe the fear is, that if Josh does go (on loan), he may not come back as there are plenty of clubs keen on young homegrown CB's. I also think Josh would benefit from having a Cahill/JT type CB next to him, that bit of experience would be crucial for a young CB learning his trade.