Chelsea 1-4 Celtic

[OneMoSalah 8,774]

One of the worst pre-season performances I have seen as a Chelsea fan. Dreadful.

Yes again some will say pre season is only pre season, results don’t matter and what not but fuck me if Maresca cannot see after these 2 games that it isn’t working having Reece tucking into centre midfield then he will be out of a job by Christmas and deservedly so.

And the defence? What the fuck are they coaching them to do? 2 goals v Wrexham and 4 v Celtic. And multiple chances for more goals against us in both games. Shocking. Thats with Fofana, Badiashile, Levi, Tosin etc guys who are established at a certsin level. Selling Trevor and intending on replacing Silva with Tosin was always gonna be a risk. 2 pre season games and its already looking like a disastrous decision. 

I will say it now, irrespective of how many players we sign we will not finish 6th this season barring a miracle. Never mind higher. Reckon we will be looking for a new manager come the summer simple as that. 

Edited July 27 by OneMoSalah

[Laylabelle 9,349]

Know pre season but even so it starts again not long now and we're all over the place! 

Didnt expect us to be near top 4 this season however so sums it up..guess just another season to endure...

 

Edited July 27 by Laylabelle

[DDA 9,689]

Our defence is seriously worrying… midfield and attack will be far better with Palmer, Caicedo and Jackson back in but the defence… we needed to go out and buy a leader for that defence.. we dont have one.

[Blue Armour 4,278]

Couldn't catch the 2nd half.

How was the new signing Renato Veiga?

 

[Vesper 28,737]

2 minutes ago, Blue Armour said:

Couldn't catch the 2nd half.

How was the new signing Renato Veiga?

 

did not play long enough to form an opinion 

[erinblue 15]

Ran around like headless chickens most of the game..... Celtic had men all over the place & neither Colwell, baddy, fofana or James knew where they were or what they were supposed to do!!... backline pressing to half way & getting caught out & midfield not covering the runners.....like before if teams sit & pick us off we have no fkn answers in defence , a defence that have no desire to win ball at all costs or else are 5 seconds slow to react!...how I wish we had a young JT or Ricky...

..young Spanish guy running his arse off up front (he looked v good) but rest were not pressing same but sitting off, so Celtic  just played through them.... unreal, as if they've forgotten how to play the game.... My opinion, only ones showing anything was Lavia & Guiu....rest were pathetic for a billion £ team....noni being fkn noni, 'I want to show world have great I am' just looked like a pub player......pre season but city league game is few weeks away & they'll tear that effort apart!.. training game against them will count for nothing after that display....had hopes for top 4 but unless something sinks in soon I be wishing we still had Poch......jeeez 🫤

[ZAPHOD2319 4,470]

 

[Superblue 6,370]

I'm not prepared to form too much of an opinion yet until the back end of pre season, when we can see how the other players fit in who aren't currently available, the squad as a whole should be fitter and getting more used to the manager's demands.

However, I am concerned with what I've seen so far with the inverted full back into midfield tactic. Certainly in Reece's situation, I'm sure given a bit of time he could fulfil the role to a pretty strong standard. However in Reece and Gusto, we have arguably the most complete right back in the league when fit, and a top 5 right back in the league backing him up. Both play both ends of the pitch to a high standard and are a strength in our team. Playing them essentially out of position seems such a waste. If Maresca is adamant with this set up then it has to be off the left hand side where Cucurella proved he can play that role at the end of last season, and we've bought a deputy for him that has seemingly been purchased for that same role too. Even if it means Reece/Gusto tucking into a back 3, it's a much better fit and surely provides them the opportunity still to push on when the time is right as the spare defender.

I am also worried where Palmer fits into this setup. If he's our right winger we are not getting the same output compared to last season if he's expected to play so wide in this system. Unless he is given more freedom like Sarri decided he had to do with Hazard then we may be clipping the wings of our best attacker. If he's earmarked to play centrally then it's another player to add to a what looks like becoming a saturated position, and leaves Madueke with a free run at the right wing position, who whilst I think can play a role of a good squad player, for me isn't good enough to be a first choice player.

Maresca is paid the big bucks for a reason, and hopefully this summer can find solutions before results start to matter.

[Reddish-Blue 2,341]

51 minutes ago, Superblue said:

I'm not prepared to form too much of an opinion yet until the back end of pre season, when we can see how the other players fit in who aren't currently available, the squad as a whole should be fitter and getting more used to the manager's demands.

The constant change over in managers doesn't help any player. 

The fact that Maresca's style is completely different to previous managers will lead to some horrible results this season as teams will just pick us off on the counter. 

I would of thought a counter attacking style of play would suit the players we have at the club, but for whatever reason they chose Pep-lite. 

[Thor 2,392]

1 hour ago, Laylabelle said:

Know pre season but even so it starts again not long now and we're all over the place! 

Didnt expect us to be near top 4 this season however so sums it up..guess just another season to endure...

 

Why would you not expect us to be near top 4 this season? We were one bad call against Villa from being top 4 last season.

Do you think we've gotten worse? 

[bluephoenix 1,126]

Just saw the scoreline. Any positives at all?

[robsblubot 3,496]

45 minutes ago, Thor said:

Why would you not expect us to be near top 4 this season? We were one bad call against Villa from being top 4 last season.

Do you think we've gotten worse? 

Villa managing top4 is not the norm.

United and spurs can improve same way that you expect us to improve.

To answer your question though, the loss of continuity esp considering that the new manager will try to implement the position game, which is notoriously slow to get right… not to mention that it demands a roster tweaks.

[NikkiCFC 7,931]

I thought it's impossible to have weaker defense from last season 😕 

[TheHulk 1,850]

Just now, NikkiCFC said:

I thought it's impossible to have weaker defense from last season 😕 

Funny how these clowns brief weekly how we want to get the best youngsters around and build something great.. Yoro was there to get and these clowns did nothing.

[NikkiCFC 7,931]

City lost both games if that makes you feel better. 

[cosmicway 1,316]

Before Wrexham was the team in some training centre, or did they come straight from the beach ?
Did Maresca study any videos ?
I don't believe in summer friendlies either way but also have n't seen before such colossal disorganization before, from anyone.

[Strike 7,216]

6 hours ago, DDA said:

Our defence is seriously worrying… midfield and attack will be far better with Palmer, Caicedo and Jackson back in but the defence… we needed to go out and buy a leader for that defence.. we dont have one.

Renato Veiga instead of Calafiori. Tosin over a main CB signing. 

Don't think we will sign another defender now. 

[Strike 7,216]

8 hours ago, YorkshireBlue said:

Guiu has been good, he's probably the one that's most impressed me so far, although lavia was good the game before as well.

Guiu is making a serious push to stay this season. There will be plenty of cup games he can get game time in. Looks like he's got the technique + the workhorse stuff