Enzo Maresca Thread

[robsblubot 3,595]

2 minutes ago, Mhsc said:

Jackson was having one of the worst games of his career

Second half, yes. 
he was quite good in the first half and his high press got us the goal.

Nkunku managed to be far worse than Jackson’s second half too.

Edited January 26 by robsblubot

[Mhsc 1,098]

50 minutes ago, robsblubot said:

Second half, yes. 
he was quite good in the first half and his high press got us the goal.

Nkunku managed to be far worse than Jackson’s second half too.

I thought he was dreadful in the first half too, sure he did a decent job capitalising on a horrific mistake by their new CB but overall thought it was his worst ever performance from us and he had to go off

Nkunku doing a terrible job for the time he was on the pitch is its own thing. With the benefit of hindsight, he should have brought on Guiu.

But lets be real, if NJ had stayed on the field performing as he was, the pitch forks would be out that he DIDN'T make the sub - and people would say he should have at least tried Nkunku.

Damned if he does and damned if he doesn't!

[robsblubot 3,595]

28 minutes ago, Mhsc said:

I thought he was dreadful in the first half too, sure he did a decent job capitalising on a horrific mistake by their new CB but overall thought it was his worst ever performance from us and he had to go off

Nkunku doing a terrible job for the time he was on the pitch is its own thing. With the benefit of hindsight, he should have brought on Guiu.

But lets be real, if NJ had stayed on the field performing as he was, the pitch forks would be out that he DIDN'T make the sub - and people would say he should have at least tried Nkunku.

Damned if he does and damned if he doesn't!

Agree to disagree on the first half and his importance on the goal then.

I think his runs, and holding on to the football are undervalued around here and when he gets subbed off we miss that as we did with nkunku who does nothing on the pitch.

Guiu seems super raw every time I saw him so not sure that was a game for him.

Had we had another viable striker option, then we could have moved Jackson to the left retaining his runs, but that’s not the case.

NJ gets singled out WAY too much around here. We had plenty of under-performers to pick from against city. Wings were dire (inc neto when he got on), for example—Cole not much better. Even if James looks a bit unfit, gusto is in terrible form. Just to name a few.

[NikkiCFC 8,334]

1 hour ago, Mhsc said:

 

Nkunku doing a terrible job for the time he was on the pitch is its own thing. With the benefit of hindsight, he should have brought on Guiu.

Nkunku used to score hat trick against much better City team at Etihad. It's either he is much worse player now or we don't know how to use him and system is the problem. 

[Reddish-Blue 2,509]

6 hours ago, YorkshireBlue said:

Enzo won’t come out and disrespect the players on live television, expecting him to do so is your own problem, Jackson this Sanchez that, really don’t know what you expect him to say, he has no one to replace Jackson, we say that last night, as soon as nkunku came on we had nothing to offer going forward, and clearly he isn’t starting Sanchez because he rates him, it’s because the other options are even worse! He says stuff to deflect pressure off his players, it’s what good managers do and you lot keep taking it as gospel truth.  

Yea, I'm sure the other options are far worse than Sanchez, even though they haven't been given 2-3 consecutive games to prove themselves. 

What makes the whole thing look worse is the fact that our head of goalkeeping is Sanchez's mentor since his Brighton days...seems like other people are making the choice for Maresca in terms of GK. 

As for Nkunku, he was fine earlier on in the season, then he picked up an injury, couldn't really get the momentum back, Jackson kept starting and then the rumors started around late November/December that he was keen on a move elsewhere, Bayern offered him the chance to join and now he's just waiting around for the green light to move. 

 

[Reddish-Blue 2,509]

48 minutes ago, NikkiCFC said:

Nkunku used to score hat trick against much better City team at Etihad. It's either he is much worse player now or we don't know how to use him and system is the problem. 

If he was that much worse, Bayern wouldn't have offered to take him and pair him up with Kane. 

Quality is still there, he hasn't started 3+ games in a row and he doesn't seem suited to play the sub role. 

[Strike 7,492]

5 hours ago, Mhsc said:

Jackson was having one of the worst games of his career

He's had many worse games. Jackson had a decent first half and even got the assist. As bad as Jackson was at the start of 2nd half, Nkunku upfront alone was worse and made zero sense

Edited January 27 by Strike

[Blue Armour 4,448]

6 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

Nkunku used to score hat trick against much better City team at Etihad. It's either he is much worse player now or we don't know how to use him and system is the problem. 

Whether it's the combination of injuries or just general lack of interest, Nkunku just isn't cutting it for us.

Maybe the lack of playing time did him in., and he just doesn't care any more. He seemed a lot better with his cameo roles (and conference league) early on in this season.

Maybe Maresca should have done more squad rotation, starting him in a few games against weaker opponents, especially back in December when we had several fixtures b2b.

But bringing him on against City was just pointless, given his most recent form.

 

Edited January 27 by Blue Armour

[YorkshireBlue 3,279]

7 hours ago, Reddish-Blue said:

Yea, I'm sure the other options are far worse than Sanchez, even though they haven't been given 2-3 consecutive games to prove themselves

Which tells you in training things are not going well, if Enzos trusts Sanchez over the others they must be performing shit in training.

[Reddish-Blue 2,509]

4 hours ago, YorkshireBlue said:

Which tells you in training things are not going well, if Enzos trusts Sanchez over the others they must be performing shit in training.

Possibly but we've heard the complete opposite from previous managers as well, Conte said RLC was the best trainer but then he'd be sitting on the bench most of the time. 

At some point, he will have to turn to Jorgensen as there's only so many mistakes you can accept from Sanchez.   

[Special Juan 28,141]

Maresca is under the cosh about Sanchez now, 1 0r 2 mistakes you could say he has been unlucky/ bad luck, but it's now become a fucking joke as it is every single game he drops a fatty or costs us a goal.

Just play Jorgensen because we ain't buying a keeper in this window, and we will just have to put up with it as this is the predicamanent the board they have put us in, cheap shit players with cheap shit performances.

[Mhsc 1,098]

11 hours ago, Strike said:

He's had many worse games. Jackson had a decent first half and even got the assist. As bad as Jackson was at the start of 2nd half, Nkunku upfront alone was worse and made zero sense

I didn't really see it that way personally. Generally, I am one of the biggest supporters of NJ on the forum and think he has been a great signing and have long term faith in the guy - not to be our only number 9, but to be a key player for us competing there.

Usually I hate to see him go off because even though he's missing chances, he is normally still confidently going for things and I have the feeling that given more time he is our best shot at doing something. Did not see that at all in this game, felt like every minute he was on the field was a minute wasted - I saw a man bereft of confidence, out of ideas, shying away from the ball and afraid to take risks.

In my opinion he absolutely had to go off and Maresca did the right thing. Unfortunately Nkunku was a total disaster but I'm glad he took off a player that was clearly struggling as much as NJ, who looked like he'd rather be anywhere else than playing City.

Just my opinion based on what I saw. 

[OneMoSalah 8,886]

13 hours ago, YorkshireBlue said:

Which tells you in training things are not going well, if Enzos trusts Sanchez over the others they must be performing shit in training.

Well the Gk options aren’t particularly great are they? 

Our current number 1 was Brighton’s number 2/3 under de Zebri for like 12 months ago. For whatever the actual reasons were, was it his ability on the ball, making glaring mistakes or both etc… who knows but yeah.

Jorgensen well… whilst he doesn’t look like he will be a top top GK, for whatever reasons hasn’t been deemed less of a bombscare than Sanchez so that tells me more than enough of what Maresca thinks of him.

Who else have we got at the club? Bettinelli? Bergstrom? HG quota players.

Then Petrovic, Penders (not sure if hes been signed and loaned bk or agreed to sign in the summer), Kepa, Sharman-Lowe on loan…. in all honesty we would be better sticking Willy Caballero in goal for the rest of the season because the options are wank.

Edited January 27 by OneMoSalah

[YorkshireBlue 3,279]

44 minutes ago, OneMoSalah said:

Well the Gk options aren’t particularly great are they? 

Our current number 1 was Brighton’s number 2/3 under de Zebri for like 12 months ago. For whatever the actual reasons were, was it his ability on the ball, making glaring mistakes or both etc… who knows but yeah.

Jorgensen well… whilst he doesn’t look like he will be a top top GK, for whatever reasons hasn’t been deemed less of a bombscare than Sanchez so that tells me more than enough of what Maresca thinks of him.

Who else have we got at the club? Bettinelli? Bergstrom? HG quota players.

Then Petrovic, Penders (not sure if hes been signed and loaned bk or agreed to sign in the summer), Kepa, Sharman-Lowe on loan…. in all honesty we would be better sticking Willy Caballero in goal for the rest of the season because the options are wank.

I’d be down for that 😂

[YorkshireBlue 3,279]

10 hours ago, Reddish-Blue said:

Possibly but we've heard the complete opposite from previous managers as well, Conte said RLC was the best trainer but then he'd be sitting on the bench most of the time. 

At some point, he will have to turn to Jorgensen as there's only so many mistakes you can accept from Sanchez.   

It’s hard because Sanchez is actually a decent shot stopper, just has brains made of pea soup mush, where Jorgensen might be shit at shit stopping 😂 so maybe he sees the mistakes a lower chance to lose than some one that couldn’t make a save at aldi 

[Special Juan 28,141]

The keeper options aren't great because we have allowed it to be like that, simple as.

Del Boy and Rodney attitude has got us where we are now

[TheHulk 2,478]

17 hours ago, YorkshireBlue said:

Which tells you in training things are not going well, if Enzos trusts Sanchez over the others they must be performing shit in training.

Maresca prefered to sideline Chalobah and keep Disasi, preferred Gusto out of position than an actual LB, sounds like he is great at judging performances.

[Reddish-Blue 2,509]

7 hours ago, TheHulk said:

Maresca prefered to sideline Chalobah and keep Disasi, preferred Gusto out of position than an actual LB, sounds like he is great at judging performances.

Yea, I found that weird as well...like what type of message are you sending to players by telling Chalobah he's not required (and the same to Chilwell).....and then by January, you are asking Chalobah to come back and play a part in the 2nd half of the season.   

People moan about lack of depth yet we had Chilwell available at LB and we were watching Gusto at LB/Disasi at RB for some reason

This is nothing but forcing players out.  

[Special Juan 28,141]

See this is where my thinking differs...Maresca is a very switched on guy and knows his stuff, but if you take these examples of Disasi and Sanchez constantly playing, making mistakes and keep getting selected then for me it's Maresca not pulling the strings or making certain selections in the team. I honestly think the two muppets above him are dictating a lot of the selections, I actually don't think you can be that thick or naive to keep selecting utter shit without something going on behind the scenes that you can't or will never control.

I beleive Stewart and Winstanley are steering both selections and this club down the river

[Reddish-Blue 2,509]

 

28 minutes ago, Special Juan said:

See this is where my thinking differs...Maresca is a very switched on guy and knows his stuff, but if you take these examples of Disasi and Sanchez constantly playing, making mistakes and keep getting selected then for me it's Maresca not pulling the strings or making certain selections in the team

He's basically had a season and a bit of senior coaching experience (Parma and then Leicester in the championship). Leading City's development side with a bunch of talented youngsters at his disposal doesn't count. 

I can see why he maybe doesn't have the guts to 'drop' players like previous managers.   Conte/Mou/Tuchel would have killed this current team with this pathetic attitude.