Brighton 3-0 Chelsea

[Vesper 30,106]

10 minutes ago, Norfolkblue1961 said:

That display was utter dogshit..............a complete shambles. Maresca is starting to give me Graham Potter vibes.....clueless, and as for our recruitment aaaaaarghhhh, everyone could see we needed a proper centre forward and goalie and we got neither

and a proper WC veteran CB or two

£1.4 billion and counting gross spend and we are a hot mess, so weak at so many key positions

[Vesper 30,106]

10 experienced, proven managers who are all vastly better than Maresca, all of whom he could have made MAJOR efforts to get at one point or the other

Diego Simeone

Zinedine Zidane (probably would have been impossible)

Hansi Flick

Julian Nagelsmann

Gian Piero Gasperini

Xavi Hernandez

Simone Inzaghi

Unai Emery

Xabi Alonso

Thomas Tuchel (could have kept him)

[Mhsc 1,093]

15 minutes ago, Vesper said:

10 experienced, proven managers who are all vastly better than Maresca, all of whom he could have made MAJOR efforts to get at one point or the other

Diego Simeone

Zinedine Zidane (probably would have been impossible)

Hansi Flick

Julian Nagelsmann

Gian Piero Gasperini

Xavi Hernandez

Simone Inzaghi

Unai Emery

Xabi Alonso

Thomas Tuchel (could have kept him)

Tuchel sacked when we were 6th in the league and playing basically exactly the same as we did recently under Maresca. Totally toothless attack and looked completely out of ideas. We were really dreadful towards the end with Tuchel... REALLY dreadful.

Most of these managers would never agree to work here under the current regime / strategy (indeed I'm sure several will have rejected us already - Nagelsmann famously did).

From the whole list maybe Emery is the only one who is both realistic and could be argued would be better than Maresca - although Arsenal fans would disagree, as they thought he was absolutely terrible in his stint there and couldn't wait to get rid.

And for sure, if we sack Maresca and hire any of them - in less than 12 months they're considered terrible, and should be sacked. And another list of the obvious better names we should have got can be produced.

Just a cycle of doom. I'm bored of it. We've had almost every top manager going and they got sacked because we figured out they "were shit" - maybe its time we looked at the rest of the club and fixed that first.

[Nero 1,869]

Season is over. 

[Reddish-Blue 2,493]

2 hours ago, Mhsc said:

Just a cycle of doom. I'm bored of it. We've had almost every top manager going and they got sacked because we figured out they "were shit" - maybe its time we looked at the rest of the club and fixed that first.

We didn't have those top managers under the current ownership.   Potter was just like Moyes at United, same can probably be said of Maresca by the end of his reign.  

Poch was the only manager who actually suited the current ownership. 😆

[NikkiCFC 8,294]

6 hours ago, TheHulk said:

getting trashed twice in 6 days by Brighton.

Don't forget we gave them over 200m on top of that. 

[The Rising Sun 711]

Calm down people.

We are in the position of fighting for a top 4 spot after a few seasons sitting in 13-14th position a whole lot.

We've had a season which had amazing highs, some inconsistency and we are presently going through some major lows.

It's all part of what makes a team. This season was never the season we suddenly were going to be amazing. Maresca has shown what is possible. Now it comes down to recruitment for consistency. One or 2 WC players and some south Americans are coming next season.  A proper center forward and a thiago silva defender is all we need.

Can't say manager and board were amazing 2 months ago and suddenly now both are shit. It just comes across as extremely spoilt. 

Stay together in bad periods. It always gets better. Work is needed, yes.

[Blue Armour 4,436]

52 minutes ago, The Rising Sun said:

Calm down people.

We are in the position of fighting for a top 4 spot after a few seasons sitting in 13-14th position a whole lot.

We've had a season which had amazing highs, some inconsistency and we are presently going through some major lows.

It's all part of what makes a team. This season was never the season we suddenly were going to be amazing. Maresca has shown what is possible. Now it comes down to recruitment for consistency. One or 2 WC players and some south Americans are coming next season.  A proper center forward and a thiago silva defender is all we need.

Can't say manager and board were amazing 2 months ago and suddenly now both are shit. It just comes across as extremely spoilt. 

Stay together in bad periods. It always gets better. Work is needed, yes.

We won't be fighting for a top 4 spot for long with out current attack.

Jackson and Madueke were the only somewhat reliable performers after Palmer, and they're both out for significant periods.

Nkunku has been an eyesore upfront, in the past two games.

This would have been a good in-progress season, if the club directors tried to address a few key deficiencies, but instead decided to only focus on outgoings.

Bringing back Chalobah as a defensive reinforcement, despite putting him in the bomb squad, goes to show well directed their strategy is (not). 

I'd like to give Maresca a chance. But given the track record of these owners, they have NO loyalty to him. Pochettino was allowed to walk, despite bringing the club back to 6th. There's little chance that Maresca gets better treatment if the team finishes significantly below that spot.

[Blue Armour 4,436]

I'm not biggest Felix fan, as he still comes across as a luxury player., but moving him out without any attacking reinforcements in sight, and a threadbare list of strikers, was irresponsible, and reeks of arrogance.

Also, their delay in securing a shirt sponsor grows more comical. They obviously waited until mid-season to see how far up the CL spots the club could finish., to secure a better deal. Doesn't look like it's happening now.

[Reddish-Blue 2,493]

2 hours ago, Blue Armour said:

I'm not biggest Felix fan, as he still comes across as a luxury player., but moving him out without any attacking reinforcements in sight,

That's the biggest issue of all though.  Felix is a luxury player but he's also streets ahead of Sancho/Madueke/Neto. 

Felix was at least playing his part in the Conference league and could have offered Maresca a different option for the next 2 months.  

I mentioned it here weeks ago that Newcastle/City would get it together and opposition teams aren't stupid, they know as long as they keep Palmer quiet, our attack is useless. 

[gdlk 286]

From a title contenders few months ago to a complete shit show atm.. All that happened just from few words from our manager - we are not ready for the title! And everything colapsed.. 

I thin Maresca with his words just lost the dressing room. 

And few days ago he said again demotivation words like we are not contenders for top4 WTF? If you cant manage to get us to CL then get out of the club.. No need a coach with looser mentality and thinking.. You have to aim for wins only and finish 1st! Not some clown words.. 

[Laylabelle 9,534]

5 hours ago, The Rising Sun said:

Calm down people.

We are in the position of fighting for a top 4 spot after a few seasons sitting in 13-14th position a whole lot.

We've had a season which had amazing highs, some inconsistency and we are presently going through some major lows.

It's all part of what makes a team. This season was never the season we suddenly were going to be amazing. Maresca has shown what is possible. Now it comes down to recruitment for consistency. One or 2 WC players and some south Americans are coming next season.  A proper center forward and a thiago silva defender is all we need.

Can't say manager and board were amazing 2 months ago and suddenly now both are shit. It just comes across as extremely spoilt. 

Stay together in bad periods. It always gets better. Work is needed, yes.

 But it's crazy we are near top 4. We've won 2 games since mid December that isn't top 4 material! Yet somehow at the moment anyway we've been lucky teams around us are also dropping points..

Mean after today we may slide down a few places but still be touching distance of top 4 but we shouldn't be..

It's the performance that worried me..yesterday was a new one! No shots on target..that is..

[Stats 7,142]

That was so embarrassing to watch and I could see from the start of the game that we were not going to deal with Brighton. Not one shot on target! Totally unacceptable. That bench is frankly embarrassing. That was pretty much a bench you expect to be see in the U20 World Cup. To think we had one of the best squad depths to one of the weakest is quite shocking. Everything that was questioned has now hit is bang on the face. Did not sign a striker. Did not sign a winger but loaned out Felix. I said it before but loaning out Felix without getting a replacement is one of the must stupidest decisions made. Mudryk is banned. Whoever is in charge for making these decisions should be sacked because they have left us depleted in attack.

Now Jackson, Guiu and Madueke are injured. This means in our next few games for forseeable future, we will not have one senior attacking player on the bench. Bare in mind the decisions to loan out Chukz and Felix and not buy any attacking players was done with us at the time competing for FA Cup, Premier League and UECL. We are now out of the FA Cup but did the board really think we could be competing in three trophies with that little depth and knowing that apart from Palmer and Jackson, most of our attackers are prone to injury. And ironically Jackson of all people gets injured.

It is just infuriating because we are going to see many more games like this where we are outclassed. The team is way too inexperienced and there is no experience on the bench either.

That was one of Palmer's worst ever games if not worst game for us. But yeah, really worrying. You would have thought Marecsa would have worked on something new after losing to them in the FA Cup, but we just looked worse. George actually looked decent when he came on at least.

[erinblue 24]

2 X games away to Brighton...6 goals scored....none by us.....1 shot on target in 2 games & people believe we are a top 4 side!.....we had more possession both games but that was because we foookd around our backline & put keeper in trouble.....they outfought us in chances, desire, determination, skill, final third passes, leaving us clueless, shitless every time they crossed half way.....

I would love to see the stats of how many passes backwards we had esp when in their hall...both games!........

How easy it was for our half press to be beaten & put us on back foot.......their 4 minds & striker put us under so much pressure we ended up hoofing it to their backline to start again........

How many billion for that?....& a youth team on the bench....🫡

[Laylabelle 9,534]

3 hours ago, Stats said:

That was so embarrassing to watch and I could see from the start of the game that we were not going to deal with Brighton. Not one shot on target! Totally unacceptable. That bench is frankly embarrassing. That was pretty much a bench you expect to be see in the U20 World Cup. To think we had one of the best squad depths to one of the weakest is quite shocking. Everything that was questioned has now hit is bang on the face. Did not sign a striker. Did not sign a winger but loaned out Felix. I said it before but loaning out Felix without getting a replacement is one of the must stupidest decisions made. Mudryk is banned. Whoever is in charge for making these decisions should be sacked because they have left us depleted in attack.

Now Jackson, Guiu and Madueke are injured. This means in our next few games for forseeable future, we will not have one senior attacking player on the bench. Bare in mind the decisions to loan out Chukz and Felix and not buy any attacking players was done with us at the time competing for FA Cup, Premier League and UECL. We are now out of the FA Cup but did the board really think we could be competing in three trophies with that little depth and knowing that apart from Palmer and Jackson, most of our attackers are prone to injury. And ironically Jackson of all people gets injured.

It is just infuriating because we are going to see many more games like this where we are outclassed. The team is way too inexperienced and there is no experience on the bench either.

That was one of Palmer's worst ever games if not worst game for us. But yeah, really worrying. You would have thought Marecsa would have worked on something new after losing to them in the FA Cup, but we just looked worse. George actually looked decent when he came on at least.

That's what don't get! Stepped it up after last weekend by being even worse which didn't think they could be..surely can't get worse against Villa..sure they'll find a way though