Chris Gundleton

Back in the 80s, my Mum wrote to him saying that me, my Dad and my brother, all season ticket holders, were getting a ton of stick from West Ham fans as we lived in Essex. School was a nightmare, particularly in 86, when West Ham had their one decent year. Back in those days, there was only two Chelsea fans at my school, me and my younger brother.
Ken wrote back, thanking us for our support in foreign territory, and a few days later a thank you card arrived signed by all the players (Kerry, Pat, Speedie et al)……

Back in the 80s, my Mum wrote to him saying that me, my Dad and my brother, all season ticket holders, were getting a ton of stick from West Ham fans as we lived in Essex. School was a nightmare, particularly in 86, when West Ham had their one decent year. Back in those days, there was only two Chelsea fans at my school, me and my younger brother.
Ken wrote back, thanking us for our support in foreign territory, and a few days later a thank you card arrived signed by all the players (Kerry, Pat, Speedie et al)……

Back in the 80s, my Mum wrote to him saying that me, my Dad and my brother, all season ticket holders, were getting a ton of stick from West Ham fans as we lived in Essex. School was a nightmare, particularly in 86, when West Ham had their one decent year. Back in those days, there was only two Chelsea fans at my school, me and my younger brother.
Ken wrote back, thanking us for our support in foreign territory, and a few days later a thank you card arrived signed by all the players (Kerry, Pat, Speedie et al)……

Back in the 80s, my Mum wrote to him saying that me, my Dad and my brother, all season ticket holders, were getting a ton of stick from West Ham fans as we lived in Essex. School was a nightmare, particularly in 86, when West Ham had their one decent year. Back in those days, there was only two Chelsea fans at my school, me and my younger brother.
Ken wrote back, thanking us for our support in foreign territory, and a few days later a thank you card arrived signed by all the players (Kerry, Pat, Speedie et al)……

Back in the 80s, my Mum wrote to him saying that me, my Dad and my brother, all season ticket holders, were getting a ton of stick from West Ham fans as we lived in Essex. School was a nightmare, particularly in 86, when West Ham had their one decent year. Back in those days, there was only two Chelsea fans at my school, me and my younger brother.
Ken wrote back, thanking us for our support in foreign territory, and a few days later a thank you card arrived signed by all the players (Kerry, Pat, Speedie et al)……

Back in the 80s, my Mum wrote to him saying that me, my Dad and my brother, all season ticket holders, were getting a ton of stick from West Ham fans as we lived in Essex. School was a nightmare, particularly in 86, when West Ham had their one decent year. Back in those days, there was only two Chelsea fans at my school, me and my younger brother.
Ken wrote back, thanking us for our support in foreign territory, and a few days later a thank you card arrived signed by all the players (Kerry, Pat, Speedie et al)……

Back in the 80s, my Mum wrote to him saying that me, my Dad and my brother, all season ticket holders, were getting a ton of stick from West Ham fans as we lived in Essex. School was a nightmare, particularly in 86, when West Ham had their one decent year. Back in those days, there was only two Chelsea fans at my school, me and my younger brother.
Ken wrote back, thanking us for our support in foreign territory, and a few days later a thank you card arrived signed by all the players (Kerry, Pat, Speedie et al)……

Back in the 80s, my Mum wrote to him saying that me, my Dad and my brother, all season ticket holders, were getting a ton of stick from West Ham fans as we lived in Essex. School was a nightmare, particularly in 86, when West Ham had their one decent year. Back in those days, there was only two Chelsea fans at my school, me and my younger brother.
Ken wrote back, thanking us for our support in foreign territory, and a few days later a thank you card arrived signed by all the players (Kerry, Pat, Speedie et al)……

Back in the 80s, my Mum wrote to him saying that me, my Dad and my brother, all season ticket holders, were getting a ton of stick from West Ham fans as we lived in Essex. School was a nightmare, particularly in 86, when West Ham had their one decent year. Back in those days, there was only two Chelsea fans at my school, me and my younger brother.
Ken wrote back, thanking us for our support in foreign territory, and a few days later a thank you card arrived signed by all the players (Kerry, Pat, Speedie et al)……

Back in the 80s, my Mum wrote to him saying that me, my Dad and my brother, all season ticket holders, were getting a ton of stick from West Ham fans as we lived in Essex. School was a nightmare, particularly in 86, when West Ham had their one decent year. Back in those days, there was only two Chelsea fans at my school, me and my younger brother.
Ken wrote back, thanking us for our support in foreign territory, and a few days later a thank you card arrived signed by all the players (Kerry, Pat, Speedie et al)……

Back in the 80s, my Mum wrote to him saying that me, my Dad and my brother, all season ticket holders, were getting a ton of stick from West Ham fans as we lived in Essex. School was a nightmare, particularly in 86, when West Ham had their one decent year. Back in those days, there was only two Chelsea fans at my school, me and my younger brother.
Ken wrote back, thanking us for our support in foreign territory, and a few days later a thank you card arrived signed by all the players (Kerry, Pat, Speedie et al)……

Back in the 80s, my Mum wrote to him saying that me, my Dad and my brother, all season ticket holders, were getting a ton of stick from West Ham fans as we lived in Essex. School was a nightmare, particularly in 86, when West Ham had their one decent year. Back in those days, there was only two Chelsea fans at my school, me and my younger brother.
Ken wrote back, thanking us for our support in foreign territory, and a few days later a thank you card arrived signed by all the players (Kerry, Pat, Speedie et al)……

Back in the 80s, my Mum wrote to him saying that me, my Dad and my brother, all season ticket holders, were getting a ton of stick from West Ham fans as we lived in Essex. School was a nightmare, particularly in 86, when West Ham had their one decent year. Back in those days, there was only two Chelsea fans at my school, me and my younger brother.
Ken wrote back, thanking us for our support in foreign territory, and a few days later a thank you card arrived signed by all the players (Kerry, Pat, Speedie et al)……

Funny thing is that people complain he's not a good tackler; and for me not only we have too many "good tacklers" in midfield already, but tackling alone is the least important trait (and cheapest one to buy) for a midfielder (excluding a dedicated DM evidently).

If he leaves, which I still think unlikely as I fully expect Alonso to hold on to him, we'd need to get a replacement and one who can score goals. Like Enzo or not, he's the one CM who's not allergic to the opposition goal.

I don't think anyone realistically does. The SDs and owners are happy for someone to come in and 'rescue' them now, but he could win the league next season and they will not cede control. His success will be their credit. We saw this play out under Maresca after the CWC win, they made it out as justification for their decisions and the 'model' rather than the lucky bail-out it actually was. If even someone as gormless as Maresca eventually got tired of it, so too will anyone else with a modicum of self-respect.
The RM situation is more bizarre the more you read. Alonso naively tried to court the favour of Mbappe and Bellingham while sidelining Vinicius. Except Mbappe and Vinicius seem to be particularly close, so it became perceived as an attack on both of them, backfiring immensely. As early as October, Valverde was complaining about being shifted around positions during a defensive crisis, even though he apparently had no qualms doing so for Zidane. Tchouameni, who arguably was shafted by Ancelotti having to play CB and fullback to cover that defensive crisis, seems to absolutely adore Alonso who put him back in the heart of midfield. Arda Guler started getting a run and showed his talent as 10/8 hybrid, which put more pressure on Valverde and Bellingham. The big elephant in the room of course was that the 'star' player Mbappe was less experienced at winning in club football than most of the squad, and they were further off winning anything with him than before.
Obviously you can look at that and conclude that the players were at fault, but I don't think Alonso was blameless. From Valverde's perspective, he was one of the best box-to-box midfielders in the world for the last two years but was told to play utility. Tchouameni, a guy who was probably on his way out, was given a place in midfield instead and improved. Alonso tried to suck up to Mbappe and Bellingham but any one with half a brain would tell you that their petulance makes them poor leaders. Vinicius had come off a slight downturn but rather than being built up, his role was diminished. There are shades of AVB, Sarri, Amorim etc and I think this is the inherent conflict that comes with these "system" managers. It isn't their tactics that end them, it's how they fail to get key players to buy in.
That said - none of the above really applies to Chelsea's lot. We're a bunch of kids and a sad sack of sorry losers. Anyone should be able to come in here and kick them into shape. The problem is always going to be meddling from above.

All I am going to say here with the comparison to Jackson is that Jackson had one season in the Poch system and half of a Maresca’s first season where they were still playing Poch style. That system gave numerous chances to Jackson who, if I’m not mistaken, f***** up 90%. Stick JP in that side, which also included an in form Palmer, JP would have double the amount of goals Jackson scored. He would have also scored those chances that Jackson missed in the semi final against City in the Poch year.
JP has been the one shining light this season and he scores all types of goals. He is a far superior footballer to Jackson and if anyone thinks Jackson is on par with JP, go and apply for a SD role at the Bridge, you’re as clueless as them….

Agreed. He’s easily good enough to lead our line. The quality of his goals are excellent. The one against Newcastle away was very Drogba like.

All I am going to say here with the comparison to Jackson is that Jackson had one season in the Poch system and half of a Maresca’s first season where they were still playing Poch style. That system gave numerous chances to Jackson who, if I’m not mistaken, f***** up 90%. Stick JP in that side, which also included an in form Palmer, JP would have double the amount of goals Jackson scored. He would have also scored those chances that Jackson missed in the semi final against City in the Poch year.
JP has been the one shining light this season and he scores all types of goals. He is a far superior footballer to Jackson and if anyone thinks Jackson is on par with JP, go and apply for a SD role at the Bridge, you’re as clueless as them….

All I am going to say here with the comparison to Jackson is that Jackson had one season in the Poch system and half of a Maresca’s first season where they were still playing Poch style. That system gave numerous chances to Jackson who, if I’m not mistaken, f***** up 90%. Stick JP in that side, which also included an in form Palmer, JP would have double the amount of goals Jackson scored. He would have also scored those chances that Jackson missed in the semi final against City in the Poch year.
JP has been the one shining light this season and he scores all types of goals. He is a far superior footballer to Jackson and if anyone thinks Jackson is on par with JP, go and apply for a SD role at the Bridge, you’re as clueless as them….

All I am going to say here with the comparison to Jackson is that Jackson had one season in the Poch system and half of a Maresca’s first season where they were still playing Poch style. That system gave numerous chances to Jackson who, if I’m not mistaken, f***** up 90%. Stick JP in that side, which also included an in form Palmer, JP would have double the amount of goals Jackson scored. He would have also scored those chances that Jackson missed in the semi final against City in the Poch year.
JP has been the one shining light this season and he scores all types of goals. He is a far superior footballer to Jackson and if anyone thinks Jackson is on par with JP, go and apply for a SD role at the Bridge, you’re as clueless as them….

All I am going to say here with the comparison to Jackson is that Jackson had one season in the Poch system and half of a Maresca’s first season where they were still playing Poch style. That system gave numerous chances to Jackson who, if I’m not mistaken, f***** up 90%. Stick JP in that side, which also included an in form Palmer, JP would have double the amount of goals Jackson scored. He would have also scored those chances that Jackson missed in the semi final against City in the Poch year.
JP has been the one shining light this season and he scores all types of goals. He is a far superior footballer to Jackson and if anyone thinks Jackson is on par with JP, go and apply for a SD role at the Bridge, you’re as clueless as them….

All I am going to say here with the comparison to Jackson is that Jackson had one season in the Poch system and half of a Maresca’s first season where they were still playing Poch style. That system gave numerous chances to Jackson who, if I’m not mistaken, f***** up 90%. Stick JP in that side, which also included an in form Palmer, JP would have double the amount of goals Jackson scored. He would have also scored those chances that Jackson missed in the semi final against City in the Poch year.
JP has been the one shining light this season and he scores all types of goals. He is a far superior footballer to Jackson and if anyone thinks Jackson is on par with JP, go and apply for a SD role at the Bridge, you’re as clueless as them….

All I am going to say here with the comparison to Jackson is that Jackson had one season in the Poch system and half of a Maresca’s first season where they were still playing Poch style. That system gave numerous chances to Jackson who, if I’m not mistaken, f***** up 90%. Stick JP in that side, which also included an in form Palmer, JP would have double the amount of goals Jackson scored. He would have also scored those chances that Jackson missed in the semi final against City in the Poch year.
JP has been the one shining light this season and he scores all types of goals. He is a far superior footballer to Jackson and if anyone thinks Jackson is on par with JP, go and apply for a SD role at the Bridge, you’re as clueless as them….

Iraola for me. I think we need a reset with playing style. I’m sick to death of the playing out from the back borefest so as you say similar to Poch, we need a manager to get as scoring again and be entertaining.

Iraola for me. I think we need a reset with playing style. I’m sick to death of the playing out from the back borefest so as you say similar to Poch, we need a manager to get as scoring again and be entertaining.