Niall1905

Interesting to see if anything comes of the supposed injury he had. I don’t hate the idea of him coming in, adds to the whole adding experience to our squad approach. Would also just love for the media obsession around our keeper situation to die down so that when Penders eventually comes in, it isn’t a baptism of fire. I think signing Martinez shuts Neville and co up.

Couple of things that really got me excited, outside of the obvious attacking threat: When Hato broke through and was stopped, Fulham countered and Joao sprinted back in, but also screamed at the defence to shuffle across and cover. When Neto wasn’t found by Steve down the right, he didn’t track back. Rhys gave him the biggest bollocking I think I’ve ever seen him give anyone. Hoping they are signs of some of the leadership and on field game management issues being resolved.

The Haribo FC victory parade will go ahead tomorrow for those wishing to attend. Kinetic have been on the phone already and there’s talk of the Strasbourg job for the new year.

Briefings on an experienced replacement. To go with the other days briefings that we want experienced signings too. Come August we’ll have neither and we’ll be briefed it was because the managers weren’t a fit with the structure and we couldn’t spend because of Europe

Haven’t been logged in for a while, I would like to plead insanity

What a f**king club man, sat in an empty pub on a Sunday night absolutely gleaming at seeing what those boys have just done. Nothing like it, many will play it down, purely for the money, Micky Mouse, who gives a f**k. I f**king love this club. Up the Chels.

Im one of the biggest Jackson apologists around, I think hes got the potential to go on and be a cracking player if he can sort some things out, but even last night it was clear what Delap is going to give us that Jackson doesn't. I'd also probably argue that Delap would get a free pass for last night considering he's hardly played competitively for us. I agree, I don't look at Delap and Jackson as a set of striker options that screams title winning, but I think they compliment eachother well and Delap looks like he has huge scope to make massive improvements in a very short space of time. I also have huge doubts over any realistically achievable striker alternative on the market actually coming here and making any sort of impact.

Thought last night was a decent insight into how we may potentially fare in the CL next year and thought we were solid. Age old story of missed chances potentially coming back to bite us but we easily could have been 4/5 up before the weather break hit. Benfica are a great example of the decent CL sides that you'll have to be good at beating to make progress, a clear step up from the best the Conference had to offer and we dispatched them confidently. Thought delap really struggled but even when not playing great, it was clear the different dynamic he gives us in being able to play long into and gain some territory. Jackson has his use in link up into his feet, but isn't much of a presence to relieve pressure or offer an out ball. Colwill has transformed in these last few months, turned into a bit of a leader in how he plays but also communicates. If we can nail down a consistant partner for him our defence is pretty solid. This tweak of system Maresca has brought in is also very interesting, i've rarely felt as confident with a narrow lead under him as I did last night. Of course the weather ruined that and we were slow back out of the blocks, but prior to that we looked great. Credit for putting them to the sword in ET too. Many a team would have accepted the world (and that f**king ref) were against them and started throwing thier toys out the pram but once that red card hit we pressed on in the way that proper sides do.

Just remembered we get to watch this PSG team against Spurs in the Supercup. I beg Ange to play his high line against those demons.

I'm actually more happy we've done this the way we have, than played them off the park and breezed it. Seems stupid, but i've seen us play well and coast to results. I didn't think this group had it in them to not turn up but also grind out a win. Above all else, just happy. Lets sign off on a high on Wednesday and enjoy the summer.

Never in doubt...

Took a break from this place whilst our form was bad as the ratios of reactionary crap against logical posts (don’t get me wrong, there’s loads of you that consistently make good points) just goes insane. I don’t get to many games, but prior to our good run earlier in the year, the groans and moans from fans about us playing out from the back were loud, booing the players at half time and generally giving this ‘process’ no time. Fast forward a few weeks, we’re doing the same stuff, but with confidence and good results. Suddenly Maresca is the second coming and we’re playing the best football in years. Now we are back to the start, but the reality is that nothing has changed. The football has remained the same, we never reverted to playing like prime stoke to get into a title race, so why would we now? Fed up of making the same point over and over again, the board and the owners are at fault and deserve the blame. It’s been a long 2 months but I can’t fathom Maresca getting the boot based on what we have seen so far

Frustrating run of games for sure, feels like the complete opposite of the first half of the season so far where we were winning these tight games, getting the tight calls, having those ‘moments’ in games. I don’t think there is a huge difference in the quality of our play or performance levels. We were simply getting the margins then, which led to an over inflation of our league position. And we aren’t now, which is bringing us back down. it will go in cycles, we’ve just got to remain level headed. I’d have been happy with our league position right now if offered at the start of the year.

Lets have this right, it’s our first real blip of the season, Enzo has to stand up and show why he got given a big job in the first place. Will be disappointed if fans start going for the jugular with him though, he’s been doing a good job of building a better culture at the club and the results have been good. He deserves a buffer before people start getting on his back too much. 1 point from our last 3 is un acceptable, but it’s a credit to the work he’s already done that we still sit in the top 4 despite it. Let’s see how he gets on.

At least 80% of the posters on here can go back to doing what they love best - moaning. Decent chunk would have been fuming with us winning the league