Riccardo

When has Neymar ever played for Madrid?

However which way we finish this season, there is one match Rosenior must win. Depending on the circumstances prevailing at the time, all of his shortcomings could be ignored if he pulls this one off. That is the match penciled in on the fixture list for 18 May, the penultimate league match of the season. Potentially, fates could be sealed and coffins could be nailed.

He got 'convicted' for travelling 6mph over the speed limit? WTF!?

I have been trying to piece together the story behind Maresca's departure and have come up with a 'theoretical explanation'. I am not trying to defend Maresca, everyone has their own opinion of him and his football, but I am trying to piece together a narrative that illustrates the royal sh*t show Eghbali and Co. are running. I am too lazy to quote any sources - my claims are based on complete conjecture, so make of it as you will (with a pinch of salt). Go back to the beginning. Do you see the pattern? Tuchel; elite level - walked after not being happy with Boehly (and friends?) sticking their grubby fingers in his pie. Potter; fish out of water - euthanised. Lampard; interim - enough said. Poch - pseudo elite level - at the end of the season he sat down with the board and thought, "Yeah, nah. I am not going to achieve anything with these guys". Maresca - wannabe elite level - he didn't get sacked, he walked. Maresca is not an idiot. Before coming here he would have done his due diligence and knew what he was getting into before coming here. He would have had his agents speak to the agents of Poch and Tuchel to get the lowdown on why they left, and they would have said the same thing. Too much interference from the top and their job was untenable. When negotiating his contract I reckon Maresca would have tried to include something to give him more control if he performs well. I don't know how strong these terms would have been. In his first season he achieves the goals of getting the club back in the the Chamipons League, winning the Conference League, and also winning the Club World Cup, so he thinks he is in some position to negotiate to gain more managerial control. At the start of the season he gets his agent to speak to the club, and the club refuse his requests, perhaps delaying talks to the end of the season. In the meantime, the medical department is giving him directions for substitutions and Eghbali (and Co.) is telling him he needs to play younger players more to keep up their book value. Maresca doesn't always follow these directions, but is getting results, 2nd or 3rd on the table, so not too many qualms. Discussions between his agent and the club are going nowhere, he gets frustrated and appoints Mendes as his new agent in October. Mendes gets Maresca meetings with City and Juventus for Eghbali (and Co.) to take notice and talk (even though they do not amount to anything). Eghbali (and Co.) sees through this ploy. Sometime after the Barca game Eghbali meets with Maresca and rips through him, probably telling him that he has no chance of increasing his managerial control. Then the bullsh*t starts happening, results and performances start going south. Maresca starts making some (more) questionable tactical decisions during games, either based on a resentful obsequiousness of the club's directives so he can stuff poor results in the face of Eghbali (and Co.), or as a form of self-sabotage to try and get sacked. In the "48 hours" before the Everton game, Maresca gets a dressing down in the boardroom once again, and it explodes. He threatens to quit, Eghbali (and Co.) remind him of his contractual obligations and the penalties if he walks. The bullsh*t continues. Eghbali (and Co.) are smart enough to know it is no good holding on to a disgruntled employee so they begin sounding out alternatives. More bullsh*t happens, and come the Bournemouth game, Maresca asks Caballero to talk to the press while he gets on the phone with Mendes to tell him he wants out and to negotiate an exit from the club. The club knows they have to negotiate an exit package, even though the contract might strictly say otherwise, as they need to control the narrative of Maresca's departure otherwise they don't stand a chance in hell of attracting anyone half-decent. Pay him so he shuts up. NDA's, $ and terms take a couple of days and Maresca is unceremoniously removed from Clearlake's payroll on Jan 1. The club now, I reckon, finds themself in a bit of a pickle. There really isn't anyone decent available - at least not anyone decent who is willing to let others call the shots (hence why it won't be Xavi). They could poach another manager from another club mid-season, but last time they tried that it didn't pan out too well. You are hardly ever in a good negotiating position mid-season, and again, of the names being bandied about, who would seriously want to? Iraola? Howe? Farioli? Interim manager for the rest of the season? Who? Someone internal? FSW? Allardyce? So it comes to Rosenior. I highly doubt he is anything else but a plan B, otherwise he'd be in by now. Eghbali (and Co.) have known that Maresca's tenure at Chelsea has been at risk since mid-December, and they have had all that time to get their ducks in a row. A manager at another Clearlake owned club shouldn't be too much trouble to poach even though they would have to find a replacement. The board have got the PR department to work on this one, saying that they are "really impressed with Resenior's work at Strasburg", to ease the fanbase's concerns when it eventuates. We can all see how this is going to end up. Should we even bother?

That's because of Mourinho. Long before Pep.

Didn't he pull JT by the ear and take him house shopping as soon as he (i.e. JT) got his first pro contract? He was an F'n legend. Shame about his stint at Milwall, but would take him (or a clone of him) back in a heartbeat.

This ⬆️

I agree. Mourinho on 2 year contract then let him go and manage Portugal for the 2026 World Cup. The first thing he will do is stop this losing at home nonsense, and then he will transplant some testicles on some of our players.

Who cares if he was a starting defender for France?! There is a certain starting defender for England no one wants touch with a 10 foot barge pole.

Roman has built the best academy in the country, where the best of its fruits are still to come. Without it, England will not get any closer to a major trophy than it recently has. The quick and smooth transfer of this club to a supportive owner is in the country’s interests.

Rom can’t hold up the ball. He doesn’t even drop deep to give our midfielders an option, hence why all the backwards and sideways passing. He’s like Jimmy Floyd Hasseilbank except he never shoots (and stays on his feet).

He is no Torres. More of a Morata.

And there you go

See how Lukaku holds up the ball?

65 minutes a no subs!?!?

Who’s a bigger diver? Rajeev Sterling or Steven Gerard?

Kante and Kova are getting smashed. They don’t have options when they get the ball so they turn around and kick it back half of the time. Bring in Kai because he drops deep into midfield and will give Kante and Kova an option. We will start moving the ball forward a lot more easily.

Lukaku needs to come off. We need Havertz there to bring the others into play.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/30/sports/soccer/ngolo-kante-chelsea.html

Sorry, looked back at replay, my mistake, Alonso was nowhere near Pereira for the first goal. Nothing much could be done about that, it was a bit of tin a*se. The second however Alonso was planted in the 18 yard box as Pereira was winding up to shoot, did nothing to press him. Even in the lead up to it he was easily taken out of position by the WBA forward he was marking. He is cut out to play LWB when there are 4 other defenders to cover him - he is good at finding space behind the opponents defence, but the trade-off is that he is defensively a nightmare. He gets skinned too easily and too often, and when we are a man down that trade-off is too much and becomes a liability.

Jorgi has been poor but both those goals were Alonso’s fault. Where’s Chilwell?

Been a while since I’ve watched a game live, first while 90 with TT in charge. Thought I’d like to share my observations. 1. We are too slow playing out from the back. By the time we get to the half way line usually all 11 Southampton players were in there own half and this congrats the midfield, forcing us to play wide or even bypass the midfielders. I thought we looked better at the start of the 2nd half when we let them have the ball a little more and the game opened up a bit. 2. Alonso is too slow to be LWB. It is probably his best position but there were a few occasions where his lack of pace left a few opportunities begging. 3. Kante is Makalele reincarnated, but runs around too much. He is just as good as Maka was at breaking up play. If he stays in position more, like Maka did, we probably won’t need to play with 3 at the back, and would help to balance the midfield, allowing 2 no. 8’s to do the running. Yes, a lot of his running is pressing but I think our midfielders were running into each other’s space too often. He’s in his 30’s now (I think) and he could perhaps sustain his career by learning to read the game more than running around as much as he does. 3. With 3 at the back I think Jorginho and Kova are better options in midfield than Kante. At least against weaker opposition. 4. Mount is Lamps mkII, just without the long range threat. 5. Werner clearly does not have the qualities to be the lone striker in our setup. I do think he’d have scored 40 goals if he was at Liverpool last season.

This was supposedly what the mics picked up, but there had also been allegations that a form of the “n” word was used.

If it weren’t for Ruud, none of this would have ever happened. No FA Cups, League Cups, Roman, PL Titles, Champions Leagues. Nothing. Zip. Nil. Niet. Niente! We’d be just another Tottenham at best. https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/52904670

I recall AVB starting well, but teams had him figured out after a few games and then he didn’t know how to solve the problem. With Lamps, the flaws are there straight away, but hopefully he’ll get it solved soon(er rather than later).