8 minutes ago, GarnachoCheese said:

A little later has arrived and Maresca is still a bald moron. Good afternoon to all. I stand by my medical opinion that Lavia should have some form of surgery. I’m not sure what surgery but he should just take them all at this point.

Agreed. Having his tonsils out will do him a world of good.

Wouldn’t be so much of an issue if Santos actually plays and plays in a deeper role.

Lavia is only on £50kpw.

We’re not getting enough from Lavia. Hard to see and we all want him to succeed. But we have GK be honest - I’m not sure he’s ever played 90 mins for Chelsea in nearly 2.5 years.

Santos would be ideal, but don’t think we’re getting the best out of him the way Maresca is using him.

First estimated time off injured is up from Fabrizio. "At least" one month out with his quad injury.

Big miss for Barca and Arsenal.

Edited November 10, 2025Nov 10 by axman2526

Santos time to shine.

See you in February, Lavia.

51 minutes ago, GarnachoCheese said:

See you in February, Lavia.

Cool to meet a player. Do you have a physio or hospital appointment in February?

1 hour ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Santos time to shine.

Probably be Reece in midfield.

We can't do this anymore, it's time to move on. He's only played 30 games for us and Caicedo is being run into the ground.

Between Lavia and Essugo, it’s a bad combination. Can only hope that Essugo’s is an unlucky/one-off injury.

Fofana is the big test for me. We tried a few things for James chronic issues, he ended having surgery and has improved on his fitness issues. Fofana has had the same path, will it work for him?

Lavia seems to have issues in different body muscles, is there a root cause we could have surgery for him or is he just too brittle?

2 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

We can't do this anymore, it's time to move on. He's only played 30 games for us and Caicedo is being run into the ground.

Blame Maresca for not utilizing Santos in a deeper role more.

Lavia is only on £50kpw so they will always be patient with him.

1 hour ago, axman2526 said:

Fofana is the big test for me. We tried a few things for James chronic issues, he ended having surgery and has improved on his fitness issues. Fofana has had the same path, will it work for him?

Lavia seems to have issues in different body muscles, is there a root cause we could have surgery for him or is he just too brittle?

He was 19 when it first started. I suspect he’s still “growing into his body”, which results in a mismatch between lengthening bones and tight muscles/tendons. (Thanks Google).

Thus, more prone to muscular injuries.

Edited November 10, 2025Nov 10 by Sconnie Blue

44 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Blame Maresca for not utilizing Santos in a deeper role more.

Lavia is only on £50kpw so they will always be patient with him.

He was 19 when it first started. I suspect he’s still “growing into his body”, which results in a mismatch between lengthening bones and tight muscles/tendons. (Thanks Google).

Thus, more prone to muscular injuries.

That's the case with a lot of the players who are around 20.

However, I think Santos and Caicedo don't really have the same skillset.

Santos looks more like an enzo type than a caicedo's. Caicedo is a physical fortress, and I don't think Santos is there.. at least not yet.
Caicedo is the most consistent high performer we've got, esp with Cole out, so it's not surprising to me that he plays a lot (which happens to be another strength of his).
I don't think a different manager would do things very differently regarding rotation.

Just now, acaeus said:

That's the case with a lot of the players who are around 20.

However, I think Santos and Caicedo don't really have the same skillset.

Santos looks more like an enzo type than a caicedo's. Caicedo is a physical fortress, and I don't think Santos is there.. at least not yet.
Caicedo is the most consistent high performer we've got, esp with Cole out, so it's not surprising to me that he plays a lot (which happens to be another strength of his).
I don't think a different manager would do things very differently regarding rotation.

Higher ceiling than Fernandez in my opinion, and nothing like him as a midfielder. Santos is a proper central midfielder, good at both ends of the pitch. We still don't really know what Fernandez is .... after 130 appearances LOL

Andrey won the most tackles in Ligue 1 last season, with 72, which was 11 clear of the player in 2nd, so the can definitely handle himself physically. He'd be an excellent complement for Caicedo, if given the chance of an extended run in the team.

43 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

Higher ceiling than Fernandez in my opinion, and nothing like him as a midfielder. Santos is a proper central midfielder, good at both ends of the pitch. We still don't really know what Fernandez is .... after 130 appearances LOL

Andrey won the most tackles in Ligue 1 last season, with 72, which was 11 clear of the player in 2nd, so the can definitely handle himself physically. He'd be an excellent complement for Caicedo, if given the chance of an extended run in the team.

I hope you are right tbh.

I think Enzo is way underrated around here -- he's very much an al-rounder with a bit of extra skill on hitting the football. Reckon it wouldn't be hard at all to move him if the club wants to do that in the future -- plenty of takers and some big ones at that. While he is very inconsistent, he does tend to show up in big games, which I respect.
Andrey is still very much a WIP imo. I don't really rate Ligue 1 at all, so won't comment there.

Edited November 10, 2025Nov 10 by acaeus

2 hours ago, acaeus said:

I hope you are right tbh.

I think Enzo is way underrated around here -- he's very much an al-rounder with a bit of extra skill on hitting the football. Reckon it wouldn't be hard at all to move him if the club wants to do that in the future -- plenty of takers and some big ones at that. While he is very inconsistent, he does tend to show up in big games, which I respect.
Andrey is still very much a WIP imo. I don't really rate Ligue 1 at all, so won't comment there.

I'm very surprised you think Fernandez shows up in big games. That's the complete opposite viewpoint to many on here, me included !

His "best" games are usually in lower level cup ties (EFL Cup, Conference League) and against teams in the bottom six of the PL.

3 hours ago, acaeus said:

That's the case with a lot of the players who are around 20.

However, I think Santos and Caicedo don't really have the same skillset.

Santos looks more like an enzo type than a caicedo's. Caicedo is a physical fortress, and I don't think Santos is there.. at least not yet.
Caicedo is the most consistent high performer we've got, esp with Cole out, so it's not surprising to me that he plays a lot (which happens to be another strength of his).
I don't think a different manager would do things very differently regarding rotation.

Santos is a much better player being the first midfielder in build up as opposed to the hybrid 10 Maresca has him playing.

4 hours ago, Sexyfootball said:

I'm very surprised you think Fernandez shows up in big games. That's the complete opposite viewpoint to many on here, me included !

His "best" games are usually in lower level cup ties (EFL Cup, Conference League) and against teams in the bottom six of the PL.

I don’t know he played pretty good in the only silverware of any meaning we’ve got lately WCC.

The squad is full of kids who go from heroes to nothing in a heartbeat. I don’t blame Enzo, but I do blame the kindergarten roster. He will leave and nothing much will change… just like maresca.

Frankly I don’t get that at all. We’ve got clowns in cb (specially w/o Colwill) a joke of a goalie and people talk about Enzo?

Edited November 11, 2025Nov 11 by acaeus

8 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Lavia is only on £50kpw so they will always be patient with him.

Wish they’d be patient with me. I’d do it for half the price, and not even injured, just crap

1 hour ago, acaeus said:

I don’t know he played pretty good in the only silverware of any meaning we’ve got lately WCC.

The squad is full of kids who go from heroes to nothing in a heartbeat. I don’t blame Enzo, but I do blame the kindergarten roster. He will leave and nothing much will change… just like maresca.

Frankly I don’t get that at all. We’ve got clowns in cb (specially w/o Colwill) a joke of a goalie and people talk about Enzo?

Joke of a goalie, how? Where does our goalie sit statistically against the rest of the league, then take into account how many of the others, Raya, Donnarumma etc, have had their defences swapped around almost every week.

3 hours ago, acaeus said:

Frankly I don’t get that at all. We’ve got clowns in cb (specially w/o Colwill) a joke of a goalie and people talk about Enzo?

Our CB's and GK get rated appropriately. They're mediocre and people label them as such, every thread is us people wanting upgrades for years. Difference is Chalobah and Tosin were free, Enzo was £105m and came regarded as one of the best midfielders in the world but wouldn't look out of place lining up for Cowdenbeath.

15 hours ago, Snedger said:

Cool to meet a player. Do you have a physio or hospital appointment in February?

i start my new job at the glue factory.

Any news on Lavia? Has he been told to go into hibernation for the winter and we might just see him again around March time - possibly April/May?

We signed him at 19. He’s now 22, and still hasn’t completed a full 90.

Any word on when he’s back? Feels like we’ve had more managers than he’s made appearances. Talented player - needs to get fit.