1 hour ago, El regreso said:

Maresca was an idiot

Biggest reason why I have zero sympathy for him.

On 04/02/2026 at 20:41, GarnachoCheese said:

One of the okay squad players we had that gets massively over rated now he's retired and we're sh*t. Similar to Willian.

no not true.. he was one of the best at receiving the ball, keeping it under pressure and passing it on.. I dont remember him ever lose the ball even with 2/3 players on him.. one of the most press resistant players of all time.. what he did for us during our UCL runs is crazy.. he was not 100% full speed all the time but boy was he a joy to watch at times like how opposition would bounce of him.

18 minutes ago, Jangz said:

no not true.. he was one of the best at receiving the ball, keeping it under pressure and passing it on.. I dont remember him ever lose the ball even with 2/3 players on him.. one of the most press resistant players of all time.. what he did for us during our UCL runs is crazy.. he was not 100% full speed all the time but boy was he a joy to watch at times like how opposition would bounce of him.

Yeah like I said, massively overrated since retiring. Played amazing in the CL final but let’s not rewrite history and pretend he was ever more than a squad player for us.

First midfielder on the team sheet for me at the moment ...

I think he is our best midfielder. Maresca is a clown for not starting him from game 1. Amazing the transformation this guy has gone through in 2 years.

Our most rounded, balanced midfielder. Offers most in all areas of the pitch. Hope to see him starting every game.

@VascoRF92 told us all. This lad is our best player alongside Joao Pedo at the moment. Should have the vice captaincy next season.

Was the main reason we looked so much better in the first half last night.

I know the whole team dropped off in the second half but it was frustrating that Santos was one of the players subbed - should have been Caicedo.

It's obvious why Maresca never played him. He plays the ball forwards first time looking for attacking runs, instead of backwards.

Posted it before but Maresca js f**king idiot.

Anyone who watched that YouTube video of him talking about his philosophy knows he has one way of playing and that’s it.

2 minutes ago, El regreso said:

Posted it before but Maresca js f**king idiot.

Anyone who watched that YouTube video of him talking about his philosophy knows he has one way of playing and that’s it.

It was obvious he was in over his head when he said A.Santos profile was to play as a box crasher when E.Fernandez wasn't available.

Horribly mis-profiled so many of our players. Honestly one of the worst managers we've had.

Very impressed with Santos in the last few games. The first goal doesn't happen without him - he has an uncanny ability of breaking the lines and with someone like Palmer playing in front, we're able to go from boring sideways passes to their box in two simple passes.

Honestly have no idea how anyone manager can have seen him play and train and decided not to play him as much as possible, it beggars belief after seeing how hes played under Rosenior.

Maresca was a complete moron.

57 minutes ago, dkw said:

Maresca was a complete moron.

And when Santos did play, Maresca had him as a box crashing 8.

Twat made it so easy not to sympathize with him.

12 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

And when Santos did play, Maresca had him as a box crashing 8.

Twat made it so easy not to sympathize with him.

Showed just how one trick he was, had one tactic and one formation and fit payers in around it. Never mind that it actually didnt f**king work, just keep doing it with different players.

Cant believe how many of our fans backed him for so long.

1 hour ago, dkw said:

Showed just how one trick he was, had one tactic and one formation and fit payers in around it. Never mind that it actually didnt f**king work, just keep doing it with different players.

Cant believe how many of our fans backed him for so long.

Be thankful were not owned by Uniteds owner... Be thankful the club appointed LR before a dearth of top quality Maresca replacements became available. But we're looking in good shape for a summer appointment should LR fail...

Shed end bookies for LR replacement.

Thomas Frank 50-1

Sean Dyche 25-1

Ruben Amoorim, 30-1

Take your pick good sir.

He's a really good CM and still developing to boot. His growth has been a pleasant watch

Tidy little player. Will turn into a world class player, not a single doubt about it. He is everything you want in a modern midfielder.

For me he should be the automatic CM partner for Caicedo, we're just so much more solid with him there over Enzo and ability to see a pass is fantastic. In a long list of dog sh*t buys by Blueco this is looking like a steal at £15m or whatever it was we paid.

Butch Caicedo and the Santos kid.

Ok, it worked better as Butch Casadei and the Santos kid. But still. . .

On 09/02/2026 at 15:42, GarnachoCheese said:

Yeah like I said, massively overrated since retiring. Played amazing in the CL final but let’s not rewrite history and pretend he was ever more than a squad player for us.

Mikel was Jorginho before Jorginho

3 hours ago, SydneyChelsea said:

Mikel was Jorginho before Jorginho

Nice try

The besmirching of Mikels name needs to stop immediately or I will DoS this god damn forum into oblivion.

Edited February 18Feb 18 by dkw

Has Santos dropped off a cliff? Rosenior was singing his praises not that long ago.

Would we really prefer the James experiment in midfield over playing him? I appreciate Lavia is back as well, but Santos for me should be playing.

33 minutes ago, Malcolm9 said:

Has Santos dropped off a cliff? Rosenior was singing his praises not that long ago.

Would we really prefer the James experiment in midfield over playing him? I appreciate Lavia is back as well, but Santos for me should be playing.

No one has the balls to ask Rosenior the tough questions.