Not too much to worry about. Swelling normally goes down within a week.

6 hours ago, 19seventyone said:

Not too much to worry about. Swelling normally goes down within a week.

a week? mine won't stay swollen for more than 30seconds

On 06/10/2025 at 02:27, axman2526 said:

Do Real even Make such signings anymore if they are not free agents?

Bellingham a couple of years ago, Mbappe last season was free but they gave him something like £120m signing on bonus.

Surely something minor. They play a totally meaningless friendly in Chicago against Puerto Rico. No need for the big stars. As a matter a fact I do not even understand why such players are even selected for this kind of matches. Totally worthless, different continents, different timezones, important players should be left home training with their clubs in an important part of the season. Especially the ones that have been at the Club World Cup.

Chelsea and PSG should have really put some pressure on UEFA and FIFA and should have agreed on some sort of deal not to have their players selected for international duty for at least one of the breaks in this autumn period.

Even the other day I watched Spain v Georgia. 83% possession for Spain and with so much talent in that squad, what was the point of Cucurella, really? The could have put a fan from the stands as full back and it would not have changed a thing...

It’s difficult. The players themselves always push for it. South Americans love playing for their country.

On 11/10/2025 at 20:57, 19seventyone said:

Not too much to worry about. Swelling normally goes down within a week.

Baring in mind how cautious we have been with injuries to other players, would like to think they'll "rest" Enzo for the early kick-off Saturday.

Be interesting to see if the team then perform better without him, in which case "rest" him for longer.

2 hours ago, Nibs said:

Baring in mind how cautious we have been with injuries to other players, would like to think they'll "rest" Enzo for the early kick-off Saturday.

Be interesting to see if the team then perform better without him, in which case "rest" him for longer.

One can but hope, but we have previous of course, when they had him playing with a hernia for a few months.

BlueCo's chosen one ... the Face of the club, don't you know ... hence has to play !

12 hours ago, petre ispirescu said:

Chelsea and PSG should have really put some pressure on UEFA and FIFA and should have agreed on some sort of deal not to have their players selected for international duty for at least one of the breaks in this autumn period.

And FIFA told them to either take the money or go f**k themselves. Clubs have no leverage and both clubs ownership' were desperate for the cash injection.

There is no pressure a club can put on FIFA, any club that refuses to release a player or attempts to influence non-selection will have that player banned. If Bayern, Real Madrid and Barcelona have been smacked down in the past, there is no hope for PSG or Chelsea.

16 hours ago, petre ispirescu said:

Surely something minor. They play a totally meaningless friendly in Chicago against Puerto Rico. No need for the big stars. As a matter a fact I do not even understand why such players are even selected for this kind of matches. Totally worthless, different continents, different timezones, important players should be left home training with their clubs in an important part of the season. Especially the ones that have been at the Club World Cup.

Chelsea and PSG should have really put some pressure on UEFA and FIFA and should have agreed on some sort of deal not to have their players selected for international duty for at least one of the breaks in this autumn period.

Even the other day I watched Spain v Georgia. 83% possession for Spain and with so much talent in that squad, what was the point of Cucurella, really? The could have put a fan from the stands as full back and it would not have changed a thing...

You need to negotiate with the country federation not fifa/UEFA.

Football is unique as it is one of the only popular sports where both club and international competitions are popular in their own right. Most sports have domestic competition as the pinnacle and international competition as lower-tier (NBA, NHL, MLB, rugby league) or non-existent (NFL, AFL). Other sports like rugby (union) or cricket have international competition as the pinnacle and domestic competition a clear tier below.

None of any of this will change until there is a European Super League that rivals any UEFA/FIFA competition in profitability and end their ability to be both competition regulator and commercial regulator. As long as UEFA/FIFA (and their member associations) have control, they have a profit motive to prioritise international over club football. That would leave it in players' hands as to whether they want to prioritise their club or international careers.

Edited October 14, 2025Oct 14 by SydneyChelsea

On 13/10/2025 at 11:21, petre ispirescu said:

No need for the big stars. As a matter a fact I do not even understand why such players are even selected for this kind of matches.

Exactly, that's why they're playing E.Fernandez.

Telling that he wasn’t missed yesterday and everything changed when Caicedo came on in the second half (alongside a proper 9).

4 hours ago, RMH said:

Telling that he wasn’t missed yesterday and everything changed when Caicedo came on in the second half (alongside a proper 9).

TBF things didn't work out while Lavia and Santos were on the pitch.

1 hour ago, Upb78 said:

TBF things didn't work out while Lavia and Santos were on the pitch.

We had Santos in the 10 while Gusto was doing a shift at CM, absolutely ridiculous that our manager can’t change his tactics even slightly to get the best of the players available when one is missing.

9 hours ago, GarnachoCheese said:

We had Santos in the 10 while Gusto was doing a shift at CM, absolutely ridiculous that our manager can’t change his tactics even slightly to get the best of the players available when one is missing.

Yesterday was Andrey Santos' first career game at #10 and lo and behold it didn't work ... :-)

Maresca really is a complete idiot LOL

He really needs to stop all this nonsense and play players in their best position. He had two specialist players available to play at #10 yesterday : Joao Pedro (with Guiu at #9) or Buonanotte. There was absolutely zero need to try Santos there. And don't get me started on Gusto in midfield (instead of Santos !!!) LOL

Edited October 20, 2025Oct 20 by Sexyfootball

9 hours ago, GarnachoCheese said:

We had Santos in the 10 while Gusto was doing a shift at CM, absolutely ridiculous that our manager can’t change his tactics even slightly to get the best of the players available when one is missing.

Just Maresca doing more stupid things, there was absolutely no need to play Santos there, he needs to stop f**king around with positions, just him trying to be a clever bastard.

Playing Santos at #10, where he had never played, is probably all part of some plan to "show" us pesky fans how much we need Enzo Fernandez playing in the #10 LOL

Edited October 20, 2025Oct 20 by Sexyfootball

I think that you're giving too much credit to Maresca. At this point, I'm not sure whether he's trying to be clever or he's just that thick.

44 minutes ago, dkw said:

Just Maresca doing more stupid things, there was absolutely no need to play Santos there, he needs to stop f**king around with positions, just him trying to be a clever bastard.

I assumed that Buonanotte must have been injured. This obsession with playing Gusto baffles me. He is questionable in his actual position, let alone out of position. Has never scored, yet this fool insists on playing him in an advanced position. Many of us have questioned the rationale behind signing a player like Buonanotte, in addition to what we already had, but at least the position is in the vicinity of where he plays. So why play Gusto.

Same with playing Santos out of position. Doing the same with George as well. Its hard enough for these kids to make an impact and push their way through without this moron purposefully mindfking them by stacking the cards against them and playing them out of position.

3 hours ago, WhiteWall said:

I assumed that Buonanotte must have been injured. This obsession with playing Gusto baffles me. He is questionable in his actual position, let alone out of position. Has never scored, yet this fool insists on playing him in an advanced position. Many of us have questioned the rationale behind signing a player like Buonanotte, in addition to what we already had, but at least the position is in the vicinity of where he plays. So why play Gusto.

Same with playing Santos out of position. Doing the same with George as well. Its hard enough for these kids to make an impact and push their way through without this moron purposefully mindfking them by stacking the cards against them and playing them out of position.

Buonanotte was on the bench for the Forest match. I'm sure Fraudo is saving him for the Champions League matches.

We play better when he’s on the bench. Today he was again quite average and has not shown any attribute to be captain.

He was absolutely anonymous today, there was one point where he went off for some treatment and I was a bit worried about being down to 10 men for a bit, but then realised him being ON the pitch was like being down to 10 men anyway.

He’s become so bad now, that it feels pointless to even mention, there has never been a more seemingly undroppable player at the club. Give it a few match days, and he’ll get a tap-in, or score a penalty, celebrate with lots of “passion”, then all forgiven, rinse and repeat.

2 hours ago, timetowaste said:

He was absolutely anonymous today, there was one point where he went off for some treatment and I was a bit worried about being down to 10 men for a bit, but then realised him being ON the pitch was like being down to 10 men anyway.

Perhaps Mudryk should give him some of his special sweets and see if that makes a difference?

We’re too exposed in the PL when he plays. Feel like I’ve seen it too many times now and he needs to be dropped.

Lavia and Caicedo need to start PL games. Play Enzo in CL.