7 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Let’s be honest this B team is just the result of our sporting director’s failures.

Its probably the second strongest B team in the league.

But a B team shouldn't be able to beat Newcastle away. 

I've got no bother about the team. Feel bad for the fans travelling. But there's only one Micky mouse cup I want to win their season and I'd rather our first team is rested for united on Sunday. 

Edited October 31, 20241 yr by bisright1

Said it on the match thread last night, I don't care much for the Carabao Cup, it has little incentive and it just serves to load the players with more games than necessary early on in the season. Therefore, I understand how Maresca sent the B team to it and I'm glad that we did not risk any player from the starting eleven to keep them from overloading. It is not how it starts but how it ends and, we have the X'mas period and we need to be on top form to get through the elimination part of the ECL (I think we should go all in for this cup, which is possibly the easiest if we play strong teams after the league phase), to have a go at the FA Cup and to finish strong to get top 4.

Would be lovely to win every game but this away CC game against Newcastle with the B-team is/was a bridge too far. If we had a better day we could have won so it wasn't a catastrophe. 

But Enzo had decided we are not too brothered about going through as we didn't field Palmer and co second half. Fine by me.

Probably realistically only need one CB next summer. One that could challenge either Colwill or Fofana.. 

Colwill, Fofana, New CB, Chalobah, Tosin (5)

 

 

4 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Probably realistically only need one CB next summer. One that could challenge either Colwill or Fofana.. 

Colwill, Fofana, New CB, Chalobah, Tosin (5)

 

 

You honestly think there is a chance we will bring Chalobah back in to the squad?

Just now, axman2526 said:

You honestly think there is a chance we will bring Chalobah back in to the squad?

No one is paying the ridiculous asking price they want for him so may as well use him and save some money given he's better than the chuckle brothers. 

1 minute ago, Sconnie Blue said:

No one is paying the ridiculous asking price they want for him so may as well use him and save some money given he's better than the chuckle brothers. 

25mill is a ridiculous price now? Will see, a lot depends on how well he does for Palace. They may even stump up the money to keep him.

1 minute ago, axman2526 said:

25mill is a ridiculous price now? Will see, a lot depends on how well he does for Palace. They may even stump up the money to keep him.

Yes.....

We destroyed our negotiating position after in classic Clearlake fashion made it public we wanted to sell him and made him train with the reserves. 

2 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Yes.....

We destroyed our negotiating position after in classic Clearlake fashion made it public we wanted to sell him and made him train with the reserves. 

Is a fair point. I do feel their are PL sides who would improve with Trev and could afford 25mill for him. 

Could go on to build a reputation like Marc Guhei and then they could cash in.

Though Trev has previously wanted a higher level of club and turned down Forest.

9 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

25mill is a ridiculous price now? Will see, a lot depends on how well he does for Palace. They may even stump up the money to keep him.

Atletico got Gallagher for 30 Million.... Kovacic went for similar to the best team in the league which when compared with Enzo's price tag makes it all ludacris... 

We need to start a bring him home campagin for Chalobah... and offer Enzo to Atletico for Gallagher and bring him back. 

 

Edited October 31, 20241 yr by bluetrooper

7 hours ago, bisright1 said:

Its probably the second strongest B team in the league.

But a B team shouldn't be able to beat Newcastle away. 

I've got no bother about the team. Feel bad for the fans travelling. But there's only one Micky mouse cup I want to win their season and I'd rather our first team is rested for united on Sunday. 

 I can't remember a time when Chelsea deliberately destroyed the chance to win a trophy. 

And judging by last night's "B" team effort, compared to how good they look in Europe  the Conference League must be the worst cup competition around...

We're simply not good enough to be arrogant or dismissive of a domestic cup. It's been a while since we actually won one.

I might feel better about it if we beat United on Sunday though!

 

 

 

8 minutes ago, The Rising Sun said:

 I can't remember a time when Chelsea deliberately destroyed the chance to win a trophy. 

And judging by last night's "B" team effort, compared to how good they look in Europe  the Conference League must be the worst cup competition around...

We're simply not good enough to be arrogant or dismissive of a domestic cup. It's been a while since we actually won one.

I might feel better about it if we beat United on Sunday though!

 

 

 

I don't think we're good enough to compete on 4 fronts. I don't think we threw the game but we decided to put out the B team and if they won then great, if they lost then it's fine we can focus on United.

The B team is clearly a part of our strategy this season. I imagine they will play the first one or two rounds of the FA cup as well. 

@Simplymohelp me out here for my prediction.

Since we know, per your jinx, Hojlund is going to have an influential game, which do you think will happen for the first goal?

 

1. We give the ball away when under pressing at the back, Hojlund runs in and slots in like Isak did yesterday.

 

Or

 

2. We give the ball away when under pressing at the back, Hojlund runs in and we foul him for pen, which Bruno scores.

21 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

@Simplymohelp me out here for my prediction.

Since we know, per your jinx, Hojlund is going to have an influential game, which do you think will happen for the first goal?

 

1. We give the ball away when under pressing at the back, Hojlund runs in and slots in like Isak did yesterday.

 

Or

 

2. We give the ball away when under pressing at the back, Hojlund runs in and we foul him for pen, which Bruno scores.

Both but I thought I jinxed the jinx, 😆 

I can see both happening, smh, but I won't know till the day before when the nerves kick in and the weird thoughts keep creeping in, that's why I always wait till an hour before the match for the prediction.

Not going to blame him much for Wednesday, think it was all planned out. The plan was  to rotate the team and hoping to get a result, and in the end we fall short by quite a bit. When you have such a big team, especially expensive players who couldn't make it to the bench let alone starting, you have to rotate quite aggressively in these cup matches. Ideally, should have done it in the conference league against weaker teams, not a PL side that not going to lose 2 games in 4 days against us. Still think we need to trim the squad comes January, what we have now is just not sustainable. Again, not Maresca's fault he's been given a huge squad.

Having now digested the Newcastle defeat I think there's something quite fundamental that Maresca needs to learn.

While he has been lauded as manager of the month and praise heaped upon him from all sides I think there is another side to this. He has a large squad of new talented players to start his Premier League career. This is new for him and he seems to have come up with a style that has, maybe inadvertently, create two teams. An A team and a B team. Its like he has said to the squad " you lot play Saturdays and Sundays and you lot play midweek." 

The problem with this is that it creates division within the squad. The better players play at the weekend and the lesser players play midweek. Its being called making 11 changes but it isn't that. Its been happening just about since the beginning of the season and the players in the B team probably now think Maresca sees them as lesser players. Nkunku looked very jaded and the defense didn't look interested against Newcastle.

For me management is a bit more nuanced than that and the whole squad must feel they have a chance of playing in the A team and more importantly the whole squad must feel like a group and not feel split in two. The top teams rotate their squads and they use that rotation to rest or send messages to certain players. Maresca needs to learn this.

4 hours ago, Andy North said:

For me management is a bit more nuanced than that and the whole squad must feel they have a chance of playing in the A team and more importantly the whole squad must feel like a group and not feel split in two. The top teams rotate their squads and they use that rotation to rest or send messages to certain players. Maresca needs to learn this.

He already has.

Maresca made it abundantly clear that if you don't work hard, you won't play. So far Maresca has used a recognized XI with 3-4 players being able to jump in when needed. What exactly is so wrong with that? 

These fringe players haven't done a thing to justify more playing time. It really is as simple as that. Be it during rotation games in the Conference League or the chances they get in the league. Admit it. You'd have a heart attack if you saw Badiashile pop up in the starting XI against United on Sunday. They are the failures of our sporting directors where the lot of them won't be here next season god willing. 

Madueke is a prime example of the professionalism we need more of and what I'd expect of these high earners. Estevao coming in, linked with Olise all summer, reports of us selling him to Newcastle.  Nkunku in contrast has disappointed me given his lack of effort. 

 

I agree with sconnie on this.

Every press conference, so far, he says they need to step up and take their chances when they get them, if they don't then they don't play on the weekend.

Simple as really...

3 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

He already has.

Maresca made it abundantly clear that if you don't work hard, you won't play. So far Maresca has used a recognized XI with 3-4 players being able to jump in when needed. What exactly is so wrong with that? 

These fringe players haven't done a thing to justify more playing time. It really is as simple as that. Be it during rotation games in the Conference League or the chances they get in the league. Admit it. You'd have a heart attack if you saw Badiashile pop up in the starting XI against United on Sunday. They are the failures of our sporting directors where the lot of them won't be here next season god willing. 

Madueke is a prime example of the professionalism we need more of and what I'd expect of these high earners. Estevao coming in, linked with Olise all summer, reports of us selling him to Newcastle.  Nkunku in contrast has disappointed me given his lack of effort. 

 

I'd say the game midweek was the worst I've seen from him in terms of execution but not effort, but he isn't a 9 and there's a reason we saw him going into our own half to try and get the ball. I'm gutted because I don't see him staying next summer despite in my opinion being our most talented player behind Palmer, but unfortunately they play the same position. I'd still like to see him on the left and see how he does, it's such a waste having him either on the bench or up top.

15 minutes ago, timetowaste said:

I'd say the game midweek was the worst I've seen from him in terms of execution but not effort, but he isn't a 9 and there's a reason we saw him going into our own half to try and get the ball. I'm gutted because I don't see him staying next summer despite in my opinion being our most talented player behind Palmer, but unfortunately they play the same position. I'd still like to see him on the left and see how he does, it's such a waste having him either on the bench or up top.

I think Nkunku is wasted anywhere other than CAM or as a second striker. In an ideal world he is playing alongside Palmer but we are still a work in progress defensively. 

It's only November so things can change. Right now though it looks like he could be off with Paez being Palmer's understudy. 

On 31/10/2024 at 16:55, bisright1 said:

I don't think we're good enough to compete on 4 fronts. I don't think we threw the game but we decided to put out the B team and if they won then great, if they lost then it's fine we can focus on United.

The B team is clearly a part of our strategy this season. I imagine they will play the first one or two rounds of the FA cup as well. 

I know that's one explanation.

But what happens if we do get CL football?

We can't risk playing the B team in the CL. Maybe if we concentrate just on the CL, the B team can play all our Premier League games, leaving our A team players refreshed and fit for each CL game ?  Bit worried about getting relegated maybe , but I reckon that's what we'll do .

👍

 

1 hour ago, The Rising Sun said:

I know that's one explanation.

But what happens if we do get CL football?

We can't risk playing the B team in the CL. Maybe if we concentrate just on the CL, the B team can play all our Premier League games, leaving our A team players refreshed and fit for each CL game ?  Bit worried about getting relegated maybe , but I reckon that's what we'll do .

👍

Fun thing about the new champions league format is that we probably could play our B team for a few of the games in the league format and qualify. 

But next season our B team will be even stronger than it is this season. 

Edited November 1, 20241 yr by bisright1

15 hours ago, The Rising Sun said:

I know that's one explanation.

But what happens if we do get CL football?

We can't risk playing the B team in the CL. Maybe if we concentrate just on the CL, the B team can play all our Premier League games, leaving our A team players refreshed and fit for each CL game ?  Bit worried about getting relegated maybe , but I reckon that's what we'll do .

👍

 

The A team workload doubles as per the current CL teams. 

4 hours ago, dermott said:

The A team workload doubles as per the current CL teams. 

What games will the B team play ?

If only every game would end right now!

Liverpool losing.

City losing 

Arsenal lost !