56 minutes ago, Deino said:

Not necessarily, players (or people in general really) have all the attributes needed most of the time, sometimes it just takes a fresh perspective on things to put it all together and improve.

 

Let's look at just one player, Jackson. Early last season, you can see a player who was an excellent channel runner, good dribbler.

He was excellent in pre season because nobody want to play super physical n tight in pre season.The moment season start you can see how easy for cb to push him around. By the end of last season, this was no longer a problem. 

 

 

It has been a really positive start. I've called him a w**ker for not utilising Nkunku. Guy is a goal threat... we really should be seeing more of him. But I've no real complaints about him so far. Maresca does appear to be good at improving players and getting his ideas across but progress will be made should we take a few losses or struggle for form. He is growing on me as a manager.

 

TBH, I dont think Liverpool look that much better than the rest. Salah is keeping them afloat adn without hm, theyre in trouble, much like us and palmer. 

Fingers crossed. 

4 hours ago, Jezz said:

I understand Maresca's sentiment around the squad not being ready for a title challenge, but playing devil's advocate I would love him to instill the power of positive thinking into the playing group. Don't put a ceiling on what we could achieve this season.

I think he's doing the right thing by not putting pressure on this young group of players in the public eye. Behind closed doors in the dressing room and at Cobham i'm sure the story is very different. I don't think we'll get there this season but there is no doubt in my mind that Maresca and the squads aim is to lift the title in May.

3 hours ago, bluetrooper said:

It has been a really positive start. I've called him a w**ker for not utilising Nkunku. Guy is a goal threat... we really should be seeing more of him. But I've no real complaints about him so far. Maresca does appear to be good at improving players and getting his ideas across but progress will be made should we take a few losses or struggle for form. He is growing on me as a manager.

 

TBH, I dont think Liverpool look that much better than the rest. Salah is keeping them afloat adn without hm, theyre in trouble, much like us and palmer. 

Fingers crossed. 

This is the time we learn the ropes. We will lose games this season and it is fine. We are not going to win the title as it is one of the most difficult thing to do and and we are too young as a squad and as a team. 

What we have learned this season is to win games and to score goals. We need to learn how to hold on to results, how to handle pressure, how to sit back and take the heat without conceding and so on. 

All part of the process. If Maresca can handle all of this we are again one step closer to first winning against the likes of Liverpool, City and Arsenal and the actually competing against them in the table. 

I think after this and next season we should be taken seriously in terms of the Prem. Liverpool and City are both closing in on squad overhaul. That is our time to strike. Players like DeBruyne and Salah who are incredibly hard to replace will look a move to some easier league. 

8 hours ago, Simplymo said:

 

I agree bud, i think it's a bit of both.

Yes he may have been rigid with your lot but I sort of understand why, as you mention above its the quality of players he had at his disposal.

I actually like him even more now because of all that, let's be honest, if kdh was the best in your squad last season then I think Maresca did absolutely brilliantly last season. I don't mean any disrespect whatsoever mate. 

He knew he had to be pragmatic to get you guys over the line. He used all the tools he could in the best way he could and hit his target. 

He now has a whole bunch of really talented and versatile kids to use and we can see him open up with new ideas and tactics. I can also imagine if we lose half our squad he may park the bus in every game just to hit the target of top 4-5. (If that is his target).

I know I'm a minority in that regard, even during Jose's period of lots of 1-0s, it seemed I was one of the very few that was happy as long as we were climbing the table.

 

I'm not a fan of the Van Man, sry, you're on your own there mate. 😆 Good luck.

Exactly this .....

 There were mixed feelings on Maresca's tactics at Leicester. We all knew what he was trying to do, the players bought into it and it worked most of the time. However, because some of our players weren't good enough to play like that against the better teams, on occasion it led to too much  tippy tappy football in defence with mistakes leading to goals against, together with very slow tedious build up in attack leading to nothing.  It felt like there wasn't a plan B to  change things mid game but TBF it was probably due to not having the right players to bring on.  We definitely need a rebuild.

From what I've seen of your games it looks like he does have tactical flexibility now he has a wealth of players to choose from.

Yep, he got us up which was what mattered but wouldn't have been able to strengthen the team sufficiently to make it work for us in the Prem.  Good luck to him though, it looks like he is going to be a top manager.

With regards to KDH, he was born and bred in Leicestershire, about 3 miles from where I grew up. He came through our academy and is a Fox through and through really, I think he would have been happy to stay with us but the Financial Unfair Play rules mean that smaller clubs like us have to sell our best home grown talent to balance the books.  He may not have the silky skills of some of your other options but he will always put a shift in and will always give 100%. I'm sure he'll develop with better players around him and will do a good job for you, probably mostly in your games in Europe where you need a battler in midfield.  Look after him please, all true Foxes will wish him well on his big break, just like we always respected the amazing Kante who worked his socks off for us right to the end (and unlike Fofana who pretty much downed tools to force his move through - no respect due there I'm afraid)

Many of us have concerns about Nistelroy with his lack of Prem in management experience but it isn't working out too shoddy for Maresca and at least he has something to prove & should command respect with players and fans.  Unlike Cooper who I do feel a bit sorry for but was always going to have a struggle to convince a big part of our fan base due to his Forest connections (something that didn't really bother those of us who can remember the success we had with Martin O'Neill and Captain Morgan, both ex Forest).

Good luck in your quest for top 4, looking good so far.  Look after our KDH 👍

We are in a feel-good moment just now having a number of wins under our belt and seemingly good squad harmony for the most part.

Part of the luck in a season is not playing sides in their best moments as there are several sides that can go on winning runs.

Villa for example had not won for 7 matches and Watkins had chances yet did not look convincing, assuming Emery gets them firing again they could take points off a top side.

Neto looks a great acquisition for us seems to work so hard and play either wing, Lavia seems to work with Caicedo yet even Enzo is coming on and having good moments. We have competition for places in the forwards meaning everyone needs to maintain a high level this can only be good.

Arsenal started well yet their form has dropped a little though this can improve before we meet them yet should be a good game

 

4 hours ago, Visiting Fox said:

Look after our KDH 👍

We'd like a refund. 

3 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

We'd like a refund. 

Harsh😱

We'd like him back 😂

13 hours ago, Visiting Fox said:

Exactly this .....

 There were mixed feelings on Maresca's tactics at Leicester. We all knew what he was trying to do, the players bought into it and it worked most of the time. However, because some of our players weren't good enough to play like that against the better teams, on occasion it led to too much  tippy tappy football in defence with mistakes leading to goals against, together with very slow tedious build up in attack leading to nothing.  It felt like there wasn't a plan B to  change things mid game but TBF it was probably due to not having the right players to bring on.  We definitely need a rebuild.

From what I've seen of your games it looks like he does have tactical flexibility now he has a wealth of players to choose from.

With perfect hindsight I do wonder if Maresca had 1 eye on promotion and surviving the EPL. The best performing promoted sides are all very capable of playing out of the back and I wonder if Maresca realised he needed to impress that on the squad given Leicester's likely promotion.

23 hours ago, Bob stark said:

Let's look at just one player, Jackson. Early last season, you can see a player who was an excellent channel runner, good dribbler.

He was excellent in pre season because nobody want to play super physical n tight in pre season.The moment season start you can see how easy for cb to push him around. By the end of last season, this was no longer a problem.

I'm not saying you shouldn't give Poch his flowers but to attribute it solely to Poch for how we perform this season is a reach.

Poch is not in the room doing the analysis, he's not putting the players in their new roles, he's not designing the tactics so on and so forth.

Does Poch deserve some praise for developing parts of their game? Yes. Does that mean he had a hand in how they perform this season? No. If we're going that far then lets also praise Unai Emery for giving Jackson his chance to breakthrough that Villareal side, his schoolteachers, coaches and his mom for giving birth to him.

1 hour ago, Deino said:

I'm not saying you shouldn't give Poch his flowers but to attribute it solely to Poch for how we perform this season is a reach.

 

When have I said this? 

 

 

On 07/11/2024 at 09:55, Bob stark said:

Maresca is fine. Our build up is far more interesting, and imo more effective. I like our set pieces setup better (result is still the same  though). Pre season worried me because of man to man high press, but that thing is gone. IMO We are still in good position to get to top 4.

Injury will be key. So far in PL Maresca hasn't played player that he is scared to play. He started Mudryk only one time vs wolves and took him off at half time where I thought he didn't play badly (we could have lost 4-0 easily in the 1st half). 

 

Talking about me giving no credit to Maresca

32 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

When have I said this? 

 

 

Just look at all your replies

On 26/11/2024 at 11:35, Bob stark said:

Does any of our player improve compare to the start of this season/end of last season ? 

If they are already playing well at the start of the season then you are actually praising poch not maresca

 

On 02/12/2024 at 10:24, Bob stark said:

The discussion was about player as individual not the team.

Because if you look at the team, I actually disagree with many people who say that maresca ride on Poch momentum. I give all the credit to Maresca. 

But if you saying that player a, b n c improve under Maresca, you actually praising the previous manager because you don't need long to improve the team, improving player on the other hand take a long time. 

 

 

On 02/12/2024 at 12:37, Bob stark said:

Let's look at just one player, Jackson. Early last season, you can see a player who was an excellent channel runner, good dribbler.

He was excellent in pre season because nobody want to play super physical n tight in pre season.The moment season start you can see how easy for cb to push him around. By the end of last season, this was no longer a problem. 

 

 

The fact is, almost every one of our players improved this season which is why the team improved. By correlation, if you say when the players improved therefore we're not praising Maresca but actually Poch, you're basically saying we're praising Poch for how the team has improved this season because almost every individual has played better. 

Then you narrowed it down to a single individual and attributed the change in performance from early last season to the end of last season to Poch and carried the praise to Jackson's performance this season is why I pointed it out. A player's natural progression and performance should be praised, yes, but to put the praise only on Poch(because that is what you did by the first statement "If they are already playing well at the start of the season then you are actually praising poch not maresca") alone for his performance this season is why I made fun of the statement.

Maresca could easily have wanted to play different playstyles that doesn't involve Jackson but he didn't. He put Jackson in a role best suited to his playstyle and designed tactics/movement patterns that suited Jackson more. 

To conclude this absurdly long post already, my point is people are right in praising Maresca for the players' improvement early this season until now just as much as you are also right in praising Poch for improving some players' attributes last season.

22 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

Talking about me giving no credit to Maresca

I never said that. It's your lack of praising Maresca for the players improved (particularly Jackson's) performances now that paints that particular picture.

Edited December 3, 20241 yr by Deino

2 hours ago, Deino said:

I'm not saying you shouldn't give Poch his flowers but to attribute it solely to Poch for how we perform this season is a reach.

Poch is not in the room doing the analysis, he's not putting the players in their new roles, he's not designing the tactics so on and so forth.

Does Poch deserve some praise for developing parts of their game? Yes. Does that mean he had a hand in how they perform this season? No. If we're going that far then lets also praise Unai Emery for giving Jackson his chance to breakthrough that Villareal side, his schoolteachers, coaches and his mom for giving birth to him.

Pochettino's work was necessary and part of what we are seeing now. Enzo is the first one to state that. However he has fixed things that were wrong under Pochettino. 

2 hours ago, Deino said:

Just look at all your replies

 

 

The fact is, almost every one of our players improved this season which is why the team improved. By correlation, if you say when the players improved therefore we're not praising Maresca but actually Poch, you're basically saying we're praising Poch for how the team has improved this season because almost every individual has played better. 

Then you narrowed it down to a single individual and attributed the change in performance from early last season to the end of last season to Poch and carried the praise to Jackson's performance this season is why I pointed it out. A player's natural progression and performance should be praised, yes, but to put the praise only on Poch(because that is what you did by the first statement "If they are already playing well at the start of the season then you are actually praising poch not maresca") alone for his performance this season is why I made fun of the statement.

Maresca could easily have wanted to play different playstyles that doesn't involve Jackson but he didn't. He put Jackson in a role best suited to his playstyle and designed tactics/movement patterns that suited Jackson more. 

To conclude this absurdly long post already, my point is people are right in praising Maresca for the players' improvement early this season until now just as much as you are also right in praising Poch for improving some players' attributes last season.

I never said that. It's your lack of praising Maresca for the players improved (particularly Jackson's) performances now that paints that particular picture.

First of all, you are absolutely right. After reading what I wrote, I was wrong and you are right. 

So let me redo my post. This is actually not about poch or Maresca.

When I say player improve, I always refer to their skillset attributes not their form so I was wrong saying when they played well early season it was because of previous manager. 

Like I said, my point is more about their skillset. I hate it when people say player a, b n c  improved after 1 month of new manager. You can say they are playing in role suited to them or the team playstyle suit them but there is no chance the player itself improve.

 

 

Edited December 3, 20241 yr by Bob stark

So do I give Maresca credit for improving Jackson? Nope. It is the same as I don't give credit to poch for improving Palmer.

I give Maresca credit allowing chaos ball which suit Jackson nd I give credit Poch allowing Palmer freedom to move around which help his debut. 

Edited December 3, 20241 yr by Bob stark

If Enzo doesn't pan out in the end we can bring back entertainment to the bridge

https://x.com/CFC_4k/status/1863658844049531280?t=N980H1cRM5NIO2VOLCHDHA&s=19

 

2 hours ago, evissy said:

If Enzo doesn't pan out in the end we can bring back entertainment to the bridge

https://x.com/CFC_4k/status/1863658844049531280?t=N980H1cRM5NIO2VOLCHDHA&s=19

 

I absolutely fkn love him.

🤣 

Lots of praise for Maresca. I was unsure over the summer as beyond his City days knew very little about him. Then read how stubborn he was tactically and Leicester were running out of steam end of season. 

His early interviews gave an immediate impression of assertiveness, leadership and a quiet self-confidence. Pre season wasn’t great, but never looked back since then. 

What’s impressed me most is his tactical flexibility. This is starting line ups, systems (to the extent I can understand), squad use and in game subs have been great. Consistency in results has been good to see also. 

Has that feeling of a proper Chelsea manager. Very happy so far. 

He’s got a really tough weekend coming up. Against 12 men.

Yeah, that prick is refereeing the game. I wish he would retire.

Tactical Analysis: Enzo Maresca

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Scott said:

Tactical Analysis: Enzo Maresca

 

 

 

I was just about to post this 😂

It shows how much work Maresca has done with this team and anyone who thinks he has made big strides need to give there head a wobble.

I wasn’t impressed with this hiring be he’s making me eat my words.

20 hours ago, dansubrosa said:

He’s got a really tough weekend coming up. Against 12 men.

Yeah, that prick is refereeing the game. I wish he would retire.

Oh for f**k sake, he's bound to f**king ruin it for us. He shouldn't retire he should be booted out.

He's turned out to be the complete opposite to what I expected. ( Rigid tactics, boring football etc etc)

Absolutely delighted with him, hopefully it continues. 👍

 

Big test for his man management and the players listening to him mentally tonight.

Southampton are a side we should beat, and beat well. We just won the Maresca derby and beat a very good, if not off color, Villa side.

Confidence is high, the lads are enjoying their football and look to have a swagger in their step.

Be easy to underestimate the Saints and Chairty FC to make a come back right?

Let's see how well Maresca keeps them grounded and focused tonight. If he does, we win, if he does not, we dont. Simple.