22 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Maresca said after the game if you don't win you learn. I agree with him.

I think the players can learn a lot from a game like this, as can Marssca. Hopefully they use this lesson well. 

Man City has been taking so many classes lately, you can tell by his expression that Håland missed a lot of school during his youth years...

The fact we are doing so well is a blessing as we can clearly see what we need to challenge for the league. 

 

- A different profile of striker to compete with Jackson. One that is a box presence. 

- Another strong CM (Santos fits the bill easily). 

- An experienced CB to partner Colwill. 

 

I can't believe that after our excellent run and what I thought was an Arsenal poor run , the f**kers are only 2 points behind us and on the same goal difference.

Still , we only need to match their results to finish above them !

Come on you BLUES!

Merry Christmas lads. 
 

 

Overall very happy, and pleasantly surprised, by the job Maresca has done so far.

Football has been really good to watch, we have top 4 form and he has been rotating the squad well.

The only criticism I have of him is the same one many of us had of Poch, playing players not in their natural positions when having other options.

Gusto at left back, as well as inverting in to an 8/10, and Nkunku mainly used as a striker not a 10, does not work, and I hope he learns that soon. 

6 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Merry Christmas lads. 
 

 

Sterling era will always represent the dark days of post-Abramovich Chelsea, the poster boy in fact. 

2 hours ago, Term_X said:

Sterling era will always represent the dark days of post-Abramovich Chelsea, the poster boy in fact. 

Well him and Koulibaly, Aubameyang, Graham Potter etc.

10 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Overall very happy, and pleasantly surprised, by the job Maresca has done so far.

Football has been really good to watch, we have top 4 form and he has been rotating the squad well.

The only criticism I have of him is the same one many of us had of Poch, playing players not in their natural positions when having other options.

Gusto at left back, as well as inverting in to an 8/10, and Nkunku mainly used as a striker not a 10, does not work, and I hope he learns that soon. 

The difference between him and Poch is there's atleast some method to it.

Even the Gusto one you can point to it being because Maresca wants Colwill as the CCB for his passing range, and even more so when Fofana is fit as RCB is his ideal role due to his ball carrying/dribbling.

Poch had Colwill doing laps on the touchline and even if he was going to insist on playing a CB there it should have been Badiashille.

When we look back to the successful seasons of Jose and Carlo we have a number of stalwarts that played nearly every game.

I have just looked on Bounder Friardale, Palmer and Caicedo on 17, Jackson, Colwill and Sanchez on 16 so I guess that is the core of Maresca's team.

 

 

Are we starting to drop off in this second half of the season? The goals have kind of dried up bar the occasional individual brilliance from the likes of Palmer or Sancho. I'm a bit worried tbh. My mind is starting to wander around all the talk about how Leicester had a drop off in the second half of their season last year.

I really don't care about the title this season... just want to see us get back in the CL.

Disgraceful. Twice in a row.

Poor from Maresca .. you have a squad so use it.. cost us this match in my opinion.

I’m at the point where I’m questioning whether Enzo is repeating his Leicester form - I.e. race ahead until Christmas and then fall apart. 
 

Enzo needs to prove me wrong. 

30 minutes ago, Girish said:

Are we starting to drop off in this second half of the season? The goals have kind of dried up bar the occasional individual brilliance from the likes of Palmer or Sancho. I'm a bit worried tbh. My mind is starting to wander around all the talk about how Leicester had a drop off in the second half of their season last year.

I really don't care about the title this season... just want to see us get back in the CL.

We were always going to have á bad run and this is it. Interesting to see how quickly Maresca can get us out of it, he’s being tested now and was waaaaaay to passive today but still really happy with his overall work

He's been too relaxed for too long of late, and it's rubbed off on the players. He's really let things slip in the last two games. Poor management, poor team selections, persisting with players for too long instead of making a change when they aren't playing well. Worse of all is his lack of reaction when we lose control. He makes zero adjustment to our shape, he's just waiting for things to sort themselves out.

We had a good little run of form against favourable opposition, now things are looking dodgy again, and he STILL hasn't solved any of our defensive problems. Fulham's first goal came from an unmarked player on the back post AGAIN. We need a few very good saves in every game. This is why Sanchez leads the shot stopping charts, he's being forced to make too many saves.

Exactly. That's twice in a row our attacking players look too relaxed. 

 

Subs lacked badly these past two games. Saved a point through Tosins block and Sanchez saves at Everton, could not today.

No wonder the attack is lazy when they know Felix, Guiu and George are there just to make up bench numbers.

Last 18 games last season - won 10 drawn 5 lost 3

First 18 games this season - won 10 drawn 5 lost 3

A very solid Top 4 for the whole of 2024 basically, but we really should be aspiring to kick on from that under Maresca, rather than perpetuate the status quo ...

He's not showing enough ambition for me. Sleepy tactics nullifying all our best attributes. Too much defeatist talk ... "not ready" etc etc. reminds me of Jose de-railing a title charge with all that "little horse" nonsense.

This season has been a massive opportunity given how much City and Arsenal have fallen off, and Maresca is currently letting it slip through his fingers ... 

Edited December 26, 20241 yr by Sexyfootball

We'll soon find out what he's made of now.

Matched Pochettinos results in his last 18 games with us so far but now there are some quite clear signs teams are figuring us out.

Certain players are regressing fast but there is obv time to change that. But we need to see improvement again now and not status quo at best.

 

2 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

Last 18 games last season - won 10 drawn 5 lost 3

First 18 games this season - won 10 drawn 5 lost 3

A very solid Top 4 for the whole of 2024 basically, but we really should be aspiring to kick on from that under Maresca, rather than perpetuate the status quo ...

He's not showing enough ambition for me. Sleepy tactics nullifying all our best attributes. Too much defeatist talk ... "not ready" etc etc. reminds me of Jose de-railing a title charge with all that "little horse" nonsense.

This season has been a massive opportunity given how much City and Arsenal have fallen off, and Maresca is currently letting it slip through his fingers ... 

Needs to stop the rot right away, before this gets away from him and we end up tumbling down the table.

Came for the overreaction 

2 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Needs to stop the rot right away, before this gets away from him and we end up tumbling down the table.

Ipswich up next, who have the 2nd worst goal difference in the PL

I'd like to see us put 4 or 5 past them to boost the confidence and get back on track.

Couple of embarrassing results that will ultimately cost us at the end of the season. Need to get Lavia back into CM for me. Caicedo at RB and inverting in. 

1 minute ago, Sexyfootball said:

Ipswich up next, who have the 2nd worst goal difference in the PL

I'd like to see us put 4 or 5 past them to boost the confidence and get back on track.

Me too.

We spoke about the Everton and Fulham tests after they got flaws vs Arsenal (both) and Pool (Fulham). 

We did worse and failed those tests.

Now aside from Bouremouth we have "easy" games. Better win them and win them well. Don't take much for a young squad to loose self belief.