40 minutes ago, Nibs said:

Think Maresca has got a little bit lucky in one respect. With our defence now - if we can continue to play James, Tosin, Chalobah and Cucurella, we suddenly carry more of a goal threat. All have goals in them and look more threatening from set pieces. Between them they are likely to score more than Jackson, Neto and Sancho combined.

 

In this poor run we have scored 7 goals in the 6 games.

 

3 from Palmer

1 from James.

1 from Tosin 

1 from Cucurella

And one from Chalobah/Madueke.

 

So had Noni not be able to pouch that one last night on the goal line that would have been only Palmer with goals outside of our defenders.

None from any of the wide players, none from midfield, and only Palmer from the forward line.

 

That's not good enough. We need far more from all the wide players, Nico and Fernandez.

1 hour ago, Nibs said:

Think Maresca has got a little bit lucky in one respect. With our defence now - if we can continue to play James, Tosin, Chalobah and Cucurella, we suddenly carry more of a goal threat. All have goals in them and look more threatening from set pieces. Between them they are likely to score more than Jackson, Neto and Sancho combined.

 

Goals from defence is such an undervalued and often times, frowned upon weapon. Arsenal wouldn't be where they are without it this season.

9 hours ago, Zeta said:

I think it's pretty clear he's just a yes-man making excuses when the board told him certain players were being sold for the "profit".

I don't think so. If that was the case, then he would've used Chilwell.

4 hours ago, axman2526 said:

In this poor run we have scored 7 goals in the 6 games.

 

3 from Palmer

1 from James.

1 from Tosin 

1 from Cucurella

And one from Chalobah/Madueke.

 

So had Noni not be able to pouch that one last night on the goal line that would have been only Palmer with goals outside of our defenders.

None from any of the wide players, none from midfield, and only Palmer from the forward line.

 

That's not good enough. We need far more from all the wide players, Nico and Fernandez.

You say this, but we have more scorers in the top 23 scorers this season than Man City, Notts Forest, and Arsenal.

We have Palmer with 14 goals, Jackson has 9, and Madueke has 6. 

Salah has 18 goals, Gakpo has 6, and Diaz has 8.

Haaland has 17, Foden has 6 

Havertz has 8, Martinelli has 6 

In fact, I think Tottenham may have the most top goalscorers in the league with five different scorers featuring in the top scorers list. Mudryk has been a disappointment, and Neto has, too. Sancho still has time to chip in more goals, too.  Felix will likely not get any games if Palmer is playing, and Nkunku has been very underwhelming. 

Edited January 21, 20251 yr by Sunspear_88

59 minutes ago, KonaKai Blue said:

I don't think so. If that was the case, then he would've used Chilwell.

Quite the reverse actually. This whole scenario must surely be upon the instructions of the directors. It certainly looks like it is an intentional ploy to try to starve Chilwell out. By not getting any game time their hope is that his agents will see the potential detriment to his career and will try to negotiate a move for him on reduced wages just to get him out.

Maresca has stated that he doesn't like full backs that run up and down the pitch which is a nonsensical and frankly ridiculous comments. Pretty much all full backs are capable of moving into advance positions to deliver crosses and still track back into position. If Gary Neville was doing it in his prime then i am sure the players with today's level of fitness can do so now. Another reason why his comment is nonsensical is that whilst he doesn't want full backs running up and down he does want his wide players tracking back to put a defensive shift in, which most are unaccustomed or disinclined to do.

He has told Chilwell there is no place for him because he doesn't operate with a wing back bombing on into advanced positions. So maybe a tactically astute manager that is so adept at developing players to have the versatility to play within his pattern, would be telling these fking muppets in charge to not spunk 60m on a rubbish Garnacho and maybe work with Chilly in playing the left wing role with Cucurella playing in the LB position. I would imagine that for the few games that Chilly would be able to stay fit for, he would be far more effective in delivering the ball than Garnacho, Mudryk, Neto, Madueke and probably Sancho as well. Still what the fck do i know.

 

Feels like poor management from Maresca and the SD’s that a lot of the squad players are up for sale or open to offers. Most of them have recently signed as well. Bonkers. 

10 hours ago, The Rising Sun said:

The club were dishonest with us. They pretended that it was usually our academy players who didn't suit whatever system the coach wanted to play and they had to be sold or banished from all first team facilities.

It was purely and simply a pure profit financial decision and nothing to do with a player's ability to play in a particular system. If anyone actually fell for their obvious lies then the Chalobah recall should have opened their eyes.

 

 

Sterling, Gallagher, Chalobah fit what maresca want more than sancho, Enzo and Gusto

9 hours ago, JM7 said:

Feels like poor management from Maresca and the SD’s that a lot of the squad players are up for sale or open to offers. Most of them have recently signed as well. Bonkers. 

Matt Law talked about that in a podcast. It seems the new owners/regime doesn't want to handle players like the past ones. Players like Bakaoko, Drinkwater and Rahman comes to mind. If they don't see the player fitting they sell/move on them quick. 

Loan rules have changed as well...

39 minutes ago, evissy said:

Matt Law talked about that in a podcast. It seems the new owners/regime doesn't want to handle players like the past ones. Players like Bakaoko, Drinkwater and Rahman comes to mind. If they don't see the player fitting they sell/move on them quick. 

Loan rules have changed as well...

2/3 of those players made a transfer profit with loan fees. 

Its fine to sell them on quick in theory, but in practice no one wants/can afford to buy them in a way that makes things financially viable.

11 minutes ago, SydneyChelsea said:

2/3 of those players made a transfer profit with loan fees. 

Its fine to sell them on quick in theory, but in practice no one wants/can afford to buy them in a way that makes things financially viable.

Do you mean: we bought Drinkwater for 40m and paid his salary for x number of years (minus loan salaries) which makes 40m + something = 40+m we got more of him for what we paid for, lets say 41+m?

On 20/01/2025 at 16:28, dkw said:

You keep bringing up that short period of form, but the numbers hide a lot. We weren't playing any better, just a bit more solid in the middle as poch had to finally play an actual midfield due to injuries. We nicked a few games, had a couple of good wins but it was still a slog, often relying on the opposition missing chances.

I'm sure this will be dismissed as utter woke football statistical nonsense but post Christmas we comfortably outperformed every opposition on xG except for City, Arsenal, Liverpool and sheff Utd weirdly. The other 14 games we were cushty, not exactly relying on opposition missing chances. 

1 hour ago, SydneyChelsea said:

2/3 of those players made a transfer profit with loan fees. 

We made a profit on 2 out of 3 of Bakayoko, Drinkwater and Rahman ?

How are you coming to that conclusion ?

 

Bakayoko : signed for €40m ; sold for FREE ; 4 loans with loan fees totalling €12.75m. 

Drinkwater: signed for €37.9m ; No exit fee as contract cancelled (presumably with a pay off) ; 4 loans to the likes of Burnley, Villa, Kasimpasa and Reading. No data on fees but unlikely to have been for very much from those 4 clubs.

Rahman: signed for €26m. Sold for FREE ;   succession of loans to various unglamorous clubs, one known loan fee of just €500K when his stock was at its peak

 

 

What am I missing here ? 

Edited January 22, 20251 yr by Sexyfootball

2 hours ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

I'm sure this will be dismissed as utter woke football statistical nonsense 

What the f**k is that all about? No one mentioned "woke", give it a rest.

9 minutes ago, dkw said:

What the f**k is that all about? No one mentioned "woke", give it a rest.

??? Its quite a common term/meme used these days, especially in football circles when talking about new aspects of the game such as xG etc., not sure why you're having a hissy fit over it and ignoring the rest of the message. 

5 minutes ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

??? Its quite a common term/meme used these days, especially in football circles when talking about new aspects of the game such as xG etc., not sure why you're having a hissy fit over it and ignoring the rest of the message. 

Its a common term used by people who are unable to build an actual real world argument, its a sh*tty catch all for an excuse.

As for the rest, stats as ever are only half the picture with no context attached. We all watched those games, and other than 3 or 4 we were equally as bad as the first half of the season, could also easily have lost several of the games had the opposition took the chances. Its a misnomer to base Poch`s reign on those 3 or 4 games.

3 hours ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

I'm sure this will be dismissed as utter woke football statistical nonsense but post Christmas we comfortably outperformed every opposition on xG except for City, Arsenal, Liverpool and sheff Utd weirdly. The other 14 games we were cushty, not exactly relying on opposition missing chances. 

Bournemouth, Forest, Brentford, Wolves and Luton also "beat" us on XG in the same timeframe.

https://understat.com/league/EPL/2023

22 minutes ago, dkw said:

Its a common term used by people who are unable to build an actual real world argument, its a sh*tty catch all for an excuse.

As for the rest, stats as ever are only half the picture with no context attached. We all watched those games, and other than 3 or 4 we were equally as bad as the first half of the season, could also easily have lost several of the games had the opposition took the chances. Its a misnomer to base Poch`s reign on those 3 or 4 games.

like i said, its a common meme in the football world. More to the point, it had little to no relevance to the actual point of the message which you completely ignored. 

You say its used by people with no ability for a real argument, whilst yourself using that single word to not engage with the actual point of what i said. 

17 minutes ago, Argo said:

Bournemouth, Forest, Brentford, Wolves and Luton also "beat" us on XG in the same timeframe.

https://understat.com/league/EPL/2023

Forest and Brentford didn't beat us and Luton was before the last 18 games that i previously mentioned.

https://fbref.com/en/squads/cff3d9bb/2023-2024/matchlogs/c9/schedule/Chelsea-Scores-and-Fixtures-Premier-League

12 minutes ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

Forest and Brentford didn't beat us and Luton was before the last 18 games that i previously mentioned.

https://fbref.com/en/squads/cff3d9bb/2023-2024/matchlogs/c9/schedule/Chelsea-Scores-and-Fixtures-Premier-League

It was post Christmas but fair enough.

Guess it depends on which sites more accurate then (I don't know and don't care enough to work it out).

But if we say it's your one we still "lost" to Wolves and Bournemouth, "drew" to Brentford and "beat" Forest and Brighton by the smallest margins imaginable.

1 hour ago, Argo said:

It was post Christmas but fair enough.

Guess it depends on which sites more accurate then (I don't know and don't care enough to work it out).

But if we say it's your one we still "lost" to Wolves and Bournemouth, "drew" to Brentford and "beat" Forest and Brighton by the smallest margins imaginable.

Won 11 Drew 1 Lost 2 out of those 'smaller' games then, pretty good if you ask me.

4 hours ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

??? Its quite a common term/meme used these days, especially in football circles when talking about new aspects of the game such as xG etc., not sure why you're having a hissy fit over it and ignoring the rest of the message. 

I've never seen the word "woke" used to describe a football statistical analysis.

When it is commonly used as in say,  "woke lefty " it just a nonsensical slur or insult, devoid of any real meaning.

Sorry to come across as a woke lefty mate!😂

Not sure what was said about xG for example but if you get annoyed by stats that are commonly used today I'd say you don't understand the relevance of these stats.

Anyway this season has highlighted the relevance of finishing chances. And why players that can finish with high percentages are so expensive such as Palmer. 

When coaches talk about performing well but losing or drawing like Enzo has lately they talk about that because it is not about system or coaching that much, it is about confidence of a single player. Sometimes it is very hard for coach to do anything about it. Part of the job naturally but still.

The Athletic podcast. A good take on where we are I think....

https://youtu.be/KFDHXLqIpcs?feature=shared

 

Given he came out and admitted the whole "Trev cannot play on his system" line was a lie and he played along for  PSR rules for one I think it damages our ability to trust easy he says and for another that was next level of being a Yes Man the ownership forced him in to, which is disgraceful and makes him look a right puppet.

9 hours ago, evissy said:

Not sure what was said about xG for example but if you get annoyed by stats that are commonly used today I'd say you don't understand the relevance of these stats.

Anyway this season has highlighted the relevance of finishing chances. And why players that can finish with high percentages are so expensive such as Palmer. 

When coaches talk about performing well but losing or drawing like Enzo has lately they talk about that because it is not about system or coaching that much, it is about confidence of a single player. Sometimes it is very hard for coach to do anything about it. Part of the job naturally but still.

I think we've got to a point where Maresca needs to just go a bit Conte/Jose and make it overtly clear in interviews he wants a striker, because we have one of two issues; either Enzo is happy with our striking options which makes him an idiot, or the board have decided we need to make it work with what we have which makes them idiots.