"I think the team was good, they gave everything, the performance was good but unfortunately we lost and we are not happy.

We are truly still in the Potter period.

2 minutes ago, yaz said:

Tough start for the rugby winning mentality bloke. I'll give him another couple of games before I judge though.

Probably crying into the same bucket as the set piece coach

3 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

Probably crying into the same bucket as the set piece coach

The Barcelona data analyst must be wondering what he's gotten himself into!

Christ get this tactically inept spreadsheet gimp out of my football team.

The performance was good? By what standard? Our players spent the entire 2nd half jogging, falling over or giving the ball away to Villa in our own half.

The only good was in the first 15 minutes, but we even managed to give the ball away and present sloppy chances to Villa in that time.

Today's performance was one of the worst, and Villa had an off day themselves. It was genuinely like watching players that have barely played any football in their lives at times.

I thought the performance definitely improved compared to what we saw vs Brighton.

However the same failings were still there.

The whole setup is a joke.

• Poor recruitment (players simply not good enough)

• Sporting Directors have no experience of operating at elite level

• The club weakening our squad during last transfer window

• Manager clueless and clearly lost the dressing room.

So many issues. Clearlake made a massive error is annoying Poch. They should have kept him for another year to keep stability and build on it.

This one was really on the poor recruitment than Maresca in my view. To his credit, Maresca's adjustment made a difference, and with a bit of a luck we should be 2 up before they even had a good go at us. The poor individuals, such as the GK , striker ( or lack) and CD decided the game for us. Villa throw on Rashford and Malan, we had literally nothing in response. The GK was a joke, who thought it was a great idea to buy a bunch of number twos and expected them to do a number 1 job. Now what, bring back Sanchez, or have a go with our number 3 ( or 8) GK?

Manager doesn’t have the experience or the ability to coach at a club of our pedigree. First thing we needed going into this season was stability, we were on an upward trajectory with Poch and should have kept him for one more season to steady the ship before going in for a proper manager this summer coming. Fair enough they might have wanted to part with Poch, but if that’s the case you have to sign a manager that can whip these lazy egotistical players into shape. Maresca is a massive pussy and that’s showing in our lazy play.

I honestly don’t see how this gets better any time soon.

The players know they can outlast him. He might have a five year deal but that's nothing compared to the 8 and 9 year contracts half the first team are on.

He's out of his depth.

If we don't get maximum points against Leicester and Southampton, then he should be sacked.

I've said before, unless we are 3/4 goals up going into half time we aren't winning games. Maresca in the second half gets out tactic'd and seems bewildered when his dreary dog sh*t BTEC Pep tactics don't work. At this level he is so far out of his depth and it's completely on the owners and sporting directors for giving an amateur one of the biggest jobs in world football. Get him out as soon as possible.

He thought this was a good game.🤣🤣 we are f**ked if he’s here for another 4 years.

I think he’s been found out. But failure to properly back him in the last two transfer windows was utterly bizarre given that he was the Board’s choice and they should’ve bent over backwards to help him succeed.

And to sign players like Veiga, Felix, Dewsbury Hall that the manager just stubbornly refused to play, while not signing a keeper, centre half and striker, it’s just unbelievable when you think about it.

It’s like the club is being run by charlatans and there’s no one who can step in and say this clownshow has to stop — you’re all fired. Just who is making these decisions?And why are they still employed?

Ill be the first to say that hes been sh*t but the board also did him no favours with one of our worst January transfer windows. He at least has my sympathy there but he`s still sh*t

4 hours ago, Zeta said:

We are truly still in the Potter period.

We neve left, we entered the Potter period the day Tuchel was sacked and have never left since then.

18 minutes ago, Frankie8Lampard said:

Ill be the first to say that hes been sh*t but the board also did him no favours with one of our worst January transfer windows. He at least has my sympathy there but he`s still sh*t

Worst?

Maresca barely played Felix, Disasi. Chilwell and Chuku were also part of the bomb squad.

He got Chalobah. Jan transfer was fine.

We’re not even hard to beat. That’s the worst thing.

7 hours ago, Bob stark said:

Worst?

Maresca barely played Felix, Disasi. Chilwell and Chuku were also part of the bomb squad.

He got Chalobah. Jan transfer was fine.

We had 5 teenagers on the bench against Villa, none of whom he will use ... so yes selling/loaning our squad depth while simultaneously failing to address any of the obvious imbalances in the squad, and instead wasting time on failing to sell various other players due to unrealistic asking prices and also signing a 19 year old and a 16 year old continues the BlueCo pattern of hopeless transfer windows.

At least he tried something different yesterday. We're just incapable of producing a 90 minute display though.

13 hours ago, forbzy said:

Yes. To be fair to Potter, his team just won at Arsenal today. Maybe he wasn't so much the problem as the people who hired him.

Potter had to operate with an injury crisis that was unparalleled in all my years watching Chelsea.

Question on Maresca. I noticed he was wearing a number of hippie bracelets on his wrists yesterday. Is this something Pep has started to do recently?

12 minutes ago, Gordon Bennett said:

At least he tried something different yesterday. We're just incapable of producing a 90 minute display though.

Not the only issue as the club is now rotten to its core and perhaps beyond redemption. But this is still a massive point as well. We are this far along into this hopeless cycle since these clowns took over, and we are still in the situation where these players are just not fit enough. Team cannot compete during second halves of matches through being gassed. Squad is paper thin in areas that are vital, by some fking idiots choice, so the same scenario unfolds in every game.

I think it is something like 15 points dropped from winning positions this season, 13 of 2hich have been dropped since boxing day.

20 points needed from the last 12 games just to match last season's points tally

Looks challenging based on our current run rate and form over the last 10 games.

9 minutes ago, just said:

Potter had to operate with an injury crisis that was unparalleled in all my years watching Chelsea.

Question on Maresca. I noticed he was wearing a number of hippie bracelets on his wrists yesterday. Is this something Pep has started to do recently?

Unparalleled until it was exceeded the next season under Pochettino !

Maresca has had such an easy time of it in comparison.

He had a full and injury-free pre-season of opportunity to assess the squad and decide who he wants to use/not use. He's had very few injuries to contend with season-to-date, a nice schedule, and several top sides/rivals way off it vs previous years. He's had supportive superiors, the fans mostly onside, no tribalism baggage from previous clubs to contend with, friendly media, and a relentless Club PR machine to support him in every decision.

Management is never going to be an easier ride than in this set of circumstances ... and yet the longer he is here the more he is stuffing it up.

Out of both cups, going backwards in the league, and looking likely on current trajectory to achieve a lower placing and points tally than 23/24.

It's not good.

From Top 4/ title run form to relegation form in two months.

Only 12 more games before we get his replacement.