17 hours ago, AndyDowsleftflank said:

I think this is the biggest issue - not only whether the fans can stomach this kind of football but can the owners? They keep going on about «beautiful football» but I’m not sure they know what that actually is. The endless short passes is primarily a tool to make sure everyone on your team gets time to get into the correct positions, so that you can never be countered against. When Pep faces another manager who plays the same way, you get the kind of sterile crap City and Arsenal served us last season. 
For me, the biggest misconception out there is therefore that Pep plays «beautiful football» while what he really does is eliminating any sort of risk and unbalance so in reality, its a very defensive kind of football. 
I think we’ll appreciate the increased level of control at first after chaosball under Poch, but I can see the mood changing quickly if we dont keep winning. Among fans certainly, and perhaps among the owners when they discover that passing football doesnt equal goals, excitement and attacking football but rather the opposite

This is so true.

I would just add: Possession based football becomes 'beautiful' football only when you have exceptional players. Players with amazing individual abilities. It worked for Pep at Barcelona because he had that bloke Messi in the team. He worked for Pep at Citeh, because Citeh gave him lots of money to spend on the most exceptional talented players. It may well work at Chelsea for the same reason. Keep possession and keep passing it around until a player has the opportunity to be an exceptionally brilliant individual player.

4 hours ago, AndyDowsleftflank said:

Some reports how he has ordered detailed breakdowns on player from the youth teams
If we finally have a manager who takes creating a pathway from the academy to the first team seriously, he gets my vote

If you want to create pathway for academy player to play in the first team, the 1st thing that you do is to stop signing so many young expensive player. 

 

 

 

35 minutes ago, TheCeleryKing said:

This is so true.

I would just add: Possession based football becomes 'beautiful' football only when you have exceptional players. Players with amazing individual abilities. It worked for Pep at Barcelona because he had that bloke Messi in the team. He worked for Pep at Citeh, because Citeh gave him lots of money to spend on the most exceptional talented players. It may well work at Chelsea for the same reason. Keep possession and keep passing it around until a player has the opportunity to be an exceptionally brilliant individual player.

In general the better team should win. It just happens that the best teams usually have more possession but a top player can solve a match even with a minimal amount of touches, the problem is that the so called "meta" where Man City wins makes it difficult for another style to dominate, they have the ball and score goals and keep the ball when they don't score goals so not much you can do about it...

17 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

If you want to create pathway for academy player to play in the first team, the 1st thing that you do is to stop signing so many young expensive player. 

 

 

 

Yup, and Maresca can’t do anything about that I fear. What he CAN do, is to actually trust the academy guys when the opportunity arrives. The first step is to actually get to know them, which he seems to be doing now. With conference league and our injury record there will be plenty of opportunities but short term managers under pressure will never prioritize the academy guys - and who can blame them. Hopefully its different this time, who knows. At least I like what I’m hearing thus far

5 hours ago, AndyDowsleftflank said:

Some reports how he has ordered detailed breakdowns on player from the youth teams
If we finally have a manager who takes creating a pathway from the academy to the first team seriously, he gets my vote

He better hurry up with that pathway before all the Academy players are sold off !

 

If you look at Real they don't have a system. They have players who can play in multiple ways and they aim to win. Naturally their amazing squad helps and is the basis for it. They also have masses of experience. No one can deny their success. 

Then you have City which we are trying to emulate. 

Then we have Klopp's Liverpool that didn't really emphasize on possession itself. I think their brand of football is probably the most pleasing to the eye. Win the ball back and attack vertically with amazing speed. Their games tended to be end-to-end at best. 

City's and now our system tries to actively prevent end-to-end football. It is just one end in that football. 

Arteta's football to me is more entertaining than Pep's worst periods of possession. 

1 hour ago, yaz said:

Not terribly optimistic about the appointment but at the same have no negativity towards Maresca at all. He has my full support. In fact, he can get away with murder as far as I'm concerned. If this goes belly up it's 100% on the owners and sporting directors.

They're thick skinned mugs who'll deflect the blame and sign some League One coach and start all over again.

If we’re playing Pep style football, then I won’t be impressed. I’ve always found Pep’s football very boring. Barca and City are very boring to watch. 

The silly stories have started I heard the exact same things about Poch fitness drills before he started.

 

5 hours ago, TheCeleryKing said:

This is so true.

I would just add: Possession based football becomes 'beautiful' football only when you have exceptional players. Players with amazing individual abilities. It worked for Pep at Barcelona because he had that bloke Messi in the team. He worked for Pep at Citeh, because Citeh gave him lots of money to spend on the most exceptional talented players. It may well work at Chelsea for the same reason. Keep possession and keep passing it around until a player has the opportunity to be an exceptionally brilliant individual player.

I've said this all along that Leicester does not have the quality necessary to play Pepball in the Premier. I think Maresca may make it work at Chelsea due to the quality of players you have & the willingness of your owners to spend like a drunken sailor on shore leave.

5 hours ago, El regreso said:

The silly stories have started I heard the exact same things about Poch fitness drills before he started.

 

Our team is so multi-cultural that I cannot see anyone bar Cole Palmer and Alfie Gilchrist giving a sh*t about that

I think a strict diet is a  good start for the team. Look at Pep if you were more than 2 kg above your designated weight you didn't train. Look at Conte was fanatical about player diet. Years after he retired Terry was talking about tea and couple of biscuits and conte rang him to say one biscuit.

This discipline is valuable in itself but also helps with bonding the team and encouraging a "tough" attitude. I see this as a good sign.

Saturated fat and processed sugars I agree, but salt and pepper?

1 hour ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Saturated fat and processed sugars I agree, but salt and pepper?

I thought anything with "Pep" in it will be welcomed.

3 hours ago, ozboy said:

I think a strict diet is a  good start for the team. Look at Pep if you were more than 2 kg above your designated weight you didn't train. Look at Conte was fanatical about player diet. Years after he retired Terry was talking about tea and couple of biscuits and conte rang him to say one biscuit.

This discipline is valuable in itself but also helps with bonding the team and encouraging a "tough" attitude. I see this as a good sign.

It does if you're winning, but if you're not getting results then the 'tough guy' shtick loses all value and ends up breeding resentment.

Like I said about Gilbert Enoka, one of the unique things about football and having a young squad is that most of the players in our team have had a much harder life to date than their 'tough' coaches.

17 hours ago, The Rising Sun said:

,5 year contract?

Quiz

Who was the last manager to last 5 years ?

Just going to remind everyone Emma Hayes just left the club after 12 years…

Eager to see how he'll set us up so pre-season will be interesting this year. I can't quite see that his 4-3-3 system is going to be ideal for Nkunku and Palmer and one of Caicedo and Enzo is going to have to be an 8 which also isn't ideal in my opinion but the proof will be in the pudding so it will be interesting.

If I was a betting man i'd bet he'll line us up like this from midfield forward when the season kicks off.

Nkunku - Jackson/New - Madueke/New
      Caicedo - Enzo - Palmer

Palmer would be further from the danger zone than he was with Pochettino and Nkunku will likely not thrive if he's going to be used as a touchline winger (but where else can he play) but there is of course a lot of potential there.

 

 

3 minutes ago, OriginalS said:

Eager to see how he'll set us up so pre-season will be interesting this year. I can't quite see that his 4-3-3 system is going to be ideal for Nkunku and Palmer and one of Caicedo and Enzo is going to have to be an 8 which also isn't ideal in my opinion but the proof will be in the pudding so it will be interesting.

If I was a betting man i'd bet he'll line us up like this from midfield forward when the season kicks off.

Nkunku - Jackson/New - Madueke/New
      Caicedo - Enzo - Palmer

Palmer would be further from the danger zone than he was with Pochettino and Nkunku will likely not thrive if he's going to be used as a touchline winger (but where else can he play) but there is of course a lot of potential there.

 

 

I think 433 is the plan but setup slightly differently.

Midfield three of:

Caicedo - Lavia - Enzo

You'd then have one of James or Cucurella inverting to hold with Lavia so Caicedo and Enzo can push forward.

Front three likely to be:

Palmer - Jackson/New - Nkunku

22 minutes ago, DiMatteo43 said:

I think 433 is the plan but setup slightly differently.

Midfield three of:

Caicedo - Lavia - Enzo

You'd then have one of James or Cucurella inverting to hold with Lavia so Caicedo and Enzo can push forward.

Front three likely to be:

Palmer - Jackson/New - Nkunku

I think we would shoot ourselves in the foot if we tried to turn Palmer and Nkunku into something resembling touchline wingers in a 433 system. 8s will be pushing up as you say and crowd out the middle without being that productive in attacking areas (if its Caicedo and Enzo I mean) and I can imagine that both Palmer & Nkunku would, if not struggle at least fail to be very productive as pure wingers, especially when there is not going to be a lot of overlaps with the fullbacks tied up in the 3-2 build-up.

38 minutes ago, DiMatteo43 said:

I think 433 is the plan but setup slightly differently.

Midfield three of:

Caicedo - Lavia - Enzo

You'd then have one of James or Cucurella inverting to hold with Lavia so Caicedo and Enzo can push forward.

Front three likely to be:

Palmer - Jackson/New - Nkunku

Agreed. I assume your front three is looking at from the oppo goal, or else I'd swap Palmer and Nkunku.

Think we still need that New forward but I am not sure he wants a traditional 9. I think he'll want someone clever that can bring others into play. If he had a younger Giroud or Dzeko available I think he'd be set in an attacking sense.

Can't see Nkunku playing wing, or for too long. 

Need to see how the summer transfer window plays out. 

On 03/06/2024 at 20:38, Valerie said:

You'll treasure it as a way to lull Mini-Zeta to sleep.

Speaking of - only about a week to go!

9 hours ago, Munkunku said:

Just going to remind everyone Emma Hayes just left the club after 12 years…

Who was the last Chelsea manager to last 12 years ?

6 hours ago, OriginalS said:

I think we would shoot ourselves in the foot if we tried to turn Palmer and Nkunku into something resembling touchline wingers in a 433 system. 8s will be pushing up as you say and crowd out the middle without being that productive in attacking areas (if its Caicedo and Enzo I mean) and I can imagine that both Palmer & Nkunku would, if not struggle at least fail to be very productive as pure wingers, especially when there is not going to be a lot of overlaps with the fullbacks tied up in the 3-2 build-up.

I know everyone's saying Enzo wants touchline wingers but Leicester scored a decent amount of goals from their wide men, Mavididi scored 13ish league goals from the wing.  As in the goal he scored against us in the FA cup he's cutting in like your standard inverted forward.   Not watched any tactics videos of Maresca so could be miles off but isn't it more of one winger stays wide while the opposite wide man comes inside making and extra forward, apposed to both standing on the touchline crossing endlessly all game?

3 minutes ago, DarkMata said:

I know everyone's saying Enzo wants touchline wingers but Leicester scored a decent amount of goals from their wide men, Mavididi scored 13ish league goals from the wing.  As in the goal he scored against us in the FA cup he's cutting in like your standard inverted forward.   Not watched any tactics videos of Maresca so could be miles off but isn't it more of one winger stays wide while the opposite wide man comes inside making and extra forward, apposed to both standing on the touchline crossing endlessly all game?

Both wingers stay wide. A full back is inverted alongside the holding midfielder, with 2 #8s pushing forward supporting the striker.