Maybe he is a inverted genius, who knows.

Good win. We were lucky the GK was sh*t

16 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

But this is where fans want more adaptability.

Teams that will be more conservative with their pressing and that clog the midfield have proven to be the most stubborn to break down and have been this teams' achilles heel under Maresca.

Our sporting directors aren't Txiki Begirstain and will build a team to the managers image. They'll buy players that fit their financial model. So comparing ourselves to Pep/City in itself is wrong.

Sure adaptability is good and Maresca has shown that, his half time adjustments has been quite good general.

It is hard to argue that Maresca tactic is bad we finished 4th which is kinda what most expected. You can argue whether this tactic suit certain player but that is different conversation.

1 hour ago, Bob stark said:

Sure adaptability is good and Maresca has shown that, his half time adjustments has been quite good general.

It is hard to argue that Maresca tactic is bad we finished 4th which is kinda what most expected. You can argue whether this tactic suit certain player but that is different conversation.

What a refreshing post. Thank you. 💪

2 hours ago, Bob stark said:

Sure adaptability is good and Maresca has shown that, his half time adjustments has been quite good general.

It is hard to argue that Maresca tactic is bad we finished 4th which is kinda what most expected. You can argue whether this tactic suit certain player but that is different conversation.

Can't take away the fact we finished 4th, that is true. What is also true is that it was one of the poorest PL's in a long time, which does take the shine off 4th place somewhat.

2 hours ago, Bob stark said:

Sure adaptability is good and Maresca has shown that, his half time adjustments has been quite good general.

It is hard to argue that Maresca tactic is bad we finished 4th which is kinda what most expected. You can argue whether this tactic suit certain player but that is different conversation.

The vast amount of those half time adjustments were down to his starting 11 being wrong, his starting tactics being wrong and us needing to do something to even get back into the game.

Fixing a problem he created is not something to be happy about.

16 minutes ago, Nibs said:

Can't take away the fact we finished 4th, that is true. What is also true is that it was one of the poorest PL's in a long time, which does take the shine off 4th place somewhat.

Not 100% sure this was the poorest PL's. On surface probably yes. Rodri's injury and Arsenal not having a deadly striker are the clear surface level things but otherwise I saw some underdogs rise the table such as Nottingham.

MU and Tottenham dropped also. Not sure how you fit them in this.

How you view poor is probably the key here. What is the perspective and the metrics in that? I haven't looked into it one bit to be fair.

I like to see the season as a relative success and Enzo has his part in it. I also like he is assertive in certain things. He has laid some groundwork for the young team and his personality seems to fit the current squad. I think someone like Tuchel as a coach and person are probably not the perfect for the squad.

Enzo is far from perfect and still a bit wet behind the ears as long as coaches go but I think he's merited to continue and hopefully he learns and listens to smarter people than he is and takes that into his job.

If we had an experienced squad like we used to have Enzo would not be the coach behind the bench.

1 hour ago, evissy said:

Not 100% sure this was the poorest PL's. On surface probably yes. Rodri's injury and Arsenal not having a deadly striker are the clear surface level things but otherwise I saw some underdogs rise the table such as Nottingham.

MU and Tottenham dropped also. Not sure how you fit them in this.

How you view poor is probably the key here. What is the perspective and the metrics in that? I haven't looked into it one bit to be fair.

I like to see the season as a relative success and Enzo has his part in it. I also like he is assertive in certain things. He has laid some groundwork for the young team and his personality seems to fit the current squad. I think someone like Tuchel as a coach and person are probably not the perfect for the squad.

Enzo is far from perfect and still a bit wet behind the ears as long as coaches go but I think he's merited to continue and hopefully he learns and listens to smarter people than he is and takes that into his job.

If we had an experienced squad like we used to have Enzo would not be the coach behind the bench.

Not THE poorest but majority of teams were weaker, which meant sides like Forest, Brighton, Bournemouth & Brentford were able to finish higher.

Arsenal went backwards. City not winning anything for the first time in ages. Man Utd and Spurs both dreadful. Only Liverpool were consistent. Certainly not the calibre of opponents previous CFC managers had to pit their wits against.

CL football and balancing that with the PL fixtures will be a big test for Maresca this season. Lets see how he does.

1 hour ago, evissy said:

Not 100% sure this was the poorest PL's.

All 3 promoted teams went straight back down, adding nothing to the league.

Manchester United & T*ttenham both drastically underperformed, expected Top 4/6 sides finishing 15th & 17th isn’t going to happen every year. It’s an anomaly.

The league was won with 84 points which is the lowest since 2015 with no real title challenge after Christmas.

Our form since the 2nd half of the season would have us 7th just above FA Cup winners Crystal Palace, which from what I saw is a truer reflection. It was only due to our red hot start from the Poch hangover we qualified for Europe at all.

The only ‘big’ result we secured playing Enzos football was against a Liverpool side a week after winning the league.

He has an outdated flawed philosophy that nullifies the strengths of the squad we have.

I know you’ve a soft spot for Maresca but if this club, this side even, is to challenge or win anything. He has to go.

9 minutes ago, Nibs said:

Not THE poorest but majority of teams were weaker, which meant sides like Forest, Brighton, Bournemouth & Brentford were able to finish higher.

Arsenal went backwards. City not winning anything for the first time in ages. Man Utd and Spurs both dreadful. Only Liverpool were consistent. Certainly not the calibre of opponents previous CFC managers had to pit their wits against.

CL football and balancing that with the PL fixtures will be a big test for Maresca this season. Lets see how he does.

Good reply.

Just not sure how to measure poor. If you isolate a season where City and Liverpool battled it out finishing one point apart both finishing with record points total that constitutes a two team dominance. If there was a third team it would count in 3 dominating teams. Not sure if that is any better than very tight fight to CL places where 7 teams fought for that last spot till the end.

Not sure but this might have showcased a season where the quality was broadly spread out between clubs. I think for a neutral that is the best possible outcome.

Anyway I think it is a matter of view

2 hours ago, Nibs said:

Can't take away the fact we finished 4th, that is true. What is also true is that it was one of the poorest PL's in a long time, which does take the shine off 4th place somewhat.

It was because the two other title contender (city and Arse) had a very bad season. But other than that it was pretty normal.

2 hours ago, Nibs said:

Can't take away the fact we finished 4th, that is true. What is also true is that it was one of the poorest PL's in a long time, which does take the shine off 4th place somewhat.

I'm not sure it was the poorest PL in a long time. Certainly not to get CL football. It's a slow morning so I did a bit of digging:

15/16 - 4th (66 points)

16/17 - 4th (76 points) 5th (75 points) 6th (69 points) *note we had a worse goal difference, so would have finished 7th, level on points

17/18 - 4th (75 points) 5th (70 points)

18/19 - 4th (71 points) 5th (70 points)

19/20 - 3rd (66 points) 4th (66 points)

20/21 - 3rd (69 points) 4th (67 points) *note we had a worse goal difference, so would have finished 4th, level on points

21/22 - 4th (71 points)

22/23 - 4th (71 points)

23/24 - 4th (68 points)

24/25 - 4th (69 points)

In the last 10 years, we finish get top 4 50% of the time. I don't think that's a marker for poorest PLs in a long time. Interestingly, the hardest PL in the last 10 years was when we won it under Conte. We would have finished 7th that year, which is nuts.

The football was god awful from Christmas to March/April, mind. I just think a recency bias is twisting the review of our season, which overall was neither great nor bad. Bear in mind we have failed to make top 4 40% of the time in the last 10 years, so at least we've not gone backwards in terms of results. Yes the football is boring at times but come on, as much as it pains me to say it we haven't been elite for a number of years.

Champions league was 4 years ago and until this season it was the last European/domestic trophy we had won

11 minutes ago, Shweaves said:

Champions league was 4 years ago and until this season it was the last European/domestic trophy we had won

Domestically, we haven't won a trophy since Conte won us the FA Cup in 2017/18 !

7 seasons and counting ...

You can pretty much align it to when the UK government started refusing Roman his visas. You can't blame him for losing interest and investing less when he wasn't even being allowed in the country ...

In the parallel universe, if they hadn't done that we'd probably have continued winning stuff, as well as be playing in that brand spanking new gothic cathedral stadium at Stamford Bridge ... and of course BlueCo wouldn't exist and Boehly would probably have had to buy Sunderland LOL

Maresca needs results and a string of wins given our opening season fixtures. If he struggles to deliver, its going to be a really long season again and I dont see him lasting beyond October/ November.

Having said that, if this side is grinding out wins, he'll continue but please, these players are capable of destroying teams when allowed. Just leet them ball... I do find it concerning Palmer took things into his own hands in a final to get the team playing.

Never mind the formations, I think we need to petition the club and demand Maresca never, ever, wears a salmon sweater in a press conference again. That's a choice only Maresca can make... but I hear on my grapevine that Italian players will no longer sign for us as they're boycotting the club over its fashion sense... Milan designers and former players plying their trade in Italy are all up in uproar...

Also, Is there a disciplinary issue at the club. We've had two players suspended for drink driving, another looks like they'll be banned for four years and the only time we've looked dangerous is when the players tear up the tactics and play forwards. Then there is the wild man Jackson who likes the colour red... Just feels like something is off tbh... Anyhow, wins fix this... fingers crossed we get off to a flyer this season again.

1 hour ago, dkw said:

The vast amount of those half time adjustments were down to his starting 11 being wrong, his starting tactics being wrong and us needing to do something to even get back into the game.

Fixing a problem he created is not something to be happy about.

It's normal for manager to make mistake. Maybe you expect your opp to defend certain way but they do it differently.

Btw we had discussion about CB not defending wide area a while ago. Turns out with the way Maresca want to defend, I am completely wrong. Maresca like to run man to man defense, I have seen our fb go to the middle and defend as if they are two dm which mean our cb are responsible to defend the whole wide area.

One thing I really dislike about our tactics is when he insists on having Gusto or James inverting, especially Gusto, it takes him completely out of the game and it ends up with no RB but with a league 2 CM in the team instead.

bald confused man

30 minutes ago, salmonjumper said:

Also, Is there a disciplinary issue at the club. We've had two players suspended for drink driving, another looks like they'll be banned for four years and the only time we've looked dangerous is when the players tear up the tactics and play forwards. Then there is the wild man Jackson who likes the colour red... Just feels like something is off tbh... Anyhow, wins fix this... fingers crossed we get off to a flyer this season again.

I know about Fofana and his massive points haul but who are the others?

5 minutes ago, Nibs said:

I know about Fofana and his massive points haul but who are the others?

Enzo was banned last year. Presumably the 4 years refers to Mudryk.

3 minutes ago, Nibs said:

I know about Fofana and his massive points haul but who are the others?

Enzo fernandez last season got banned in Wales. Two players banned in two years. Nothing more than an interesting aside really. One booze one speeding. Just hints at a lack of discipline. TBH, give me the salary of a premiership football player and I'd be dead inside a weak, but the party would be immense and people would talk about it for years.

28 minutes ago, timetowaste said:

One thing I really dislike about our tactics is when he insists on having Gusto or James inverting, especially Gusto, it takes him completely out of the game and it ends up with no RB but with a league 2 CM in the team instead.

James I don't mind inverting as much as he is still brilliant with the ball. It's a role that was similar to how Tuchel had him as the RCB.

When James is actually positioned in midfield as a partner to Caicedo is where I get frustrated, as you can easily see the position is alien to him with regards to where he needs to be.

1 hour ago, salmonjumper said:

Enzo fernandez last season got banned in Wales. Two players banned in two years. Nothing more than an interesting aside really. One booze one speeding. Just hints at a lack of discipline. TBH, give me the salary of a premiership football player and I'd be dead inside a weak, but the party would be immense and people would talk about it for years.

Ah, you went to the George Best Academy......................!!

5 minutes ago, Nibs said:

Ah, you went to the George Best Academy......................!!

"Where did it all go wrong, George?"

2 hours ago, Sexyfootball said:

Domestically, we haven't won a trophy since Conte won us the FA Cup in 2017/18 !

7 seasons and counting ...

You can pretty much align it to when the UK government started refusing Roman his visas. You can't blame him for losing interest and investing less when he wasn't even being allowed in the country ...

In the parallel universe, if they hadn't done that we'd probably have continued winning stuff, as well as be playing in that brand spanking new gothic cathedral stadium at Stamford Bridge ... and of course BlueCo wouldn't exist and Boehly would probably have had to buy Sunderland LOL

How do we get to that Universe?