The negativity in here for a few reputation points is cringe. 5-1 win but you’d think we were San Marino...

Edited August 23, 2025Aug 23 by Clown Lake

We’ve improved - simple as. Credit to Maresca - he’s found something since late Mar / early Apr. part of that is he’s less stubborn.

No manager is perfect, and fair to ask did he do enough last weekend against a very good palace side - although I never felt like we were going to lose last week.

Rolled over a poor west ham. Room for improvement but the team is showing system understanding - played more seamlessly come in and out of the side.

It’s nice to have an ounce of continuity for once post summer!

Will he manage to avoid our usual nov-feb sh*t show every season? That’s the measure of a good Chelsea manager for me!

1 hour ago, Clown Lake said:

The negativity in here for a few reputation points is cringe. 5-1 win but you’d think we were San Marino...

You could take away the like system and people are still going to have these opinions. You can't force people to like Maresca's football. My mind isn't going to change after hammering Graham Potter's West Ham.

Agree with both Scott Harris and Munk.

Games like Palace, the performance more so than the result, are too common, and a hard watch. Some of us don't want to be bored to tears watching our team play and feel like we wasted 2 hours of our day.

However the majority will forgive even the most rancid football if we avoid our usual fall apart period and go on to win most games and therefore, most likely, trophies too.

I don't think beating that dogsh*t west ham is chest slapping worthy though. We've played one good team and one terrible team. Failed vs the good one.

It's not about being negative.

When Maresca had us playing like world champs vs PSG, we all praised him. He got it right.

When Maresca had us playing like chumps vs palace, we mostly all criticised him. He got it wrong.

On the balance sheet of his performances here to date, there are FAR too many examples of getting it wrong.

For what it is worth, I would put last nights win also in the getting it wrong category. We were too slow. Too passive. oo open at the back, particularly first 20 mins, but also in the 2nd half, and the scoreline was significantly inflated due to 3x set piece goals which Wet Spam looked incapable of defending.

3 hours ago, Clown Lake said:

The negativity in here for a few reputation points is cringe. 5-1 win but you’d think we were San Marino...

It's better if you accept the idea that some people have already made their mind up on Maresca and Enzo Fernandez and it's going to be hard for them to come to better feelings no matter what those two do.

13 minutes ago, petre ispirescu said:

It's better if you accept the idea that some people have already made their mind up on Maresca and Enzo Fernandez and it's going to be hard for them to come to better feelings no matter what those two do.

It's better if you accept that some people have a raging hard on for Maresca and Enzo Fernandez and it's going to be hard for them to see the reality no matter what those two do.

15 minutes ago, petre ispirescu said:

It's better if you accept the idea that some people have already made their mind up on Maresca and Enzo Fernandez and it's going to be hard for them to come to better feelings no matter what those two do.

1 minute ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

It's better if you accept that some people have a raging hard on for Maresca and Enzo Fernandez and it's going to be hard for them to see the reality no matter what those two do.

It's better if we all accept that some of us, or me anyway, are very skeptical of Maresca, but quite like Enzo - and its pretty easy for me to flip flop either way, based on their respective performances.

3 hours ago, Clown Lake said:

The negativity in here for a few reputation points is cringe. 5-1 win but you’d think we were San Marino...

May I ask a question.

Irrespective of last night’s excellent result.

Do you think we play at a slow tempo? And do you think we are a better team when we speed it up?

12 minutes ago, C3blue said:

May I ask a question.

Irrespective of last night’s excellent result.

Do you think we play at a slow tempo? And do you think we are a better team when we speed it up?

There are times that we do on off games, however what I believe majority here perceive as slow tempo is the possession style build up. What it does is we get the opponent teams to come out of their deep blocks to press our defense, and then when they press us, we beat their press and now there is space behind their attack - midfield and defense of the opponents. This allows our attacking players to have space to attack defenses. This is the main reason why Colwill type CB is essential to Maresca, because Colwill is able to make those cutting passes to allow us the quick attacks. This was the main reason why we were blunted in attack against CP, our CBs were not able to kickstart the attack.

Tosin did it last night and we were lethal.

46 minutes ago, petre ispirescu said:

It's better if you accept the idea that some people have already made their mind up on Maresca and Enzo Fernandez and it's going to be hard for them to come to better feelings no matter what those two do.

Bigotry is a real thing after all, so you do have a point there.

14 minutes ago, Clown Lake said:

There are times that we do on off games, however what I believe majority here perceive as slow tempo is the possession style build up. What it does is we get the opponent teams to come out of their deep blocks to press our defense, and then when they press us, we beat their press and now there is space behind their attack - midfield and defense of the opponents. This allows our attacking players to have space to attack defenses. This is the main reason why Colwill type CB is essential to Maresca, because Colwill is able to make those cutting passes to allow us the quick attacks. This was the main reason why we were blunted in attack against CP, our CBs were not able to kickstart the attack.

Tosin did it last night and we were lethal.

That's textbook possession based attacking football. Where did you see that last night. For me the most explosive move was actually the third goal where Estevao actually broke the lines with pace. I think pretty much every West Ham fan would say 4 if not all of the goals they conceded were due to basic errors by them. I don't think we employed the tactics that you detail here. If there was a probing, menace and purple within a possession based passing structure I'd have no problems. Fernandez and Caicedo making 15 passes to each other inside an unmarked centre circle moved nobody around.

6 minutes ago, Clown Lake said:

There are times that we do on off games, however what I believe majority here perceive as slow tempo is the possession style build up. What it does is we get the opponent teams to come out of their deep blocks to press our defense, and then when they press us, we beat their press and now there is space behind their attack - midfield and defense of the opponents. This allows our attacking players to have space to attack defenses. This is the main reason why Colwill type CB is essential to Maresca, because Colwill is able to make those cutting passes to allow us the quick attacks. This was the main reason why we were blunted in attack against CP, our CBs were not able to kickstart the attack.

Tosin did it last night and we were lethal.

So you agree at times the tempo is too slow, I understand we are baiting them.

How about when we speed it up? Do you think we are better?

I’m only asking because I feel we are better and much more effective when we do and when we do there’s no need to bait them because we are capable of blowing them away without worrying whether or not if they take the bait.

Added bonus it’s sooo much better to watch. That’s all people are saying.

It seems silly to be having this conversation after such a resounding win but West Ham are relegation fodder and we saw what a well organised team can do against us let alone a good side.

I still feel it’s very much a work in progress, and there’s nothing boring about winning 5-1 away. I’d just like to see us take the hand break off at times. Surely you feel the same?

Questioning the managers tactics or a players performance doesn’t make you a bigot. Remarks like that are usually thrown around to shut down a debate. Usually by the person who is arguing a losing position.

If you agree at times we play to slow what’s wrong with saying it?

Edited August 23, 2025Aug 23 by C3blue

2 hours ago, petre ispirescu said:

It's better if you accept the idea that some people have already made their mind up on Maresca and Enzo Fernandez and it's going to be hard for them to come to better feelings no matter what those two do.

Not at all,

Numerous others and I didn't like Maresca from the get-go, but we had egg on our faces in early December, and I was more than willing to come around and admit I was wrong.

Then we started playing differently (his way), and it was torrid... Everything I feared about him was on display week by week. Very happy with the two cups he has won us, but I still don't think he's the right man for the job to take us forward. However, if he proves me wrong and we're in the top 3 by the end of December, I'll take my hat off to him like many others on here will.

I don't care about being right or wrong, and numerous others on here don't either. He will win us over if we start seeing better performances, then better performances will correlate into better results. It's that simple.

25 minutes ago, Victor90 said:

Not at all,

Numerous others and I didn't like Maresca from the get-go, but we had egg on our faces in early December, and I was more than willing to come around and admit I was wrong.

Then we started playing differently (his way), and it was torrid... Everything I feared about him was on display week by week. Very happy with the two cups he has won us, but I still don't think he's the right man for the job to take us forward. However, if he proves me wrong and we're in the top 3 by the end of December, I'll take my hat off to him like many others on here will.

I don't care about being right or wrong, and numerous others on here don't either. He will win us over if we start seeing better performances, then better performances will correlate into better results. It's that simple.

No mate the problem is people come up with all sorts of tactics and are upset Maresca does not play a certain way. Their prefered way. I am not advocating he is the best in the world, nor Enzo Fernandez is the best midfielders, but we as fans must support the club in its current development, not moan about every decision of the manager and every missed pass by a player. The higher ups have made their decision on how the club is going to be run from now on and who the manager is, my point is let's support this through thick and thin and see what the future holds.

2 hours ago, Clown Lake said:

There are times that we do on off games, however what I believe majority here perceive as slow tempo is the possession style build up. What it does is we get the opponent teams to come out of their deep blocks to press our defense, and then when they press us, we beat their press and now there is space behind their attack - midfield and defense of the opponents. This allows our attacking players to have space to attack defenses. This is the main reason why Colwill type CB is essential to Maresca, because Colwill is able to make those cutting passes to allow us the quick attacks. This was the main reason why we were blunted in attack against CP, our CBs were not able to kickstart the attack.

Tosin did it last night and we were lethal.

Low block teams do not abandon the block and and rush forward to press the opposition defence. They sit back and hit teams on the break when the opposition is camped in front of the block leaving space for a quick counter attack . You're describing a " baiting the opposition tactic" that Brighton use to employ, it's very dangerous but they were good at it. .As well as trying to play around that press, you can also lose possession in dangerous areas. As Citeh did today and gave away a goal.

Still what do I know, my favourite shout out is .." get rid of it for f**k sake ," 😂

Edited August 23, 2025Aug 23 by The Rising Sun
Information

15 minutes ago, petre ispirescu said:

No mate the problem is people come up with all sorts of tactics and are upset Maresca does not play a certain way. Their prefered way. I am not advocating he is the best in the world, nor Enzo Fernandez is the best midfielders, but we as fans must support the club in its current development, not moan about every decision of the manager and every missed pass by a player. The higher ups have made their decision on how the club is going to be run from now on and who the manager is, my point is let's support this through thick and thin and see what the future holds.

We should always absolutely support the team 100,,,%.

We can also at the same time criticise the manager, the owners and anything else for that matter.

I was pretty adamant that I wanted him out but that didn't happen and to be fair to him he did what we expected of us in the end last season which was top 4 and the conference league, the CWC was a nice bonus. We'll see how it goes this season but I'll get behind him and get to keep my negativity to a minimum, but in my opinion anything less than a good CL run and a title challenge this season is a sackable offence. Would also be nice to win a cup but those first 2 are the bare minimum for me.

2 hours ago, The Rising Sun said:

We should always absolutely support the team 100,,,%.

We can also at the same time criticise the manager, the owners and anything else for that matter.

Everybody is entitled to an opinion, but look at the bigger picture as well. I said it before, it's easy for people to just look at the spending and say "Oh, Chelsea have spent a lot, trophies are mandatory", but forget how young this squad is.

If you've played this game, you would understand. If not, you will use the same narrative that spending must immediately result in trophies.

Take a five a side team in your area full of 21 and 22 years old kids that have played the game in the youth ranks and put them against some 32-33 years old guys that have also played the game and see if the young guys, even though fresher, have enough to beat the experience.

2 hours ago, timetowaste said:

I was pretty adamant that I wanted him out but that didn't happen and to be fair to him he did what we expected of us in the end last season which was top 4 and the conference league, the CWC was a nice bonus. We'll see how it goes this season but I'll get behind him and get to keep my negativity to a minimum, but in my opinion anything less than a good CL run and a title challenge this season is a sackable offence. Would also be nice to win a cup but those first 2 are the bare minimum for me.

That’s abit extreme imo, I would say a comfortable top 4 finish and a good run in one of the cup tournaments would suffice.

I think we all know our team isn’t quite ready for a title challenge, especially with Colwill out.

Next season is a different story for sure, I’ll definitely be expecting a title challenge with the likes of Estevao + Andrey Santos having had a season under their belt.

11 minutes ago, petre ispirescu said:

Everybody is entitled to an opinion, but look at the bigger picture as well. I said it before, it's easy for people to just look at the spending and say "Oh, Chelsea have spent a lot, trophies are mandatory", but forget how young this squad is.

If you've played this game, you would understand. If not, you will use the same narrative that spending must immediately result in trophies.

Take a five a side team in your area full of 21 and 22 years old kids that have played the game in the youth ranks and put them against some 32-33 years old guys that have also played the game and see if the young guys, even though fresher, have enough to beat the experience.

6 hours ago, petre ispirescu said:

Everybody is entitled to an opinion, but look at the bigger picture as well. I said it before, it's easy for people to just look at the spending and say "Oh, Chelsea have spent a lot, trophies are mandatory", but forget how young this squad is.

If you've played this game, you would understand. If not, you will use the same narrative that spending must immediately result in trophies.

Take a five a side team in your area full of 21 and 22 years old kids that have played the game in the youth ranks and put them against some 32-33 years old guys that have also played the game and see if the young guys, even though fresher, have enough to beat the experience.

The thing your blinkered narrative is failing to register or acknowledge, is that many of us, have not linked our dislike of Maresca to results....

I have said many times, I am happy to forsake results for a period, in order for the young team to establish an identity and DNA. I said this under Potter and have also advocated it under maresca.

However - for this to be accepted, we need to see progress on the field. I can accept the team losing gallantly week in week out, but only if they roll up their sleeves and have a go, and show some fight. We need to see some evolution. Some refinement. Not simply the same old dross week in week out with Badisahile and tosin passing the ball between themselves 500 times.

It really isn't too difficult. Play your best players in their best position. Take of the handbreak. Let these talented kids learn. Don't stifle them, block them, hinder their progress with negative risk averse dross.

3 hours ago, nonotnowjim said:

The thing your blinkered narrative is failing to register or acknowledge, is that many of us, have not linked our dislike of Maresca to results....

I have said many times, I am happy to forsake results for a period, in order for the young team to establish an identity and DNA. I said this under Potter and have also advocated it under maresca.

However - for this to be accepted, we need to see progress on the field. I can accept the team losing gallantly week in week out, but only if they roll up their sleeves and have a go, and show some fight. We need to see some evolution. Some refinement. Not simply the same old dross week in week out with Badisahile and tosin passing the ball between themselves 500 times.

It really isn't too difficult. Play your best players in their best position. Take of the handbreak. Let these talented kids learn. Don't stifle them, block them, hinder their progress with negative risk averse dross.

If it's not about the results, how come there is barely any noise when the club wins a match?

30 minutes ago, petre ispirescu said:

If it's not about the results, how come there is barely any noise when the club wins a match?

Turn the sound up on your tv 👍