2 hours ago, SydneyChelsea said:

If this is happening now I worry about what happens post-WC next year - 6 weeks rest in 3 years for players in the finals

I hope more clubs speak out if this continues, especially with the next 2-3 international breaks being just friendlies.

No reason why these international teams should be selecting, and starting, their best players from now until the end of the season.

2 hours ago, SydneyChelsea said:

If this is happening now I worry about what happens post-WC next year - 6 weeks rest in 3 years for players in the finals

You only have to look at the reaction to us resting Cole Palmer for Europe to see how the media see it, we were castigated for it.

Omar Marmoush now out with a knee injury.

43 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

I hope more clubs speak out if this continues, especially with the next 2-3 international breaks being just friendlies.

No reason why these international teams should be selecting, and starting, their best players from now until the end of the season.

Me too but the reality is that nothing will change until there is a Super League that isn't associated with FIFA.

As long as FIFA have the ability to levy sanctions against clubs, players and clubs have no meaningful rights with respect to workload.

9 hours ago, Bob stark said:

CWC 🫣🫣

This is why I have big concern about that tourney.

Deschamps has always been like this. Remember how he would always call Kante up, even when Kante had literally just returned from injury? It did nothing good for Kante, it probably played a big part in him losing what should have been some of the best years of his career.

8 hours ago, bluelightening said:

The soner we move him on the better. Bring in a manager who will play players in tehir best positions. Madueke looked a decent prospect last night, disinterested here doing what Maresca asked.

Madueke has had games like that for us too. The issue with Madueke has been that he can never keep it up. Has one good game, then lives off the hype for the next year.

Englands next game is a friendly against Wales, other than earn the FA a few bob whats the point?

3 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

Madueke has had games like that for us too. The issue with Madueke has been that he can never keep it up. Has one good game, then lives off the hype for the next year.

well-trodden story for wingers, especially young ones where finding consistency is key. We all remember the fantastic games Robben had for us, but the downside were lots of injuries and a lack of appetite to do defensive work. Duff was up and down for us but loved his battling qualities... Malouda et all.... but we had Jose in charge.

While Madueke was sulky and at times stupidly selfish, he has an ability to go past players. Thought he would have stuck around this season and he would have solved a lot of issues for us if he had but good luck to him in his career, think he'll bloom into a very good player.

2 hours ago, bluelightening said:

While Madueke was sulky and at times stupidly selfish, he has an ability to go past players.

Problem is that his one unique selling point also happens to be inconsistent. It is difficult to get a clear picture because he was most often required to beat 2 players thanks to Maresca's preferred system, but there were also far more open games where he was a liability on the counter-attack and that's just unacceptable.

One factor there is that he's not super quick; when Neto actually beats a player there is no catching him, but Madueke doesn't have the outright speed to race away clear. To borrow a term from basketball he's really good at creating separation, but then rarely makes good use of that with a cross/pass/shot. Compare this to Palmer who almost always makes a key play after beating a man, despite being considerably slower than any of our wingers.

All these things limit Madueke as a player. They could be coached out of him with the right manager, but I don't think that's going to be Arteta either.

Edited September 10, 2025Sep 10 by SydneyChelsea

15 hours ago, dkw said:

So much for Reece James not being able to play many games at Right Back then, feels like weve been gaslighted by Mresca.

I don’t know, I think Maresca has done pretty well on this. I think he rested him for Fulham in anticipation of the national team, and he did only play 68 mins in each game. It’s not like Andorra is a massive workout either.

I just want Reece healthy for a season and if it means a max of 100-120 mins a week for another couple months I’m okay with that. I’d imagine Gusto comes in this weekend and then Reece for Bayern.

I do hope he plays him as a more attacking right back, rather than all the inverting.

13 hours ago, bluelightening said:

Think they had their differences. Palmer becoming top class helped ease the deicion to move him on.

They are not playing in the same position nor role under Maresca. Maresca has very little say in term of personel

2 hours ago, Bob stark said:

Maresca has very little say in term of personel

I don't think this can be said enough - he might pick the team sheet but the sporting directors control who comes and who stays

46 minutes ago, SydneyChelsea said:

I don't think this can be said enough - he might pick the team sheet but the sporting directors control who comes and who stays

This is the KEY concept of our club. We can discuss about tactic, player profile, player quality, coaching, etc. All of these are secondary.

6 hours ago, VG said:

I don’t know, I think Maresca has done pretty well on this. I think he rested him for Fulham in anticipation of the national team, and he did only play 68 mins in each game. It’s not like Andorra is a massive workout either.

I just want Reece healthy for a season and if it means a max of 100-120 mins a week for another couple months I’m okay with that. I’d imagine Gusto comes in this weekend and then Reece for Bayern.

I do hope he plays him as a more attacking right back, rather than all the inverting.

Hes rested him in games we really needed him to play in, just so he can play 2 games in a week for England. Hows that helping us out?

Just now, dkw said:

Hes rested him in games we really needed him to play in, just so he can play 2 games in a week for England. Hows that helping us out?

I don't think he rested reeece. Maresca wanted to play with his RB playing as a winger, not sure you want Reece to play that role.

Maresca can change his system but as we have seen the last two seasons, Maresca is a manager who want to play specific football.

Edited September 11, 2025Sep 11 by Bob stark

8 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

I don't think he rested reeece. Maresca wanted to play with his RB playing as a winger, not sure you want Reece to play that role.

Maresca can change his system but as we have seen the last two seasons, Maresca is a manager who want to play specific football.

So he played a much worse player at being a RB than him, the mans a genius.

Just now, dkw said:

So he played a much worse player at being a RB than him, the mans a genius.

Maresca simply belong to manager who want his team to play specific way. I think it is clear that James overall s better than Gusto but Maresca want to play 3 diamond 3 and he want his fb to play high and wide 99% of the time, not sure in this role, this version of James is better.

Edited September 11, 2025Sep 11 by Bob stark

Basically this

Maresca simply belong to pep style manager where he has a plan and he want his player to follow his plan. If you allow many player to roam around then there is no point having specific plan because it will be up to the player.

1 hour ago, Bob stark said:

Maresca simply belong to manager who want his team to play specific way. I think it is clear that James overall s better than Gusto but Maresca want to play 3 diamond 3 and he want his fb to play high and wide 99% of the time, not sure in this role, this version of James is better.

But you think Gusto is better at that role, seriously? You dont need to defend everything he does, its embarrassing.

9 minutes ago, dkw said:

But you think Gusto is better at that role, seriously? You dont need to defend everything he does, its embarrassing.

I am not maresca fans and I am not defending him. I have consistently said from the beginning that Maresca is full of bs in press and I am not big fan of structure ball.

But if you want to play a system where in the build up phase, your fb goes up all the way to opp fb, you don't want play a player whose hamstring is a bit sketchy because if you lose the ball in the build up he has to sprint back half/full length of the field constantly.

Edited September 11, 2025Sep 11 by Bob stark

22 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

I am not maresca fans and I am not defending him. I have consistently said from the beginning that Maresca is full of bs in press and I am not big fan of structure ball.

But if you want to play a system where in the build up phase, your fb goes up all the way to opp fb, you don't want play a player whose hamstring is a bit sketchy because if you lose the ball in the build up he has to sprint back half/full length of the field constantly.

So instead pick a player that literally cant play that role at all, and end up with a massively unbalanced side due to him? Yeah, great plan that.

He said back in April that he's primarily playing James at CM and RCB as protective management to build James' fitness. And to be fair I don't recall James being injured for those 6-7 months.

Him dong well for England in that role is a good sign, albeit international football is child's play compared to the Premier League when it comes to pace and transition. As frustrating as it is, if the end result is James being back to his former self, the wait will be worth it.

10 minutes ago, dkw said:

So instead pick a player that literally cant play that role at all, and end up with a massively unbalanced side due to him? Yeah, great plan that.

I think Gusto does a decent job as a bombing-up-and-down the touchline sort of fullback. James is the better footballer and has a sweet right foot and cross, but I'm not sure if he's physically able to play that role regularly anymore/yet. None of us know that. It's good that we have two very different fullbacks with different profiles, which gives us options on how to set up and the ability to rotate without burdening one player (specifically James) with excess minutes in what will be a very long football season.

On 14/07/2025 at 02:34, Sconnie Blue said:

Any idea on when the players return for preseason? Assuming first team gets 3 weeks off and join the week of August 4th.

Maybe reserves and rotation join the week of July 28th? We have preseason games on August 8th and the 10th.

Opener is against Palace on the 17th. Really worried the players will lack fitness and sharpness.

And they looked out of sync, lacked sharpness I suppose. I'm really looking forward to Saturday night, love night PL football under lights.

New Pep disciple has emerged. Thiago part of coaching staff under Flick.