20 minutes ago, 2211 said:

1 - he didn’t get injured though, he came on anyway, and he could of been left out against Brentford and got injured in the early minutes against Bayern so I don’t really understand your point.

2 - we literally have Lincoln City in the League Cup next week , surely that’s a better, gentler introduction to English football, and probably a better comeback match for Fofana too - making that amount of changes was just wrong and disrespectful.

3 - I’m convinced if we started with the team that finished the match the outcome would have been different, can you honestly say with a straight face the team that started the 1st half and the team that finished the 2nd half are similar in ability and talent

1. I absolutely would have hated it if he got injured after starting. I would have thought that the worst mistake Maresca would have made this season if he did that. By a f**king country mile. If he gets injured against Bayern following a weeks break, that happens, if he gets injured after starting a game following 180 minutes of football in a week before, then that's on Maresca.

2. Sure, but that's next week? Fofana has been training with the squad all week whilst half of them have been away on intl duty.

3. My entire point has been that I'd rather have our best players not playing 90 minutes against Brentford when we have Bayern away coming up. Why would I think that the team who started the game are as good as the team who ended it?

I dont think you understand squad management at all. Bayern. Big game. Big f**king game. 10x bigger than Saturday. Brentford is the game that some of our squad should be playing and winning, and if they struggle then you bring on the big guns to finish it off. That was all working perfectly until the team that finished it had a brain fart for the last 10 minutes and couldn't hold onto the ball.

Edited September 15, 2025Sep 15 by bisright1

9 minutes ago, bisright1 said:

1. I absolutely would have hated it if he got injured after starting. I would have thought that the worst mistake Maresca would have made this season if he did that. By a f**king country mile. If he gets injured against Bayern following a weeks break, that happens, if he gets injured after starting a game following 180 minutes of football in a week before, then that's on Maresca.

2. Sure, but that's next week? Fofana has been training with the squad all week whilst half of them have been away on intl duty.

3. My entire point has been that I'd rather have our best players not playing 90 minutes against Brentford when we have Bayern away coming up. Why would I think that the team who started the game are as good as the team who ended it?

I dont think you understand squad management at all. Bayern. Big game. Big f**king game. 10x bigger than Saturday. Brentford is the game that some of our squad should be playing and winning, and if they struggle then you bring on the big guns to finish it off. That was all working perfectly until the team that finished it had a brain fart for the last 10 minutes and couldn't hold onto the ball.

I don't think the Bayern game is bigger. If we lose that, then there isn't much damage done. The Champions League league phase is very forgiving. The draw against Brentford could be very costly when it comes to qualifying for top 4 next season.

We really need to get as many points on the board as possible in these early months, because we really don't want to be outside the top 4 during the Christmas period, not after the schedule we have had for the past year.

2 minutes ago, bisright1 said:

1. I absolutely would have hated it if he got injured after starting. I would have thought that the worst mistake Maresca would have made this season if he did that. By a f**king country mile. If he gets injured against Bayern following a weeks break, that happens, if he gets injured after starting a game following 180 minutes of football in a week before, then that's on Maresca.

2. Sure, but that's next week? Fofana has been training with the squad all week whilst half of them have been away on intl duty.

3. My entire point has been that I'd rather have our best players not playing 90 minutes against Brentford when we have Bayern away coming up. Why would I think that the team who started the game are as good as the team who ended it?

I dont think you understand squad management at all. Bayern. Big game. Big f**king game. 10x bigger than Saturday. Brentford is the game that some of our squad should be playing and winning, and if they struggle then you bring on the big guns to finish it off. That was all working perfectly until the team that finished it had a brain fart for the last 10 minutes and couldn't hold onto the ball.

1 - James didn't get injured though so saying "what if" after the event has passed without a hitch (in injury terms anyway) weakens your point.

2 - Playing Fofana in his proper position against Lincoln is better for me than throwing him in at right back against Brentford.

3 - Play the better players, get a comfortable lead and then make changes, he did it the wrong way round for that amount of changes. So certain Premier League matches around Champions League matches are not important anymore??

Also Marseca should have guided us better to see out the game rather than reatreating.

Maresca made selection and tactical mistakes on Saturday IMO, if you think that Maresca's plan nearly worked perfectly then I don't what else to say to you.

Edited September 15, 2025Sep 15 by 2211

How the f**k are we playing Wednesday and Saturday shouldn’t it be Sunday??

5 hours ago, OneTommyLangley said:

I think, and it not just a function of this forum, supporters can voice an opinion on team selection, the manager, data, finances etc etc

Its all fine and dandy but we cant affect any of this, sure we can demonstrate how knowledgeable we are but thats all.

Im not wild about Maresca he is learning his trade experimenting with our team.

I dont like the rigidity of our buying department young potentially profitable players blah blah blah.

I couldnt give a toss about Clearlake spending a fortune on good bad or ugly players.

Im here for the matchday squad through thick and thin.

If we get by hook or by crook, top four every year and a title (Premier League and or Champions League) every ten years i'll settle for that.

How many years and managers should we give it before it tests our patience?

Will we see the best of our "talented youngsters" sold each season to fund more up and coming purchases? How long will Palmer give us?

But yeah, do tend to agree with you and the other poster i replied to today who raised the issue of points... dont mind grinding out wins, but better sides will have a go at us over longer periods of a game and we have a capacity to fold and conceed very cheaply, Brentford's equaliser case in point. Settled defences/ match day squads and players playing in their best positions also helps win matches when we only create two or three clear cut chances the other end.

35 minutes ago, bisright1 said:

Bayern. Big game. Big f**king game. 10x bigger than Saturday. Brentford is the game that some of our squad should be playing and winning, and if they struggle then you bring on the big guns to finish it off. That was all working perfectly until the team that finished it had a brain fart for the last 10 minutes and couldn't hold on

I dont agree, the Brentford game was more important, REMEMBER this is the league stage of the CL, we could afford to lose, last year 16 points was enough to finish top eight, 11points got to the knockout stage, win 5 games and a draw, it SHOULD be enough

On 14/09/2025 at 08:39, dkw said:

So Maresca now throwing Pedro under the bus, throws a young winger on at striker instead of having the striker on the bench to pick.

Just pick the best players in their positions for the love of f**king God you useless pillock.

Pedro told Maresca he wasnt 100%, so knowing that why did he start him and not have Guiu on the bench

12 hours ago, The Boehly Babes said:

Honest question here but does anyone actually like us anymore?

I don’t like Maresca at all, I don’t like Eghbali, I don’t like Winstanley & Stewart, I hate the way we do business, I find our pushing of CFC LDN nothing but cringe, there’s no JT, Lamps, Hazard in the squad to ‘Love’ aside from RJ.

Do have to say this iteration of Chels is the least connected I’ve ever felt in my 30 years.

Agree with every word mate. Every season we have a load of new inexperienced youngsters brought in . Every season we have to " give them time" . And it starts all over again the next season with players out and inexperience brought in .

There's no bond between the club and the fans anymore.The bond between the team and fans is eroded with all the player trading every season. With all the transfers, it's laughable that we decided to start a loan player from Brighton against Brentford. .

Can anyone imagine any top side doing that ?

1 hour ago, Caps_Lock_King said:

Pedro told Maresca he wasnt 100%, so knowing that why did he start him and not have Guiu on the bench

Because a load of keyboard warriors on here would be been upset he started someone who isn't good enough

1 hour ago, Caps_Lock_King said:

I dont agree, the Brentford game was more important, REMEMBER this is the league stage of the CL, we could afford to lose, last year 16 points was enough to finish top eight, 11points got to the knockout stage, win 5 games and a draw, it SHOULD be enough

Not for me. First game of the CL, set our stall out. Makes a statement for the next month. No one's remembering brenford in a fortnight.

11 hours ago, bisright1 said:

Not for me. First game of the CL, set our stall out. Makes a statement for the next month. No one's remembering brenford in a fortnight.

Bayern is our hardest game of the league phase. I would rather beat Brentford than beat Bayern if im totally honest. The 3 points in the Prem are much more important. They are taken into account come may. Once the CL knockouts start, what you did to qualify no longer matters.

Weve more than enough quality in the squad to beat Brentford and at least earn a draw with Bayern.

The two Italian away games (Atalanta & Napoli) could be very difficult especially if we need points.

Last year the better teams ( bar Liverpool ) didnt perform well in the early stages thats not guaranteed this year. I think good qualification ie top 8 will be more important this year.

Edited September 16, 2025Sep 16 by OneTommyLangley

14 hours ago, bisright1 said:

Because a load of keyboard warriors on here would be been upset he started someone who isn't good enough

Not having a go at you mate, but in your earlier post you said we should be playing these sort of players against Brentford, I AGREE WITH YOU, but Maresca doesnt seem to trust Guiu which is unfair, for instance there was a cross from Pedro in the second half which went straight across the six yard box and Pedro who was playing as striker at the time was nowhere to be seen, a natural striker would have been in the mix

12 minutes ago, Caps_Lock_King said:

Not having a go at you mate, but in your earlier post you said we should be playing these sort of players against Brentford, I AGREE WITH YOU, but Maresca doesnt seem to trust Guiu which is unfair, for instance there was a cross from Pedro in the second half which went straight across the six yard box and Pedro who was playing as striker at the time was nowhere to be seen, a natural striker would have been in the mix

I think Guiu is just not there yet. Maresca doesn't trust him. Sunderland didn't trust him either to lead the line. I'd have liked us to get a better striker as the window closes, but we've got the Strasbourg lad coming in next summer so that was obviously in their thinking. I said at the time, Guiu won't play and Neto would be our striker before him, I was wrong, it's actually George 😂

Maresca doesn't love inexperience, he is still reluctant to play Santos and I think he'd have been the difference in that last 10 minutes if we could have brought him in.

On the other side, Fofana is an 80m defender with international caps. Hato has played over 100 games of senior football and played for Holland. Maresca trusts them and so he should.

If we can't trust them to come in and perform against Brentford then this is going to be a very very hard season.

There were times I didn't like the ruthlessness of the Abramovic regime, but think I'm going to be missing it big-time this season if Maresca carries on in this vein.

I get the game management of certain players with niggling injuries. But some of the selections are at best puzzling and we have looked average in every game this season. Even the West Ham thrashing we went a goal down and looked iffy until they imploded.

Don't think the Bayern game will be taken into consideration, win, draw or lose. BUT if we play poorly against the woeful Man Utd and God forbid, lose, Maresca should be under pressure. Robbie Di Matteo won the CL but was soon got rid of the following season and if Abramovic was still in charge, Maresca's time would be ticking away........

If it were down to me, I would be in touch with CPFC and telling them Glasner is top of our list and start talking compensation. Think he would work wonders with this squad.

Edited September 16, 2025Sep 16 by Nibs

2 hours ago, bisright1 said:

I think Guiu is just not there yet. Maresca doesn't trust him. Sunderland didn't trust him either to lead the line. I'd have liked us to get a better striker as the window closes, but we've got the Strasbourg lad coming in next summer so that was obviously in their thinking. I said at the time, Guiu won't play and Neto would be our striker before him, I was wrong, it's actually George 😂

Maresca doesn't love inexperience, he is still reluctant to play Santos and I think he'd have been the difference in that last 10 minutes if we could have brought him in.

On the other side, Fofana is an 80m defender with international caps. Hato has played over 100 games of senior football and played for Holland. Maresca trusts them and so he should.

If we can't trust them to come in and perform against Brentford then this is going to be a very very hard season.

It's beyond belief that you are saying Sunderland didn't trust Guiu. He was only there for 4 games. New teamates, new manager, had no pre-season with them. Was used as a very late sub in two of the EPL matches, and scored a nifty strikers header in the one League Cup game he started.

If you think George is a better bet at centre-forward than Guiu you are nuts. But what would be more worrying is if what you say about Maresca believing George is a better bet at centre-forward than Guiu, is true. Christ help us!!

21 minutes ago, just said:

It's beyond belief that you are saying Sunderland didn't trust Guiu. He was only there for 4 games. New teamates, new manager, had no pre-season with them. Was used as a very late sub in two of the EPL matches, and scored a nifty strikers header in the one League Cup game he started.

If you think George is a better bet at centre-forward than Guiu you are nuts. But what would be more worrying is if what you say about Maresca believing George is a better bet at centre-forward than Guiu, is true. Christ help us!!

Guiu was not selected as a priority by Sunderland. He scored a nifty header against League 1 Huddersfield Town. Neither Guiu nor George are a suitable stand in at Striker as it stands. There is a disconnect between the SD's and Maresca. They brought Guiu back and Maresca didnt want him.

Maresca is also bonkers.

25 minutes ago, just said:

It's beyond belief that you are saying Sunderland didn't trust Guiu. He was only there for 4 games. New teamates, new manager, had no pre-season with them. Was used as a very late sub in two of the EPL matches, and scored a nifty strikers header in the one League Cup game he started.

If you think George is a better bet at centre-forward than Guiu you are nuts. But what would be more worrying is if what you say about Maresca believing George is a better bet at centre-forward than Guiu, is true. Christ help us!!

I don't think George is a good option, or even a better option. I just think Guiu is not the saviour some think he is.

Broja had the same comments on here. And he could never cut it.

Until I see Guiu start a premier league game and be impactful he will just be a player who isn't ready yet. And I just have to trust that Maresca who sees him play football every day has a better idea than we do.

16 minutes ago, bisright1 said:

I don't think George is a good option, or even a better option. I just think Guiu is not the saviour some think he is.

Broja had the same comments on here. And he could never cut it.

Until I see Guiu start a premier league game and be impactful he will just be a player who isn't ready yet. And I just have to trust that Maresca who sees him play football every day has a better idea than we do.

Nobody is expecting Guiu to be our saviour. But common sense tells you Maresca needs to pick a player who, at the very least, has been brought up playing as a centre-forward. Yes Guiu is young, but before his injury he was showing some promise IMO.

Honestly, first Jackson is his dream striker, now Guiu is ignored for George, who most definitely is not, and never will be a centre-forward. Perhaps Maresca couldn't spot a centre-forward if Halaand, Kane or M'bappe smacked him up the arse with a banjo!

And as for him also ignoring using Santos, if that continues Santos probably isn't going to want to hang around beyond January.

Guiu should have stayed at Barcelona. His career would be going better.

23 hours ago, bisright1 said:

If James started on Saturday and got injured so couldn't play against Bayern. What would you have thought then?

If we can't play Fofana and Hato against Brentford, giving James and Cucu fresher legs against Bayern, when do we play them?

The worst of all worlds isn't what Maresca did on Saturday. It's if he did what you all wish he'd done in hindsight and we had still drawn the game.

How about we gave both a run out when were were multiple goals to the good against West ham. Ease them in when the game is won...

How about having a striker on the bench? Guiu was recalled for a reason.

Why play Fofana at RB, when we had 2x on the bench, 3x if you include Josh.

18 hours ago, bisright1 said:

Because a load of keyboard warriors on here would be been upset he started someone who isn't good enough

That striker who isnt good enough, had the best goal per minutes return of any of our strikers last season. Just saying.

Weve got a large number of players in the squad that Maresca does not appear to have confidence in given his selections / non selections / withdrawals recently.

Some of these are either on that list or might be going on that list soon...Fofana Hato Gittens Achempong Guiu George Santos Essugo Buononotte.

The squad looked very decent on paper however Maresca looks unlikely to use the above much unless he has to.

The SDs are not in tune with the managers requirements.

1 hour ago, just said:

Nobody is expecting Guiu to be our saviour. But common sense tells you Maresca needs to pick a player who, at the very least, has been brought up playing as a centre-forward. Yes Guiu is young, but before his injury he was showing some promise IMO.

Honestly, first Jackson is his dream striker, now Guiu is ignored for George, who most definitely is not, and never will be a centre-forward. Perhaps Maresca couldn't spot a centre-forward if Halaand, Kane or M'bappe smacked him up the arse with a banjo!

And as for him also ignoring using Santos, if that continues Santos probably isn't going to want to hang around beyond January.

Agree on Santos.

Ill agree on Guiu when I see him perform against a PL level side.

58 minutes ago, nonotnowjim said:

That striker who isnt good enough, had the best goal per minutes return of any of our strikers last season. Just saying.

I think you can admit that even Nicolas Jackson would have scored goals against Noah, Shamrock and Astana.

He's played 83 minutes in the premier league, he's scored 0 goals.

Maybe when he's played 300 minutes we will see a goal return.