Can't even use the excuse that teams sit back against us with 9 players and don't play football. Qarabag went right at us and were relentless for ~80 minutes or so. They didn't sit back until they needed to salvage the draw, and even then, they had two solid chances to take a win that most teams would have scored.

5 minutes ago, RMH said:

Sack this fraud. It’s not even about the lineup anymore, it’s the mentality the team go on to the games against teams that are inferior on paper. Shocking performance in the first half and shocking game management.

Overall I didn't have much of an issue with the line up. It should have been enough to win today but the mentality was off and the effort from most of them not good enough.

Them when it does not work he does not make the right changes.

5 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Overall I didn't have much of an issue with the line up. It should have been enough to win today but the mentality was off and the effort from most of them not good enough.

Them when it does not work he does not make the right changes.

Agree, and said so now in the match thread. That lineup, other than the CBs, was ok and strong enough to beat them. But they were off, no cohesion, no effort, no quality, probably due to not being focused on the game. And to sub Santos for Enzo was criminal. Another Maresca master class…

8 hours ago, RMH said:

Agree, and said so now in the match thread. That lineup, other than the CBs, was ok and strong enough to beat them. But they were off, no cohesion, no effort, no quality, probably due to not being focused on the game. And to sub Santos for Enzo was criminal. Another Maresca master class…

Zero chemistry, just a bunch of players thrown together. Amateur coaching from Maresca. He's playing the Champions League like it's the Conference League. You can't make that many changes and expect a cohesive team.

On 04/11/2025 at 20:41, The Rising Sun said:

I've got to admire Maresca for just getting on with it after the club deprived him of his " perfect number 9 ." Hasn't made a fuss at all.

I suppose it's because he knows his " perfect number 9 " will be returning ?

As Pepilini himself would say.... "for sure".

His perfect number 9 is definitely coming back next season. Kompany never even brought him on as a sub the other night against PSG.

31 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

Zero chemistry, just a bunch of players thrown together. Amateur coaching from Maresca. He's playing the Champions League like it's the Conference League. You can't make that many changes and expect a cohesive team.

85 changes across 16 matches apparently, that simply isnt sustainable, its why theres barely any cohesion or understanding on the pitch, theres no partnerships or link ups at all, its just a bunch of footballers whove been told not to lose possession, ever, playing on their own.

8 hours ago, RMH said:

Agree, and said so now in the match thread. That lineup, other than the CBs, was ok and strong enough to beat them. But they were off, no cohesion, no effort, no quality, probably due to not being focused on the game. And to sub Santos for Enzo was criminal. Another Maresca master class…

But all those problems are down to the amount of changes he keeps making, its not entirely down to who he picks, its the amount of different combinations he keeps using, for no reason whatsover other than he loves the smell of his own sh*t.

We're just going around in circles.

Many of us can't stand the bloke, 'cos he is stubborn, clearly has his favourites (who keep under-performing) and the football he dishes up, despite a billion pound squad, is largely dreadful to watch.

But then he somehow manages to get a good result or two and you think, "maybe he is learning and perhaps we should persevere". Only to then be followed by a performance like last night, or Brighton, or Sunderland or Wolves second half, and you end up detesting the bloke all over again.

We need rid, but we know he ain't going anywhere so we just have to keep on this "rollercoaster" that actually isn't as it is about 5% highs and 95% lows. No wonder so many CFC supporters are looking for new hobbies.

8 hours ago, RMH said:

Agree, and said so now in the match thread. That lineup, other than the CBs, was ok and strong enough to beat them. But they were off, no cohesion, no effort, no quality, probably due to not being focused on the game. And to sub Santos for Enzo was criminal. Another Maresca master class…

I noticed this from the get go they looked more disjointed than usual and looked like they couldn’t be bothered at all.

20 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Maresca's principles in how the game should be played is what allows us to go toe to toe against the very best.

Who did we go toe to toe with?

1 hour ago, Nibs said:

No wonder so many CFC supporters are looking for new hobbies.

PDC Worlds back middle of December. More entertainment in one leg than we’ll get all season under this fraud.

1 hour ago, Scott Harris said:

Zero chemistry, just a bunch of players thrown together. Amateur coaching from Maresca. He's playing the Champions League like it's the Conference League. You can't make that many changes and expect a cohesive team.

Most fans highlighted this during the conference league too, luckily the quality shone through. Marescasexuals use the conference league win as an example of him delivering a major trophy, but for me it was a huge warning sign.

West Ham went into the competition and won it unbeaten. We made several games look difficult, lost to Servette and even went behind in the final. We won that competition in spite of Maresca because of the players we had, not because of him. You could have done the entire tournament without a manager and we still would have won.

The ONLY impressive thing Maresca has ever done is the pre-season friendly against PSG.

6 minutes ago, The Boehly Babes said:

PDC Worlds back middle of December. More entertainment in one leg than we’ll get all season under this fraud.

Plus got The Ashes to look forward too. Cricket isn't everyone's cup of tea, but The Ashes is always good and again, a whole lot better than suffering Maresca-Ball.

On the xG stats, we'd have won 5 and lost 11 so far this season. So much for the Maresca system's "control" of our games LOL

Surely BlueCo have to act soon before our Top 4 chances goes up in smoke ?

We even lost on XG to Lincoln and Wolves reserves ffs !!!

2 hours ago, dkw said:

But all those problems are down to the amount of changes he keeps making, its not entirely down to who he picks, its the amount of different combinations he keeps using, for no reason whatsover other than he loves the smell of his own sh*t.

Exactly, whatever we say about Arteta or the strength of his squad at his disposal he doesn’t really rotate Gabriel & Saliba and even Timber and Calafori play regularly as even he knows familiar partnerships can turn into the making of a strong defence.

Maresca doesn’t give them enough continuity to improve, he just randomly picks 4 players as our back line.

Edited November 6, 2025Nov 6 by 2211

1 hour ago, 2211 said:

Exactly, whatever we say about Arteta or the strength of his squad at his disposal he doesn’t really rotate Gabriel & Saliba and even Timber and Calafori play regularly as even he knows familiar partnerships can turn into the making of a strong defence.

Maresca doesn’t give them enough continuity to improve, he just randomly picks 4 players as our back line.

What CB partnership do you think this club could could possibly form? We've tried Tosin+Chalobah and it went to sh*t quickly.

• Fofana and Badiashile can't play 2 games a week. That's guaranteed.

• Tosin has now become a net negative. We concede every time he's on the pitch.

• Chalobah hasn't been consistent, nor was he ever good enough to start for a club competing on all fronts.

• Acheampong is 18 years old.

Acheampong is the best of the bunch but playing an 18 year old every 3 days presents a whole bulk problems in itself. People have really devalued how important and good Colwill was for us.

14 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Josh isn't even the issue, it's who his partner is. We've seen him partner Chalobah + Tosin and he's had to bail out both in recent weeks. I understand why Maresca doesn't trust either of them and I understand why he's not putting this much pressure and demand on an 18 year despite him being (to which it's honestly making me laugh just typing this out) our best CB.

I knew going into this season losing Colwill would hurt us tremendously, I just didn't expect neither Chalobah or Tosin to be so far and away from his stead.

I don't really care who partners Josh but ideally I would go with Josh and Chalobah until Colwill is back. Stick with it for more than 1 game so you can actually build some understanding in the backline.

We aren't the only team that would be playing a kid in defence, if he's good enough he should start. He's not shown any signs of being affected by the pressure on the pitch which is all that matters right now.

1 minute ago, Remodez said:

I don't really care who partners Josh but ideally I would go with Josh and Chalobah until Colwill is back. Stick with it for more than 1 game so you can actually build some understanding in the backline.

We aren't the only team that would be playing a kid in defence, if he's good enough he should start. He's not shown any signs of being affected by the pressure on the pitch which is all that matters right now.

We are likely the only team playing a kid in defence who's our best CB.

There's no magic wand. We can ask for some continuity with Chalobah + Acheampong, but the former's inconsistency and latter's age/inexperience will undoubtedly show over a demanding schedule. I also have my concerns on Chalobah being able to manage a match every 3 days as well given I don't recall him ever handling that sort of schedule.

13 hours ago, RMH said:

Agree, and said so now in the match thread. That lineup, other than the CBs, was ok and strong enough to beat them. But they were off, no cohesion, no effort, no quality, probably due to not being focused on the game. And to sub Santos for Enzo was criminal. Another Maresca master class…

Apparently he wanted to train at Cobham on more time so they all flew out late, arriving at 1am. So i am sure with a bit of a lay in, they all adjusted their body clocks for the lack of sleep.

7 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

We are likely the only team playing a kid in defence who's our best CB.

Bournemouth didn’t do too badly with that logic for Huijsen last season, and Josh is currently his equal at least.

26 minutes ago, The Boehly Babes said:

Bournemouth didn’t do too badly with that logic for Huijsen last season, and Josh is currently his equal at least.

Nah Zabaryni was quality. Will only get better too.

1 hour ago, Sconnie Blue said:

What CB partnership do you think this club could could possibly form? We've tried Tosin+Chalobah and it went to sh*t quickly.

• Fofana and Badiashile can't play 2 games a week. That's guaranteed.

• Tosin has now become a net negative. We concede every time he's on the pitch.

• Chalobah hasn't been consistent, nor was he ever good enough to start for a club competing on all fronts.

• Acheampong is 18 years old.

Acheampong is the best of the bunch but playing an 18 year old every 3 days presents a whole bulk problems in itself. People have really devalued how important and good Colwill was for us.

Personally I’d go Fofana and Josh with Chalobah as 3rd choice when Fofana needs a rest.

Behind Colwill I think Fofana is our best defender with Josh not far behind already and with him being young he will improve.

But Josh won’t improve as quickly with him only playing once every few games.

We have neglected quality in defence but we have to get to the January transfer somehow so he needs to rotate less.

The rate we are going we will be behind in the Premier League top 4 race and at best scraping into the Champions League play offs unseeded.

Josh is good enough to be given a proper run of games regardless of his age.

Maresca and his tactics and team juggling is not helping us progress as a team.

7 minutes ago, 2211 said:

Personally I’d go Fofana and Josh with Chalobah as 3rd choice when Fofana needs a rest.

Behind Colwill I think Fofana is our best defender with Josh not far behind already and with him being young he will improve.

But Josh won’t improve as quickly with him only playing once every few games.

We have neglected quality in defence but we have to get to the January transfer somehow so he needs to rotate less.

The rate we are going we will be behind in the Premier League top 4 race and at best scraping into the Champions League play offs unseeded.

Josh is good enough to be given a proper run of games regardless of his age.

Maresca and his tactics and team juggling is not helping us progress as a team.

Agreed.

The only solution I see is to rotate the 3 of Fofana, Chalobah and Acheampong. But this still comes at the cost of not having a recognized pairing every matchday.

1 minute ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Agreed.

The only solution I see is to rotate the 3 of Fofana, Chalobah and Acheampong. But this still comes at the cost of not having a recognized pairing every matchday.

Tosin drops further down the pecking order though, so every cloud…😉

5 minutes ago, 2211 said:

Tosin drops further down the pecking order though, so every cloud…😉

If it worked like that, Enzo Fernandez would be so far down the pecking order he’d be playing for the Chelsea U16’s with JT.