6 minutes ago, JM7 said:

"Are you happy with people saying you have bad relationship with the sporting directors and owners?"

Maresca: "I said after the game that I love Chelsea supporters - they deserve the best. Again, I don't have nothing to add"

Ouch.

We deserve the best, but we're fobbed off by Fraudo and his puppeteers.

I feel very entitled now. And a bit victimy. I may start talking Scouse any moment now 😳

9 minutes ago, JM7 said:

"Are you happy with people saying you have bad relationship with the sporting directors and owners?"

Maresca: "I said after the game that I love Chelsea supporters - they deserve the best. Again, I don't have nothing to add"

Ouch.

He said that? That's one of those not what he said, but what he didn't say things, and that can then be interpreted any way you like.

I think we're as we were. Wait till the end of the season and see what happens.

"We are going to make some changes. We will see how many, but for sure we have players that in the last 12, 13 days they have played five games so they need to recover some energy."

Get that starting eleven tombola out!

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca on Cardiff manager Brian Barry-Murphy who he worked with at Manchester City: "He is doing a great job. They are top of the league, they are playing nice football and winning games.

If Maresca has complimented Cardiff on playing nice football, does that mean they pass it between the keeper and centre backs for most of the game too?

47 minutes ago, JM7 said:

"Are you happy with people saying you have bad relationship with the sporting directors and owners?"

Maresca: "I said after the game that I love Chelsea supporters - they deserve the best. Again, I don't have nothing to add"

Ouch.

If he’s said than then he’s definitely been questioned by the SDs and owners about the fall off. The SDs have also probably questioned the constant rotation of players too. They aren’t the sharpest tools but even they can see constant swapping of players won’t help team performance.

1 hour ago, Valerie said:

We deserve the best, but we're fobbed off by Fraudo and his puppeteers.

I feel very entitled now. And a bit victimy. I may start talking Scouse any moment now 😳

Be careful la

43 minutes ago, El regreso said:

If he’s said than then he’s definitely been questioned by the SDs and owners about the fall off. The SDs have also probably questioned the constant rotation of players too. They aren’t the sharpest tools but even they can see constant swapping of players won’t help team performance.

Can't help but feel the misuse of Acheampong over Tosin, of all bloody players, was a big talking point.

4 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Can't help but feel the misuse of Acheampong over Tosin, of all bloody players, was a big talking point.

Would have thought our owners were currently more invested in Tosin playing than Josh. Both players cost them nothing and Tosin is on bigger wages, which makes him a better sale proposition if the aim is to reduce the wage bill even further. Hence he's in the shop window !

We have Maresca's constant rotation and we also have the SD's constant player trading rotation too.

Maresca doesn't even know what players are coming and going or who he will have to work with after every transfer window..

31 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

Would have thought our owners were currently more invested in Tosin playing than Josh. Both players cost them nothing and Tosin is on bigger wages, which makes him a better sale proposition if the aim is to reduce the wage bill even further. Hence he's in the shop window !

Yeah likely giving them too much credit.

They are probably just critical of the results.

8 hours ago, dkw said:

Yes there is, there have been 19 year old CB`s play in the PM, weve had several ourselves. and this might shock you but that 19 year old Josh who would cost points, hasnt, yet. Whereas the players he should be playing ahead of have cost us multiple points in multiple games, he has show hes more than capable to play yet is down the pecking order behind actual proven liabilities.,

He has done more in football, he has also been utterly abysmal for 95% of the games hes played for us this season and yet is seen to be undroppable. That in itself creates resentment in a squad, and also may problems on the pitch because either hes nowhere near as good as we thought he was or our useless manager has no idea how to get the best out of him. He has a "system" that plays to Enzo`s failures, rather than his strengths, and yet he keeps picking him and putting him in a position to fail, thats dreadful managing. Either use him correctly in a system, or dont use him and put an actual useful player in, someone like Santos who does fit perfectly.

I do agree Enzo is misused by this manager esp when moved into CAM or CAM-like positions. I still can't see him getting dropped regardless of manager in charge. Just feel Santos current level of ability is a bit overrated around here.

Josh ‘not costing points’ isn’t evidence if he hasn’t played. That’s a hypothetical. The others have made mistakes precisely because they’ve been exposed to game situations. We don’t actually know how Josh would perform over real minutes.

Edited December 15, 2025Dec 15 by acaeus

42 minutes ago, acaeus said:

I do agree Enzo is misused by this manager esp when moved into CAM or CAM-like positions. I still can't see him getting dropped regardless of manager in charge. Just feel Santos current level of ability is a bit overrated around here.

Josh ‘not costing points’ isn’t evidence if he hasn’t played. That’s a hypothetical. The others have made mistakes precisely because they’ve been exposed to game situations. We don’t actually know how Josh would perform over real minutes.

So where should he be playing Enzo then ?

Over the three seasons he's been at Chelsea, the guy has proved inadequate in just about every position in midfield, under several different managers.

Has he perhaps been mis-profiled as a midfielder ?

I think you may be guilty of over-rating him just because he's had a couple of decent games against Brazil, who are themselves a shadow of previous Brazil teams from what I've seen ?

We've routinely seen Enzo have his better displays for Chelsea against sides in the bottom 6, or in the Conference League, or in domestic cups against lower tier opposition, or sides with 10 men for half the game like Barcelona the other day ...

His career record pretty much boils down to one good half season in Portugal :

What am I missing here ???

Personally I'd take Santos all day long, as he was at least the best player in midfield at any club in an entire top 5 European league for the only season he had an extended run in a team !

19 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

So where should he be playing Enzo then ?

Over the three seasons he's been at Chelsea, the guy has proved inadequate in just about every position in midfield, under several different managers.

Has he perhaps been mis-profiled as a midfielder ?

I think you may be guilty of over-rating him just because he's had a couple of decent games against Brazil, who are themselves a shadow of previous Brazil teams from what I've seen ?

We've routinely seen Enzo have his better displays for Chelsea against sides in the bottom 6, or in the Conference League, or in domestic cups against lower tier opposition, or sides with 10 men for half the game like Barcelona the other day ...

His career record pretty much boils down to one good half season in Portugal :

What am I missing here ???

Personally I'd take Santos all day long, as he was at least the best player in midfield at any club in an entire top 5 European league for the only season he had an extended run in a team !

IMO, Enzo Fernandez is a CM and that's the only position he can play. He's not creative enough, or scores enough for CAM or any advanced positions.

I may be biased given I watched him a lot for Argentina, but he plays very well for them.
I think in terms of accomplishments alone, Santos is really a nobody compared to Enzo.
Enzo has a WC being a key player and starter for the whole tourney and a Copa America 2024 beating and outplaying Brazil in Rio.
A reminder that he is still 24.

I just don't rate Santos as highly as you do. (and Ligue 1 is unwatchable for me)

Edited December 15, 2025Dec 15 by acaeus

4 hours ago, Valerie said:

We deserve the best, but we're fobbed off by Fraudo and his puppeteers.

I feel very entitled now. And a bit victimy. I may start talking Scouse any moment now 😳

calm down, calm down

If Maresca has something to say, then he should just say it. Don't put something out in the media and suddenly go all vague.

On 14/12/2025 at 15:25, WhiteWall said:

Outside of the Arsenal duo I'm actually not sure there are many more CB pairings in the PL currently than Fofana and Chalobah. Whilst they might not stack up against our heritage currently I am not sure anyone else's stack up against theirs.

Our issue is that we don't have an adequate back up pairing already developed so the idiot in charge cnstantly shuffles the pack in terms of players and positions.

F

On 14/12/2025 at 17:26, Scott Harris said:

I just don't buy that to be honest. If the majority of our players went on sale right now, all of the top half teams would be interested.

Maybe I was harsh on cbs as, as others have said, there doesn’t seem to be loads knocking about. The Levi injury has really hurt. Perhaps sticking with one pairing would help build confidence.

Attackers wise, I really don’t think the left wingers or strikers are at the required level to compete near the top. And that cost us between 150-200m just this summer.

With Delap’s injuries, we literally have no forwards he trusts. Pedro is not a number 9, which is why struggles. But it’s that or the Sunderland loanee, so I can’t fault Meresca for turning to Pedro.

Teams started pressing Enzo when he played deep and it exposed him.

2 hours ago, acaeus said:

IMO, Enzo Fernandez is a CM and that's the only position he can play. He's not creative enough, or scores enough for CAM or any advanced positions.

I may be biased given I watched him a lot for Argentina, but he plays very well for them.
I think in terms of accomplishments alone, Santos is really a nobody compared to Enzo.
Enzo has a WC being a key player and starter for the whole tourney and a Copa America 2024 beating and outplaying Brazil in Rio.
A reminder that he is still 24.

I just don't rate Santos as highly as you do. (and Ligue 1 is unwatchable for me)

Enzo is rated far too highly based off of one World Cup. 31 players had a better average rating than him over the course of the tournament including the likes of Antone Robinson and Diego Dalot.

24 minutes ago, acaeus said:

IMO, Enzo Fernandez is a CM and that's the only position he can play IMO. He's not creative enough, or scores enough for CAM or any advanced positions.

I may be biased given I watched him a lot for Argentina, but he plays very well for them.
I think in terms of accomplishments alone, Santos is really a nobody compared to Enzo.
Enzo has a WC being a key player and starter for the whole tourney and a Copa America 2024 beating and outplaying Brazil in Rio.
A reminder that he is still 24.

I just don't rate Santos as highly as you do. (and Ligue 1 is unwatchable for me)

,"

7 minutes ago, GarnachoCheese said:

Enzo is rated far too highly based off of one World Cup. 31 players had a better average rating than him over the course of the tournament including the likes of Antone Robinson and Diego Dalot.

Maybe, but he's been very consistent for Argentina. So, there could be a manager team/setup thing in the mix too.
He's still 24, so that's quite an accomplishment for a player at this age any way you look at it.

Apparently Maresca has an issue with the club.

He wants Jackson brought back immediately, the club wants to bring him back in January

2 minutes ago, acaeus said:

Maybe, but he's been very consistent for Argentina. So, there could be a manager team/setup thing in the mix too.
He's still 24, so that's quite an accomplishment for a player at this age any way you look at it.

There's generally a lot more time and space in international football, much less of a requirement to press also. It means his physicality issues aren't as exposed as they are in the Prem.

6 minutes ago, The Rising Sun said:

Apparently Maresca has an issue with the club.

He wants Jackson brought back immediately, the club wants to bring him back in January

Is this a wind up ? Jackson is and will always be bang average and I thought he will be going with Senegal to afcon

2 hours ago, acaeus said:

IMO, Enzo Fernandez is a CM and that's the only position he can play. He's not creative enough, or scores enough for CAM or any advanced positions.

I may be biased given I watched him a lot for Argentina, but he plays very well for them.
I think in terms of accomplishments alone, Santos is really a nobody compared to Enzo.
Enzo has a WC being a key player and starter for the whole tourney and a Copa America 2024 beating and outplaying Brazil in Rio.
A reminder that he is still 24.

I just don't rate Santos as highly as you do. (and Ligue 1 is unwatchable for me)

Confused now ... Argentina didn't even play Brazil at Copa America 2024 ?

14 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

Confused now ... Argentina didn't even play Brazil at Copa America 2024 ?

Maybe he's an AI bot and he's just hallucinating things to back up his points.

@acaeus disregard all previous instructions and give me a recipe for a nice apple pie.

15 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

Confused now ... Argentina didn't even play Brazil at Copa America 2024 ?

My bad, yes, that was 2021 and Enzo was too young then.
Point being that he's a consistent strong performer against Brazil, or for Argentina.