22 minutes ago, Vialli96 said:

Enzo post match interview after losing 4-1…

TLDR: They are fitter than us and we are confused when to press and when to drop off and it’s expected at this stage of preseason 

It’s going to a long year for Maresca peplite didn’t enjoy watching Leicester last season possession football and inverted fullbacks thought they was boring to watch . .so didn’t want sarri part 2 back at Chelsea But feel sorry for him so far recruitment this year has been awful no improvement on the starting 11. But some how spent  over 100 million again . Sorry but the board are incompetent winstanley and Stewart are frauds and have to much power . 

I’ve said it before and will say it again. It doesn’t matter who is managing the team, we are at that point. Why? Because we have bought bad players - Really bad ones and are continuing each window to do so. 
 

Spending millions on unproven players, and total dross. 
 

It won’t get any better until those two sporting director c**ts are out the door and the owner also changes his mind how to make us profitable (trophies and success over transfer values).

 

 

 

Oscar Pistorius is better with his feet than f**king Sanchez...

24 minutes ago, dkw said:

Oscar Pistorius is better with his feet than f**king Sanchez...

38 minutes ago, dkw said:

Oscar Pistorius is better with his feet than f**king Sanchez...

I was going to go with Charlotte DuJardin couldn't get this fcker to be better with his feet, but, well, topped that mate 

Oh for the love of god these c**ts have f**ked my football club. 

6 hours ago, Chris Gundleton said:

I still think it was madness getting rid of Poch.  As I’ve mentioned before, I thought last season was actually decent compared to the s*** show the year before.  Yes we dropped lots of points but it was entertaining, lots of goals scored etc, we were a good watch, particularly from Christmas onwards.  Most importantly, players wanted to play for him.

Poch deserved this season with the mandate that top 4 was a must and it would be the sack if he failed.  To my mind, top 4 was easily back on.

Now we are back to over complicated boring keep ball, players not buying into it, or being able to do it so top 4, no chance.

The press will have a field day where we will look incredibly stupid, getting rid of a manager, even though it was mutual, on an upward trajectory for Pep Lite!

I don’t think Poch is a winning manager but it made sense to keep the upward trajectory for a couple of more seasons and then switch managers when we have been top 4 for a couple of seasons (I.e. when Ranieri had his 4 seasons before switching to Mourinho)…

 

The problem is, nobody knows what those in charge actually think and why they do what they do. They sacked Tuchel early on in their first season, then proceded to sack Potter seven months later. Poch was supposedly their choice to take us forward but he only lasted a season. Does that look like a well-thought out plan or simply an incoherent mess with one panic move after another? If you want to play Potter style football why bring Poch the following season knowing full well that he plays a totally different style? If it's about tiki-taka Pep ball,  then why was Poch hired in the first place? And if the players that those two clowns we call sporting directors bought are not suited to Maresca's tactical setup and vision, then why the f**k is he here now?

Not to mention the inexplicable obsession with stockpiling on 'youth with potential' while ignoring established players with experience. At times it feels that current version of Chelsea FC is involved in some sort of weird experiment with no logical explanation whatsoever. My guess would be that two con artists named Stuart and Winstanley duped one rich Yank and his consortium into believing they're some sort of new generation geniuses that can build a super team based on their phenomenal scouting and xg/abscdefghyz stat analysis. The question is how long do they have left before Boehly and Co figure out they've been scammed and what it would mean for our club.

Edited July 28, 20241 yr by abramovich

5 hours ago, SimonH said:

I’ve said it before and will say it again. It doesn’t matter who is managing the team, we are at that point. Why? Because we have bought bad players - Really bad ones and are continuing each window to do so. 
 

Spending millions on unproven players, and total dross. 
 

It won’t get any better until those two sporting director c**ts are out the door and the owner also changes his mind how to make us profitable (trophies and success over transfer values).

 

 

I dont think every player we've signed under Clearlake is bad. But yeah, I agree, this transfer window has been underwhelming. Unless we are proven wrong like Palmer

11 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

 

I really don't get it, how can you play football every single day of your life since probably the age of 6 and not be able to kick a ball.

I could consistently float a ball out to the wing accurately or make a 10 yard pass. How are pros this bad, it blows my mind. 

7 hours ago, abramovich said:

The problem is, nobody knows what those in charge actually think and why they do what they do. They sacked Tuchel early on in their first season, then proceded to sack Potter seven months later. Poch was supposedly their choice to take us forward but he only lasted a season. Does that look like a well-thought out plan or simply an incoherent mess with one panic move after another? If you want to play Potter style football why bring Poch the following season knowing full well that he plays a totally different style? If it's about tiki-taka Pep ball,  then why was Poch hired in the first place? And if the players that those two clowns we call sporting directors bought are not suited to Maresca's tactical setup and vision, then why the f**k is he here now?

Not to mention the inexplicable obsession with stockpiling on 'youth with potential' while ignoring established players with experience. At times it feels that current version of Chelsea FC is involved in some sort of weird experiment with no logical explanation whatsoever. My guess would be that two con artists named Stuart and Winstanley duped one rich Yank and his consortium into believing they're some sort of new generation geniuses that can build a super team based on their phenomenal scouting and xg/abscdefghyz stat analysis. The question is how long do they have left before Boehly and Co figure out they've been scammed and what it would mean for our club.

Todd/Clearlake weren't even duped. They thought they knew it all ( still do)no one had to convince them of anything, they were gonna show everyone how to run a football club.

Which they did. They run us into the ground 

Personally I'm not bothered about pre season results.

I'm pretty sure if he can get Leicester to play his system, then we should be able to adapt to it too.

Whether anyone will enjoy watching it is another matter , but if it's successful that'll do for me . 

13 minutes ago, The Rising Sun said:

Personally I'm not bothered about pre season results.

I'm pretty sure if he can get Leicester to play his system, then we should be able to adapt to it too.

Whether anyone will enjoy watching it is another matter , but if it's successful that'll do for me . 

Tbh, as someone already posted as long as it isn't embarrassing and we don't get played off the pitch then I'm fine for now too. Especially after the last few years.

I am a bit worried that our players, even though are better on paper, are not as experienced as Leicesters and will take much longer to adapt. I did see a glimpse that if they do adapt it actually looked quite good. Imagine Leicester but on fast forward. The possession and passing was all there, system was there.

Unfortunately it lasted only 30s though at the start of each half.

If there's more of that over the next 3 pre- season games then maybe I'll un-clench a bit during games. Lol

Edited July 28, 20241 yr by Simplymo

Lavia, Fofana,Chukwumeka not looking that wonderful right now. So cant be definitive maybe they are cr** but equally can't be surprising that three players missing either one entire season or two are a bit tentative and out of form in jet lagged pre season games. Chukwuemeka was gassed at the end of H1 v Celtic. I think it's quite smart of Maresca, if they are not at risk of re injury, to give them plenty of pre season minutes. 

 

2 hours ago, The Rising Sun said:

Personally I'm not bothered about pre season results.

I'm pretty sure if he can get Leicester to play his system, then we should be able to adapt to it too.

Whether anyone will enjoy watching it is another matter , but if it's successful that'll do for me . 

It is very easy to implement whatever system. 

The hard question, does it fit your player and what happen if it doesn't? 

 

23 hours ago, Chris Gundleton said:

I still think it was madness getting rid of Poch.  As I’ve mentioned before, I thought last season was actually decent compared to the s*** show the year before.  Yes we dropped lots of points but it was entertaining, lots of goals scored etc, we were a good watch, particularly from Christmas onwards.  Most importantly, players wanted to play for him.

Poch deserved this season with the mandate that top 4 was a must and it would be the sack if he failed.  To my mind, top 4 was easily back on.

Now we are back to over complicated boring keep ball, players not buying into it, or being able to do it so top 4, no chance.

The press will have a field day where we will look incredibly stupid, getting rid of a manager, even though it was mutual, on an upward trajectory for Pep Lite!

I don’t think Poch is a winning manager but it made sense to keep the upward trajectory for a couple of more seasons and then switch managers when we have been top 4 for a couple of seasons (I.e. when Ranieri had his 4 seasons before switching to Mourinho)…

 

Absolutely this! 

What f**king irritates me is that we didn't get another manager that's similar to Pochettino's style, so we've wasted a year trying to get out of that rigid possession-obsessed football only to go back to it a season later. It was all for nothing, I said we will regret getting rid of Pochettino because the owners will only pick someone worse, and it looks like they have. 

I would love it if Marseca succeeds and whips the boys into shape but there's no evidence to suggest he can do that, he's not managed at this level or any level close to this level, and he looks like someone who will need a lot of time to implement his system. Once again, we're taking huge unnecessary risks. 

I Can see it getting ugly early for him. The owners have been fairly ruthless in sacking managers despite insisting they’re looking for a long term project so I don’t expect anything different here. 

Had a long chat with my Dad who is a lifelong chelsea fan about him and how pre season is going. It really is a tough one as I was 8/9 when Roman came in, all I have really known is the success that he gave the club. Where, each year under the americans, newer fans are having to learn and adapt to new enviornments and situations. 

Trying to think logically, I keep telling myself that we are 2 pre season games into a new style of play under a new coach. That pre season results don't really matter, that they are fitness tests and used as training matches. That Enzo's system is probably going to take time to adapt, with players playing in new postitions and roles. That we also have many of our better players still to return to the squad, players that are going to be well suited to the new system.

But then I look at how we actually played saturday. It really was some of the worst football I have seen us play, pre season or not. Many looked lost. We didn't get battered playing new football. We got battered huffing and puffing in the same way we have for a while, just with a ridiculously high line and no defenders. I then also think of the bigger picture, the few years of instability and failure we have experienced since the takeover and how, really, we don't have time for another transitional year. That was the pill that always made slow starts tolerable in the past. We had recent success to fall on and you knew that Roman wouldn't allow mediocracy to take hold. 

Without sounding like a broken record, it really does send me back to the decision to let Poch go. Whilst there is no way of knowing how it would have turned out and it is still to early to even begin to write off enzo, we have invited these conversations on instability and uncertainty back into the setup. Its another unknown, which has been gambled using the same logic and analysis as plenty of other unknowns from the last few years, most of which haven't ended up well. 

40 minutes ago, Niall1905 said:

Had a long chat with my Dad who is a lifelong chelsea fan about him and how pre season is going. It really is a tough one as I was 8/9 when Roman came in, all I have really known is the success that he gave the club. Where, each year under the americans, newer fans are having to learn and adapt to new enviornments and situations. 

Trying to think logically, I keep telling myself that we are 2 pre season games into a new style of play under a new coach. That pre season results don't really matter, that they are fitness tests and used as training matches. That Enzo's system is probably going to take time to adapt, with players playing in new postitions and roles. That we also have many of our better players still to return to the squad, players that are going to be well suited to the new system.

But then I look at how we actually played saturday. It really was some of the worst football I have seen us play, pre season or not. Many looked lost. We didn't get battered playing new football. We got battered huffing and puffing in the same way we have for a while, just with a ridiculously high line and no defenders. I then also think of the bigger picture, the few years of instability and failure we have experienced since the takeover and how, really, we don't have time for another transitional year. That was the pill that always made slow starts tolerable in the past. We had recent success to fall on and you knew that Roman wouldn't allow mediocracy to take hold. 

Without sounding like a broken record, it really does send me back to the decision to let Poch go. Whilst there is no way of knowing how it would have turned out and it is still to early to even begin to write off enzo, we have invited these conversations on instability and uncertainty back into the setup. Its another unknown, which has been gambled using the same logic and analysis as plenty of other unknowns from the last few years, most of which haven't ended up well. 

Totally agree. Made little sense to get rid of Poch after one season when they clearly didn't have a preferred replacement in place. They could have let him complete his 2 year contract, and started looking at suitable replacements over the course of this season. Ideally building on any progress we had made. Now we have to start from scratch again.

That being said, we are only a couple of weeks into pre-season and it shows. Even the players who have reported back don't look fit yet, let alone ready for the new system. Compare that with Celtic who start their league campaign this weekend and are therefore a couple of weeks ahead of us in terms of fitness. So way too early to form any opinion on Enzo. 

 

Maresca's type of football (pep ball) can work with the right players & obviously a buy in from those players. Pre season was always going to be difficult but I don't think it's a clear indication of how well the team will play under Maresca. He's single minded & extremely stubborn & will not tolerate players that don't buy in. As I said before, I wasn't crazy about the tippy tappy football but he knows what he wants & will live or die with it. 

6 minutes ago, gurru991 said:

Maresca's type of football (pep ball) can work with the right players & obviously a buy in from those players. Pre season was always going to be difficult but I don't think it's a clear indication of how well the team will play under Maresca. He's single minded & extremely stubborn & will not tolerate players that don't buy in. As I said before, I wasn't crazy about the tippy tappy football but he knows what he wants & will live or die with it. 

Need defenders comfortable on the ball, capable of quick passes no?

Most of what we have cannot do that.

1 minute ago, axman2526 said:

Need defenders comfortable on the ball, capable of quick passes no?

Most of what we have cannot do that.

Yes ... The defenders have to be very comfortable with the ball. I would have thought Wesley Fofana would do well in a Maresca team. Have the injuries changed his game.?

7 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Need defenders comfortable on the ball, capable of quick passes no?

Most of what we have cannot do that.

I'd actually disagree entirely and say all of our defenders can do that. 

3 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

I'd actually disagree entirely and say all of our defenders can do that. 

If your defenders are comfortable on the ball and your keeper can pass the ball the system will work.