5 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

We did in my opinion and I agree with him. The biggest difference was the final third. We even forced City to a lot of errors but our attack pitifully took advantage of it. 

There were some fundamental errors with our attack (Nkunku LW/Enzo CAM) but a few players still aren't up to speed. Jackson just came back from a serious injury, Palmer and Neto also had zero preseason tour minutes with the team to get themselves acquainted in the system. 

One thing we do need is a strong, clinical focal point. 

 

Next round of fixtures should give us a better idea of where we truly stand. 

Servette (H)

Wolves (A)

Servette (A)

Palace (H)

Bournemouth (A)

West Ham (A)

Brighton (H)

Forest (H)

Considering we had Jackson not fully sharp, Fofana’s first game in like a year and Sanchez stealing a living between the sticks I would say we did okay. Could have even got a draw if things went our way.

1 hour ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Did we even get out of first gear? I thought our midfield and attack didn't really do much in attack. Only Lavia really imposed himself yesterday. 

If we didn’t get out of first gear in the opening game of the season at home to the champions then there’s even bigger questions to be asked…

 

City cruised it and didn’t need to bust a gut to beat us, lest we forget they were hardly at full strength and fully sharpness either and still made light work of it. For us, there’s no excuse for not getting out of first gear.

8 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Does not reflect well on Maresca that Cucurella, Palmer and Jackson were all forced in while a smart manager like Pep knows players who had such little break and no pre season, like stones and walker, need to be eased in slowly and gently.

Is why Cucu had to come off. 

Pep played Lewis, when am sure he would have much rather had walker, but did what was best for the player long term and their season long term. Maresca was making stupid risky calls. 

Yeah, those 2 as well. I'm slightly worried about Cucurella.

I also thought he took lavia off to ease him in too. He did fk loads from what I can tell from the sh*t copy I saw. He needed a rest too I think.

 

I don't understand these calls or this formation and where he played them. That's why I honestly think he was trying something different. Why put Nkunku on the wing when he was much better as an 8, Enzo as a 10! Oh lord! And all 3 in midfield when it's always 2 of the 3 since preseason. Just all off.

I really hope the owners and sd's aren't getting involved!

Edited August 19, 20241 yr by Simplymo

duplicate

Edited August 19, 20241 yr by EdinburghBlue

Another duplicate… clearly been a while!

Edited August 19, 20241 yr by EdinburghBlue

6 minutes ago, EdinburghBlue said:

Another duplicate… clearly been a while!

But it was a point well made...and well made.......and well made...... 

5 hours ago, timetowaste said:

Nah I disagree, he's turned to the crowd when they started jeering what was happening. 

Looks like he turned to his staff with a " FFS why don't we get on with it" gesture

Ive been critical of maresca but I dont think the result is as bad as people are making it out to be. I think another striker and an improvement on the defensive mistakes will improve us a bit.

10 hours ago, Gordon Bennett said:

Maresca looks a decent manager to me. The thing I like is that it's his way or the highway. Having a strong leader like that is essential and a fantastic base to build upon.

Needs time of course, and it's not his fault the mess he's inherited from the blundering ownership and co-sporting directors ( aka Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee).

Actually agree with you but my only issue is the bolded part, how many more messes is it going to take for us to finally get a good squad? Just feels like a cycle of managers in heriting a mess and then the ownership make a new mess of transfers and then the manager gets sacked again. Neto for example is the only good signing this summer IMO unless we get Oshimen. A lot of the people we signed this summer are going to be sold in a season or two just like the people we signed a season or two ago now being sold.

6 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

We did in my opinion and I agree with him. The biggest difference was the final third. We even forced City to a lot of errors but our attack pitifully took advantage of it. 

There were some fundamental errors with our attack (Nkunku LW/Enzo CAM) but a few players still aren't up to speed. Jackson just came back from a serious injury, Palmer and Neto also had zero preseason tour minutes with the team to get themselves acquainted in the system. 

One thing we do need is a strong, clinical focal point. 

 

Next round of fixtures should give us a better idea of where we truly stand. 

Servette (H)

Wolves (A)

Servette (A)

Palace (H)

Bournemouth (A)

West Ham (A)

Brighton (H)

Forest (H)

Those 8 games if maresca doesn’t deliver he needs to walk. I don’t by all this give him time, with the money spent and the squad we have we should be beating teams like these.

18 minutes ago, Jezq8 said:

Those 8 games if maresca doesn’t deliver he needs to walk. I don’t by all this give him time, with the money spent and the squad we have we should be beating teams like these.

After the last five managers and 40+ players, I simply dont understand this logic. Sorry, i cant fathom it one league game into the season. Who comes in and replaces Maresca, who would want to? Less Brighton model, more Watford when it comes to managers and it doesnt help the team. 

Leicester don’t look like they’re missing him!! Joking aside be interesting to see what Leicester fans think of any differences in their playing style

7 hours ago, timetowaste said:

At the end of the day we all want the same thing and that's to win, but groaning/booing a team first game of the season under a manager that's trying to change the entire system is just daft imo. You can see in the video below it irritated Enzo.

 

After all that has happened to our club in the last 2 years....

The online " fans* criticise the fans who actually buy tickets and go to watch and support Chelsea for being discontented during parts of the game.

That Juanin Alarcon guy up there can go f**k himself.

1 hour ago, The Rising Sun said:

After all that has happened to our club in the last 2 years....

The online " fans* criticise the fans who actually buy tickets and go to watch and support Chelsea for being discontented during parts of the game.

That Juanin Alarcon guy up there can go f**k himself.

Well said bro... guy's a tosser.

1 hour ago, The Rising Sun said:

After all that has happened to our club in the last 2 years....

The online " fans* criticise the fans who actually buy tickets and go to watch and support Chelsea for being discontented during parts of the game.

That Juanin Alarcon guy up there can go f**k himself.

Tbf he has support from a few on here as well.

As someone who lives in Canada and finds it extremely costly to get to more than one game every couple years, (wife prefers tropical vacations instead of a trip to london in winter, what can I say) I really appreciate the match going fans for being the voice for those of us who can’t stand what Clearlake is doing and the awful stewardship of the club that they are mishandling. (The Gallagher chants made me seriously laugh and smile when I caught it through the commentary) 

like most online arguments there’s 10% of people on either extreme but 80% of Chelsea fans live somewhere in the middle, we just want entertaining football, and to know that the club is going to compete for trophies and not get relegated or points deducted out of the prem (things I never even would’ve contemplated under Roman) and I’m glad that the match going fans vocalize these things. 
 

I seriously don’t understand what an online only fan who is mad at the match going fans could possibly see on tv that makes them think anything we’re witnessing this club doing is ok. 

 

anyways, f**k these PE w**kers, f**k arsenal, f**k win Stanley and Stewart, and f**k maresca for being their puppet and having no backbone with who he actually wants in his squad.

 

 

Edited August 20, 20241 yr by H2SO4aq

6 hours ago, Jezq8 said:

Those 8 games if maresca doesn’t deliver he needs to walk. I don’t by all this give him time, with the money spent and the squad we have we should be beating teams like these.

The size of the squad is a hindrance not a help.The owners have Made Enzo's job harder not easier. Maresca is not going to walk & nor should he.

the pile on continues.. all the salty ones are out in fullforce.. how do people like Carragher judge others lest we forget the mistakes he has made *spitting* by his logic he shouldnt be on tv as the voice of football.. after one game ffs. really people like danny murphy.. etc

Clubs like liverpool have been living of 3 signings IMO of Salah, VVD and Allison and won two trophies in the last 10 years.. for all the spending and player churn thats what it really takes.. a palmer pulled us upto 6th last year. a fofana and a lavia/caicedo should atleast help us be there.

for all the nonsense that people spew.. aint drawing 1-1 with a newly promoted club who just lost their manager and best player even worse? 

i think this administration has bought a lot of this on themselves but really i just feel a lot of this is completely over the top. A lot of this noise is because of 3-4 players.

1. - CG - i am pretty sure before last season 90% of us wanted him gone. Now 30% of us still wanted him gone. If we are able to get 40mil in his last year of contract i think that is very good business. Didnt utd do this with mctom last season or Mcguire ? Spurs do this to all acad players like winks/skipp/etc ..

2. - TC - This is hard one since he can be a good squad player.. but to say he should be starting for us is a stretch.. he also has mistakes in him and Fofana definitely in the season he was fit showed more promise and skill. If the choice is over Disasi/TC and Badiashile i would have let go one of the french lads but in his case its about who has a market. But fact is none of these are starters.

3. - Sterling - 100% of us wanted him gone. So why the hue and cry. Didnt Luiz get told on deadline day that he is surplus by SFL. happens all the time.

4. - Petrovic - This is a tough one. IMO he still is backup keeper. but to buy and sell in a year is quite common again. Arsenal did this to Bernd Leno to hardly get an upgrade. Barce are masters at it from Vitor Roque to Gundogan.. City did this with that spanish winger bought for 70 mil gone. 

I am not saying any of this is the best way to do this but the hate chelsea get is surreal.. that is why i feel the media in this country is bet and bought by clubs... if i ever an owner i wuold just show them the finger and the $$$ i have made to put them back in the place or better still ignore them.

I think that's what's annoying me about the pile on the club that some Chelsea fans are actually contributing to. The media, opposition fans, ex players are all jumping on the Chelsea hate bandwagon and instead of sticking up for their own club they're joining in and then they'll have the balls to say that the fans aren't a massive contributing factor to the toxicity around the club.

Given the crazy turnover of players and managers since Clearlake took over, it isn't surprising that fans are feeling a disconnect at the moment and are therefore less defensive of the club whilst it's taking a bashing from everyone.

From the outside, we've spent a tonne of money without any improvement (it's much more complex than that, but the discussion will always be shallow), therefore we're open to ridicule. 

Right now, the plan doesn't seem to be working. But no one knows how it will shape up over the next 2/3 years. Really, it's on the pitch that we need to do the talking. We need to make the top 4, which should shut everyone up. Then we need some of these huge investments in players to work out. On paper, we look a decent team. 

All it will take is some decent performances, some big wins over rivals, and people will be back on board.

 

20 minutes ago, timetowaste said:

I think that's what's annoying me about the pile on the club that some Chelsea fans are actually contributing to. The media, opposition fans, ex players are all jumping on the Chelsea hate bandwagon and instead of sticking up for their own club they're joining in and then they'll have the balls to say that the fans aren't a massive contributing factor to the toxicity around the club.

Exactly how I feel.

Because Sky Sports love and hang on every word Carragher & Neville say it’s now seen as fact by some even though in reality it’s just opinions.

It’s matchday one, played against the best team in England, if it was 4 or 5 games in I could understand the panic but it’s not and there is still just under 2 weeks to shape the squad a little better before the transfer window closes.

TBF I agree with lots of points people do make about Chelsea, too many players, selling academy players for pure profit, too much potential rather than experienced players, hanging onto players who are no better than academy players we want to sell etc…...but I feel people are being sucked in by Sky Sports and the media’s over the top negative agenda.

I’m prepared to give the likes of Felix and Neto a couple of weeks against more ordinary teams before judging how they have started their Chelsea careers. 

1 hour ago, timetowaste said:

I think that's what's annoying me about the pile on the club that some Chelsea fans are actually contributing to. The media, opposition fans, ex players are all jumping on the Chelsea hate bandwagon and instead of sticking up for their own club they're joining in and then they'll have the balls to say that the fans aren't a massive contributing factor to the toxicity around the club.

Talk sport had a so called “fan” doing exactly this.

Then you have Rory self appointed fan face of Chelsea!!

3 hours ago, timetowaste said:

I think that's what's annoying me about the pile on the club that some Chelsea fans are actually contributing to. The media, opposition fans, ex players are all jumping on the Chelsea hate bandwagon and instead of sticking up for their own club they're joining in and then they'll have the balls to say that the fans aren't a massive contributing factor to the toxicity around the club.

Fans are entitled to voice their displeasure

3 hours ago, timetowaste said:

I think that's what's annoying me about the pile on the club that some Chelsea fans are actually contributing to. The media, opposition fans, ex players are all jumping on the Chelsea hate bandwagon and instead of sticking up for their own club they're joining in and then they'll have the balls to say that the fans aren't a massive contributing factor to the toxicity around the club.

That's a bit rich after all the negativity you flung at our manager last season ... I guess it's ok to do it when it's someone you don't like though huh ?

 

11 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

That's a bit rich after all the negativity you flung at our manager last season ... I guess it's ok to do it when it's someone you don't like though huh ?

 

There's a difference between matchday 1 vs 7 months of no improvement. 

If in Jan-Feb we still look like this, no consistency or any identity, this voice of frustration would be justified.