First half against man city we were brilliant, so i am very optimistic that Maresca will succeed here.

Also, he changes formations during the match admirably and its not afraid to make changes or upset players if they are not performing. Very refreshing so far. 

Has loads more to do to convince me. Decide who his best players are and pick them. And Enzo, Mudryk shouldn't be one of them. Solve the little Enzo positional problem. Get Caicedo playing like he was in the latter half of last season under Poch. Solve the centre forward problem. If he is going to pick Sanchez at least work on stopping him looking like Shakey Jake everytime he has to play the ball under pressure. And first, and foremost, for f**ks sake do something about our set-piece defending.

Like his press conferences though. He has probably been watching videos of prime Mourinho.

 

Edited August 25, 20241 yr by just

really hope that performance gives the team and manager a bit of breathing room. Said it would be difficult, but was easy second 45 for them, a take note performance for rivals about us going forward, certainly these are the teams we struggled with for a few seasons so really enjoyed today's performance and result. impressive display out of nowhere. 

 

As I said after the Club America game, we're going to win the league.

Great game, still massive room for improvement. The defending was particularly poor in the first half, there is a real problem with tracking runners from midfield. Our defence really struggled with Larsen's ability to come deep and play off the midfielders, and the less said about the set-piece defending, the better. Fofana and Colwill are both individually talented defenders but both still rely on an experienced head to play alongside, so one of them has to step up and be that guy.

Fernandez wasn't great in that first half, he was at sea in both defence and attack. Caicedo, despite the individual errors, was fantastic, for the first time since Kante we had a player recovering the opposition's clearances and pinning them back. He's not Kante though so he can't be everywhere, and that's where Lavia comes in. I really think that the clock is ticking on Fernandez's time in Maresca's system, and if Lavia/Caicedo get a winning run of games we could be selling him as soon as January. He needs to develop himself like Xavi or Ilkay Gundogan, neither were the most athletic but were very energetic, box-to-box creative players.

Edited August 25, 20241 yr by SydneyChelsea

 

 

6 hours ago, timetowaste said:

Obviously he's always been a moron but the fickle nature of football is unrivalled 

He's a spuds supporter right?

 

 

6 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Starting to love this bloke. Handles himself so well from the media agenda vermin. 
 

 

Ditto mate...I also like the fact he wanted to fix the errors we made today.

I still think he needs time though. That was a maresca-ball lite, i can see tactics developing even more. At halftime he said he emphasised accuracy to the team but something tells me theres lot more to come. More styles, and more intricate play. I hope the kids can keep up. 

5 hours ago, Gentian said:

First half against man city we were brilliant, so i am very optimistic that Maresca will succeed here.

Also, he changes formations during the match admirably and its not afraid to make changes or upset players if they are not performing. Very refreshing so far. 

As above mate, agreed. I'm really happy he's showing signs of being a good tactical coach. We really needed that.

So far (including preseason) we've seen the opposite of all the negative stuff we were worried about, like being rigid and no plan B, etc. I said at the time that we didn't have enough reference points (1 season at Leicester only) and maybe he was playing to the strengths of his team. Forget the references and past experience bit but he's come out a few times now saying he likes the talent and adaptability of the players.

I think we will see some really good tactics thrown into great games with some bad ones as part of this wild inexperienced manager and team. But I'm also really looking forward to the growth of both if the owners now let this grp and manager develop together, especially if he's the tactical coach he's shown to be so far...Still early days.

 

TLDR:

What I'm trying to say is pls pls pls eghbali, todd and dumb and dumber don't fk it up . Let this develop and put the fkn cheque books away. Lol

Spectacular first PL win as coach. Well done Enzo 

1 hour ago, SydneyChelsea said:

As I said after the Club America game, we're going to win the league.

Great game, still massive room for improvement. The defending was particularly poor in the first half, there is a real problem with tracking runners from midfield. Our defence really struggled with Larsen's ability to come deep and play off the midfielders, and the less said about the set-piece defending, the better. Fofana and Colwill are both individually talented defenders but both still rely on an experienced head to play alongside, so one of them has to step up and be that guy.

Fernandez wasn't great in that first half, he was at sea in both defence and attack. Caicedo, despite the individual errors, was fantastic, for the first time since Kante we had a player recovering the opposition's clearances and pinning them back. He's not Kante though so he can't be everywhere, and that's where Lavia comes in. I really think that the clock is ticking on Fernandez's time in Maresca's system, and if Lavia/Caicedo get a winning run of games we could be selling him as soon as January. He needs to develop himself like Xavi or Ilkay Gundogan, neither were the most athletic but were very energetic, box-to-box creative players.

Lavia cannot run.

No, but he holds his position really well, and allows Caicedo to do his thing much further forward.

Well done today Enzo. Enjoy that one, and push us on for more. 

Did you listen Maresca's post match presser? Did he reveal something there? He said he has no objectives for the season in terms of premier league which he followed with a thing about financial trouble.

 

It is around 4 minutes. 

Not sure if everyone missed that because no one followed on that.

He's from down Naples way. 'Nuff said.

1 hour ago, evissy said:

Did you listen Maresca's post match presser? Did he reveal something there? He said he has no objectives for the season in terms of premier league which he followed with a thing about financial trouble.

 

It is around 4 minutes. 

Not sure if everyone missed that because no one followed on that.

Yeah, its weird how that has not been followed up on. For him to voluntarily mention that in the presser sure means something

2 hours ago, evissy said:

Did you listen Maresca's post match presser? Did he reveal something there? He said he has no objectives for the season in terms of premier league which he followed with a thing about financial trouble.

 

It is around 4 minutes. 

Not sure if everyone missed that because no one followed on that.

Yep I watched it and immediately thought they want him to help them fix their financial f**k ups!!!

Hes basically got a free him this season which is why he seems so calm they essentially can’t get rid.

7 hours ago, Bob stark said:

Lavia cannot run.

Impressive he's managed to make it as a professional footballer if true

10 hours ago, SydneyChelsea said:

As I said after the Club America game, we're going to win the league.

Great game, still massive room for improvement. The defending was particularly poor in the first half, there is a real problem with tracking runners from midfield. Our defence really struggled with Larsen's ability to come deep and play off the midfielders, and the less said about the set-piece defending, the better. Fofana and Colwill are both individually talented defenders but both still rely on an experienced head to play alongside, so one of them has to step up and be that guy.

Fernandez wasn't great in that first half, he was at sea in both defence and attack. Caicedo, despite the individual errors, was fantastic, for the first time since Kante we had a player recovering the opposition's clearances and pinning them back. He's not Kante though so he can't be everywhere, and that's where Lavia comes in. I really think that the clock is ticking on Fernandez's time in Maresca's system, and if Lavia/Caicedo get a winning run of games we could be selling him as soon as January. He needs to develop himself like Xavi or Ilkay Gundogan, neither were the most athletic but were very energetic, box-to-box creative players.

Didn't see that at all. Thought Caicedo was awful 1st half, got his pocket pinched for the 1st goal, lazy poor tackle which lead to the chance that hit the bar. Sloppy passing too. Second half Caicedo much better. 

Enzo was great much better than Caicedo yesterday, just seems people look for the negatives with him. His switch balls to put wingers in 1v1 positions is vital, that lead to the 1st goal, he won the ball high which lead to the 5th  and he played clever 1st time ball to start the move for the 6th. 

Then when he dropped in deeper when Caicedo came off injured, he was fantastic at dictating the tempo, and we looked slick, drew the press and played through it. 

Not sure what people want from Enzo, it seems if your not 6 foot and throwing yourself into tackles in midfield then your input gets over looked. Jorginho got it, and now Enzo gets it too. 

Enzo is vital for how maresca wants to play. He isn't going anywhere. 

23 minutes ago, big blue said:

Didn't see that at all. Thought Caicedo was awful 1st half, got his pocket pinched for the 1st goal, lazy poor tackle which lead to the chance that hit the bar. Sloppy passing too. Second half Caicedo much better. 

Enzo was great much better than Caicedo yesterday, just seems people look for the negatives with him. His switch balls to put wingers in 1v1 positions is vital, that lead to the 1st goal, he won the ball high which lead to the 5th  and he played clever 1st time ball to start the move for the 6th. 

Then when he dropped in deeper when Caicedo came off injured, he was fantastic at dictating the tempo, and we looked slick, drew the press and played through it. 

Not sure what people want from Enzo, it seems if your not 6 foot and throwing yourself into tackles in midfield then your input gets over looked. Jorginho got it, and now Enzo gets it too. 

Enzo is vital for how maresca wants to play. He isn't going anywhere. 

Enzo is always going to suffer the burden of his price tag. The doomsayers around here, of which there are a number (I'm not sure why some of them bother getting out of bed in the morning) are forever ready to slag him off. He's an intelligent, educated player with an excellent range of passes in his kitbag, who is always up for the second ball. It's easy to say he's  what Jorginho should have been but Jorginho just didn't have the same skill set.

1 hour ago, big blue said:

Didn't see that at all. Thought Caicedo was awful 1st half, got his pocket pinched for the 1st goal, lazy poor tackle which lead to the chance that hit the bar. Sloppy passing too. Second half Caicedo much better. 

Enzo was great much better than Caicedo yesterday, just seems people look for the negatives with him. His switch balls to put wingers in 1v1 positions is vital, that lead to the 1st goal, he won the ball high which lead to the 5th  and he played clever 1st time ball to start the move for the 6th. 

Then when he dropped in deeper when Caicedo came off injured, he was fantastic at dictating the tempo, and we looked slick, drew the press and played through it. 

Not sure what people want from Enzo, it seems if your not 6 foot and throwing yourself into tackles in midfield then your input gets over looked. Jorginho got it, and now Enzo gets it too. 

Enzo is vital for how maresca wants to play. He isn't going anywhere. 

Do we even have a midfielder over 6 foot other than Palmer? Jorginho 'got it' because he was a dog sh*t passenger. Play well and you'll get plaudits, play bad and you won't. Enzo was good yesterday, been largely average before that. 

1 hour ago, big blue said:

Not sure what people want from Enzo, it seems if your not 6 foot and throwing yourself into tackles in midfield then your input gets over looked. Jorginho got it, and now Enzo gets it too. 

 

Enzo need to be better defensively. Right now he is very bad. That is fine if we have the personnel to cover for him but we don't 

6 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

Enzo need to be better defensively. Right now he is very bad. That is fine if we have the personnel to cover for him but we don't 

I'm not saying he can't improve defensively but I don't agree you can use that game yesterday as reason to say Enzo could be  sold in January. 

12 minutes ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

Do we even have a midfielder over 6 foot other than Palmer? Jorginho 'got it' because he was a dog sh*t passenger. Play well and you'll get plaudits, play bad and you won't. Enzo was good yesterday, been largely average before that. 

Dogsh*t passenger with a champions league winners medal.

46 minutes ago, dermott said:

Enzo is always going to suffer the burden of his price tag. The doomsayers around here, of which there are a number (I'm not sure why some of them bother getting out of bed in the morning) are forever ready to slag him off. He's an intelligent, educated player with an excellent range of passes in his kitbag, who is always up for the second ball. It's easy to say he's  what Jorginho should have been but Jorginho just didn't have the same skill set.

Yeah I don't get it, Caicedo cost more, and was terrible 1st half yesterday, and was generally poor for 4/5 months last season, but he seems to get a pass. Can only be for his style of play. I rate Caicedo too, and Lavia, all 3 are top class. Enzo's skill set is very rare, I think he is an absolute gem tbh, fantastic passer and playmaker, and will only get better at 23. 

Maresca definitely sees Enzo as his Gundogan archetype. 

Needs to better his game in the attacking third. 

Enzo M deserves huge credit for yesterday! One thing that stood out was after the half time break, we were much better after a decent half and that shows some good management!

3 hours ago, El regreso said:

Yep I watched it and immediately thought they want him to help them fix their financial f**k ups!!!

Hes basically got a free him this season which is why he seems so calm they essentially can’t get rid.

I thought instantly about the mishaps from the past that the new regime has brought forward themselves. That plus the rate we are buying players would suggest we are heading towards troubled times. Someone here have suggested transfer bans which would make sense. Because buying a ton of players at surface make little sense. We are sort of stacking for the winter.