0.3% woohoo, 🤣 

Tbh, happy for 4th (or 5th) for CL. That's our target, or should be.

 

 

 

Johnny minerals is putting it forward that Nkunku and Felix are both unhappy under Maresca and considering their options, and apparently we are already looking to flog KDH.

17 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Johnny minerals is putting it forward that Nkunku and Felix are both unhappy under Maresca and considering their options, and apparently we are already looking to flog KDH.

Possibly the only Chelsea fan that's a bigger gimp than Rory Jennings 

I have no idea who that is.

Where are all these "itk" and professionals/specialists getting their info from! 

If its "source" and no actual name of someone linked to the club then mehhh. I spent a few days watching these muppets on talksport and a few others all chatting rubbish which they make up or it's rubbish that is soo bloody obvious.

 

 

35 minutes ago, timetowaste said:

Possibly the only Chelsea fan that's a bigger gimp than Rory Jennings 

Ah no that's not possible 

Never heard of him - but not surprising. 

Why would Nkunku or Felix want to stay when they are benched in favour of inferior players?

KDH should never have been purchased. 

What does everybody think of Arne Slot?

I can’t say I’m convinced. I am impressed about their defence but then they have two world class centre backs so it’s hardly surprising.

I’m going to reserve my judgement until after winter break where Liverpool have a pretty tough run of games.

I just find it hard to believe that they’ve found a coach that is as good as Klopp already. It’s still early days, makes me laugh when Liverpool fans put Slot in same tier as Guardiola FFS, that’s just ridiculous.

57 minutes ago, dansubrosa said:

What does everybody think of Arne Slot?

I can’t say I’m convinced. I am impressed about their defence but then they have two world class centre backs so it’s hardly surprising.

I’m going to reserve my judgement until after winter break where Liverpool have a pretty tough run of games.

I just find it hard to believe that they’ve found a coach that is as good as Klopp already. It’s still early days, makes me laugh when Liverpool fans put Slot in same tier as Guardiola FFS, that’s just ridiculous.

I think he will end the season with a PL winners medal. 

57 minutes ago, dansubrosa said:

What does everybody think of Arne Slot?

I can’t say I’m convinced. I am impressed about their defence but then they have two world class centre backs so it’s hardly surprising.

I’m going to reserve my judgement until after winter break where Liverpool have a pretty tough run of games.

I just find it hard to believe that they’ve found a coach that is as good as Klopp already. It’s still early days, makes me laugh when Liverpool fans put Slot in same tier as Guardiola FFS, that’s just ridiculous.

Too early to tell.

Klopp spent 8 years instilling the work ethic into the club's ethos. Add the fact Allison is the best GK on the planet, VVD and Konate being the best CB pairing on the planet by an absolute mile, it really isn't all that surprising they are so well sound defensively now that Slot has come in and implemented a more pragmatic game vs the gung ho, high line football we saw under Klopp. 

Like you, I am interested to see how much of a lead they have after the winter period. More importantly, how Slot fairs next season if one of or all of Salah, VVD and TAA leave. 

1 hour ago, dansubrosa said:

What does everybody think of Arne Slot?

I can’t say I’m convinced. I am impressed about their defence but then they have two world class centre backs so it’s hardly surprising.

I’m going to reserve my judgement until after winter break where Liverpool have a pretty tough run of games.

I just find it hard to believe that they’ve found a coach that is as good as Klopp already. It’s still early days, makes me laugh when Liverpool fans put Slot in same tier as Guardiola FFS, that’s just ridiculous.

Hes basically changed very little about the way they play, kept pretty much the same squad and just carried on where Klopp left off. Which in itself is pretty sensible, but rarely do new managers do this, they feel they need to instill their own playing style and squad.

 

3 hours ago, dansubrosa said:

What does everybody think of Arne Slot?

I can’t say I’m convinced. I am impressed about their defence but then they have two world class centre backs so it’s hardly surprising.

I’m going to reserve my judgement until after winter break where Liverpool have a pretty tough run of games.

I just find it hard to believe that they’ve found a coach that is as good as Klopp already. It’s still early days, makes me laugh when Liverpool fans put Slot in same tier as Guardiola FFS, that’s just ridiculous.

I agree with ax, as long as they remain fit I think they will win this season. Next season is a different story though depending on who stays and goes.

Slot has had to do very little imho but he has done it cleverly. The team is settled and he is doing the tweaks slowly which helps a lot. He's actually settled the team even more, calmed them down. 

On 11/11/2024 at 13:05, Argo said:

If it weren't for Nunez when we played Liverpool away I dread to think what the score would have been, and we had our biggest ever defeat against Arsenal, lost a final against half an academy side. He wasn't stronger against the big teams, like atall.

The "upward trajectory" came against teams on the beach when our season was done.

That's more than a bit disingenuous Argo.
I don't think anyone has argued the Anfield game (and Wolves at home after) wasn't the culmination of our really poor first half of the season last year.

But Tottenham, Everton, Newcastle, United and others certainly weren't on the beach when we beat them towards the end of the season. Thats simply false as they were all either in the hunt for Europe or trying to save themselves from relegation.

It's a bit besides the point in any case though.

Pochettino took over this:

Maresca took over this:

Their starting points aren't comparable. Not to mention that Maresca is also reaping the benefits of Pochettino's development of certain very important players like Palmer and Cucurella and the fact that Poch had Caicedo fully up and running before he left the club in addition to the two beforementioned. Madueke, Gusto, Jackson for all their inconsistencies are both also far better players than they were a year ago, much to Pochs credit so he's did do a lot of legwork to set Maresca up.

None of this is to say I want to go back at this point. I think Maresca is doing fine but that he's tinkered too much the last month to our detriment (1 win in last 6 domestic games isn't exactly great) so it will be very interesting to see how things develop from here. I am sure many know what his trajectory looked like at Leicester with a strong start before they started to struggle quite badly but lets hope that doesn't happen here.

One thing I did say after the first four-five games was that I felt Maresca was riding Pochettino's momentum and system to a certain extent and to be honest thats a feeling thats increased over the last month or so. I do have a sense we are getting a littlebit worse every time he tinkers with Palmer on the left, Cucurella benched with two rightbacks on the pitch, with slowing our style of play down and so on. That's not to say it can't work but I think we were better when we more or less playing like we did last season but I do get the sense we are slowly but surely moving away from that now.

And it will be interesting to see how it works out. But he should be very careful about going down the path of removing the freedom that was given to Palmer under Poch in my opinion and I think he's slowly but surely going down that route amongst others.

 

On 12/11/2024 at 19:43, Sexyfootball said:

Reading the NY Times article, perhaps the inference is that Pochettino and Maresca are both students of Pellegrini's defensive tactics ?

Yes. I don't often agree with Michael Cox but I think he is spot on with the idea that Maresca's defensive line is basically in no-man's land. It's not close enough to the keeper to allow for recovery plays, and it's not far enough out to be a useful offside trap.

On 12/11/2024 at 06:33, Mod said:

 

So with different managers, what's the deal with that? Enzo is carrying on in some way in the same way Poch played, or they are/were both reading from the same hymn sheet from somewhere? To be caught like that in mostly identical situations is very odd!

It is basically the same player making similar mistakes. 

Gusto not marking back post properly? Seen this many times. 

Palmer not defending properly? Seen this many times. 

Lavia not double teaming or in poch case Enzo opp properly? Seen this many times. 

11 hours ago, dkw said:

Hes basically changed very little about the way they play, kept pretty much the same squad and just carried on where Klopp left off. Which in itself is pretty sensible, but rarely do new managers do this, they feel they need to instill their own playing style and squad.

It is hard to change your playstyle completely when you have the same player. 

Slot has arguably inherited the best squad of any new EPL manager since Avram Grant took over from Jose Mourinho. I don't mean any disrespect to him, but he is one of the few managers in world football given a top team at its peak. His situation is closer to Ancelotti taking over from Zidane than say Moyes taking over from Ferguson.

That said, as Bayern fans would tell you, being set up for success and actually succeeding are two different things.

5 hours ago, Bob stark said:

It is hard to change your playstyle completely when you have the same player. 

Yeah, no manager has ever done that have they.....

Arne Slot so far being excellent replacement. I feel Liverpool has a great vein and system where they want to align the club to a certain way and people are chosen only that fit the bill. 

This is the core reason why Liverpool is good and Manchester United is not. 

Re Felix and Nkunku: first of all two different players in different situation.

If Felix the journeyman starts to sulk we should sell him right away. We basically saved him from total obscurity. He should be content playing the minutes he is given.

Nkunkus frustration I can see. He was injured all last season and now he is behind our wunderkid Palmer. Not an easy situation. However I feel he needs to be patient. If he isn't able, sell him.

Back to Chels.

 

Nevin:

 

Cole Palmer and his Chelsea colleagues are growing up very quickly, even if they are not yet totally mature. The naivety for the ‘goal’ scored by Kai Havertz on Sunday but was then ruled offside, showed there are a few things to be learned.

Against Arsenal, the outfield had an average age of 22.5 years of age but they still stood toe to toe with last year’s runners-up. This is good news down at the Bridge.

‌Developing maturity while not losing the spark of creativity and excitement that youth brings is a subtle job, but Enzo Maresca seems to be all over it.

Edited November 14, 20241 yr by Simplymo

2 hours ago, Simplymo said:

Back to Chels.

 

Nevin:

 

Cole Palmer and his Chelsea colleagues are growing up very quickly, even if they are not yet totally mature. The naivety for the ‘goal’ scored by Kai Havertz on Sunday but was then ruled offside, showed there are a few things to be learned.

Against Arsenal, the outfield had an average age of 22.5 years of age but they still stood toe to toe with last year’s runners-up. This is good news down at the Bridge.

‌Developing maturity while not losing the spark of creativity and excitement that youth brings is a subtle job, but Enzo Maresca seems to be all over it.

Excellent points. This is what I felt the club is doing when cutting the age. There are many advantages one being the lads are about the same age. They are growing together learning the trade. With our patience and support this squad can become lethal. It already has shown signs of that.

Winning Conference League will be huge for these young lads. 

2 hours ago, evissy said:

Excellent points. This is what I felt the club is doing when cutting the age. There are many advantages one being the lads are about the same age. They are growing together learning the trade. With our patience and support this squad can become lethal. It already has shown signs of that.

100% mate.

It's that bit in bold we need to keep reminding ourselves of when we lose or draw, or when it's just an off day for one or more of the team.

23 hours ago, Bob stark said:

It is hard to change your playstyle completely when you have the same player. 

Not really.....

emery did it immediately at villa.

If a team is playing slow stagnant and sideways football...it is pretty easy to come in, tell the players to speed up and stop twatting about. If the players refuse - drop them.

1 hour ago, nonotnowjim said:

Not really.....

emery did it immediately at villa.

If a team is playing slow stagnant and sideways football...it is pretty easy to come in, tell the players to speed up and stop twatting about. If the players refuse - drop them.

I don't watch villa so I can't say much. Changing/implementing whatever system or tempo is not the hard part. 

Let use us for example. Maresca tried to implement a more controlled offense with high man to man press. After pre season, he abandoned them. Our player can't do it. 

 

 

Edited November 15, 20241 yr by Bob stark

31 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

I don't watch villa so I can't say much. Changing/implementing whatever system or tempo is not the hard part. 

Let use us for example. Maresca tried to implement a more controlled offense with high man to man press. After pre season, he abandoned them. Our player can't do it. 

 

 

Seems hard for us....we have played too slowly for years now.