33 minutes ago, The Rising Sun said:

Thanks for reply mate.. We showed that we actually could play fast, exciting football during early season and were 2nd at one point. . It was terrific to watch. But this wasn't what Maresca wanted, he wanted us to " control" the game

Once Maresca had imposed his preferred, control, slow, style on the team it was dreadful to watch.

You can only play as well as the opposition allow you too. Wolves and West Ham sacked their managers after we played them. Also Fofana played at the start of the season, all successful sides are built from the back.

38 minutes ago, Llangennech said:

You can only play as well as the opposition allow you too. Wolves and West Ham sacked their managers after we played them. Also Fofana played at the start of the season, all successful sides are built from the back.

Maresca wanted us playing to his controlled, slow, possession based game from the very start, including the games you mentioned. The same way as he had Leicester playing which their fans also criticised..

It's a choice he is making ,, this team and players are being denied the freedom to play the way we all know they can play, and the way we want them to play.

5 hours ago, Drogba1 said:

Should also be mentioned that Lineker immediately deleted the post and apologised when he saw that a rat emoji was racist towards Jewish people, but that wasn't enough for the cancel mob

I don't think most people on the street would know that a rat comparison is uniquely historically racist towards Jewish people, in a way that it wouldn't be towards other races

He was really brave to talk about the genoside in Palestine but you know you are getting cancelled once you talk about it..

4 hours ago, The Rising Sun said:

Maresca wanted us playing to his controlled, slow, possession based game from the very start, including the games you mentioned. The same way as he had Leicester playing which their fans also criticised..

It's a choice he is making ,, this team and players are being denied the freedom to play the way we all know they can play, and the way we want them to play.

Style. People can't sprint much over 90 minutes. Also the season is long. If the season was shorter and with fewer matches, do I think we could play more entertaining football? Yes. M Bielsa is quite famous for having a quicker style, and his teams often faded during the second half of seasons. Look how successful J Klopp was at Liverpool, how many big matches did Klopp win towards the end of the season? Not many.

The most memorable Klopp match for me is the first-leg of the CL at Anfield vs Man City in 2018, there's no way we could play like that in LA next month, especially during the day.

Edited May 26, 20251 yr by Llangennech

Finishing 4th place is a good result, on paper that's job done.

But I'm kidding myself if I still want him here next season, the football is absolutely atrocious, that was not a pretty game to watch. I've barely enjoyed any of our games since December. I'm also worried certain players will leave (Palmer) and some of the young stars coming in won't fit in under this type of management.

I don't want to be too harsh because he did get the job done in the end, but I can't see us massively improving next season, and boy do we need to improve. I can't see the league being this open again.

Sort of weird talking about the style of football we play. Why is that in forefront in the conversation here? Think about it.

All the best clubs in the world that win a lot play turgid but winning football at times. And even talking about that when people here talk about the heritage and culture of this club.

Ask 20 non-Chelsea or Chelsea fans and let the describe what type of football does Chelsea play. Tight defensive football with aggression and they always seems way to win. I think they would answer that 9/10 or at least agree with those...

Even weirder to have this talk is when we have first season Prem manager coaching mostly young and mostly inexperienced players. Talent and potential is all there.

For some reason Enzo as a man is not really for the taste of this forum or many other Chelsea fans.

Pochettino who made us play up and down football was kicked out/not continued to employ for a reason. If some of that was due to playing style why on earth would Enzo, who is very adamant he only plays football he knows, whatever that then is would then continue on Pochettinos style even though it produced some all time classic matches at least for the neutral?

He has his own style to coach and play which I am sure is not working yet like he wants. We need the right profile of players for that and hopefully in the summer we get things right or at least better.

The key here is to win matches more than win with style which in itself is pretty subjective. I personally don't like control based football and enjoy more of a organic type but I also enjoy when a team functions like they train and envision to play. For example this seasons Inter is pretty excellent side although they use all the traits of italian football in their game. That requires masses of control, will, grit, aggression and most of all everyone there has decided to go the sam direction. They are chasing the glory of UCL instead of winning with a certain style with italian football principles.

SACK THE USELESS c**t

6 hours ago, evissy said:

Sort of weird talking about the style of football we play. Why is that in forefront in the conversation here? Think about it.

All the best clubs in the world that win a lot play turgid but winning football at times. And even talking about that when people here talk about the heritage and culture of this club.

Ask 20 non-Chelsea or Chelsea fans and let the describe what type of football does Chelsea play. Tight defensive football with aggression and they always seems way to win. I think they would answer that 9/10 or at least agree with those...

Even weirder to have this talk is when we have first season Prem manager coaching mostly young and mostly inexperienced players. Talent and potential is all there.

For some reason Enzo as a man is not really for the taste of this forum or many other Chelsea fans.

Pochettino who made us play up and down football was kicked out/not continued to employ for a reason. If some of that was due to playing style why on earth would Enzo, who is very adamant he only plays football he knows, whatever that then is would then continue on Pochettinos style even though it produced some all time classic matches at least for the neutral?

He has his own style to coach and play which I am sure is not working yet like he wants. We need the right profile of players for that and hopefully in the summer we get things right or at least better.

The key here is to win matches more than win with style which in itself is pretty subjective. I personally don't like control based football and enjoy more of a organic type but I also enjoy when a team functions like they train and envision to play. For example this seasons Inter is pretty excellent side although they use all the traits of italian football in their game. That requires masses of control, will, grit, aggression and most of all everyone there has decided to go the sam direction. They are chasing the glory of UCL instead of winning with a certain style with italian football principles.

UNDER POCH, PALMER PLAYED RW 43 GA, UNDER COCO THE CLOWN 23 GA PLAYING MOSTLY ON LEFT SIDE OF MIDFIELD ( ONLY SCORED THREE TIMES SINCE BOXING DAY) RUINED HIM

13 hours ago, evissy said:

Sort of weird talking about the style of football we play. Why is that in forefront in the conversation here? Think about it.

All the best clubs in the world that win a lot play turgid but winning football at times. And even talking about that when people here talk about the heritage and culture of this club.

Ask 20 non-Chelsea or Chelsea fans and let the describe what type of football does Chelsea play. Tight defensive football with aggression and they always seems way to win. I think they would answer that 9/10 or at least agree with those...

Even weirder to have this talk is when we have first season Prem manager coaching mostly young and mostly inexperienced players. Talent and potential is all there.

For some reason Enzo as a man is not really for the taste of this forum or many other Chelsea fans.

Pochettino who made us play up and down football was kicked out/not continued to employ for a reason. If some of that was due to playing style why on earth would Enzo, who is very adamant he only plays football he knows, whatever that then is would then continue on Pochettinos style even though it produced some all time classic matches at least for the neutral?

He has his own style to coach and play which I am sure is not working yet like he wants. We need the right profile of players for that and hopefully in the summer we get things right or at least better.

The key here is to win matches more than win with style which in itself is pretty subjective. I personally don't like control based football and enjoy more of a organic type but I also enjoy when a team functions like they train and envision to play. For example this seasons Inter is pretty excellent side although they use all the traits of italian football in their game. That requires masses of control, will, grit, aggression and most of all everyone there has decided to go the sam direction. They are chasing the glory of UCL instead of winning with a certain style with italian football principles.

You reckon that all the " best teams in the world play turgid football"

I wasn't aware of that,.

So, we need to be more turgid to become one of the " best teams in the world " ? I must admit I've never had a conversation with other Chelsea fans who have expressed the desire for our team to be more turgid...

Thanks for your insight mate, appreciated..

If he beats his mentor today I’ll begrudgingly respect and support him in the CWC and next season. His tactics are boring though make use of the pace and directness the squad has mix it up a little , maybe we’ll see how he sets up the team in a few hours and whether he’s had a good a season as Big Ange

Does Maresca live in a parallel universe ??
He has a pop at all the pundits for saying the squad was too young, too inexperienced, too new as a group and tells them to F off, which incidentally i couldn't give a toss about had HE not been the one that started it !!!
Just before the game that could have taken us top around xmas he said exactly those things, in fact he talked the team down to such a degree i'm sure it had some effect on the belief of such a young group,
after all if your manager doesn't believe in you who will !!
He speaks like a politician and it pisses me off.
When he first came in i liked his ruthless sorting out of the huge squad which was then borne out by a great start to the season, then after his 'tempering' of expectations the team went into nose dive and our season was saved by a sh*te Manure and the beach bound bin dippers.
I really don't care if they sack him, but will accept that if we win tonight he gets another season. Lets just hope that he's learned a lesson this year and eases back a little on the turgid football we suffered for half this season and mixes it up a little.

On 27/05/2025 at 08:37, evissy said:

Sort of weird talking about the style of football we play. Why is that in forefront in the conversation here? Think about it.

All the best clubs in the world that win a lot play turgid but winning football at times. And even talking about that when people here talk about the heritage and culture of this club.

Ask 20 non-Chelsea or Chelsea fans and let the describe what type of football does Chelsea play. Tight defensive football with aggression and they always seems way to win. I think they would answer that 9/10 or at least agree with those...

Even weirder to have this talk is when we have first season Prem manager coaching mostly young and mostly inexperienced players. Talent and potential is all there.

For some reason Enzo as a man is not really for the taste of this forum or many other Chelsea fans.

Pochettino who made us play up and down football was kicked out/not continued to employ for a reason. If some of that was due to playing style why on earth would Enzo, who is very adamant he only plays football he knows, whatever that then is would then continue on Pochettinos style even though it produced some all time classic matches at least for the neutral?

He has his own style to coach and play which I am sure is not working yet like he wants. We need the right profile of players for that and hopefully in the summer we get things right or at least better.

The key here is to win matches more than win with style which in itself is pretty subjective. I personally don't like control based football and enjoy more of a organic type but I also enjoy when a team functions like they train and envision to play. For example this seasons Inter is pretty excellent side although they use all the traits of italian football in their game. That requires masses of control, will, grit, aggression and most of all everyone there has decided to go the sam direction. They are chasing the glory of UCL instead of winning with a certain style with italian football principles.

I think the narrative of Chelsea from that time is often unfairly labelled as boring football.

There’s a difference between hard to beat and boring. You could argue that marescas Chelsea manages to be boring and easy to score against.

Mid 00s Chelsea played some great football with drogba, Lampard, Cole, duff, robben, essien and the 10s had the likes of hazard, Fabregas, Costa, mata. Most games there was excitement and good football in there somewhere and even if there wasn’t I was confident that the defence and goalkeeper would get us a point.

We have players who are class and will produce but it almost seems as though they’re told to recycle possession when they get the ball rather than play their game.

I hope we win tonight. Another season of Maresca seem inevitable now anyway.

The only thing I keep reminding myself is we don’t know what second season Maresca team looks like. Maybe with a clinical no9 and if he releases the hand brake a little who knows…🙏

7 minutes ago, C3blue said:

I hope we win tonight. Another season of Maresca seem inevitable now anyway.

The only thing I keep reminding myself is we don’t know what second season Maresca team looks like. Maybe with a clinical no9 and if he releases the hand brake a little who knows…🙏

Second Season Maresca is First Season Maresca minus the form up til Christmas.

8 minutes ago, The Boehly Babes said:

Second Season Maresca is First Season Maresca minus the form up til Christmas.

It’s not been pretty a lot of the time but to his credit , the team found a way to get results after the disastrous run from xmas till the end of Feb.

Finished the season with 8 wins 2 draws and 2 defeats. 2nd best record over those 12 games.

We conceded only second to Liverpool in the Prem. Which is okay. We just didn't finish as we needed or what the numbers told us. We created enough chances (although xG is many times a bit deceptive, shoot 5 times from a sh*te spot by Jackson accumulates to xG 1 which means nothing).

Recycling the ball is part of controlling the game. Boring as hell but when it serves the purpose it is very good for results. If we scored among the best teams/strikers we'd be up there.

So I don't see us being million miles away from the best.

1 hour ago, carefree franco said:

I think the narrative of Chelsea from that time is often unfairly labelled as boring football.

There’s a difference between hard to beat and boring. You could argue that marescas Chelsea manages to be boring and easy to score against.

Mid 00s Chelsea played some great football with drogba, Lampard, Cole, duff, robben, essien and the 10s had the likes of hazard, Fabregas, Costa, mata. Most games there was excitement and good football in there somewhere and even if there wasn’t I was confident that the defence and goalkeeper would get us a point.

We have players who are class and will produce but it almost seems as though they’re told to recycle possession when they get the ball rather than play their game.

The boring label was simply because no bugger could beat us, or even score against us. It was the Sun (or the Star) that labelled us boring because we couldnt be beaten, then fans used it as a stick to beat us with because we were dominating everything. Our football was outstanding at those times, we attacked with speed and aggression, we had skill all across the pitch, even our defenders could pass like midfielders. The label was down to jealousy, to try and equate the football we are playing now to that is just incredible,

4 hours ago, chelseablueboy said:

Does Maresca live in a parallel universe ??
He has a pop at all the pundits for saying the squad was too young, too inexperienced, too new as a group and tells them to F off, which incidentally i couldn't give a toss about had HE not been the one that started it !!!
Just before the game that could have taken us top around xmas he said exactly those things, in fact he talked the team down to such a degree i'm sure it had some effect on the belief of such a young group,
after all if your manager doesn't believe in you who will !!
He speaks like a politician and it pisses me off.
When he first came in i liked his ruthless sorting out of the huge squad which was then borne out by a great start to the season, then after his 'tempering' of expectations the team went into nose dive and our season was saved by a sh*te Manure and the beach bound bin dippers.
I really don't care if they sack him, but will accept that if we win tonight he gets another season. Lets just hope that he's learned a lesson this year and eases back a little on the turgid football we suffered for half this season and mixes it up a little.

WE shouldn't be easing up on the turgid football mate. Our very own Evissy on here is adamant that the best teams in the world all play turgid football !!

2 hours ago, evissy said:

We conceded only second to Liverpool in the Prem. Which is okay. We just didn't finish as we needed or what the numbers told us. We created enough chances (although xG is many times a bit deceptive, shoot 5 times from a sh*te spot by Jackson accumulates to xG 1 which means nothing).

Recycling the ball is part of controlling the game. Boring as hell but when it serves the purpose it is very good for results. If we scored among the best teams/strikers we'd be up there.

So I don't see us being million miles away from the best.

Another corker from you mate ! 👍😂😂

3 hours ago, The Boehly Babes said:

Second Season Maresca is First Season Maresca minus the form up til Christmas.

I have foreseen it: the inglorious trifecta of the competence of Graham Potter, the excitement of Maurizio Sarri, and the pièce de résistance: the personal manner of third-season José.

On 27/05/2025 at 08:37, evissy said:

Sort of weird talking about the style of football we play. Why is that in forefront in the conversation here? Think about it.

All the best clubs in the world that win a lot play turgid but winning football at times. And even talking about that when people here talk about the heritage and culture of this club.

Ask 20 non-Chelsea or Chelsea fans and let the describe what type of football does Chelsea play. Tight defensive football with aggression and they always seems way to win. I think they would answer that 9/10 or at least agree with those...

Even weirder to have this talk is when we have first season Prem manager coaching mostly young and mostly inexperienced players. Talent and potential is all there.

For some reason Enzo as a man is not really for the taste of this forum or many other Chelsea fans.

Pochettino who made us play up and down football was kicked out/not continued to employ for a reason. If some of that was due to playing style why on earth would Enzo, who is very adamant he only plays football he knows, whatever that then is would then continue on Pochettinos style even though it produced some all time classic matches at least for the neutral?

He has his own style to coach and play which I am sure is not working yet like he wants. We need the right profile of players for that and hopefully in the summer we get things right or at least better.

The key here is to win matches more than win with style which in itself is pretty subjective. I personally don't like control based football and enjoy more of a organic type but I also enjoy when a team functions like they train and envision to play. For example this seasons Inter is pretty excellent side although they use all the traits of italian football in their game. That requires masses of control, will, grit, aggression and most of all everyone there has decided to go the sam direction. They are chasing the glory of UCL instead of winning with a certain style with italian football principles.

Sorry Evissy, but this is bo**ocks.

Solid, tight (often framed as defensive) football is fine - I enjoy it, and love the feeling of "we cant be beat". We dont have that.

Free flowing attacking football where we go gung ho is exciting and fun, but very rarely wins anything. We dont have that either. I also reject your statement that we had up and down football under Poch. Go back and watch the games last season - it was the same rubbish - attempts to control the ball and recycle - we were just awful at it.

What Enzo has is unprogressive, risk averse, predictable and boring football - that is neither difficult to play against (think Jose mark 1) or attacking and fun. Death by 1000 micro (cuts/passes), that falls apart as soon as we play a team that sits deep.

My issue is not so much the style of football (although I do hate it) but the fact that after 1 season I have seen no positive impact or progression in how we play.

I have said before - but Emery comes in at villa, and there is an immediate impact. Howe has seen progress at Newcastle. Brighton, Forest, and bournemouth all have had new managers come in, and imprint a style on the team.

Maresca has not. We are still playing the same rubbish as we have for the last 5 seasons.

3 hours ago, dkw said:

The boring label was simply because no bugger could beat us, or even score against us. It was the Sun (or the Star) that labelled us boring because we couldnt be beaten, then fans used it as a stick to beat us with because we were dominating everything. Our football was outstanding at those times, we attacked with speed and aggression, we had skill all across the pitch, even our defenders could pass like midfielders. The label was down to jealousy, to try and equate the football we are playing now to that is just incredible,

spot on. The speed at which we used to rip teams apart was immense. Not just that, but the will to win, the fight, spirit and determination was second to none.

Maresca on the other hand is limp. Wilted lettuce. Celebrating beating newcastle and villa like we won the league!

Had this argument with a couple members regarding how effective our set piece coach Cueva has been. I argued even though we are lacking in the attacking end, it's been a night and day difference when defending set pieces compared to last season. This is also without Silva, Disasi, and Badiashile. Our 3 best aerial winners of last year.

Apologies for the poor image.

3 hours ago, Dubair said:

It’s not been pretty a lot of the time but to his credit , the team found a way to get results after the disastrous run from xmas till the end of Feb.

Finished the season with 8 wins 2 draws and 2 defeats. 2nd best record over those 12 games.

Other than Liverpool who's foot was off the gas and have completely given up after their title win, who did we actually beat that is anything other than the norm? Even Forest's form completely capitulated the last 6 games.

We should not celebrate the bare minimum. Maresca is a terrorist.

Southampton (relegated)

Leicester (Relegated) (narrow 1-0 win)

Spurs (fodder)

Fulham (last minute snatch and grab)

Everton (See Spurs explanation)

Liverpool (title hangover, have they even won since winning the league?)

Man Utd (See Spurs explanation)

Forest (form fell off a cliff, dropped points to Leicester lmao)

Lost to top 4 rivals Newcastle

Lost to top 4 rivals Arsenal

Drew to Ipswich (LOL)

Drew to Brentford (fair result)

20 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Had this argument with a couple members regarding how effective our set piece coach Cueva has been. I argued even though we are lacking in the attacking end, it's been a night and day difference when defending set pieces compared to last season. This is also without Silva, Disasi, and Badiashile. Our 3 best aerial winners of last year.

Apologies for the poor image.

Also an argument that says any defence that doesn't have to rely on Disasi, Badiashile, and a 40 year old, (albeit one with a legendary career history), can only improve !