I'm still kind of disappointed with the Pochettino sacking as I felt he was a better fit for the existing squad stylistically (Chilwell, Stirling, Disasi, etc) than Maresca and that under utilisation of players at Chelsea was a substantial unnecessary dead-weight-loss (to use economic terminology).

However, that was on the sporting directors really, not Maresca.

Maresca (in my opinion) has done pretty much all you can reasonably expect of him and then some. No team plays wonderful flowing football all year round and we've grinded and fought when we had to.

One thing I really like about the recruitment so far this off-season is that the incomings (Delap, Pedro, Gittens) are all physically dominant and will contribute to a press where players like Nkunku (and to a lessor extent Madueke) wouldn't and were defensive passengers. This should hopefully see us being able to maintain a higher intensity game all year next season.

Edited July 13, 20251 yr by Qaz

1 hour ago, SydneyChelsea said:

This is bad statistics, many of those 26 goals were conceded December onwards where we were playing negatively and conceding goals to drop points unnecessarily.

We were consistently conceding stupid goals when we "were in a title race"

I've criticised him over the journey, but Maresca deserves credit for winning two trophies and securing CL football.

I hope we have the foundations to go to the next level and build on from this season.

Any idea on when the players return for preseason? Assuming first team gets 3 weeks off and join the week of August 4th.

Maybe reserves and rotation join the week of July 28th? We have preseason games on August 8th and the 10th.

Opener is against Palace on the 17th. Really worried the players will lack fitness and sharpness.

30 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Any idea on when the players return for preseason? Assuming first team gets 3 weeks off and join the week of August 4th.

Maybe reserves and rotation join the week of July 28th? We have preseason games on August 8th and the 10th.

Opener is against Palace on the 17th. Really worried the players will lack fitness and sharpness.

Would agree with your date of Aug 4th - 3 weeks starts tomorrow if Colwills comments about leaving for holiday are anything to go by. Next game I can see is Aug 8th vs Leverkusen

Also wondering about the coaching staff. Some could join earlier, such as Gittens or even Estevao, but imagine Cobham will be quiet.

22 hours ago, Jangz said:

His press conference showed a good mentality to begin with.. he has largely done well in bug games ..

• we dominated lpool and if not for poor referee decisions and NJ could have gotten a result and beat them in the reverse fixture

• Lost to city at home in the first game of the season (poor penalty decision) and lost to Sanchez bozo moments away

• Beat and drew with Utd

• Drew and lost to arsenal away

• Beat spurs home and away

• Beat NC and put a spirited 10 man show

• Beat forest and Betis in our two finals this far

I don’t buy that we don’t have quality in the team to compete - our mid field is quality our fullbacks are among the best in Europe .. I think it is the attack where on paper they are much better with KK and Dembele and Ramos we just have Palmer of any quality (too early for Pedro).

So if anything it maybe a 2-1 or 2-0 for them but if one of our forward players steps up we can win.

Truly coaches a big game.. has the mentality that our previous two gaffers were lacking.. I think his not challengers comments got us questioning his mentality but last few weeks UCL run in and conference league have changed my view on him.

Got most of it right last night and fully deserves praise. That doesnt negate the last 4 months of terrible football and decision's hes made though, he needs to take this into next season now and produce this kind of football and results consistently. He just needs to stop overcomplicating things, he has excellence right across the pitch, pick them in the position that best suits them, play them how it best suits them.

Weve been wanting to see Palmer right with a normal right back behind him all last season, look how well it went. So keep doing that.

Well done Enzo. 2 trophies and the Champions League spot. I never imagined we'd win this trophy. You proved us wrong. Not the most charismatic figure you can draw up but seems very asserted and assured of the squad and his ideas of football.

Chelsea belong to these major cup competitions so I am really excited to see us play in the Champions League next season. Players are playing much closer to their top potential in big occasions. Rainy tuesday-nights at Stoke are the tough ones which you need to win with robotic performances to win the Prem. Lets see if we can do better at those as well.

Anyway Italians and Chelsea belong together which was proven once again today!

4 hours ago, PhilH930 said:

Would agree with your date of Aug 4th - 3 weeks starts tomorrow if Colwills comments about leaving for holiday are anything to go by. Next game I can see is Aug 8th vs Leverkusen

Also wondering about the coaching staff. Some could join earlier, such as Gittens or even Estevao, but imagine Cobham will be quiet.

5 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Any idea on when the players return for preseason? Assuming first team gets 3 weeks off and join the week of August 4th.

Maybe reserves and rotation join the week of July 28th? We have preseason games on August 8th and the 10th.

Opener is against Palace on the 17th. Really worried the players will lack fitness and sharpness.

Effectively the players are 5 weeks away from the first game of the season 25/26

In the distant past players needed a pre season because they had circa 3 months from their last game in the league to the start of the first game of the next season and during that time most players went on the p155 and came back for pre season totally out of condition many not had to get up to speed fitness wise they had to get back down to their fighting weight.

Realistically no player in today’s top football environment will be needing the hammering that many old time coaches swore by yet most clubs still put players through hell in July and early August.

There is no doubt that a number of players will already be back in training that number will slowly increase in terms of potential 25/26 squad players maybe those that have no place in that squad will one by one be moved on and no doubt we will get to a point by the time of the mini pre season tournament that just about everyone will be back.

There have been snippets that a lot of pre season planning has already taken place for instance look at the set piece set ups particularly corners. This tournament wasn’t like a World Cup or a Euros where numerous club players are thrown together the CWC was a unique opportunity to maintain fitness in accordance with with club’s regime and now the players who by and large already have had one week off will be away for 3 weeks. A period where they can rest their minds as opposed to needing let it all go.

It will be interesting to see how the likes of Gittens will be bought up to speed .

My point I guess is that there may well be a new model in terms of pre season. A lot are basing everything on how historically prep has been carried out but who knows there might just be a better way

Congrats to Maresca for doing what the entire fan base has been begging him to do since January.

Palmer RW.

Enzo in the 10.

Caicedo with a proper pivot partner.

Full backs NOT inverting.

Gusto overlapping Palmer.

Two thoughts come to mind.

(1) Will this be a kind of "Conte switching to 3 at the back" moment, where by luck or genius or common sense we stumble on something that works and stick with it?

(2) Will this actually work as brilliantly as it did yesterday against Stoke on a rainy Tuesday low block, parked-bus defences? The Nottingham Forests of this world will not play like PSG did.

I think the players need to know how to react to different styles of football and be adaptive. I think you need a system or a style of football (principles) you can lean onto which is something Enzo's tried to instill all season.

You cannot win the Premier League with superior quality alone which is what we have against most sides we face.

Anyway I think we learned a ton on this tournament. Belief in the style and system is very important.

I think a bit too much is made of Enzo's stubbornness. He came to win this one game and he passed the test with flying colors against the best unit in the world.

By stubbornness I mean everything negative that is attached to it. All the top coaches are stubborn in their way. Depends on how you look at it.

Deserved congrats to Maresca. Good set up of the team and nullifying a very good PSG. By not complicating things he managed to get a convincing win, and I hope that he keeps it up.

I have given him a lot of sh*te but he tactically OUTCLASSED Luis and it showed at the end with his grab of the throat of Joao Pedro classless. Can’t take defeat.

Luis had no response to Enzo he just couldn’t cope with what Maresca had setup nothing worked for PSG and that’s all down to Maresca.

Now let’s see you be this flexible in the PL.

It will be a tough start as we have had no rest at all but these boys are all young they should be up for starting the league with the “BEST IN THE WORLD” badge.

Also walk out in the first home match to “ Cult of personality “ 🤣🤣🤣

1 hour ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

Congrats to Maresca for doing what the entire fan base has been begging him to do since January.

Palmer RW.

Enzo in the 10.

Caicedo with a proper pivot partner.

Full backs NOT inverting.

Gusto overlapping Palmer.

Reece James as DM?

I thought all on here have been saying RJ needs to play as RB/CB or not at all...

Such bitter congratulions to Maresca after his double trophy first season 😎 🍻 🍻 🍻

Thanks to him we can call ourselves CHAMPIONS OF THE WORLD!!! 🤩

7 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Any idea on when the players return for preseason? Assuming first team gets 3 weeks off and join the week of August 4th.

Maybe reserves and rotation join the week of July 28th? We have preseason games on August 8th and the 10th.

Opener is against Palace on the 17th. Really worried the players will lack fitness and sharpness.

I heard 3 weeks off now. It’s unorthodox but I don’t think it should be too big a deal .

They should not majorly lose fitness in three weeks. The culture has also moved away from getting fat and being on the beer. They’ll probably do a week-10 days of hard training when they return and then just tactical stuff.

5 minutes ago, Shweaves said:

Reece James as DM?

I thought all on here have been saying RJ needs to play as RB/CB or not at all...

Such bitter congratulions to Maresca after his double trophy first season 😎 🍻 🍻 🍻

Thanks to him we can call ourselves CHAMPIONS OF THE WORLD!!! 🤩

He moved between DM and CB all game depending on the situation so still half right. 😅

I had a strong feeling we were going to win the game but I had no idea it would be that comfortable, for that Maresca's deserves all the credit in the world.

Bayern put the writing on the wall, Maresca thankfully took note. Attack them hard early, don't let them settle. Bayern should have been a couple up early but blew it and couldn't sustain the pressure. Chelsea did. Let them settle and control the game and you're screwed. Perfect tactics v PSG but v low blocks in the PL will be another matter.

Oh, and let Gusto keep doing what he does best, FFS.

Credit where it’s due, Maresca got it spot on last night.

That is the template to build on.

He outfought and outthought Enrique, sounds simple but I actually loved the way we went long at times and caught PSG by surprise.

Well done Maresca, less rigid and more off the cuff and dynamic and we’ll be competitive again.

39 minutes ago, dermott said:

Bayern put the writing on the wall, Maresca thankfully took note. Attack them hard early, don't let them settle. Bayern should have been a couple up early but blew it and couldn't sustain the pressure. Chelsea did. Let them settle and control the game and you're screwed. Perfect tactics v PSG but v low blocks in the PL will be another matter.

Completely agree, it will be totally different against over half of our PL opposition.

That being said it's so great to see Chelsea going up against Elite opposition and dominating. It feels like a long time since we've seen that, which is great progress. Four years since we won a trophy, started being called chokers and now we've won 2 in a matter of weeks!

This team went from having Reece as the only CL winner to having winners all throughout the team.

Feels like 2010 all over again when the squad is filled with WC winners, Euro winners, CL winners etc.

Next we have to target the PL trophy again and the CL. It's been a decade since our last PL trophy and these boys have entered the conversation

1 hour ago, Shweaves said:

Reece James as DM?

I thought all on here have been saying RJ needs to play as RB/CB or not at all...

Such bitter congratulions to Maresca after his double trophy first season 😎 🍻 🍻 🍻

Thanks to him we can call ourselves CHAMPIONS OF THE WORLD!!! 🤩

Long term Lavia or Santos should be next to Caicedo, James in Gusto's position last night would have had a hat trick. Well done for ignoring all the other points though.

As I said yesterday in the match chat, most of us have a strange relationship with Maresca and prob most wanted him gone.

Yet, he has delivered 3 big objectives this season (conference to a lesser degree but it would have been embarrassing if we didn’t win it).

Is it time to start getting behind Maresca?

I was impressed with Bale last night talking with the pundits, he was asked about the keeper Sanchez who had played exceptionally well apart from one gaffe when we were 3-0 ahead.

He said strength in depth was important so even if you have the best keeper get the second best, one can play the league the others the cup. Never quite that simple though you see his logic.

If we add a better keeper see us challenging.

Edited July 14, 20251 yr by strider6004

17 minutes ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

Long term Lavia or Santos should be next to Caicedo, James in Gusto's position last night would have had a hat trick. Well done for ignoring all the other points though.

My point stands, the post was almost bitter that we won last night.

Much more fun celebrating being champions of the world!!