Gaffer!

Just saw that! Congrats Enzo for making the cut.

Not sure how much appreciation this will get here...🤣

6 minutes ago, evissy said:

Just saw that! Congrats Enzo for making the cut.

Not sure how much appreciation this will get here...🤣

Don’t care if they don’t appreciate, facts are facts. Hate-watching your own club is not a fact !

Nice to get nominated, but this all smacks of France Football magazine really stretching the envelope in terms of categories of award and enhancing their own visibility and "importance". Most of these additional categories have only been introduced in the last 5-7 years, whereas the Player award (that Mudryk is destined to win !) has been running since 1956.

We won Club of the Year already apparently - in 2021. Don't recall much fanfare on here about it at the time LOL. Be nice to win it again, but typically it goes to whoever wins the CL, so I'd imagine PSG will get it, albeit possible that FIFA might have paid some bribes to favour their new comp winners of course 😎

Nice to see Maresca get nominated, but I'd be similarly surprised if he won. Really ought to be Enrique as a shoe-in.

Emma Hayes won the Women's Coach award last year. I wonder if Sonia will be in for a shout this time as well ?

Recency bias at its finest, they mustn't have turned their TV's on between December-March last season!

I mean end of the day he did win a European cup and the CWC so would be difficult not to include him.

It is hard for Chelsea fans to appreciate all we achieved this season. CWC trophy completely sh*tting over the best club in the world in PSG is no small feat.

Sadly it was masterminded by a coach that no one here likes.

8 minutes ago, evissy said:

It is hard for Chelsea fans to appreciate all we achieved this season. CWC trophy completely sh*tting over the best club in the world in PSG is no small feat.

Sadly it was masterminded by a coach that no one here likes.

That can easily change if he stops the boring football and we play like we did against PSG more consistently.

It’s the boring paint drying football that’s letting fans get disinterested me included. No matter if we are winning it doesn’t get me excited at all.

If he continues the boring football he will get the same treatment next season

This never fails to cheer me up. I don't even give a f**k what he's said.

30 minutes ago, El regreso said:

That can easily change if he stops the boring football and we play like we did against PSG more consistently.

It’s the boring paint drying football that’s letting fans get disinterested me included. No matter if we are winning it doesn’t get me excited at all.

If he continues the boring football he will get the same treatment next season

This is your perception and personal opinion. I have enjoyed our football under Maresca. Yes we had a falling off midway and caught ourself again, but we have the youngest squad with a new manager. It was expected.

Edited August 7, 2025Aug 7 by Clown Lake

39 minutes ago, El regreso said:

That can easily change if he stops the boring football and we play like we did against PSG more consistently.

It’s the boring paint drying football that’s letting fans get disinterested me included. No matter if we are winning it doesn’t get me excited at all.

If he continues the boring football he will get the same treatment next season

This contradicts to the general idea that Chelsea is about winning. But each of their own.

2 hours ago, Remodez said:

I mean end of the day he did win a European cup and the CWC so would be difficult not to include him.

Nominated for beating PSG then

1 hour ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

Nominated for beating PSG then

First of all we beat THAT PSG side with flying colors and we managed to get to that game winning game after game. Why do I even need to go through this? 🤣 Hope you feel better in the future.

33 minutes ago, evissy said:

First of all we beat THAT PSG side with flying colors and we managed to get to that game winning game after game. Why do I even need to go through this? 🤣 Hope you feel better in the future.

Yes, PSG was an impressive game. We got to that game thanks to a heavy loss to Flamengo.

Like I said, outside of the PSG game what win was unexpected? CWC or Conference league.

10 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

He basically just admitted no one cares about the club World Cup unless Liverpool are in it. 😂

Typical scouser. Everything has to revolve around them.

9 hours ago, El regreso said:

This

His issue with the CWC was Liverpool wasn’t in it. That’s all it is, he’s got his kiickers in a twist because Liverpool wasn’t in it.

Weirdly that was my issue too. Barcelona and Liverpool should have been in it. The 2 clubs per country was needless.

Edited August 7, 2025Aug 7 by bisright1

2 hours ago, El regreso said:

That can easily change if he stops the boring football and we play like we did against PSG more consistently.

It’s the boring paint drying football that’s letting fans get disinterested me included. No matter if we are winning it doesn’t get me excited at all.

If he continues the boring football he will get the same treatment next season

There are a few things for me.

His bullsh*tting in interviews, he has made himself look stupid multiple times in that area.

The football, it's hard to watch most times. The crazy thing is that he has shown that he is capable of mixing it up, he did it in those first few months of last season and in the Club World Cup final, but there are times where he just won't make the tactical changes needed to turn a game around.

His substitutions, he rarely makes subs when we need to make subs, he seems to make his mind up on his subs before a ball is kicked. Sometimes you need to make subs in the heat of the moment, but he rarely does it. The only time I can remember him making subs that obviously needed it was at half time in the Conference League final.

If he sorts these things out, then I will have no issue with Maresca.

Edited August 7, 2025Aug 7 by Scott Harris

4 minutes ago, bisright1 said:

Weirdly that was my issue too. Barcelona and Liverpool should have been in it. The 2 clubs per country was needless.

My only issues with the CWC are there are too many teams, or too many teams that shouldn't be there (Like Dortmund and Atletico Madrid) and the timing of the competition. They want it to be like the international world cup, but I don't think it can be in it's current state. A lot of fans don't believe the best clubs in the world are playing in it. The three biggest leagues in world football didn't have any of their winning teams in the competition, it doesn't feel right.

The club season is also really long. Once the Champions League final takes place, most fans just mentally check out for a while. I found the CWC hard to get excited about until we got deeper into the competition, I found it annoying at times.

I feel like there needs to be a compromise somewhere, something has to go to let the Club World Cup shine and take the spotlight every 4 years. This will probably be controversial opinion, but I would take out the Champions League for it once every 4 years. The Champions League will always overshadow it in it's current format. UEFA would never agree to it though, they would lose too much money.

Edited August 7, 2025Aug 7 by Scott Harris

His reaction to Colwill’s injury says it all.

Tosin & Chalobah are good squad options but not a pair you want starting the majority of your league/champions league matches.

Badiashile injured from doing nothing AGAIN. I’m on to him now. Has me convinced he’s doing this so he doesn’t get sold.

Fofana has less starts than Tosin despite being here for 2 more years and can’t be trusted to tie his boots without tearing his hamstring.

Acheampong simply not ready at this stage.

Hato best qualities are at LB.

Going to be tough if we don’t bring anyone in.

4 hours ago, El regreso said:

That can easily change if he stops the boring football and we play like we did against PSG more consistently.

It’s the boring paint drying football that’s letting fans get disinterested me included. No matter if we are winning it doesn’t get me excited at all.

If he continues the boring football he will get the same treatment next season

People have invented this boring dichotomy where you have to either pretend the football isn't boring to prove you are the biggest & bestest Clearlake fan, or downplay results because they don't like the coach.

Good football and winning results are not mutually exclusive. It is absolutely no coincidence that while Maresca is clearly obsessed with controlling and suffocating games as he believes that's the best way to win, he's won two trophies now on the back of players not playing the usual systems.

I really do believe this is Maresca's sliding-doors moment. Of the top of my head, here are some examples:

• Ferguson - 2004: Abandoned the 4-4-2 with crossing wingers, brought in Carlos Queiroz and embraces the 4-5-1/4-3-3. Three years later he wins the league and CL against an all-time great Chelsea side.

• Mourinho - October 2004: Robben returns from injury and the team is grinding out victories. Plays two LWs, Robben, Lampard and Duff go berserk and we steamroll the league, until Robben gets injured in Feb

• Guardiola - 2008: Adopts tiki-taka from Luis Aragones but takes it to a new extreme. Sells Ronaldinho and makes Messi the focal point despite Henry and Eto'o being in the team

• Conte and Tuchel; The 3-4-3s that we never looked back from. Both were somewhat a reversion to type for either manager, but required them to abandon whatever plans they had made for Chelsea previously

• Postecoglou - UEL final, Spurs playing on the counter and allowing Man U to dominate the ball

Winning managers adapt. You know who struggled? Managers like Arsene Wenger or Brendan Rogers, who steadfastly refused to adapt their systems or ideas and got left behind. Wenger threw his toys out of the pram and blames everyone but himself.

Every manager has these moments, where they are forced to abandon their "ideals" and make changes, but not all have the humility or insight to make changes. I am holding on to hope that Maresca is the latter.

Edited August 8, 2025Aug 8 by SydneyChelsea

11 hours ago, evissy said:

It is hard for Chelsea fans to appreciate all we achieved this season. CWC trophy completely sh*tting over the best club in the world in PSG is no small feat.

Sadly it was masterminded by a coach that no one here likes.

Usual sweeping bollox comment. You've taken a poll have you?

8 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

My only issues with the CWC are there are too many teams, or too many teams that shouldn't be there (Like Dortmund and Atletico Madrid) and the timing of the competition. They want it to be like the international world cup, but I don't think it can be in it's current state. A lot of fans don't believe the best clubs in the world are playing in it. The three biggest leagues in world football didn't have any of their winning teams in the competition, it doesn't feel right.

The club season is also really long. Once the Champions League final takes place, most fans just mentally check out for a while. I found the CWC hard to get excited about until we got deeper into the competition, I found it annoying at times.

I feel like there needs to be a compromise somewhere, something has to go to let the Club World Cup shine and take the spotlight every 4 years. This will probably be controversial opinion, but I would take out the Champions League for it once every 4 years. The Champions League will always overshadow it in it's current format. UEFA would never agree to it though, they would lose too much money.

His subs are my biggest gripe now, he is just so passive in game, everyone can see when we drop off and the opposition starts dominating, or the opposition manager makes subs and changes the play. He should be pre-empting this and making changes before theres any impact, yet he almost always waits until we give a goal away and end up scrambling to see games out. He just sits in his dugout watching it all play out and barely has any impact on the game, its abysmal.

18 hours ago, evissy said:

Just saw that! Congrats Enzo for making the cut.

Not sure how much appreciation this will get here...🤣

Scott McTominay has been nominated for a Balloon Door as well.

10 minutes ago, dkw said:

His subs are my biggest gripe now, he is just so passive in game, everyone can see when we drop off and the opposition starts dominating, or the opposition manager makes subs and changes the play. He should be pre-empting this and making changes before theres any impact, yet he almost always waits until we give a goal away and end up scrambling to see games out. He just sits in his dugout watching it all play out and barely has any impact on the game, its abysmal.

This is my problem with him as well, he has Wenger's too-much-faith-in-FirstXI-itis

9 minutes ago, just said:

Scott McTominay has been nominated for a Balloon Door as well.

Honestly I was surprised Ronaldo and Messi werent in the running again, its a farce of an award now really. It used to actually be for the best player that year, now its just a nonsense popularity comntest.