2 minutes ago, Deino said:

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

Ha ha, perfect name for it. Honestly its so frustrating every game, literally every single person watching the game can see the drop off, the time we lost control of the game. He just sits on his hands doing sod all every time., until we inevitably lose a goal, then were struggling to get any semblance of control back.

The bizarre thing is his entire game ethos is about control, he uses all these stats and metrics in game yet chooses not to act on them, Hes either a coward or an idiot.

6 hours ago, SydneyChelsea said:

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.

Maresca being stubborn to me is also a bit exaggerated point. That is something that got slapped onto him and everyone took it to heart. I think along with bald c**t that is the word people use here to describe him.

I think Enzo has adapted and changed things according to the opponent. He also needs to balance that with teaching his system and patterns to young players and by players I mean a lot of young players.

We've come miles from that chaos-football that Pochettino had us play. I just watched the highlights of that 4-3 win against MU which as a contest is brilliant but which also made Caicedo look like a hit and miss player. There was no idea/patterns of play/fallback plan, just go forward and hope Cole does something brilliant.

Under Pochettino we had some epic games which go down as all time greats for football viewers, not just Chelsea fans but you can't build something lasting or win anything major with that.

I think promising young coach who already won two trophies is better description of him than a stubborn bald c**t.

He is learning as we go as well. Blowing PSG out the water in a major final will have done a world of good to him as well.

Enzo started well (Poch hangover) absolutely lost it in the middle (Worst football since AVB) and pulled it together at the end (Minus the Newcastle result, but that’s on Jackson) adjusted the formations/players nicely in the CL Final after getting his tactics all wrong to start and then delivered a masterclass against PSG in the CWC.

He’s earned the opportunity next season to show which of those 3 phases was the real Maresca.

However, there isn’t a cat in hells chance he’s a Top 5 Manager in the World for the entirety of last season. That awards ceremony is an absolute joke.

If you take the summary of last season ‘1st season 2 trophies Top 4’ it sounds a lot better than what actually happened. We all remember December-April and I think that’s what’s going to tarnish the view of Maresca until he’s proven he can hold it together over a full season.

10 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.

You say Dortmund, but RB Salzburg and Porto were both in the competition.

Take those two out and replace with Pool and Barca, who were higher in the coefficient rankings (so it's literally just saying each country can have 3, not 2), and suddenly you have a tournament that feels like the best teams in the world. The only one missing is Napoli (who did f all in Europe). I'm just surprised that FIFA made a decision to make the tournament less popular.

Id transform the CL so the semis and final to be in one week at the end of the season, and reduce the number of games in the season. I'd drop the league cup for teams in Europe (but the winners get a conference league place). We all watch the international world cup without complaining.

There is too much football, but the CWC in a better country with the tweaks to the teams, and it becomes very watchable.

1 hour ago, just said:

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

It wasn't deserved? Just look at what he did for Napoli.

Him doing well and hitting the charts warms my heart. All ex-MU's proving everywhere else is better makes my day ☺️

2 hours ago, bisright1 said:

You say Dortmund, but RB Salzburg and Porto were both in the competition.

Take those two out and replace with Pool and Barca, who were higher in the coefficient rankings (so it's literally just saying each country can have 3, not 2), and suddenly you have a tournament that feels like the best teams in the world. The only one missing is Napoli (who did f all in Europe). I'm just surprised that FIFA made a decision to make the tournament less popular.

Id transform the CL so the semis and final to be in one week at the end of the season, and reduce the number of games in the season. I'd drop the league cup for teams in Europe (but the winners get a conference league place). We all watch the international world cup without complaining.

There is too much football, but the CWC in a better country with the tweaks to the teams, and it becomes very watchable.

Maybe those 2 teams should have performed better during the period covering the selection period then.

10 minutes ago, dkw said:

Maybe those 2 teams should have performed better during the period covering the selection period then.

Nah its' much easier to change the rules of the competition to fit them in.

11 minutes ago, dkw said:

Maybe those 2 teams should have performed better during the period covering the selection period then.

Just now, Sconnie Blue said:

Nah its' much easier to change the rules of the competition to fit them in.

Salzburg were only invited because they were the best team who weren't from England or spain.

My point is that's not good for the competition. The best teams from Europe should have gone.

No one watching Chelsea Leverkusen today? I think it is on Dazn app. Is it okay to create the thread in Matches?

1 minute ago, evissy said:

No one watching Chelsea Leverkusen today? I think it is on Dazn app. Is it okay to create the thread in Matches?

We are starting to look like a team that can’t be bullied again.

There was a period where we were softer and as useless as a floppy willy to Bonnieblue!!

Now we have some real STEEL in the middle of the park.

5 hours ago, El regreso said:

There was a period where we were softer and as useless as a floppy willy to Bonnieblue!!

5 hours ago, El regreso said:

That's my application for her next video withdrawn

35 minutes ago, loz said:

That's my application for her next video withdrawn

Once was enough hey?

1 hour ago, Scott said:

Once was enough hey?

I did rejoin the queue at the back but by the time I was near the front again ahe was getting mopped down.

2 losses Jackson lost his head and got sent off.

7 minutes ago, Clown Lake said:

2 losses Jackson lost his head and got sent off.

It's an impressive run of results, but you really don't have to post it on multiple threads ...

Defensively speaking a lot of work to do before we face Palace, looked far too open and easy to break through today.

Going forward is a whole other headache, how does he adapt the system to ensure we have the best players on the pitch? Estevao, Palmer, JP, Delap & Pedro Neto all NEED to be playing as many minutes as possible.

2 minutes ago, The Boehly Babes said:

Defensively speaking a lot of work to do before we face Palace, looked far too open and easy to break through today.

Going forward is a whole other headache, how does he adapt the system to ensure we have the best players on the pitch? Estevao, Palmer, JP, Delap & Pedro Neto all NEED to be playing as many minutes as possible.

Attack is fine. sh*t ton of football and plenty of options to utilize.

Defence big worry. We need another CB but we have to shift players on.

9 hours ago, The Boehly Babes said:

Defensively speaking a lot of work to do before we face Palace, looked far too open and easy to break through today.

Going forward is a whole other headache, how does he adapt the system to ensure we have the best players on the pitch? Estevao, Palmer, JP, Delap & Pedro Neto all NEED to be playing as many minutes as possible.

Attack is fine. We have plenty of games

Defence is the big worry, two injury to our first choices and we are left with Tosin and the youths.

Anselmino and Acheampong needs minutes on loan. Badiashile and Disasi need to be sold yesterday. Can't say anything on Fofana, man can be fit and playing great today and crumple like a pack of crisp in training the next day

2 hours ago, Deino said:

Attack is fine. We have plenty of games

Defence is the big worry, two injury to our first choices and we are left with Tosin and the youths.

Anselmino and Acheampong needs minutes on loan. Badiashile and Disasi need to be sold yesterday. Can't say anything on Fofana, man can be fit and playing great today and crumple like a pack of crisp in training the next day

Keep the crisp references for the Crispy Jackson thread

Milan's goal yesterday reminded me of many a conceded goal last season: acres of space, confused defenders not picking up the free man and boom, ball in the back of the net. Not good.

Scoring the chances we generate is giving is a good platform even if our defensive options are now limited due to Colwills injury. Score 4 like that and it doesn't matter how your general play and application is for full 90 minutes.

I feel if we go to the market we might stumble into Disasi situation. I think we should only buy a player if we would buy him no matter the injury. Give Badiashile and Acheampong a chance. Jorrel Hato can also feature in Colwills spot.

33 minutes ago, evissy said:

I feel if we go to the market we might stumble into Disasi situation. I think we should only buy a player if we would buy him no matter the injury. Give Badiashile and Acheampong a chance. Jorrel Hato can also feature in Colwills spot.

Very good points.

Whoever he decides to use in place of Colwill he needs to stick with the player, give him games with the same partner to allow them to settle. Swapping players in and out will not work.

We are still stacked in defense. Why are few freaking out? Yes, we lost our best CB, but we have adequate backups. Fofana is back, if he stays fit for 10 games, thats an extra unaccounted backup for me. In case of emergency throw in Veiga back to the squad.