2 hours ago, SydneyChelsea said:

Gonna quote @Bob stark here - no team in the EPL will ever defend like PSG or Milan or Leverkusen did against us. EPL teams just don't allow uncontested passes up the middle.

The issue with this analysis (as others) is that it isn't talking one bit about game state. We've only see this system work when Chelsea has scored in the first 20 minutes, so for the most part our opposition is chasing the game against us.

The way milan play for first 10/15 min (I stopped watching after the red), is how team usually defend against us. Blocked the middle, have one player sitting on Caicedo, force chelsea wide. In the game gittens and neto completely dominated Milan wb/wide cb.

4 hours ago, SydneyChelsea said:

Didn't stop Joao Pedro ripping PSG apart though

Difference being that JP had an idea that something was afoot and was therefore still training regardless. This guy apparently was literally on holiday. Horizontal.

Edited August 15, 2025Aug 15 by WhiteWall

3 hours ago, WhiteWall said:

Difference being that JP had an idea that something was afoot and was therefore still training regardless. This guy apparently was literally on holiday. Horizontal.

The beach was probably more of a workout than Spurs

Not sure if posted but Enzo said in his presser he prefers we buy that CB. He said they are looking internally but he had a good point in the way Colwill is the only center back with Tosin who is the central of the defenders when in possession. So we only basically have Tosin now for that crucial role.

Bit concerning he’s now doubling down on this publicly again. Already getting his excuses in.. not a good look.

Agree with you both. Maresca very much made it clear, imo, that he wants us to sign a defender and he does not rate our options to cover Levi with what we have.

Who is there we could sign that can naturally play on the left side and drop in as the central defender in a 3?

Is Maresca up to the job if he cant find a solution to the defence? no, not really. Guy has a 1.5 billion squad ffs.

With the money that has once again been spent, we should be looking at six wins from our opening six fixtures.

Micky Mouse cups aside, our league performances were dreadful right up to the end of the season. Time to fix that... plenty of players he can work with so he should just deal with it.

7 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Agree with you both. Maresca very much made it clear, imo, that he wants us to sign a defender and he does not rate our options to cover Levi with what we have.

Who is there we could sign that can naturally play on the left side and drop in as the central defender in a 3?

If the club is hellbent on under 24yrs old and at prices below 50M, nobody.

4 minutes ago, Deino said:

If the club is hellbent on under 24yrs old and at prices below 50M, nobody.

Just found that the current speculated Maresca choice is Caicedos international team mate Hincapie.

3 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Just found that the current speculated Maresca choice is Caicedos international team mate Hincapie.

Saw how he played the other day and I'm not really impressed. Would rather sign Christensen for a season tbh but that's just me

4 hours ago, evissy said:

Not sure if posted but Enzo said in his presser he prefers we buy that CB. He said they are looking internally but he had a good point in the way Colwill is the only center back with Tosin who is the central of the defenders when in possession. So we only basically have Tosin now for that crucial role.

And that should be setting off alarm bells from LA to Cobham, Tosin is but a slight step up from the Monaco twins. I hate rushing Fofana back too soon.

Edited August 15, 2025Aug 15 by Scott

God forbid he has to find a plan B or slightly adjust his tactics with a single injury.

2 hours ago, Scott said:

And that should be setting off alarm bells from LA to Cobham, Tosin is but a slight step up from the Monaco twins. I hate rushing Fofana back too soon.

I'm a big fan of Tosin. I think he has been very steady in the majority of the games he has played for us. He's by no means world class, but I think he is much better than Disasi and Badiashile. As for Fofana, there isn't a single thing he has done in a Chelsea shirt that is better than both Chalobah or Tosin for me. I genuinely don't understand how a player that has barely played can be rated so highly, so I can't say I am looking forward to him coming back into the side. He's lost the majority of his developing years as a senior footballer to injury.

Seems like a rather large oversight, based on what Maresca has said, doesn't it?

I mean he has said that the only 2 players we have capable of giving him what he needs for the team to operate as he wants us to are Tosin and Colwill. That's less than we had up front last season, where he happily played Neto as a false 10 and did not peep about us going in to the market.

So how can we be a few weeks to the window closing and one injury has left Maresca panicked?

He's going about this too forcefully, I'm guessing recent discussions with the ones up top didn't go well

We need a CB clear out anyway but it's gonna be hard to get it done by September but there are plenty of players with expiring contracts if the club wants to sign a temporary one.

https://www.transfermarkt.com/transfers/endendevertraege/statistik?plus=0&jahr=2026&ausrichtung=Abwehr&spielerposition_id=3&altersklasse=alle&land_id=0&yt0=Show

12 hours ago, evissy said:

Not sure if posted but Enzo said in his presser he prefers we buy that CB. He said they are looking internally but he had a good point in the way Colwill is the only center back with Tosin who is the central of the defenders when in possession. So we only basically have Tosin now for that crucial role.

His comments were wild.

Enzo Maresca: “He [Wesley Fofana] can do it [play Colwill's role], he can do. He needs to be fit, first of all, and then he can do it. He played 45 minutes in that position and it was the first half against Bournemouth away, if you remember. Probably one of the worst halves since we started. And Benoit [Badiashile] playing in the middle, Conference League final, first half. We were losing 1-0. Then we changed with Levi and we won 4-1. So it's not the same.”

Question is; he currently has Disasi, Josh, Chalobah, Tosin, Badiashille, Veiga, Colwill, Anselminho, and we just paid £37m for Hato whose versatility to play also as a LCB was highlighted as a strength. That is 9 CBs for 2. With Colwill, Fofana, and Badiashille out injured he still has 6 CBs to choose from. If he is insisting that none of them is capable of playing the LCB role, then the club has to get rid of 3 to sign his preference.

How can we bring in when we first have to sell, problem is nobody wants those players at those prices.

3 hours ago, markpitts said:

His comments were wild.

Enzo Maresca: “He [Wesley Fofana] can do it [play Colwill's role], he can do. He needs to be fit, first of all, and then he can do it. He played 45 minutes in that position and it was the first half against Bournemouth away, if you remember. Probably one of the worst halves since we started. And Benoit [Badiashile] playing in the middle, Conference League final, first half. We were losing 1-0. Then we changed with Levi and we won 4-1. So it's not the same.”

Question is; he currently has Disasi, Josh, Chalobah, Tosin, Badiashille, Veiga, Colwill, Anselminho, and we just paid £37m for Hato whose versatility to play also as a LCB was highlighted as a strength. That is 9 CBs for 2. With Colwill, Fofana, and Badiashille out injured he still has 6 CBs to choose from. If he is insisting that none of them is capable of playing the LCB role, then the club has to get rid of 3 to sign his preference.

Crazy if he threw Fofana and Badiashile under the bus... Is there a video of that because that part wasn't in the official presser video? We all know his English is not perfect and there might be context around what he said.

Didn’t we just spend £37m on Hato? I thought he played LCB. I was under the impression that although he was just 19 he was experienced and good to go not a one for the future signing.

The manager doesn’t seem to think so.

To be honest Hincapie would be a fantastic signing. I’m convinced he’s going to be one of the best CBs around soon.

If we can get him for under 50m we should be all over it!

1 hour ago, C3blue said:

Didn’t we just spend £37m on Hato? I thought he played LCB. I was under the impression that although he was just 19 he was experienced and good to go not a one for the future signing.

The manager doesn’t seem to think so.

The manager wants someone who can straight away slot in the CCB role. To pin our hopes on a 19yr old is a bit daft

25 minutes ago, Deino said:

The manager wants someone who can straight away slot in the CCB role. To pin our hopes on a 19yr old is a bit daft

46 minutes ago, Deino said:

The manager wants someone who can straight away slot in the CCB role. To pin our hopes on a 19yr old is a bit daft

He isn’t any other 19yr old though; 76 league appearances for A**x, A**x captain and 6 caps for the Dutch national team. It’s like saying Cubarsi starting at CB for Barca at 17yrs is a bit daft. Hato is even for more experienced.

Makes no sense paying big money for him when the manager has zero faith in him. No one is saying start him tomorrow; sure go with Chalobah & Tosin, with Badiashille coming in as depth. By October Hato should be up to speed and ready to start. Buying another CB now when when we have 10-11 on our books is just ridiculous.

Craziest part is, Levi Colwill is 22 years old, off the back of 2 seasons with us, and isn’t suddenly this behemoth prime world breaker. As good as he’s been recently, a fully fit Levi still makes mistakes and isn’t the reason we can’t be title challengers. The players Maresca has at his disposal, especially Josh, can be utilised by a top coach.

Also funny, as pretty sure Tuchel wanted to sell Colwill when he came back from Huddersfield.