Ever since Sarri, we've played this slow possession based football. How the hell can we get out of this DNA that we have produced? Its so frustrating to watch.

14 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Play with too much emotion and be our own worst enemy? No thanks.

I'm 60 years old mate. Dead in 15 if I'm lucky. Don't give a flying fck for stagnant, possession Based bore my tits off football. Never going to get a chance to see my team in the flesh any more unless I win the lottery, and who the hell would pay for this sh*t anyway.

So basically at my stage of life and now being consigned to being an armchair fan only is it too much to hope for but a bit of entertainment now and again.

Social media twats pontificating that we're the world champions whilst playing Mogadon football. No thanks

22 minutes ago, KonaKai Blue said:

Ever since Sarri, we've played this slow possession based football. How the hell can we get out of this DNA that we have produced? Its so frustrating to watch.

And nobody else plays this way. Because we play slow, possession Based, aimless football. We actively erode the creativity out of our players.

17 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

I'm 60 years old mate. Dead in 15 if I'm lucky. Don't give a flying fck for stagnant, possession Based bore my tits off football. Never going to get a chance to see my team in the flesh any more unless I win the lottery, and who the hell would pay for this sh*t anyway.

So basically at my stage of life and now being consigned to being an armchair fan only is it too much to hope for but a bit of entertainment now and again.

Social media twats pontificating that we're the world champions whilst playing Mogadon football. No thanks

It’s a sideways move. Howe has built quite an interesting reputation on this forum when he practically bottled Top 4 with a stronger XI compared to us.

28 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

It’s a sideways move. Howe has built quite an interesting reputation on this forum when he practically bottled Top 4 with a stronger XI compared to us.

Think you're missing the point though Sconnie. Howe, Iraola, Glasner. Any will do because they try to win football matches and it is that attempt that is entertaining.

This bloke operates on the principle that he wants to outplay the opposition because he has the misguided belief that will bring success. It will to a point but he will continue to be schooled by those that have an organised structure and he will be blown away by those that have that plus the added element of pace, flair and intensity.

For me, and each to their own, how we do things is possibly more important than what we do. As I said the other day the only two times I can remember enjoying watching us play in recent memory is when this bloke had no option but to not play his way and to adopt a more open expansive approach.

1 hour ago, Sconnie Blue said:

It’s a sideways move. Howe has built quite an interesting reputation on this forum when he practically bottled Top 4 with a stronger XI compared to us.

Not even close lol. None of their players except Isak and maybe Sven Botman get into the Chelsea XI last season, let alone this. All their wide players are various incarnations of Pedro Neto. Guimaraes, Hall and Livramento are fantastic players but they are B versions of Caicedo, Cucurella and James. I prefer Tonali to Enzo Fernandez for that particular role in Maresca's system but he has been just as hot-and-cold.

Isak carried them, and what little backing Howe has had in the transfer market was hamstrung by their sporting director. Crucially, Howe did all this without making Newcastle a chore to watch. The real reason why Howe is so popular is because he clearly gets the best out of his players, even taking them to a new level in the case of Gordon and Isak. You cannot seriously say that about Maresca where the best we can say is that he has helped Caicedo play as expected.

Edited September 18, 2025Sep 18 by SydneyChelsea

3 hours ago, WhiteWall said:

But herein lies the issue Bob. Arsenal have two top CBs and still went out and took Hincapie on loan whilst we were dicking around over xavi Simons and Fermin Lopez.

Arsenal has

Saliba, Gabriel, mosquera, white, timber, Hincape, skelly, calafiori for 8 position

We have

Gusto, James, Chalobah, Tosin, Fofana, Josh, Hato, cucu

8 players already without Colwil and Badi, I don't even count Anselmino, sarr and Disasi.

1 hour ago, Bob stark said:

Arsenal has

Saliba, Gabriel, mosquera, white, timber, Hincape, skelly, calafiori for 8 position

We have

Gusto, James, Chalobah, Tosin, Fofana, Josh, Hato, cucu

8 players already without Colwil and Badi, I don't even count Anselmino, sarr and Disasi.

Yep and the only "true" fullback at Arsenal is Lewis-Skelly. Arteta basically plays with 4 CBs wherever he can and that's reflected in their squad makeup so he has 4 defenders for 2 right-sided defenders and 4 defenders for 2 left-sided defenders.

Maresca believes his defenders have highly specific roles so we actually have 3/4 defenders competing for one "role" at times

Edited September 19, 2025Sep 19 by SydneyChelsea

2 hours ago, SydneyChelsea said:

Yep and the only "true" fullback at Arsenal is Lewis-Skelly. Arteta basically plays with 4 CBs wherever he can and that's reflected in their squad makeup so he has 4 defenders for 2 right-sided defenders and 4 defenders for 2 left-sided defenders.

Maresca believes his defenders have highly specific roles so we actually have 3/4 defenders competing for one "role" at times

My point is simple, we have too many cb already or in general player.

Emegha/guiu/Delap

Garnacho/Gittens - JP/Estevao - Neto/Palmer

Enzo/Lavia - Santos/Caicedo

Cucu/Hato - Tosin/Josh - Fofana/Chalo - James/Gusto

Plus (Badi, George, Bouna, essugo, Colwil). You can just ignore this plus list.

If you want to bring player you need to sell.

8 hours ago, WhiteWall said:

Think you're missing the point though Sconnie. Howe, Iraola, Glasner. Any will do because they try to win football matches and it is that attempt that is entertaining.

This bloke operates on the principle that he wants to outplay the opposition because he has the misguided belief that will bring success. It will to a point but he will continue to be schooled by those that have an organised structure and he will be blown away by those that have that plus the added element of pace, flair and intensity.

For me, and each to their own, how we do things is possibly more important than what we do. As I said the other day the only two times I can remember enjoying watching us play in recent memory is when this bloke had no option but to not play his way and to adopt a more open expansive approach.

Maresca`s principle is the same as the tedious Barcelona style of years ago, control the ball, if you have it the opposition dont and cant score, you dont lose. Take no risks, play hundreds of nothing passes to try and pull the defence out of position, only then try and attack. And by attack I mean give it to the one outstanding attacking talent you have on the pitch who might be able to do something extraordinary. Its basically Sarri with Hazard all over again. Its boring as f**k to watch, I bet its equally as boring to play in, risk free sh*te.

39 minutes ago, dkw said:

Maresca`s principle is the same as the tedious Barcelona style of years ago, control the ball, if you have it the opposition dont and cant score, you dont lose. Take no risks, play hundreds of nothing passes to try and pull the defence out of position, only then try and attack. And by attack I mean give it to the one outstanding attacking talent you have on the pitch who might be able to do something extraordinary. Its basically Sarri with Hazard all over again. Its boring as f**k to watch, I bet its equally as boring to play in, risk free sh*te.

Yep. It is more bearable when you have a player like Messi for Barca or Hazard for us, who can brighten the game up with their sheer skill and you go away from a game remembering that rather than all the boring pass, pass, pass. We now have Palmer, who is an exceptional talent, but is quite a bit different to Messi and Hazard. When he see's a lot of the ball (like the PSG game), great. But when he's played out of position and/or heavily marked, we become tedious to watch.

10 hours ago, KonaKai Blue said:

Ever since Sarri, we've played this slow possession based football. How the hell can we get out of this DNA that we have produced? Its so frustrating to watch.

We had a good chance of doing that under Pochettino.

30 minutes ago, C3blue said:

I understand what you mean, it’s not fair weather it’s total frustration. Your always going to check results and support the club but the actual 90min match is actually becoming painful to sit through and you say I’m not going to cancel plans cos the games on anymore cos I’d rather not sit through it when it mainly just pisses me off.

But then you do….

100%

Saturday I will watch the match and I don’t know how to stop myself it’s an addiction and even though I moan and complain I simply can’t stop until it reached say 80 minutes and I just feel defeated and switch off.

1 hour ago, Victor90 said:

We had a good chance of doing that under Pochettino.

Yep Poch chaos ball was the most fun I have had watching us recently and I am sure had he got his second season we would have played far more vertical and direct while fixing the defence.

3 hours ago, Nibs said:

Yep. It is more bearable when you have a player like Messi for Barca or Hazard for us, who can brighten the game up with their sheer skill and you go away from a game remembering that rather than all the boring pass, pass, pass. We now have Palmer, who is an exceptional talent, but is quite a bit different to Messi and Hazard. When he see's a lot of the ball (like the PSG game), great. But when he's played out of position and/or heavily marked, we become tedious to watch.

Palmer will continue to drag us through games, but nowhere near as many as Hazard did, as good as Palmer is he is more "manageable" by the opposition than Hazar, who when he fancied it was literally impossible to stop.

As you say, Maresca is better at negating Palmers impact than the opposition sometimes, just leave him right, let him get on with it.

12 hours ago, SydneyChelsea said:

Not even close lol. None of their players except Isak and maybe Sven Botman get into the Chelsea XI last season, let alone this. All their wide players are various incarnations of Pedro Neto. Guimaraes, Hall and Livramento are fantastic players but they are B versions of Caicedo, Cucurella and James. I prefer Tonali to Enzo Fernandez for that particular role in Maresca's system but he has been just as hot-and-cold.

Isak carried them, and what little backing Howe has had in the transfer market was hamstrung by their sporting director. Crucially, Howe did all this without making Newcastle a chore to watch. The real reason why Howe is so popular is because he clearly gets the best out of his players, even taking them to a new level in the case of Gordon and Isak. You cannot seriously say that about Maresca where the best we can say is that he has helped Caicedo play as expected.

Spot on Syd. Totally agree. At one point Howe also had to deal with an horrendous injury list. He never whinged about it and he still managed to keep them reasonably competitive. As you point out he has never been able to add big money, top drawer, proven talent to his squad. But he has been excellent in playing with the squad he has available. Any manager that has finally made Joelinton look a player has to be good! And his handling of young players like Livramento and Lewis Miley has been very good. He is nearly always calm, prepared to make tactical changes, doesn't bullsh*t in media interviews, and his players seem to love him. Even his handling of the appalling Isak transfer fiasco was excellent. I'd take him over Maresca in heartbeat.

Edited September 19, 2025Sep 19 by just

12 hours ago, SydneyChelsea said:

Not even close lol. None of their players except Isak and maybe Sven Botman get into the Chelsea XI last season, let alone this. All their wide players are various incarnations of Pedro Neto. Guimaraes, Hall and Livramento are fantastic players but they are B versions of Caicedo, Cucurella and James. I prefer Tonali to Enzo Fernandez for that particular role in Maresca's system but he has been just as hot-and-cold.

Isak carried them, and what little backing Howe has had in the transfer market was hamstrung by their sporting director. Crucially, Howe did all this without making Newcastle a chore to watch. The real reason why Howe is so popular is because he clearly gets the best out of his players, even taking them to a new level in the case of Gordon and Isak. You cannot seriously say that about Maresca where the best we can say is that he has helped Caicedo play as expected.

Isak gets into the team.

Gordon gets into the team.

Tonali gets into the team.

Bruno gets into the team.

Livramento gets into the team.

Schar gets into the team.

Pope certainly gets into the team.

Yeah. Not having any of that mate. This isn't even considering Newcastle are a more balanced side, have the strongest midfield trio in the league and far more experienced in defence. They had the easiest run in on the final few matches of the season with everyone fit, and Howe bottled it, whereas Maresca had the hardest run in and no striker and managed to pull through.

You can't convince me this isn't a sideways move at best. You can argue the football would be better but evidence shows Howe is incapable of surpassing Maresca on a points total, and this isn't even considering the restraints Howe would be on with these sporting directors.

13 hours ago, WhiteWall said:

Think you're missing the point though Sconnie. Howe, Iraola, Glasner. Any will do because they try to win football matches and it is that attempt that is entertaining.

This bloke operates on the principle that he wants to outplay the opposition because he has the misguided belief that will bring success. It will to a point but he will continue to be schooled by those that have an organised structure and he will be blown away by those that have that plus the added element of pace, flair and intensity.

For me, and each to their own, how we do things is possibly more important than what we do. As I said the other day the only two times I can remember enjoying watching us play in recent memory is when this bloke had no option but to not play his way and to adopt a more open expansive approach.

I get your point.

Iraola is the only manager i'd sack Maresca for and take a gamble on. That is the football I want to see and that is a manager who I believe understands the game at a high level.

Already made my point about Howe, and Glasner puts too much emphasis on defence for my liking. I respect it, but when we're just facing the same inevitable of not being able to beat low blocks.

On 18/09/2025 at 13:47, KonaKai Blue said:

Ever since Sarri, we've played this slow possession based football. How the hell can we get out of this DNA that we have produced? Its so frustrating to watch.

Hahaha blaming Sarri that trained literally none of the current players is so funny, it's been over 6 years how do you imagine Sarri being this omni-powerful influence till this day? LOL

On 28/05/2024 at 09:16, Gol15 said:

Our best player already worked with Maresca so if anything we should expect an even better Palmer next season. Unless you also believe that watching Palmer score is boring...

 

Trust in Maresca, if he wins the matches prior to Liverpool the team will be in a great shape.

16 hours ago, just said:

Spot on Syd. Totally agree. At one point Howe also had to deal with an horrendous injury list. He never whinged about it and he still managed to keep them reasonably competitive. As you point out he has never been able to add big money, top drawer, proven talent to his squad. But he has been excellent in playing with the squad he has available. Any manager that has finally made Joelinton look a player has to be good! And his handling of young players like Livramento and Lewis Miley has been very good. He is nearly always calm, prepared to make tactical changes, doesn't bullsh*t in media interviews, and his players seem to love him. Even his handling of the appalling Isak transfer fiasco was excellent. I'd take him over Maresca in heartbeat.

Eddie Howe is interesting but it won't matter like it doesn't matter whether Brighton manager is Potter, RDZ and now Hurzeler.

Get him gone.

Tactically woeful.

The most BORING football ever played.

Get out my club

So I want someone to explain why they think he’s going to take us forward.

Edited September 20, 2025Sep 20 by El regreso

Maresca out. Done with this bullsh*t

Don’t think I’ve ever seen a manager as rattled as Maresca was for a red card.

He’s so incredibly naive and inexperienced that I worry for this club considering we have a match every 3 days now.

We could plummet, and QUICK.