1 hour ago, bisright1 said:

Obviously everyone who is hoping/expecting Maresca to be sacked by the end of the season has to prepare themselves that his successor is going to be Liam Rosenior.

Just saying 😂

Never mind Liam Rosenior, I’d take Leonard Rossiter over Maresca.

59 minutes ago, Victor90 said:

We've not improved in width, Gittens & Garnacho are a downgrade from Madueke.

We have yet to see them play really - a bit too early to judge G & G.

2 hours ago, The Rising Sun said:

They want managers who won't question the transfer policy, will except his players being sold and accept the young "raw " players bought for him, and who won't complain when he doesn't get the experienced centre half that he says he needs.

Mind you, apart from all that, if the new bloke lets us play some decent entertaining football, that'll do for me. 👍

Yeah, but they have assembled some of the best young 'raw' players from all over the world. Brazilian and Argentinian wunder kids. Players like Caicedo and Palmer - who we can now say are true 'generational talent'. I mean there are managers who would love the opportunity to work with such players. Crazy amount of talent at Chelsea - they are just not being managed correctly. Let the kids play - like they did against PSG - simple as that.

4 hours ago, Deino said:

If Carlo wins the world cup, BlueCo should tempt him to manage for us again.

That would be great right. Carlo allowing the players to play to their strengths would be wonderful.

7 hours ago, timetowaste said:

I truly believe that with this squad a better manager has us challenging for the premier league. Conte, Inzaghi, Ancelotti, Nagelsmann, Luis Enrique would all have us challenging Liverpool this season but instead we're stuck with this fraud for at least another season. We saw yesterday the gaping hole in Maresca's managerial ability, unfortunately it was exposed by the sh*t goalie and CBs.

Tuchel would have been that man for us, but the new owners made sure we go 10 steps back.

1 hour ago, Victor90 said:

You've been saying this for years mate. I keep hearing "We're just two signings away" from numerous folks on here.

It's all bo**ocks. We have a heavily injury prone team which any top quality gaffer will struggle with. We've not improved in width, Gittens & Garnacho are a downgrade from Madueke. Our center-backs are average, and our goalkeeper is a liability.

And to top it all off, it's just a squad full of kids, we're not challenging or winning any titles if we keep having to go through this ridiculous cycle of developing youth players every year.

And I maintain it, we've made terrible managerial appointments since the new lot came in. When we sacked Poch instead of going for someone who's won things that will take us to the next level we tried to find the next big thing and look at who we were left with on our shortlist, Maresca or McKenna. I actually rate most of our positions barring CB and goalkeeper, I just think we a manager who is not good enough to improve the young players we've signed. Over-complicated tactical dross where the games are played out on spreadsheets and not on the pitch.

Sack all the Enzo’s, the fat one and the bald one, and in that precise order too.

The pivotal moment was how we operated in the market regarding the wide position’s, this whole approach of ‘like for like’ replacements, or even downgrades in the case of Garnacho, is absolute backwards planning, and reaffirms this whole narrative of spending whilst not actually improving. Everything comes back to the sporting directors and ownership model. Maresca goes, and they’ll make the next managerial appointment the same way they do the player signings. We’re stuck.

Sack the prat. And then sack the prat(s) that gave him the job in the first place.

If we needed any further evidence of his incompetence, which most of us here don't, yesterday was it - his stupid decisions cost us the game.

9 hours ago, Victor90 said:

You've been saying this for years mate. I keep hearing "We're just two signings away" from numerous folks on here.

This is actually true. Every single top 4/6 team is 2/3 signing away from title contention.

12 hours ago, Deino said:

Iraola plays some pretty good football imo, but no history of winning a trophy makes me doubt him.

If Carlo wins the world cup, BlueCo should tempt him to manage for us again.

Carlo? After how fans criticize Pochball, Carlos is the last manager that I want.

Edited September 22, 2025Sep 22 by Bob stark

54 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

This is actually true. Every single top 4/6 team is 2/3 signing away from title contention.

Well depends on who your other xi are and tbh, at this level, those 2/3 players may be the hardest to find and get.

Last big silverware we got had rudiger and silva as CBs with azpi and andreas rotation. I don’t see that kind of quality anywhere in the roster. Colwill is the only one with room for growth but dealing with a very tough injury now.

I read posts here saying “no excuses for Maresca”, but I see it the other way around: no excuses for the weak roster, for the restart once again, for more bets on 20yo (if that old) as direct subs.

The manager is the easy way out… the “excuse.”

Edited September 22, 2025Sep 22 by acaeus

And today we've got Wayne Rooney and Danny Murphy thanking Maresca for taking off our attacking threat and gifting Scum Utd. the points... how did this guy get the job?

24 minutes ago, acaeus said:

Well depends on who your other xi are and tbh, at this level, those 2/3 players may be the hardest to find and get.

Last big silverware we got had rudiger and silva as CBs with azpi and andreas rotation. I don’t see that kind of quality anywhere in the roster. Colwill is the only one with room for growth but dealing with a very tough injury now.

I read posts here saying “no excuses for Maresca”, but I see it the other way around: no excuses for the weak roster, for the restart once again, for more bets on 20yo (if that old) as direct subs.

The manager is the easy way out… the “excuse.”

I am talking about in general. You don't need 11 wc player to contend, 5/6 players and you can compete.

1 hour ago, acaeus said:

Well depends on who your other xi are and tbh, at this level, those 2/3 players may be the hardest to find and get.

Last big silverware we got had rudiger and silva as CBs with azpi and andreas rotation. I don’t see that kind of quality anywhere in the roster. Colwill is the only one with room for growth but dealing with a very tough injury now.

I read posts here saying “no excuses for Maresca”, but I see it the other way around: no excuses for the weak roster, for the restart once again, for more bets on 20yo (if that old) as direct subs.

The manager is the easy way out… the “excuse.”

I agree with you, I don't rate our team as highly as some in here, I recognise that we've got a potential wc player in Palmer, Caicedo is top class, but other than "possibly" Estevao and Santos, we've got little at the back, midfield, wings and CF to contend. But, I also realise that we've got a team that shouldn't struggle to beat Palace, Fulham, Brentford or this Utd. With a better coach, these young players would be playing much better and would be improving; I haven't seen any improvement with Maresca. The coach is at the same quality level as Sanchez. However, I don't think that the board is interested in getting a coach with experience, which is what the young players need to improve, because it would expect certain things from the board and SDs that they are not interested in providing.

Just now, RMH said:

I agree with you, I don't rate our team as highly as some in here, I recognise that we've got a potential wc player in Palmer, Caicedo is top class, but other than "possibly" Estevao and Santos, we've got little at the back, midfield, wings and CF to contend. But, I also realise that we've got a team that shouldn't struggle to beat Palace, Fulham, Brentford or this Utd. With a better coach, these young players would be playing much better and would be improving; I haven't seen any improvement with Maresca. The coach is at the same quality level as Sanchez. However, I don't think that the board is interested in getting a coach with experience, which is what the young players need to improve, because it would expect certain things from the board and SDs that they are not interested in providing.

We are the only team in the world who thinks young players will improve in a vacuum. No need for experience, mentoring or proper coaching.

Absent injury, a player will always be better at 25 than he is at 20. The problem is that without experience, mentoring or coaching, their "better" doesn't necessarily mean they will be "good".

1 hour ago, acaeus said:

I read posts here saying “no excuses for Maresca”, but I see it the other way around: no excuses for the weak roster, for the restart once again, for more bets on 20yo (if that old) as direct subs.

The manager is the easy way out… the “excuse.”

Sorry but I don’t buy this at all. Criticise the recruitment for its ‘buy everything’ approach but at its core we have a very very very capable team.

RJ is the best RB in the world.

Moises is the best Midfielder in the Prem.

Cole Palmer (when played on the right) is the most exciting player in the Prem.

Estevao is quite literally the best youngster in the world.

That’s (just under) half a starting XI being the best/most exciting in their positions.

Colwill/Fofana is a perfectly acceptable CB partnership. Trev/Tosin SHOULD be able to step up at the standard we play.

Cucurella although defensively rash, is, by modern standards, a very capable LB. Hato was the youngest ever Ajax captain so given an opportunity should also shine.

Andrey Santos was literally Ligue 1’s best player last year, has had call ups to Brazil’s NT but we don’t start him because of our ‘set up’

Delap/JP were both chased by almost every other Top PL side all summer.

The issue we have is our wonderful manager is so stagnant with his approach to football, it’s a philosophy that’s been slowly exposed for the past 5 years Europe wide and he’s trying to implement it in its death throws.

Tuchel shouldn’t have ego challed the ownership. He’d be the perfect coach for what we currently aim to do and wouldn’t have allowed the squads standards to slip to such a pitifully low level.

Edited September 22, 2025Sep 22 by The Boehly Babes

51 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

I am talking about in general. You don't need 11 wc player to contend, 5/6 players and you can compete.

Yeah I got that and no argument there; my point was that finding the real special ones demand either a lot of luck, a load of cash, or a little bit of both. There is also some key positions that you just need to have some quality at.

We seem to do well to attract the very young promising talent (some folks here mistake potential with current ability, btw), but we are yet to attract the types of players which can take us from top4 contender to title contenders.

Thinking a manager is the missing piece to become title contenders is crazy talk imo. Anyone would do it if it were that simple.

Edited September 22, 2025Sep 22 by acaeus

2 minutes ago, acaeus said:

Yeah I got that and no argument there; my point was that finding the real special ones demand either a lot of luck, a load of cash, or a little bit of both. There is also some key positions that you just need to have some quality at.

We seem to do well to attract the very young promising talent (some folks here mistake potential with current ability, btw), but we are yet to attract the types of players which can take us from top4 contender to title contenders.

Thinking a manager is the missing piece to become title contenders is crazy talk imo. Anyone would do it if it were that simple.

As I said in my post a while ago, it is not manager. Spuds has hired mou, Conte same thing.

The key is the gap between manager is so much smaller to gap between player.

Hiring pep won't make us title contender, but getting prime Messi on the other hand will transform our team.

Edited September 22, 2025Sep 22 by Bob stark

9 minutes ago, RMH said:

I agree with you, I don't rate our team as highly as some in here, I recognise that we've got a potential wc player in Palmer, Caicedo is top class, but other than "possibly" Estevao and Santos, we've got little at the back, midfield, wings and CF to contend. But, I also realise that we've got a team that shouldn't struggle to beat Palace, Fulham, Brentford or this Utd. With a better coach, these young players would be playing much better and would be improving; I haven't seen any improvement with Maresca. The coach is at the same quality level as Sanchez. However, I don't think that the board is interested in getting a coach with experience, which is what the young players need to improve, because it would expect certain things from the board and SDs that they are not interested in providing.

That may very well be true--that Maresca is already a limiting factor.

I do trust the club to provide everything the players need to grow into the best versions of themselves.

Regarding beating the Fulhams etc, I think that has also a lot to do with the young players. Some don't ever have the physique yet to withstand the physicality of the Premiere League. If a player can be bullied in a competitive game, he will be.

14 minutes ago, SydneyChelsea said:

We are the only team in the world who thinks young players will improve in a vacuum. No need for experience, mentoring or proper coaching.

Absent injury, a player will always be better at 25 than he is at 20. The problem is that without experience, mentoring or coaching, their "better" doesn't necessarily mean they will be "good".

This is where I thought Liverpool does very well. They will sign young player and still keep the older guy for 1/2 season. 

The problem with doing this is that the longer you keep the older guy, the lower his value and the more you pay big wages

12 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

As I said in my post a while ago, it is not manager. Spuds has hired mou, Conte same thing.

The key is the gap between manager is so much smaller to gap between player.

Hiring pep won't make us title contender, but getting prime Messi on the other hand will transform our team.

Actually the last time we won the league was when Conte changed his own system a few months into the season and ended up winning 30 matches in total, prime Messi wasn't needed but a well-polished team did everything right.

Giving a limited manager "prime Messi" in any form won't make him suddenly better at his job, it would only hide his weaknesses for a while.

42 minutes ago, The Boehly Babes said:

Sorry but I don’t buy this at all. Criticise the recruitment for its ‘buy everything’ approach but at its core we have a very very very capable team.

RJ is the best RB in the world.

Moises is the best Midfielder in the Prem.

Cole Palmer (when played on the right) is the most exciting player in the Prem.

Estevao is quite literally the best youngster in the world.

That’s (just under) half a starting XI being the best/most exciting in their positions.

Colwill/Fofana is a perfectly acceptable CB partnership. Trev/Tosin SHOULD be able to step up at the standard we play.

Cucurella although defensively rash, is, by modern standards, a very capable LB. Hato was the youngest ever Ajax captain so given an opportunity should also shine.

Andrey Santos was literally Ligue 1’s best player last year, has had call ups to Brazil’s NT but we don’t start him because of our ‘set up’

Delap/JP were both chased by almost every other Top PL side all summer.

The issue we have is our wonderful manager is so stagnant with his approach to football, it’s a philosophy that’s been slowly exposed for the past 5 years Europe wide and he’s trying to implement it in its death throws.

Tuchel shouldn’t have ego challed the ownership. He’d be the perfect coach for what we currently aim to do and wouldn’t have allowed the squads standards to slip to such a pitifully low level.

I'm assuming Sarr will walk into our first team next summer. And Penders might well do the same if he progressed at Strasbourg.

We do have a core of experienced players now. They just need to be put in the right positions. RJ at right back, Santos alongside Caicedo. Enzo needs to not be a guaranteed starter. And if he is then he needs to be playing further forward and we rotate the attack at 60 minutes.

Playing our current back 4 with only Caicedo shielding is madness.

I wonder if Maresca gets to talk in detail with Liam Rosenior. Theres probably a wealth of information and opinion on the group of players moving between the two clubs. Or would everything be controlled by the SD's. Maresca rarely seems to get any of the new entrants to hit the ground running as we might expect from a sister club who we could work hand in hand with. With the size of their respective backroom staff members it would nt be beyond the wit of man to have two people in daily contact.

Edited September 22, 2025Sep 22 by OTL

23 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

Actually the last time we won the league was when Conte changed his own system a few months into the season and ended up winning 30 matches in total, prime Messi wasn't needed but a well-polished team did everything right.

Giving a limited manager "prime Messi" in any form won't make him suddenly better at his job, it would only hide his weaknesses for a while.

We had Hazard, Kante, Courtois, Costa + Fabregas

Edited September 22, 2025Sep 22 by Bob stark

If you could keep one and tell the other to F-orf... who would it be....

Enzo "cant set up a team" Maresca or Todd/ the entire board/ clearlake or whoever they call themselves?

How many more years of this sh*te do we have, 4?