Festive period just over half way through.

Arsenal (h) 1 point

Leeds (a) 0 points

Bournemouth (a) 1 point

Atalanta (a) 0 points

Everton (h) 3 points

Cardiff (a) place in league cup semi finals.

Newcastle (a) 1 point

A place in the league cup semi finals, no points in the CL and dropping out of the top 8 and 5 PL points out of 12.

Bad but expected because we do this same cr@p every year.

Banned against Villa btw

I don’t can’t with him anymore he’s so unlikeable in every single way

The amount of disrespect he shows the opposition will always be his downfall. He thinks he can just have us go into games playing this slow, fake controlled football, but doesn't seem to realise that the opposition isn't just going to let his teams do that. Newcastle were always going to approach the game the way they did today, we knew it, we've been saying it all week, yet Maresca didn't see it, he never does. Maresca always gets caught out by teams and he's always looking for answers at half time. You would think that after being a coach in England for so long, he would pick up on these things by now, but he never does.

Just got in from work, seen the result & without any context assume it’s all the fools fault. Am I correct?

7 minutes ago, Munkunku said:

Just got in from work, seen the result & without any context assume it’s all the fools fault. Am I correct?

We started like we just had Christmas Dinner and carried it on for the entire first half!!

Edited December 20, 2025Dec 20 by El regreso

"The message at half-time, because even if we were 2-0 down in the first half and the performance was not good, but from the bench I could see that the plan we prepared was the right one. So in the first half the message was just continue to trust what we do. It is a matter of scoring the first one and if we are able to do that we have a chance to win the game. So this was my message at half-time."

Great job by avoiding defeat and for putting in Enzo for some hardcore leadership.

1 hour ago, Gol15 said:

"but from the bench I could see that the plan we prepared was the right one."

The man is deluded. All he can see is the inside of his own anus because he head is buried firmly inside it.

Set us up horrifically against a side that was obviously going to come out amped up after being embarrassed last week.

He is also making Cole Palmer worse. No player is bigger than the club but he’s definitely bigger than the manager. The choice is obvious.

However, he then added: "When you have 20 and 21-year-olds and a player who is 30 or 31, and he starts to say something to them, it's invaluable. But it's the strategy of the club."

Errr..I thought you said the squad was perfect? Jorges Mendes is a bad influence I think.

He’s so arrogant thinking that he can go to away grounds and not do the basics.

I’m done with him. Arrogant.

We're level on points with a struggling Liverpool side having a nightmare season...

4 minutes ago, yaz said:

We're level on points with a struggling Liverpool side having a nightmare season...

Competing with the Champions!

There are better managers out there but anyone thinking Jose at his prime would win a title or CL with this squad and this ownership is out of their damn mind.

Can anyone point out a single member of this squad, not named Reece James, as good as his equivalent in a chelsea title winner squad?

I'll get a few of the obvious out of the way:

Marc Cucurella, not in Ashley Coles bracket, and never will be.

Moises Caicedo. As good as he is he is not at the level of any of Maka, Essien or Kante YET imo.

Cole Palmer. A long way from Edens level. Maybe he gets there, maybe not.

Robert Sanchez. Never will be at Petr or Tibos level.

The rest don't even merit a mention.

Only Reece is up there with Brana imo.

25 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

There are better managers out there but anyone thinking Jose at his prime would win a title or CL with this squad and this ownership is out of their damn mind.

Can anyone point out a single member of this squad, not named Reece James, as good as his equivalent in a chelsea title winner squad?

I'll get a few of the obvious out of the way:

Marc Cucurella, not in Ashley Coles bracket, and never will be.

Moises Caicedo. As good as he is he is not at the level of any of Maka, Essien or Kante YET imo.

Cole Palmer. A long way from Edens level. Maybe he gets there, maybe not.

Robert Sanchez. Never will be at Petr or Tibos level.

The rest don't even merit a mention.

Only Reece is up there with Brana imo.

But you could arguably say the same about any other club. There isn't a side out there that is better and stronger than their counterparts from yesteryear. Perhaps Arsenal. Take Haaland out of City and there aren't many that would get in their previous sides. Probably the same for the scouse.

Only two weeks ago, Maresca was on board with this strategy. Whatever happened with the "worst 48 hours" thing is probably the trigger for this change.

49 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

There are better managers out there but anyone thinking Jose at his prime would win a title or CL with this squad and this ownership is out of their damn mind.

Can anyone point out a single member of this squad, not named Reece James, as good as his equivalent in a chelsea title winner squad?

I'll get a few of the obvious out of the way:

Marc Cucurella, not in Ashley Coles bracket, and never will be.

Moises Caicedo. As good as he is he is not at the level of any of Maka, Essien or Kante YET imo.

Cole Palmer. A long way from Edens level. Maybe he gets there, maybe not.

Robert Sanchez. Never will be at Petr or Tibos level.

The rest don't even merit a mention.

Only Reece is up there with Brana imo.

You can make this argument with every single team in the league.

Is Saka better than Henry? Is Odegaard better than Bergkamp? Is Rice better than Viera?

Is Foden better than KDB? Is Doku better than Mahrez? Is Cherki better than David silva?

Fact is our squad is far better than how he has it playing, and the very obvious error is playing people out of position. Whose strength do we actually play to? Reece is better at RB. Palmer is better on the wing. Enzo is better on the bench. Etc.

3 minutes ago, GarnachoCheese said:

Fact is our squad is far better than how he has it playing, and the very obvious error is playing people out of position. Whose strength do we actually play to? Reece is better at RB. Palmer is better on the wing. Enzo is better on the bench. Etc.

It's the maddening aspect of this whole fiasco that the managers "system" seems designed to try and get the best out of Fernandez, Cucurella and Gusto rather than the actual top talents of Caicedo, James, Palmer and Estevao, while at the same time running the risk of losing the likes of Acheampong and Andrey Santos to other clubs because they simply aren't being used enough even though they show more football ability than the favoured trio ... the team is being built around all the wrong players !

Edited December 20, 2025Dec 20 by Sexyfootball

1 hour ago, GarnachoCheese said:

Enzo is better on the beach. Etc.

Embarrassing typo but I’ve fixed it.

5 hours ago, WhiteWall said:

But you could arguably say the same about any other club. There isn't a side out there that is better and stronger than their counterparts from yesteryear. Perhaps Arsenal. Take Haaland out of City and there aren't many that would get in their previous sides. Probably the same for the scouse.

4 hours ago, GarnachoCheese said:

You can make this argument with every single team in the league.

Is Saka better than Henry? Is Odegaard better than Bergkamp? Is Rice better than Viera?

Is Foden better than KDB? Is Doku better than Mahrez? Is Cherki better than David silva?

Fact is our squad is far better than how he has it playing, and the very obvious error is playing people out of position. Whose strength do we actually play to? Reece is better at RB. Palmer is better on the wing. Enzo is better on the bench. Etc.

Fair points lads.

I still don't think any manager could turn this squad in to title winners. Ratio of actual good players vs average/bums is way off.

3 hours ago, Munkunku said:

Embarrassing typo but I’ve fixed it.

Cannot say I have seen that performance. Out of 10 how do you rate his swim ware Munk?

5 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Fair points lads.

I still don't think any manager could turn this squad in to title winners. Ratio of actual good players vs average/bums is way off.

Of course it's all conjecture by us but I think Arsenal have been the only consistent team and they have relied largely on set pieces and the form and versatility of Rice who most on here said wasn't good enough for us.

I think that with a proper focal point that leads the line up top and I genuinely don't think we'd be that far away. Maybe a couple of other changes, a better manager and a better team structure.

7 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Cannot say I have seen that performance. Out of 10 how do you rate his swim ware Munk?

10/10 easily. If he’s getting paid to do f**k all its best if he’s not on a football pitch.

13 hours ago, axman2526 said:

There are better managers out there but anyone thinking Jose at his prime would win a title or CL with this squad and this ownership is out of their damn mind.

Can anyone point out a single member of this squad, not named Reece James, as good as his equivalent in a chelsea title winner squad?

I'll get a few of the obvious out of the way:

Marc Cucurella, not in Ashley Coles bracket, and never will be.

Moises Caicedo. As good as he is he is not at the level of any of Maka, Essien or Kante YET imo.

Cole Palmer. A long way from Edens level. Maybe he gets there, maybe not.

Robert Sanchez. Never will be at Petr or Tibos level.

The rest don't even merit a mention.

Only Reece is up there with Brana imo.

The belief that the next manager will fix everything by “playing players in their proper positions” is speculative at best. Some of these players are too young to even have a proper position yet. The next manager will come, little will change on the pitch, and the cycle will repeat: new manager, same squad, same blame.

3 minutes ago, acaeus said:

The belief that the next manager will fix everything by “playing players in their proper positions” is speculative at best. Some of these players are too young to even have a proper position yet. The next manager will come, little will change on the pitch, and the cycle will repeat: new manager, same squad, same blame.

Who's said the next manager "will fix everything"?