57 minutes ago, Victor90 said:

I have a feeling we're going to be hearing this a lot the coming season:

"At least it was entertaining under Poch" 

Why can't we just have a manager that delivers this

Is it just me that would rather see Reece James storming up the flank putting in wicked crosses, cutting in to unleash his hammer of a shot, rather than recycling the ball in midfield?

7 minutes ago, DarkMata said:

Is it just me that would rather see Reece James storming up the flank putting in wicked crosses, cutting in to unleash his hammer of a shot, rather than recycling the ball in midfield?

Oh don't be silly, that's not football in the 2020s!

52 minutes ago, DarkMata said:

Is it just me that would rather see Reece James storming up the flank putting in wicked crosses, cutting in to unleash his hammer of a shot, rather than recycling the ball in midfield?

I think Reece needs to be employed in a capacity where he can use his defensive and attacking skills - he's a complete footballer so to only utilise part of his skillset won't be making full use of him as a player. Hopefully as things progress we'll see that develop.

5 hours ago, Gordon Bennett said:

One thing to be said for Pochettino last season is that his basketball style of football was often entertaining, if frustrating - we scored a lot and conceded a lot. For many Chelsea fans now though I think we just want to be back competing for CL football and if it means it's a bit boring but we get results, I personally don't necessarily mind. As for the 2-2 against Wrexham it's preseason and these types of results are commonplace.

Thanks for stopping by and good luck in the forthcoming season. Will be good to see Leicester v Forest in the Prem.

Totally mate and he will be a very devisive manager for your fans I feel, it says alot when over half of our fanbase couldn't wait to see the back of him, even though we got promoted under him 

He left me with more fond memories then not don't get me wrong, and it was a case of job done when we went up, having said that we nearly blew a 18 point lead so more relief 🤣 

It's boring football majority of the time I won't lie, and the 90 mins watching can feel a chore but he seems to get all his players buying into how he wants to play and the majority of our lads seemed to really like playing for him 

Also about inverted fullbacks, Enzo absolutely loves that tactic

For us Ricardo was our inverted FB, and being honest it worked a treat for him and potentially saved his career because he went through pretty much Injury free, having said that it was in the Championship and most of our lot were far too good for the league 

It seems he prefers to play his RB inverted so I imagine you will see alot of Reece James in the middle of the park when you have the ball 

2 hours ago, WhiteWall said:

Back to MOTD highlights only then, as I'm approaching 60 and life is too bloody short to be wasting watching boring sh*t football week in week out. Anything approaching any form of entertainment nowadays seems to be branded as chaos.

It can get you results, but is very hard on the eye most of the time 

As I said in another comment, I can guarantee he will be one of the most divisive managers amongst your fanbase you will ever have

For those who were bored by the match, a bit more boredom 😝 I did pretty well on the pre-season prediction game, in the club's app. Got both result and first scorer correct, so currently 63rd out of 21,227. My pre-season got off to a good start 

Went to the game. Sitting in San Jose airport now waiting on my flight back to Burbank. 
Not much to add on what’s been said already. First half ok, second awful except the equalizer. Lot of sideways passing and scrappy encounters with Wrexham who did appear a bit more up for it on the night. Gaff was half empty. Two birds (a couple) sat next to me flew in from New Orleans , the one into ⚽️ was a Liverpool fan, it’s America and they all wear their team shirts whether their team is playing or not. Was a mare getting out walked for a mile at least to get an Uber. Possession based football with decisive attacking can be a thing of beauty to behold, unfortunately think a lot of the squad will struggle trying to fulfill Marescas requirements and tactics, his philosophy does eerily remind me of that plonker Sarri. Sterling was pants again but it is only preseason game 1. 
fingers crossed it starts to gel and when the talented players return from hols we see a vast improvement.

Love that t-shirt, lovely stuff.

1 hour ago, General said:

Went to the game. Sitting in San Jose airport now waiting on my flight back to Burbank. 
Not much to add on what’s been said already. First half ok, second awful except the equalizer. Lot of sideways passing and scrappy encounters with Wrexham who did appear a bit more up for it on the night. Gaff was half empty. Two birds (a couple) sat next to me flew in from New Orleans , the one into ⚽️ was a Liverpool fan, it’s America and they all wear their team shirts whether their team is playing or not. Was a mare getting out walked for a mile at least to get an Uber. Possession based football with decisive attacking can be a thing of beauty to behold, unfortunately think a lot of the squad will struggle trying to fulfill Marescas requirements and tactics, his philosophy does eerily remind me of that plonker Sarri. Sterling was pants again but it is only preseason game 1. 
fingers crossed it starts to gel and when the talented players return from hols we see a vast improvement.

Having a beer on the terraces /seats !

9 hours ago, dkw said:

A pre season game with half a squad against a team week's ahead in preparation and people are already losing their sh*t.....amazing.

Also, James McLean is a c**t of the highest order and I wish Levi had chinned him.

I blame the owners 

😜

1 hour ago, CofPunk said:

It can get you results, but is very hard on the eye most of the time 

As I said in another comment, I can guarantee he will be one of the most divisive managers amongst your fanbase you will ever hav

Weren't Leicester fans complaining during an away game when you were winning 3-1 or something and Maresca had a go at you ? The piece I read said there were groans from your fans as yet another pass went backwards to the keeper ?

It's bad enough watching turgid football when you're winning, it'll be torturous if we're losing games 

3 hours ago, DarkMata said:

Is it just me that would rather see Reece James storming up the flank putting in wicked crosses, cutting in to unleash his hammer of a shot, rather than recycling the ball in midfield?

He's never been a true hug the touchline fullback. In his early days he often got into inverted positions to cross and score (main case in point his goal vs Brighton).

What I would like to see however is him getting licence to make underlapping runs like he did in that Autumn period under Tuchel.

16 minutes ago, Argo said:

He's never been a true hug the touchline fullback. In his early days he often got into inverted positions to cross and score (main case in point his goal vs Brighton).

What I would like to see however is him getting licence to make underlapping runs like he did in that Autumn period under Tuchel.

Didn’t mean him to hug the touch line.  Just his attacking self when he was fully fit.  Worried he’s going to be shackled playing deep in midfield.

5 hours ago, WhiteWall said:

Back to MOTD highlights only then, as I'm approaching 60 and life is too bloody short to be wasting watching boring sh*t football week in week out. Anything approaching any form of entertainment nowadays seems to be branded as chaos.

I was bored stiff even by the "highlights" of the Wrexham game LOL

At least we made it to season 3 of the Welcome to Wrexham, likely a 2 minutes cameo but give the owners a taste of the good things.

Now being one of the fortunate ones this side of the pond for that last 30+ years I felt sorry for the fans back in the UK having sacrificed precious sleep to watch this nonsense. A 10pm KO  here so I was near on asleep by 10:30 the game was that riveting  zzzzzzz.    A nothing game really, the lads only arrived a few hours earlier on the West Coast, so we got what we should have expected..a tired bunch of players attempting to play a system that is totally alien to them, and while this was a pick n mix players thrown together, overall it was disorganized, dysfunctional and disorientating to watch; Wrexham harried, chased, put in a few tasty tackles, broke through the midfield numerous times....the score line flatters us but who cares.   

Let's see what happens by pre-season game 4 or 5....AND I am definitely not liking this inverted full back nonsense, exposed far too often down the flanks and the two full backs were wandering aimlessly around midfield doing sod all TBH...a RWB / LWB should be defenders first, not  pissing around in the middle causing congestion and chaos.   

3 hours ago, Argo said:

He's never been a true hug the touchline fullback. In his early days he often got into inverted positions to cross and score (main case in point his goal vs Brighton).

What I would like to see however is him getting licence to make underlapping runs like he did in that Autumn period under Tuchel.

He unlocks a whole new dimension to the attack when he does that, and yeah for whatever reason it has evaporated from his/Chelsea's game over the last few years. When he plays wide/overlap he often recieves the ball too early whereas when he is inverting and playing the underlap he is running on to the pass like a freight-train and is much harder to stop.

Everyone complaining about reece james being shackled must be forgetting about the mans injury record. If we put less strain on his body movement wise then maybe we stand a chance of getting more football out of him. I dont think its a realistic option anymore to run him as hard as some of you are suggesting, we know how that ends.

Edited July 26, 20241 yr by ALTE

1 hour ago, CFCCAN said:

Let's see what happens by pre-season game 4 or 5....AND I am definitely not liking this inverted full back nonsense, exposed far too often down the flanks and the two full backs were wandering aimlessly around midfield doing sod all TBH...a RWB / LWB should be defenders first, not  pissing around in the middle causing congestion and chaos.   

yeah. As played in that game I didn't like it, not only for the reasons you give, which I agree with, but also because we miss the corner triangles that lead to so many opportunities.

11 hours ago, dkw said:

Love that t-shirt, lovely stuff.

@General's shirt makes a nice combo with the P**l shirt 😁 

On 25/07/2024 at 11:35, Bob stark said:

We have seen this under Sarri. 

Low block, Sideway passes, and everytime we conceded first I just switch of my TV, I knew it was over. 

At least back then we had Hazard to bail us out

12 hours ago, SydneyChelsea said:

He unlocks a whole new dimension to the attack when he does that, and yeah for whatever reason it has evaporated from his/Chelsea's game over the last few years. When he plays wide/overlap he often recieves the ball too early whereas when he is inverting and playing the underlap he is running on to the pass like a freight-train and is much harder to stop.

He didn't invert into dm. 

He was playing as normal wb  but TT sometimes prefer to have his wb narrower and his am/winger wider depending on the opp. 

23 hours ago, DarkMata said:

Is it just me that would rather see Reece James storming up the flank putting in wicked crosses, cutting in to unleash his hammer of a shot, rather than recycling the ball in midfield?

 

22 hours ago, Gordon Bennett said:

I think Reece needs to be employed in a capacity where he can use his defensive and attacking skills - he's a complete footballer so to only utilise part of his skillset won't be making full use of him as a player. Hopefully as things progress we'll see that develop.

The problem is that over recent years he's been made of biscuits. Whatever we do, we need to maximise his productivity on the pitch. There is no point in playing him in a position that gives us the utmost best of him, but we only get 10 games a year out of him. I would rather compromise and get a really good and effective Reece James that is available and competing for 30-40 games this season.