I think it is too early for doom and gloom. I thought in general we played well, but our midfield and winger balance was very bad. 

Nkunku didn't want to defend and we all know Palmer doesn't want to defend so it was so easy for City to attack our fb. This not new. Poch spent all season trying to get Mudryk and Madueke to go back defend. 

Maresca decision to play Nkunku as lw is criminal though. 

Midfield wise, the same thing, Gallagher was our key player in term of making caicenzo balance.

 

15 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

Dewsbury-Hall - 3 - Also ineffective. Just looks like a Championship player to me.

 

I guess we signed Dewsbury-Hall because Steve Sidwell had already retired and we couldn't sign him?

Positives

- Performance improvements from pre-season
- Lavia was quality
- Defensively we were actually pretty good 
- ⁠kept possession well most of the game against the best team in the world

Cons
- Enzo further forward is terrible
- ⁠Palmer rusty
- ⁠Jackson still our main striker
- ⁠Sanchez terrible
- The result, obviously

I think you always have to look for positives in any situation. And Mudryk's performance today was one of his best for a long while.

3 minutes ago, TheCeleryKing said:

I guess we signed Dewsbury-Hall because Steve Sidwell had already retired and we couldn't sign him?

Having been at LCFC for nearly 20 years it was sad to see him go but other than energy and a decent pass he wasn't irreplaceable and I was surprised a club requiring much higher quality players went for him, hopefully he can push on but sadly I think it'll be little more a success than Drinkwater 

On the plus side, we could have been decimated today and some frustrating wasted chances maybe, maybe could have changed the result.

On the negative side, terrible up front (especially Jackson who is still making making the kind of mistakes you'd hope someone with a full season behind them wouldn't be making ) and there's still a sense that at any point our defence will gift a goal or make things way too easy for them.

Worst thing is that the game hasn't provided any re-assurance that this season won't be like last.

10 minutes ago, timetowaste said:

Positives

- Performance improvements from pre-season
- Lavia was quality
- Defensively we were actually pretty good 
- ⁠kept possession well most of the game against the best team in the world

Cons
- Enzo further forward is terrible
- ⁠Palmer rusty
- ⁠Jackson still our main striker
- ⁠Sanchez terrible
- The result, obviously

I think defensively and ball retention wise, Chelsea will be fine, even with the likes of Vestergaard n Faes at LCFC we looked very organised and could keep the ball well

Positive signs but doesn't matter how well we play if we can't score, granted City had three of the best defenders in world football on the pitch. Sanchez arguably should have saved from Kovacic. Osimhen/Darwin Nunez/Toney desperately needed imho.

We'll first try to get Lukaku, Sterling and Chilwell off the books and then I guess we will pull the trigger on Osimhen on transfer deadline day.

Simply put, Jackson is a lamp post. Can't have this sort of brain dead footballer lead the line in such an important season. He could potentially destroy everything we are trying to build. 

11 minutes ago, TheCeleryKing said:

I guess we signed Dewsbury-Hall because Steve Sidwell had already retired and we couldn't sign him?

August 18, 2025.

"A representative for Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall has issued this statement after he was left out of Chelsea's squad in a season opener. The club's new manager Kieran McKenna said that "it was a tactical decision, no more than that."

16 minutes ago, timetowaste said:

Positives

- Performance improvements from pre-season
- Lavia was quality
- Defensively we were actually pretty good 
- ⁠kept possession well most of the game against the best team in the world

Cons
- Enzo further forward is terrible
- ⁠Palmer rusty
- ⁠Jackson still our main striker
- ⁠Sanchez terrible
- The result, obviously

I would add caicedo to cons

and pros - Maresca made some changes and pretty early not that they had much impact but we were screaming at Poch all last season to do that. 

Don't worry.

The EPL will award us a 3-0 win after Citeh are found guilty of the charges against them.

Oh and De Bruyne was funny with his new “Bob” hair style and falling over every time someone farted down wind of him. 

We tried Enzo as a No.10 and it didn't work out.  We brought on Dewsbury-Hall as a false no.10 and pushed Enzo jnr. further back.  I wasn't sure that we were playing KDH as a false no.10. I wasnt quite sure as to where he was playing or why tbh. Obviously a nice bloke - but KDH is not going to get int o the England Squad ahead of Conor Gallagher anytime soon. IF we want a no.10 so bad, then we should buy that Mr.Felix and/or play Nkunku in that role. Palmer in a couple of years would be suited to that role perhaps.

Where do we play Enzo? He was the Captain. He is obviously a leader in this squad of young players. A conductor of the action and He probably led them in song on many a bus ride. He is obviously a good player. Just not sure where he fits into this team. 

5 minutes ago, TheCeleryKing said:

We tried Enzo as a No.10 and it didn't work out.  We brought on Dewsbury-Hall as a false no.10 and pushed Enzo jnr. further back.  I wasn't sure that we were playing KDH as a false no.10. I wasnt quite sure as to where he was playing or why tbh. Obviously a nice bloke - but KDH is not going to get int o the England Squad ahead of Conor Gallagher anytime soon. IF we want a no.10 so bad, then we should buy that Mr.Felix and/or play Nkunku in that role. Palmer in a couple of years would be suited to that role perhaps.

Where do we play Enzo? He was the Captain. He is obviously a leader in this squad of young players. A conductor of the action and He probably led them in song on many a bus ride. He is obviously a good player. Just not sure where he fits into this team. 

He isn't mobile enough to suceed in the EPL. There's no doubt he's a talented footballer but he's not suited to this league.

3 minutes ago, abramovich said:

He isn't mobile enough to suceed in the EPL. There's no doubt he's a talented footballer but he's not suited to this league.

Agreed. That has been pretty clear over the last couple of seasons. He can play some nice passes and has some great touches. But he is not suited to the Premier League. I think he would do well at Real Madrid.

Positives? Try to twist it any way you want but the only positive was that we were not absolutely and utterly abysmal.

It's as we expected - easily beaten by a very strong team whilst we cobble together a side of variable quality footballers from a bloated squad of random signings.

Meanwhile some c**t yank accountant with a sh*t haircut sits in the stands wondering why a Baseball strategy doesn't work for football. 

Pardew said on talksport “it isn’t a good look that TB left his seat early, i hope he hasn’t gone down to the dressing room, i hear he’s got a habit of doing that “….anyone heard anything?

1 hour ago, Scott Harris said:

Because the fans are sick of paying absurd amounts of money to watch such low energy football. Relegated teams play with more fight and passion than we do. The good feeling that was building towards the end of last season has complete evaporated and it's because of these owners and their decision to try and make us City 2.0 with yet another coach who wants us playing the most uninspiring snoozeball. 

Its the managers first game. I made a post elsewhere previously about needing to be careful with how quickly this season turns toxic. If there is ANY chance of this working, Maresca deserves at least a little patience. By all means demonstrate against the owners. But groaning at a backwards pass when we are 1-0 down to the best team in England for the past decade is obsurd when its a managers first competitive game and, for the most part, we held our own. Even if this version of holding our own is less chaotic than that chaos ball Poch had us playing last year. 

I cannot keep up with the handball rules.

 

So strange being a Chelsea fan at the moment. Most of us aren't enamored with the owners and no one really wanted Maresca. 

It's like we are being sidelined from our own club. 

5 minutes ago, POCH OUT said:

Pardew said on talksport “it isn’t a good look that TB left his seat early....

I think he got pissed off that a player that he sold completely Eden'd his 'star boy' shirt-selling midfielders, then made a fool of that amazing number-one goalkeeper that he chose!

Few things killed the game for me. 

- Nkunku at LW with no one overlapping .
  He’s not a touchline winger.

- Enzo getting at the end of all our best chances.

- Taking Lavia off (Easily our best CM at the moment). 

- Taking off Nkunku instead of moving him centrally. 

- Taking off Jackson for Guiu. As poor as Jackson was this move basically put a stopping break on the attack and we essentially played with 10 men. The lad is not ready and has a very raw overall game. 

This game didn’t show us anything new. Work in progress and we still desperately need a presence in the box and clinical forward. 
 

 

Not going to doom and gloom because it's City. We need to accept that even at home we're just not the same team/club that will go toe to toe with the best. There were some positives and I think we'll get better.

I am someone who thought that we've spent so much money that we need to stop but I went into this window pre poch sacking beliving we just need a top striker/goalkeeper and we will get top 4.

Different manager but same needs.

Our recruitment has been shocking.

18 minutes ago, Dr Gonzo said:

So strange being a Chelsea fan at the moment. Most of us aren't enamored with the owners and no one really wanted Maresca. 

It's like we are being sidelined from our own club. 

Nice try, Raheem.