4 hours ago, dkw said:

Was it f**k fine, it was atrocious, I've never seen a striker knock the ball so far ahead of himself so many times.

That's not his first touch.

Liam Delap is a good player. He is just the player we need and maybe he didn't have the best game against Arsenal, but it was Arsenal and we had 10 players. . . I think maybe some folks around here are getting a little ahead of themselves with the negative judgement of a player. Maybe?

13 minutes ago, timetowaste said:

If we keep giving him proper playing time I'm sure he will.

If he proves himself to be better than Jackson, he will get proper playing time. Chicken and egg situation isn't it?

I was not Jackson's biggest fan but he started pretty well for us even though he didn't score in his first few games. You could see some very good signs. He was always very involved with the general play and pressing which I don't see in Delap's game so far.

I think a lot of us soured on Jackson because of some of his bone-headed decisions towards the end of his time here but he was decent overall. It is early days but nothing so far shows we have upgraded in that position.

With Delap, I there's probably an element of "grass being greener" syndrome since so many people have convinced themselves he can't possibly be worse than Jackson even though so far there's no evidence to back that up.

We all hope he comes good but let's be objective about his performances so far. Saying he hasn't been great doesn't mean people are writing him off already.

38 minutes ago, GarnachoCheese said:

That's not his first touch.

It was, he would get the ball passed to him and just knock it ahead, but wayyyyy ahead. He's absolutely sh*te, anyone wanting him back is an idiot.

Delap is a bit "headless chicken" isn't he ?Seems to just run around aimlessly I think.

Still, it might be a tactic, let's wait and see.

Problem is, if he starts and we lose, he'll have to go . !!

Edited December 2, 2025Dec 2 by The Rising Sun
Info

9 minutes ago, dkw said:

It was, he would get the ball passed to him and just knock it ahead, but wayyyyy ahead. He's absolutely sh*te, anyone wanting him back is an idiot.

What does it say about us when Jackson was considered by Maresca to be his perfect No.9?

29 minutes ago, The Rising Sun said:

What does it say about us when Jackson was considered by Maresca to be his perfect No.9?

To be honest I think that was more of a situation like when your kid brings home a crap drawing. You know it's crap but you're gonna say it's fantastic and it's going up on the fridge.

1 hour ago, The Rising Sun said:

What does it say about us when Jackson was considered by Maresca to be his perfect No.9?

You didn't believe that did you?

His perfect #9 was total bo**ocks trying to boost Jacko's confidence no doubt.

Maresca's perfect 9 is the same as Pep's players like - Haaland, Aguero, Gabriel Jesus but our directors know better I guess.

Not going to slag off a 22-year old striker, in his second season of top-flight football, coming back from his first serious injury, playing in a team with tactics that are best described as a striker's graveyard.

The real issue is that Dumb & Dumber have spent ~£120m on three strikers who cannot buy consistent performances, let alone goals. £85m of that amount was spent on two strikers who, combined, can't even match the contribution of the £35m flop they replaced.

7 minutes ago, SydneyChelsea said:

Not going to slag off a 22-year old striker, in his second season of top-flight football, coming back from his first serious injury, playing in a team with tactics that are best described as a striker's graveyard.

The real issue is that Dumb & Dumber have spent ~£120m on three strikers who cannot buy consistent performances, let alone goals. £85m of that amount was spent on two strikers who, combined, can't even match the contribution of the £35m flop they replaced.

Couldn't agree more £35m gets you half a player these days. The risk/reward ratio is crazy for Delap.

45 minutes ago, Scott said:

You didn't believe that did you?

His perfect #9 was total bo**ocks trying to boost Jacko's confidence no doubt.

Maresca's perfect 9 is the same as Pep's players like - Haaland, Aguero, Gabriel Jesus but our directors know better I guess.

I've been decieved by Maresca. I'll never take him at his word again , the fecker

10 hours ago, GarnachoCheese said:

22/23 Jackson - G/A every 153 mins

23/24 Jackson - G/A every 133 mins

24/25 Delap - G/A every 360 mins

Its going to have to be one hell of an improvement to what we've seen so far.

This irritated me quite abit, not going to lie.

HOW can you compare Jackson to Delap when Jackson started every single week and played 90 minutes majority of the games, while Delap had maybe, 3 starts?

Stupid comparison.

1 hour ago, SydneyChelsea said:

Not going to slag off a 22-year old striker, in his second season of top-flight football, coming back from his first serious injury, playing in a team with tactics that are best described as a striker's graveyard.

The real issue is that Dumb & Dumber have spent ~£120m on three strikers who cannot buy consistent performances, let alone goals. £85m of that amount was spent on two strikers who, combined, can't even match the contribution of the £35m flop they replaced.

Agreed.

On the other hand, I have to confess that I've never seen enough quality in Delap's game to warrant a move for him. He's a good player, young, powerful, but he's simply not skilful enough in my book--not for top flight football anyway.

I think he's a decent enough player but I just don't see a USP from him. Giroud always had a quality touch and brought others into the game along with mercurial something now and again. Drogba always had a goal, regardless of how he was playing. His accuracy, power and sheer presence always gave him the edge. Costa had presence, brute strength and cojones, which bought him space where again his dead eyed accuracy made him such a danger.

With this lad, and I know it's early days, he just doesn't seem to have a unique selling point. To me he looks a good championship striker in the making that will score goals but will still be hit and miss. He doesn't look like he has progressed dramatically from his loan days at Hull. But I appreciate he is still young and developing so hopefully he will prove me wrong

Yeah, maybe it is harsh to get on top of him like some of us are already.

But Jackson came here at the same age and was doing better at this point. That's not to say Delap is going to be worse, but he definitely still has a lot to prove. Jackson wasn't good enough, but neither is Delap until he can prove otherwise. But right now... I was more impressed with Nico in his first few months, and I say this as someone who's far from a Nico Jackson fan.

I'm not completely writing him off like some are, but I'm definitely concerned because he seems miles away at the moment. I would prefer to see Guiu play the next game.

Edited December 2, 2025Dec 2 by Victor90

1 hour ago, dansubrosa said:

This irritated me quite abit, not going to lie.

HOW can you compare Jackson to Delap when Jackson started every single week and played 90 minutes majority of the games, while Delap had maybe, 3 starts?

Stupid comparison.

Are Delap's numbers from his Ipswich season?

The thing is, he needs a run of games. And he needs to have more or less the same players around him to build understanding and relationships, which is difficult when we keep changing the team most weeks.

Honestly, it is your own fans who are the most fickle sometimes. I wasn't necessarily blown over when we bought him, but was willing to give him a go. Now after a few appearances, people have decided he is not good enough? His first game he was a sub against Palace so hard to judge, especially against a solid defensive outfit such as Palace. Next game we played West Ham and he was very good. He did not score but his hold up play was brilliant. Estevao will get the plaudits for Enzo's goal against the Hammers but Delap was the one who held the ball up and laid into Estevao's path to go on his mazy run. He was really good. We then played Fulham and he got injured within a few minutes and has been off for what 2 months? Makes a return late October as a late sub against Wolves where he got 2 stupid bookings and got sent off and got himself a silly suspension. Daft yes but let's not pretend we have not had other players commit stupid fouls and got sent off before.

His next game against Qarabag, he came on beginning of second half. Did not impact the game much but the guy has been off for practically 2 months. Not an easy game to come into. He then gets a start against Wolves where he looked really rusty and was taken off second half. Bare in mind this was his first start in 3 months after the hamstring injury. Forgive him for not being sharp. He is building his match sharpness. Burnley he started again and I thought he was selfish but you could see what he was capable of with the hold up play and binging others into play. I was happy with his performance. Against Barca next he comes on and scores. The final game, we play Arsenal where he was a sub and came on in difficult circumstances for a team a man short and I am not sure why he is getting so much flack. He did have occasions where he bullied that Arsenal defence, won a foul and held it up well.

I am not going to go and say he will be as good as Costa for us for eg, nor will I say he is going to be a bust, but I just find it astounding that based on a few games where he has had a disrupted schedule, people have decided he is not good enough. Your own fans can really be the most harsh and most fickle sometimes. No surprise because after a few games for Caicedo, many fans had decided he was a waste of money and now look how good he is. Cucurella too. You cannot judge a player after 3 months, well in Delap's case he hasn't even had 3 months as he has spent 2 months injured.

Come on get real and give him time.

5 hours ago, The Rising Sun said:

The thing is, he needs a run of games. And he needs to have more or less the same players around him to build understanding and relationships, which is difficult when we keep changing the team most weeks.

I don't think that is Delap problem.

Delap is big, strong, can fight CB. Technically he is not great. His link up game is really bad.

You probably want this kind of st to be more of your plan B st than your main guy.

Edited December 3, 2025Dec 3 by Bob stark

12 hours ago, Scott said:

You didn't believe that did you?

His perfect #9 was total bo**ocks trying to boost Jacko's confidence no doubt.

Maresca's perfect 9 is the same as Pep's players like - Haaland, Aguero, Gabriel Jesus but our directors know better I guess.

So what exactly is Pep's perfect 9? Because Haaland is the polar opposite of Aguero and Jesus.

11 hours ago, dansubrosa said:

This irritated me quite abit, not going to lie.

HOW can you compare Jackson to Delap when Jackson started every single week and played 90 minutes majority of the games, while Delap had maybe, 3 starts?

Stupid comparison.

Don't get irritated, they're just words on an internet forum. Take a deep breath .

I can only compare the evidence that is available, like i said many times i'll update at the end of the season. I could compare Jackson's Chelsea stint to Delap's Ipswich stint but them i'm sure you'll be equally annoyed because HOW can i compare playing in a team like Chelsea to battling relegation for Ipswich?!

Here's another one, Jackson has barely started for Bayern (463 mins) and Delap for Chelsea (334 mins). Both teams challenging for their respective titles:

f**ks sake, stop comparing apples to oranges you daft sod, thats a completely meaningless argument.

3 hours ago, STATS said:

Honestly, it is your own fans who are the most fickle sometimes. I wasn't necessarily blown over when we bought him, but was willing to give him a go. Now after a few appearances, people have decided he is not good enough? His first game he was a sub against Palace so hard to judge, especially against a solid defensive outfit such as Palace. Next game we played West Ham and he was very good. He did not score but his hold up play was brilliant. Estevao will get the plaudits for Enzo's goal against the Hammers but Delap was the one who held the ball up and laid into Estevao's path to go on his mazy run. He was really good. We then played Fulham and he got injured within a few minutes and has been off for what 2 months? Makes a return late October as a late sub against Wolves where he got 2 stupid bookings and got sent off and got himself a silly suspension. Daft yes but let's not pretend we have not had other players commit stupid fouls and got sent off before.

His next game against Qarabag, he came on beginning of second half. Did not impact the game much but the guy has been off for practically 2 months. Not an easy game to come into. He then gets a start against Wolves where he looked really rusty and was taken off second half. Bare in mind this was his first start in 3 months after the hamstring injury. Forgive him for not being sharp. He is building his match sharpness. Burnley he started again and I thought he was selfish but you could see what he was capable of with the hold up play and binging others into play. I was happy with his performance. Against Barca next he comes on and scores. The final game, we play Arsenal where he was a sub and came on in difficult circumstances for a team a man short and I am not sure why he is getting so much flack. He did have occasions where he bullied that Arsenal defence, won a foul and held it up well.

I am not going to go and say he will be as good as Costa for us for eg, nor will I say he is going to be a bust, but I just find it astounding that based on a few games where he has had a disrupted schedule, people have decided he is not good enough. Your own fans can really be the most harsh and most fickle sometimes. No surprise because after a few games for Caicedo, many fans had decided he was a waste of money and now look how good he is. Cucurella too. You cannot judge a player after 3 months, well in Delap's case he hasn't even had 3 months as he has spent 2 months injured.

Come on get real and give him time.

"he was realy good this game according to me"

The reality:

A lot of these are Championship level teams he's dropping clangers against.

10 minutes ago, dkw said:

f**ks sake, stop comparing apples to oranges you daft sod, thats a completely meaningless argument.

I've compared Jackson at Chelsea to Delap at Chelsea.

Jackson at Chelsea to Delap at Ipswich.

Jackson at Bayern (limited minutes) to Delap at Chelsea (limited minutes).

Don't get your knickers in a twist that Jackson is simply better than Delap.

3 minutes ago, GarnachoCheese said:

I've compared Jackson at Chelsea to Delap at Chelsea.

Jackson at Chelsea to Delap at Ipswich.

Jackson at Bayern (limited minutes) to Delap at Chelsea (limited minutes).

Don't get your knickers in a twist that Jackson is simply better than Delap.

No he isnt, stop being a dick.