It’s not often I agree with Gary Neville but he was saying last night about the fact that our wingers don’t vary their position much and are not making diagonal runs.
 

It's so predictable and then when we get crosses in, there is nobody in the box. Our wingers are like Croydon trams. Just go up and down the same lines. 
 

Edited February 15, 20251 yr by Petworth Chelsea Fan

5 minutes ago, Petworth Chelsea Fan said:

It’s not often I agree with Gary Neville but he was saying last night about the fact that our wingers don’t vary their position much and are not making diagonal runs.
 

It's so predictable and then when we get crosses in, there is nobody in the box. Our wingers are like Croydon trams. Just go up and down the same lines. 
 

Our attacking lacks creativity and spontaneity. We really need Palmer, Nkunku, Madueke and Neto to be let off the leash. With Maresca they look petrified to be 2 yards away from where he's drilled them to be. 

That was so embarrassing to watch and I could see from the start of the game that we were not going to deal with Brighton. Not one shot on target! Totally unacceptable. That bench is frankly embarrassing. That was pretty much a bench you expect to be see in the U20 World Cup. To think we had one of the best squad depths to one of the weakest is quite shocking. Everything that was questioned has now hit is bang on the face. Did not sign a striker. Did not sign a winger but loaned out Felix. I said it before but loaning out Felix without getting a replacement is one of the must stupidest decisions made. Mudryk is banned. Whoever is in charge for making these decisions should be sacked because they have left us depleted in attack.

Now Jackson, Guiu and Madueke are injured. This means in our next few games for forseeable future, we will not have one senior attacking player on the bench. Bare in mind the decisions to loan out Chukz and Felix and not buy any attacking players was done with us at the time competing for FA Cup, Premier League and UECL. We are now out of the FA Cup but did the board really think we could be competing in three trophies with that little depth and knowing that apart from Palmer and Jackson, most of our attackers are prone to injury. And ironically Jackson of all people gets injured.

It is just infuriating because we are going to see many more games like this where we are outclassed. The team is way too inexperienced and there is no experience on the bench either.

That was one of Palmer's worst ever games if not worst game for us. But yeah, really worrying. You would have thought Marecsa would have worked on something new after losing to them in the FA Cup, but we just looked worse. George actually looked decent when he came on at least.

1 hour ago, alvarezCFC said:

Im little confused by your comments! You said it yourself: Three years to build the identity and show evolution...and all we have done in that time is regressed and won sh*t all! So you would be cool with another 3 seasons with those clowns and their project?

And who picks the managers for the club? 

But its not been 3 years of a project though has it?

They came in, threw a load of money at bad/past it/ill suited players (Sterling, K2, Auba etc) - and then had to spend another year clearing up that mess.

I said at the time, and have said since, in my opinion we should have stood with Potter. It was painful at times, but there were chinks of light.  Alas - we got rid of him, and then we had to deal with the mess of lamps 2.0.

Poch comes in 6 months later and the clock starts again - new project - but after a whole season we saw zero progress or evolution of how we play. For those missing Poch, go back and watch the game against Nottingham Forest away at the end of last season - it was some of the worst football I have ever seen us play (we won the game I think - but we were awful!).  Poch left, and the shambles continues. 

Maresca comes in and we double down on the stagnant, slow, sideways, citeh lite way of playing.  This is not how we should be playing.  We are not Barca. We are not city. We should not be trying to copy a style that isnt suited to our squad.

We should have a number of principles to how we play.

1) A "we will not be defeated" mentality. 

2) When we get the ball - we move the ball progressively and with speed/urgency up the field.  No more farting around playing it in triangles around the CBs

3) A strong midfield, with power and energy to break teams down, and an ability to progress the ball forward at pace.

Reading this back, it sounds like Jose mark 1. That team was a beast. I am not expecting a well oiled winning machine in 1 day - but the blueprint and urgency should be there from the start. There is no excuse for the slow, stagnant and sideways football - it has to stop.  The best teams to watch in the league at the moment are Liverpool, Bournemouth, Newcastle and Forest - and they none of the piss around with the ball at walking pace in defence. 

 

10 hours ago, Petworth Chelsea Fan said:

Problem is an inexperienced team lead by an inexperienced manager 

also with inexperienced SD's  (Brighton and Monaco are hardly top level) 

11 hours ago, Petworth Chelsea Fan said:

Problem is an inexperienced team lead by an inexperienced manager 

That’s it in a nutshell.

For me anyway.

we have so over complicated the simple game of football and allowed the media and managers  the platform to convince the gullible public

 that football is rocket science and we need  a specialist person for everything to do with playing except actually playing the game on the pitch  

any old keeper will do and put that guy who runs fast upfront , the rest we can pick to make up a team each time we play  it really is amateur hour

at the bridge   Its no coincidence that when Caicedo and Lavia who are both grafters and have height on there side are playing we do better as it allows players like palmer time on the ball  

OUR poor Manager has options 1 speak out and face the rathe of our owners and get possible get sacked 

                                                      2 keep quiet  do nothing and get  sacked end of season 

                                                    ITS OUR OWNERS THAT ARE AT  FAULT  stop saying we are a project  are trophy cabinet

                                                   which is the envy of the majority of teams  to say we are a project is an Insult to past and present Players 

                                                     

Earlier in the season most teams were very worried about us, our defence was crap, but when we won the ball we attacked at speed, we pressed and harried them in their own half, often winning the ball close to goal. yes we conceded far too many goals, but at least it was a case of you score 2 or 3, but we'll out score you to win. What was needed was to tweak the defence, to improve it. Marescas approach seems to be EVERY player has to defend first, which stops them going as high up the field as fast as they need to. This has stifled the attackers, to the point that they are so frustrated and scared of not being able to defend that they won't try as hard as before. They see the system does not work, is too easy to defend against, and simply not worth the effort of trying. That's why the opposition scoring causes the heads to drop, our players know the chance of scoring playing this slow turgid style means a chance of perhaps one goal a game at most, and with our defence you need at least 3 goals to feel relatively secure. If Maresca doesn't change back to how we were playing or adapt to suit our players, the he needs to go very quickly. I can easily imagine a rash of transfer requests coming at the end of the season, and nobody will want to come here. I was quite excited about the project, on paper a very good plan, but implemented wrongly, without the experience on the field needed to guide the young players. Maresca is too stubborn and stupid to guide them, as he will not deviate from copying Pep, without the resources Pep has, and even he has admitted now that ticca tacca sh*t can no longer work.

It was a project, and had goals, but the fallout between Boehly and Clearlake has meant Clearlake taking control, and their adgenda, has nothing to do with football. It may be that all along they intended to usurp power and start asset stripping the club.

59 minutes ago, nonotnowjim said:

But its not been 3 years of a project though has it?

They came in, threw a load of money at bad/past it/ill suited players (Sterling, K2, Auba etc) - and then had to spend another year clearing up that mess.

I said at the time, and have said since, in my opinion we should have stood with Potter. It was painful at times, but there were chinks of light.  Alas - we got rid of him, and then we had to deal with the mess of lamps 2.0.

Poch comes in 6 months later and the clock starts again - new project - but after a whole season we saw zero progress or evolution of how we play. For those missing Poch, go back and watch the game against Nottingham Forest away at the end of last season - it was some of the worst football I have ever seen us play (we won the game I think - but we were awful!).  Poch left, and the shambles continues. 

Maresca comes in and we double down on the stagnant, slow, sideways, citeh lite way of playing.  This is not how we should be playing.  We are not Barca. We are not city. We should not be trying to copy a style that isnt suited to our squad.

We should have a number of principles to how we play.

1) A "we will not be defeated" mentality. 

2) When we get the ball - we move the ball progressively and with speed/urgency up the field.  No more farting around playing it in triangles around the CBs

3) A strong midfield, with power and energy to break teams down, and an ability to progress the ball forward at pace.

Reading this back, it sounds like Jose mark 1. That team was a beast. I am not expecting a well oiled winning machine in 1 day - but the blueprint and urgency should be there from the start. There is no excuse for the slow, stagnant and sideways football - it has to stop.  The best teams to watch in the league at the moment are Liverpool, Bournemouth, Newcastle and Forest - and they none of the piss around with the ball at walking pace in defence. 

 

I kind of have a sneaky feeling that Nagelsmann may have been the guy. Not sure I liked his persona and he showed this board up early doors as they just want a yes man, but with support and perseverance he may well have been the one and he slipped past before we were even truly I the running.

14 hours ago, hawkster said:

I blame the tories forced the sale of our club and here we are ,stuck with a bunch of useless cnuts in management and a bunch of pusdies as players . I forecast  a very serious problem with the team and we will be fighting relegation next year 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/ne

14 hours ago, hawkster said:

I blame the tories forced the sale of our club and here we are ,stuck with a bunch of useless cnuts in management and a bunch of pusdies as players . I forecast  a very serious problem with the team and we will be fighting relegation next year 

ws/uk-politics-60506563.amp

3-0

Reflects the 3 years of this ownership. 

1 hour ago, Frankfurter said:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/ne

ws/uk-politics-60506563.amp

You beat me to it

Gusto - 

As a team we were very disappointing tonight,” he told the Premier League as cited on X.com.

“They had more desire to win than us and we need to do better in the next game because it will be important for us to stay in the top four – that is the target.”

No sh*t Malo!

Well I have a confession to make…I turned the game off after the first goal went in.  This is the first time that I’ve done that in my near 60 years of following this club and it wasn’t easy.  I was not surprised when a friend of mine that we got stuffed, had 70% possession and no shots on goal.
 

It was clear from the outset that Brighton were playing 5 sometimes 6 across the back line and packed the middle when they did not have the ball, but they were not worried because our two wingers couldn’t beat an egg let alone a defender and the supposedly attacking threat were statues in a park. It was the same sh*t I’ve been watching since  December and I wasn’t going to waste my time becoming more frustrated as the game went on.  While at the outset of the season I was optimistic about Maresca and what he would bring,I seriously have my doubts now.  This has been a catastrophic collapse and one I don’t think we have the mentality to turn around.  This lot are prima Donna’s; including the manager.  It would not surprise me if we end up mid table at best.  This so called project has not progressed at all despite the millions being thrown at it. I’m not sure what the future holds for this team.

17 hours ago, Petworth Chelsea Fan said:

I’m just not getting the insistence of playing 2 wingers and nobody in the middle. Does this coach have any imagination 

Wingers? You saw wingers? I just saw 2 guys near the touchline doing very little and failing to beat a defender.

2 hours ago, POCH OUT said:

Gusto - 

As a team we were very disappointing tonight,” he told the Premier League as cited on X.com.

“They had more desire to win than us and we need to do better in the next game because it will be important for us to stay in the top four – that is the target.”

Lips that move more than feet and ability... Sums up the babies currently wearing the blue. No desire, no courage, all mouth no trousers... cowards... 

 

1 hour ago, Nibs said:

Wingers? You saw wingers? I just saw 2 guys near the touchline doing very little and failing to beat a defender.

Spot on! At least Madueke sometimes has an end product but it was depressing watching Sancho come on so early. It seems like there’s a new rule in Chelsea football, no crossing the ball before beating a defender. 

8 minutes ago, BS66 said:

Spot on! At least Madueke sometimes has an end product but it was depressing watching Sancho come on so early. It seems like there’s a new rule in Chelsea football, no crossing the ball before beating a defender. 

You can see why Sancho got bombed out of United. He's yet another example of a player who has bags of talent but has this modern day footballer attitude of entitlement. He's not alone, there are loads of them these days and CFC have more than their fair share.

Madness, that the one player we had who was willing to give 100% EVERY game and bled blue was sold (Gallagher). Just the sort of player we could have done with in this bad run of form. Caicedo does try his best to be fair but can't do it all on his own and always looks one more bad challenge away from a red card.

Edited February 15, 20251 yr by Nibs

4 hours ago, POCH OUT said:

Gusto - 

As a team we were very disappointing tonight,” he told the Premier League as cited on X.com.

“They had more desire to win than us and we need to do better in the next game because it will be important for us to stay in the top four – that is the target.”

These comments always infuriate me. Just keep your stupid mouth shut and say nothing, because literally anything is preferable to saying another team wants it more than you. You may as well f**k off and give up on ever aspiring to be a top level footballer if you ever say those words.

I'm tired. I'm tired of watching people that couldn't give a sh*t about the club, tired of how empty and miserable everything surrounding the club has become, tired of hoping for players to care and give 100% every game when it should just be a thing we never have to concern ourselves with.

Edited February 15, 20251 yr by Scott Harris

4 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

These comments always infuriate me. Just keep your stupid mouth shut and say nothing, because literally anything is preferable to saying another team wants it more than you. You may as well f**k off and give up on ever aspiring to be a top level footballer if you ever say those words.

And twice within a week. It’s just plain stupid. Played Brighton a week ago and they wanted it more, play them 6 days later and they still want it more. Are these players f**king stupid or what?

8 hours ago, erskblue said:

That’s it in a nutshell.

For me anyway.

I can’t think of any major league where youth and inexperienced coach had ever achieved anything but be a feeder club. 

On 14/02/2025 at 17:35, carrickblue said:

Maresca admits it's the worst performance since he arrived 

I could think of a few.  Love how he keeps saying ‘we’ need to find the solution ‘we’ need to play better..’we’ this ‘we’ that……no. ‘You’ need to do your job and find the solution to make this team and these players play better and work as a team…or ‘you need to get your arse out of here.

Haven’t really commented on this game as I felt numb on Friday night.

Can’t even be bothered to have a rant as it’s been covered multiple times in this thread since the match.

We really are at a low point IMO and aspiring to be like Brighton just sums up what a state this club is In presently.

13 hours ago, 2211 said:

Haven’t really commented on this game as I felt numb on Friday night.

Can’t even be bothered to have a rant as it’s been covered multiple times in this thread since the match.

We really are at a low point IMO and aspiring to be like Brighton just sums up what a state this club is In presently.

This is precisely how I feel. Just sick to the back teeth of everything going on at Chelsea at present, I've had 55 years of this sh*t. The Club is an utter shambles, from Top to Bottom 😪