Just now, Sconnie Blue said:

Defence has been solid since Ipswich at home.

Fair comment actually. And Colwill is certainly growing. I'd still love an Antonio Silva thrown in there as well.

The strikers situation and reaction to it is a bit funny. So Jackson takes 2 reds and immediately he is being rumoured to be sold. The dude is on a 7 year contract and was our best number 9 this season... now Pedro comes in and is impressive in two games and immediately he is the solution and the best striker on the planet 🤣. I really really hope inside the club and the squad they are much more calm.

7 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

There was a time when someone would post a picture like that with the question

"Would you"

To which some wag would respond with "Which one".

Ah, those were the days! Fking PC police.

"Neither" someone would reply 😛

I don't think we've got a cat in hell's chance (what a strange saying that is) in the final against either PSG or Real Madrid, but in fairness to Maresca (through gritted teeth) once again his Objectives and Performance review will state Met Expectations. I am sure the target was to reach the final and then all the cliches can be trotted out

14 minutes ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

Entire country scared of a bit of rain lmao

Yes, thats it. Well done.

2 minutes ago, evissy said:

The strikers situation and reaction to it is a bit funny. So Jackson takes 2 reds and immediately he is being rumoured to be sold. The dude is on a 7 year contract and was our best number 9 this season... now Pedro comes in and is impressive in two games and immediately he is the solution and the best striker on the planet 🤣. I really really hope inside the club and the squad they are much more calm.

You think he should start over Delap and Pedro, or were you being sarcastic? He is useless. Clueless. Misses 90% of his chances. Greedy, doesn't care about the team.... And doesn't celebrate when other people score.

Edited July 8, 20251 yr by guddy69

1 minute ago, just said:

Qaz, it makes not one iota of difference that he won the ball. Big deal. He is a 6'2" centre-forward. That's a big part of what he is supposed to do, and let's be honest, he should do it an awful lot more than he does.

The point is we have seen him do the same thing time and time again. I don't mind strikers being greedy if the are capable of finishing a decent percentage of those efforts, AND, they don't have a simple pass available to a team mate in a better position who is practically certain to score.

What this was is yet another clear cut example of Jackson's lack of any football intelligence whatsoever, any calmness, and his "f**k the team, me first" attitude.

I cannot believe that there are still people defending this idiot. We need to get shot of him at all costs but no other club seems interested. Give Guiu his minutes as third striker.

I think it makes a huge difference

If you ask anyone who watched the game to rate each player's performance, Jacksons mess up will be considered a (if not the) key moment of his performance and will be marked down in everyone's eyes for it. Yet if he didn't win the ball in the first place (something he did alone and was excellent work) the opportunity would never have arrived in the first place and no one would be criticising him right now. His match rating would be higher despite objectively having contributed the same.

I'm not arguing he shouldn't have passed (to Cole), of course he should have, his finishing and decision making is clearly the worst aspect of his game and something he needs to work on.

But i'm sticking to my guns that there is a clear double standard here. You see the double standard right Just?

Edited July 8, 20251 yr by Qaz

6 minutes ago, evissy said:

The strikers situation and reaction to it is a bit funny. So Jackson takes 2 reds and immediately he is being rumoured to be sold. The dude is on a 7 year contract and was our best number 9 this season... now Pedro comes in and is impressive in two games and immediately he is the solution and the best striker on the planet 🤣. I really really hope inside the club and the squad they are much more calm.

Be real, it's not just the two red cards that started this. It's him being braindead and not improving his game a single bit in two years.

17 minutes ago, evissy said:

I know. It is a bit subjective. Our 'boring' style of football is for certain not the reason for the emptyish stands.

Let's build on this and not bicker on secondary things.

Absolutely. Bang on. We have a lot more things to bicker with you over than just this result 🤪

1 minute ago, Qaz said:

I think it makes a huge difference

If you ask anyone who watched the game to rate each player's performance, Jacksons mess up will be considered a (if not the) key moment of his performance and will be marked down in everyone's eyes for it. Yet if he didn't win the ball in the first place (something he did alone and was excellent work) the opportunity would never have arrived in the first place and no one would be criticising him right now.

I'm not arguing he shouldn't have passed (to Cole), of course he should have, his finishing and decision making is clearly the worst aspect of his game and something he needs to work on.

But i'm sticking to my guns that there is a clear double standard here. You see the double standard right Just?

This! Is the reason I'd not want him at Arsenal or another (top) half team. Yes, he's frustrating, and I think JP is indeed better (skill and decisions) than him, but I can see Jackson as a tough player to face esp if playing a high line.

JP looks skillful enough to even play in diff positions in attack, so excellent signing -- I was dead wrong about him, but now know more about his background coming from Fluminense: he was always a wonderkid with huge potential. It's exciting to watch him play. I'm a bit worried about Delap, but it's early days.

4 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

Be real, it's not just the two red cards that started this. It's him being braindead and not improving his game a single bit in two years.

Again he is on a 7 year contract. And I think we are on a better situation with him now than he is not the clear favourite to play. Coming on today he showed what he is good at. He is clearly feeling the pressure from Liam and Joao but that has to be only a good thing. I am sure he will be useful in the future as well. If someone buys him this summer, fine but I don't see that happening. Massive knee jerking over this situation.

2 minutes ago, evissy said:

Again he is on a 7 year contract. And I think we are on a better situation with him now than he is not the clear favourite to play. Coming on today he showed what he is good at. He is clearly feeling the pressure from Liam and Joao but that has to be only a good thing. I am sure he will be useful in the future as well. If someone buys him this summer, fine but I don't see that happening. Massive knee jerking over this situation.

Read between the lines from all of these briefings that come out.

Just seen the goals. f**king hell, how good were they, absolute class, both of em.

👍

30 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

I don't think we've got a cat in hell's chance (what a strange saying that is) in the final against either PSG or Real Madrid, but in fairness to Maresca (through gritted teeth) once again his Objectives and Performance review will state Met Expectations. I am sure the target was to reach the final and then all the cliches can be trotted out

Are you high?

No one thought we'd be in the final before this started. We have been one of the best sides in the tournament and we're now in the final.

The mental gymnastics some do on here to avoid praising Maresca is insane.

Just now, bisright1 said:

Are you high?

No one thought we'd be in the final before this started. We have been one of the best sides in the tournament and we're now in the final.

The mental gymnastics some do on here to avoid praising Maresca is insane.

I'm not avoiding praising Maresca at all. You might not have thought we'd be in a final but I'd bet the owners of the club had the objective set for reaching the final. I would expect their expectations on their investment would have been qualify for the CL, win the Conference League and reach the final of the CWC. Whilst I don't like much of what Maresca does, particularly in game, there is no getting away from the fact that he has met some pretty challenging targets.

Now if he wins this final then he rightly deserves all of the flowers from us, the owners, press, punditry because he will have to beat one of the two best club sides in world football.

5 minutes ago, bisright1 said:

Are you high?

No one thought we'd be in the final before this started. We have been one of the best sides in the tournament and we're now in the final.

The mental gymnastics some do on here to avoid praising Maresca is insane.

I know right let’s give credit where it’s due marescas done good and we do have a chance I’d say 20-30%

6 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

I'm not avoiding praising Maresca at all. You might not have thought we'd be in a final but I'd bet the owners of the club had the objective set for reaching the final. I would expect their expectations on their investment would have been qualify for the CL, win the Conference League and reach the final of the CWC. Whilst I don't like much of what Maresca does, particularly in game, there is no getting away from the fact that he has met some pretty challenging targets.

Now if he wins this final then he rightly deserves all of the flowers from us, the owners, press, punditry because he will have to beat one of the two best club sides in world football.

The expectations on the draw was that we'd play PSG in the quarters. No one's predicting we are further than that before the tournament.

Getting to the final of the CWC is an incredible achievement. And other than one game, we've looked comfortably the better side in every game, played good football, and had a solid defence. You can't say the same for many other teams.

It's the highest we've been since Roman left.

I really hate the whole "bomb squad" thing. To me it's an indictment on a manager to not be flexible and able enough to best utilise the players at a team rather than just bining a whole bunch of limited but contributing talent just because it doesn't fit their pre-determined tactic. I think that's the kind of luxury football tactics you can get away with at City or PSG due to the crazy resources they have to work with but not a Chelsea, Liverpool or anywhere else where money is limited.

But that's not really Maresca's fault. The sporting directors chose him despite him being a tactical departure from Pochettino and other more transitionally focused managers before him that built the squad the way it is. I don't think he was really the ideal right choice fit for the players he had to work with and at times during this season (and of course the "bomb squad"), it's showed.

However, he's here now and I think largely he's done mostly the right things and we are making progress.

After much thought, I like our recruitment thus far. We are progressively replacing defensive/counter pressing passengers like Nkunku, Felix and Madueke with hard working, pressing work horses in Pedro, Gittens and Delap. This will make it possible to press more consistently and to better outcomes next season and makes us a more complete two-way team.

What worries me most is that after doing the hard work to build the team to suit Maresca, if he has a poor patch of form, we might sack him and then get another opposite, transitional manager in that will then have to upend the team again . We desperately need a consistency of vision across years going forward as the old Chelsea way of just sacking the manager and choosing his opposite to come in every second season isn't going to cut it in an age where we can't drastically outspend all our copmpetitors/

Edited July 8, 20251 yr by Qaz

It's disappointing to read so many negative posts on here tonight. Whatever we think of this competition, and I certainly wasn't in favour of it, we've reached the final so I will be looking forward to watching that on Sunday night.

ONTO THE FINAL! Incredible atmosphere. All the BS Brazilian teams are gone.

No matter who we play, it will be really challenging. But anything can happen in one 90 minute game. We have to play our best.

I cant wait for sunday.

9 minutes ago, WeatherMan said:

It's disappointing to read so many negative posts on here tonight. Whatever we think of this competition, and I certainly wasn't in favour of it, we've reached the final so I will be looking forward to watching that on Sunday night.

I think most commentors on these forums are here to vent in a cathartic release of tension from watching the games. I am as gulty of it as the next guy

Great to be in another cup final. Well done to everyone involved.

Exciting to see Joao Pedro play well and score a double.

Only caught the second half due to work, but watched extended highlights. The goals were superb - what ability. Plenty of that please Pedro!

Buzzing for the final, whether it be PSG or Real - back where we belong amongst the heavy hitters. Really hope nothing serious for Caicedo, and he is available for the final.

Not a Maresca fan but in fairness for this tournament at least we have not seen too much pissing around at the back and too many backward and sideways passes; we seem to be playing more aggressive football and making more forward passes breaking the defensive line. Whether it's because it's a tournament only he can answer that. I hope he keeps this style of play up in the EPL so we are not bored to tears and frustrated most games. As for today's game, we were the worthy winners and Fluminense can't argue too much about that, although had the penalty been given we might have had a different game. As for Jackson I hope the self centred greedy pkir is sold off, as I don't see where he fits in now we have Delap and Pedro. I doubt he will hang around as a 3rd #9 as his game time will be limited to a few cup games and substitutions. I was surprised Palmer didn't nut him at some point today. Palmer couldn't get into the game today as much as I would have liked, as you could see he was frustrated for the most part throughout, especially on more than one occasion with Jackso. Good performances all round IMO and deserved to get to the final.

The final will be a tough ask for our defence and midfield regardless of who we face but if we can stay in the game and hold our own, who knows. No-one gave a chance against City in the Champions League and we know how that turned out.