The (amount of) rotation isn’t entirely on the manager—never is.

The specific choices, yeah that’s fair on the manager.

Personally, I think his is exactly the reason we are not title contenders: while the staring XI on a given day beat almost anyone, the roster isn’t at the same level.

And there is Sanchez, who’s not a quack and also far from being a top goalie. And the center D is just OK.

Too many changes so the team looks disjointed and out of sorts. Marseca should have given Brentford more respect. They parked the bus and got us on the counter, sh*t happens. The problem is, teams with quality usually find a way to break down a low block, while we're clearly struggling.

Players coming back from the international break look tired amd leggy. Gittens looks like someone conpletely devoid of confidence.

Need Palmer, James etc to come in and turn it around.

2 minutes ago, dansubrosa said:

Buonanotte is a really good player, he fits the system like a glove. He’s not going to make anything happen but he makes the system click if you know what I mean.

Pretty much anything good we did in and around the box was from him being involved.

2 minutes ago, OneTommyLangley said:

scott you are a sane man but thats nonsense - no one higher than 5

We've created NOTHING. We're 1-0 down against a poor Brentford side that lost 3 big players. Sorry, but how is any player better than a 5 right now? If I am being kind, I could give a Caicedo a 6 for some of his tidying up.

1 minute ago, axman2526 said:

We did. Says as much about them than it does us though imo.

Trying to work out how best to use the bench to try and get back in to this. Maybe this

Sanchez

James

Tosin

Chalobah

Cucurella

Caicedo

Neto

Palmer

George

Garnacho

Joao Pedro

George as a second forward swapping with

Palmer for Gittens. Move Neto to the left, palmer right.

All 3 CBs are at fault for goal by the way but this team is so weak in attack.

1 minute ago, nonotnowjim said:

Guiu not on the bench

What? Why bring him back

Just now, DarkMata said:

Palmer for Gittens. Move Neto to the left, palmer right.

Need more then that

Looks like CUCU coming on

Just now, Caps_Lock_King said:

Need more then that

Fermin , Guehi and Xavi Simons?

Maresca absolute c**t, George in front of Garnacho

3 minutes ago, Snedger said:

I think he’s spot on. Nobody has done anything at all in 45 minutes. They are just existing and nothing else.

In the players defence though, I don’t think you can maybe expect much when the manager conspires to ensure his starting eleven hardly know each other.

This. I mostly put the problems down to the manager. They play like this because he demands it. It's all too slow. You need Iniesta and Messi like touch play for this to work.

One donkey for another

Wow he’s actually doing what every one of us in here know needs to be done but George isn’t enough should have out palmer or even garnacho

Sorry but wtf is George going to do I’m sorry

Ha ha ha George at striker

Just now, Scott Harris said:

He's been okay. I really struggle to praise any player though when it's led to zero decent chances on goal. There isn't a single player I would rate higher than a 5 right now.

Yeah I think okay is about right. I think he's played it safe, although he is held back by having very little physical presence, which in a packed middle of the park is a problem (particularly with Pedro dropping deep and nobody pulling the backline deeper to create space). He'd do better with Jackson in front of him. To be fair he'd do better with a less sellotaped together first XI.

That chance we created at the end of the half is what we should be aiming to do when behind and away against a team like Brentford. We spent far too much of the first half playing in front of Brentford then playing a hopeful long ball. Hato (and to a lesser extent Gittens) has not been at all helpful at working the ball forward. We can forgive individual players who have been part of the squad for about five minutes, or Fofana who has probably been on a golf course since March. Introducing all of these potential problems at the same time is always a risk. .

There's plenty of quality on the bench, and we saw at the end of the half that we can actually create chances. The game is still there for us.

Edited September 13, 2025Sep 13 by PloKoon13

4 minutes ago, nonotnowjim said:

Guiu not on the bench

We’re literally insane. You drag someone back and don’t even put them in the squad.

And Gittens is awful beyond belief, but stays on the park while hooking somone that at least showed glimpses of trying for a player we tried to sell after a completely ineffective performance against Fulham.

Is Maresca working against us?

Normally when a manager makes a change at half time it's an admission of getting it wrong. Making 3 changes at half time screams mindless oaf that has now wasted 45mins of the game

Offsides again!!!

Need a big second half

Did we sell Chalobah to Brentford? He certainly thinks he’s playing for them tonight.

2 minutes ago, Caps_Lock_King said:

Ha ha ha George at striker

George isn't good enough even in his position, let alone playing him out of position

Maresca watched that first half and thought Hato & KinderBueno where the issues. That is our manager Ladies & Gentlemen.

Maresca does not want us to win this game!