😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁

Just f**king awful - start to finish.

Some of the players run their legs off - well done to them - shame they didn't have a bit more support up front we might have nicked it back.

With the clubs strategy of baffling player transfers, squad imbalance coupled with Maresca out of his depth & little rest for players over summer this 25-26 season was always going to be a bit of a rollercoaster/ challenge. Winning the CWC was good but don’t believe the media hype that it elevated us into contenders. Mareca got a lot of credit in the bank w Clearfake he made them a lot of money last season and will this season from UCL revenue. He’s not getting sacked anytime soon so we’ll have to put up with days like this.

It could be my 6 beers down but the management of Maresca when they they went down to 10 has me totally bewildered. We had Gittens, Garnacho and Guiu as offensive players on the bench yet he opts for Gusto and George, after spending 5 minutes presumably explaining to Garnacho the tactical reasons why he is not coming on ?? . Absolutely don’t want to make George the scapegoat for this sh*teshow however he always looks like a child who has won a Blue Peter competition to play for the Premier League team of his choice!

19 minutes ago, acaeus said:

I completely agree and still think that it still does not fully explain this match.

It is simply not enough for me to say Maresca could’ve done this or that instead.

First, we don’t know what would have happened had he done things differently. Second, it does not excuse the chelsea players who were on the pitch.

A number of factors today.

I’m 10 miles from OT and can tell you the conditions were atrocious, is bounced down most of the day

Starting the game at Old Trafford, you have to manage the occasion. The crowd are always up for it first ten minutes no matter their form. We simply didn’t fancy it at the start, rain in our faces and a team that responded to the crowd.

Bad mistakes for the sending off, a coach who lost it with his changes…if Palmer was carrying a strain( we all saw him grimace at the end of the Bayern match) he should have been the one to make way, then two banks of four. Absolutely no reason to go to five at the back at this stage, you grind the result out.

Mistakes for both goals even with 3 cb’s

Couldn’t get up the pitch with no attackers

Gifted a sending off and not reacting quick enough despite having 100m of attacking force still on the bench. This was not a game for George. Garnacho may have been a loose cannon with emotion but surely worth a try

Players cost us at the start, Maresca made sure we were returning empty handed

8 minutes ago, General said:

With the clubs strategy of baffling player transfers, squad imbalance coupled with Maresca out of his depth & little rest for players over summer this 25-26 season was always going to be a bit of a rollercoaster/ challenge. Winning the CWC was good but don’t believe the media hype that it elevated us into contenders. Mareca got a lot of credit in the bank w Clearfake he made them a lot of money last season and will this season from UCL revenue. He’s not getting sacked anytime soon so we’ll have to put up with days like this.

It wasn't even just media hype. The players at the start of the season were saying they were ready to challenge Liverpool 🤣

It's not even the end of September, and embarrassingly, they are already 7 points off. The way they have started the season, they won't even be good enough for a top 4 finish.

13 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

It wasn't even just media hype. The players at the start of the season were saying they were ready to challenge Liverpool 🤣

It's not even the end of September, and embarrassingly, they are already 7 points off. The way they have started the season, they won't even be good enough for a top 4 finish.

I agree. Top 4 looks unlikely at the moment. Last season was unusual in that a lot of teams were poor and Forest were the team we had to chase for 4th. With the additional distraction of the Champs League until we either crash out after the group stage or early in the knockouts, we will lose too much ground I think.

58 minutes ago, loz said:

No, just one unfortunately.

Did the rules change on straight reds? Or is it only violent conduct that gets a 3 game ban?

Then again while Sanchez has his detractors, I am not sure we have any better options despite buying what seems like 10 goalkeepers.

35 minutes ago, General said:

With the clubs strategy of baffling player transfers, squad imbalance coupled with Maresca out of his depth & little rest for players over summer this 25-26 season was always going to be a bit of a rollercoaster/ challenge. Winning the CWC was good but don’t believe the media hype that it elevated us into contenders. Mareca got a lot of credit in the bank w Clearfake he made them a lot of money last season and will this season from UCL revenue. He’s not getting sacked anytime soon so we’ll have to put up with days like this.

Long way to go but we look to be in a more chaotic state as a squad than we did at the start of last season if that is even possible.

11 minutes ago, forbzy said:

Did the rules change on straight reds? Or is it only violent conduct that gets a 3 game ban?

Then again while Sanchez has his detractors, I am not sure we have any better options despite buying what seems like 10 goalkeepers.

Only violent conduct.

41 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

It wasn't even just media hype. The players at the start of the season were saying they were ready to challenge Liverpool 🤣

It's not even the end of September, and embarrassingly, they are already 7 points off. The way they have started the season, they won't even be good enough for a top 4 finish.

A big team needs a manager that can handle playing in Europe and doing well in the PL.

Maresca's start of the season is terrible and it's only going to get worse, once we reach the Liverpool match the squad might be completely out of it and a huge loss vs Liverpool should be enough for a sack.

Just now, Gol15 said:

A big team needs a manager that can handle playing in Europe and doing well in the PL.

Maresca's start of the season is terrible and it's only going to get worse, once we reach the Liverpool match the squad might be completely out of it and a huge loss vs Liverpool should be enough for a sack.

I don't think we can afford it. We're financially restricted. Sacking Maresca and his entire team and bringing in a new one will cost a lot of money.

1 minute ago, Scott Harris said:

I don't think we can afford it. We're financially restricted. Sacking Maresca and his entire team and bringing in a new one will cost a lot of money.

It would cost even more keeping Maresca, judging by how the season started a top 8 finish is going to lose the club even more money.

What is all this? I go on holiday and the bald fraud thinks I'm not paying attention so he can just stop managing the team altogether now?

f**king hell 😡

3 hours ago, mojo said:

any comment @axman2526 ?

Have to forgive me mate is an insanely busy day at work I have just seen the score and nothing else. Not idea what these are, offside goal and a foul on Cole perhaps ?

Edited September 20, 2025Sep 20 by axman2526

1 hour ago, Gol15 said:

It would cost even more keeping Maresca, judging by how the season started a top 8 finish is going to lose the club even more money.

I think it's a lose lose. Stick with Maresca and we probably won't make it to the Champions League next season. Change the manager now and if we qualify for the Champions League, we face more financial penalties and probably sporting sanctions this time around too.

Remember, it wouldn't just be Maresca we would be sacking, but his assistants too. Then we would need to pay another club to get their manager and his assistants.

Edited September 20, 2025Sep 20 by Scott Harris

14 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

I think it's a lose lose. Stick with Maresca and we probably won't make it to the Champions League next season. Change the manager now and if we qualify for the Champions League, we face more financial penalties and probably sporting sanctions this time around too.

Remember, it wouldn't just be Maresca we would be sacking, but his assistants too. Then we would need to pay another club to get their manager and his assistants.

This was done with Conte, he and his coach team cost the club over 20m... I have no clue about the additional sanctions this time around though, tough position.

On 15/09/2025 at 15:02, Caps_Lock_King said:

I predicted he would be sacked by christmas, difficult run of games coming up

United, Forest, Spurs, Burnley, Leeds, Bournemouth, Newcastle - all away in PL ,add Munich, Quarabag, Atalanta - CL all away plus Lincoln

Brighton, Liverpool, Sunderland, Wolves, Arsenal, Everton - home in PL, add Benfica, Ajax, Barcelona - CL

Drop a lot of points in those games and we could be down the table

Since i posted this we lost both games

Hes well on the way to getting fired

From daily mail

A nightmare start 

How To Implode, by Chelsea Football Club.

Imagine those fans who only tuned in to this match after 20 minutes. They missed a breakdown in blue, and that included from Enzo Maresca in the tactical decisions he made in response to Robert Sanchez’s straight red.

When Sanchez was dismissed after four minutes, Maresca had to sacrifice someone for second-choice goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen.

Choosing Estevao Willian was understandable because he was an 18-year-old Brazilian, new to the Premier League, playing on the left wing when the right is his regular territory.

However, Maresca decided not to stop there. He also hooked Pedro Neto at the same time in order to bring on another defender in Tosin Adarabioyo.

With that, Chelsea were left with no wingers whatsoever and a great deal less speed for countering. They went into 5-3-1 ultra-defensive mode with hardly any attacking outlet, made even worse when Cole Palmerneeded substituting as he appeared to feel his hamstring again.

Against one of the worst Manchester United teams in memory, it reeked of negativity. Chelsea had the entire second half to try to exact an explosive comeback against the same number of men, after Casemiro’s dismissal, but no dynamite left on the pitch to do so.

EVERYONE APART FROM COCO THE CLOWN KNEW THIS

NOT content on messing up against Brentford - Pedro told COCO he wasnt 100%, yet played him anyway and left Guiu out of the squad, we now learn this..

What about Cole Palmer, was he injured or was that a tactic?

Cole, he tried this morning, he had a test this morning to play this game, he was not 100% fit, he made a fantastic effort to play this game, but he was not 100%.

So once again he sends a player out onto the pitch knowing full well he wasnt fit and he looks like he has made the injury worse,

But dont stop there, heres his excuse on Garnacho…

“he was ready to go on, but then Wes [Fofana] asked for the change, because he was tired after a long time, so we changed and we decided to go for Tyrique”

WHY SHOULD IT MATTER IF FORFANA ASKED TO COME OFF, GARNACHO IS A BETTER PLAYER THEN GEORGE

Alright I don't trust highlights.

@mojo and @Mod care to write me a summary of the key points of the game? Is everyone right being pi$$Ed off with Maresca?

Turned off the game in disgust at 2v0 down. My mate was telling me it wasnt all over and next goal was all important etc...but with poundland pep in the dugout, and given he had already stripped us of most of our attacking ability, I had zero hope we could get back into it.

The fraud is simply not good enough.

8 hours ago, Gol15 said:

A big team needs a manager that can handle playing in Europe and doing well in the PL.

Maresca's start of the season is terrible and it's only going to get worse, once we reach the Liverpool match the squad might be completely out of it and a huge loss vs Liverpool should be enough for a sack.

I believe Maresca is managing the squad very well. The club has had a long season with the CWC added on top of that. There was basically no pre-season at all and then Palmer got the injury plus that meaningless int. break in which a lot of our most important players were involved in some of the most useless matches, when they could have been given a good rest.

It is only September and these matches are not that important in the grand scheme of things. Season is long and I can understand Maresca's substitutions.

3-1 down away at Bayern, he takes Neto and James off when he (and us, also) aknowledged they need a rest as Bayern were keeping the ball very well and our team was mostly running w/o the ball. No need for those two players anymore as they were also coming after playing two intl. matches.

1-0 down away at United and a man down also, he takes both wingers out and also Palmer shortly after. Listen, I know people say "Ok, but we could have been at least trying to beat them even with a man down" or "What if they get a red card, too?!".

The thing is playing with a men down in professional sports is a hard thing to do. Also, a red card or a penalty is the two least anticipated to happen incidents in football, so you can't really play a match thinking "Oh, we got a red card, the ref will think he was harsh on us, so he will send out a player from the other team, too, at some point". This just does not happen in 99999/100000 matches.

Maresca thought United would see most of the ball and did not want his best players to headlessly run without the ball for most of the match, on a soaky pitch, as well. As I said, the season is long and we need the most important players to be at their best during February-May, not early September when nothing happens.

We got Bayern and United out of our way early so we move on. Champions League it won't be a problem to qualify for the play-offs and we were not going to fight for the league title, so a loss away at United is not going to harm us in our path of fighting for a CL place.

Old Trafford away – it’s been 12 years since our last league win there, and it’s about to be 13. Doesn’t matter how bad United are, we always find a way to mess it up.

A lot of the blame is on Maresca, but for me the real turning point was Sanchez. That reckless tackle killed the game before it even started. We’ll never know how it would’ve gone without the red card.

Where I do blame Maresca is after the red. The substitutions made no sense – pulling Neto and then Palmer, leaving João Pedro isolated up front with zero support. Then later bringing on George instead of our expensive new signings? It looked like we gave up and decided to play for 0-0 instead of trying to win. Even when Casemiro was sent off and it was 10v10, we never really threatened.

We got it back to 2-1 with 15 minutes left, but instead of pushing, we passed the ball around like United were peak Ferguson. One shot on target all game – embarrassing. United didn’t beat us; we beat ourselves.

We’re already 7 points behind Liverpool after 5 games. We’ve spent huge money, there’s clear quality in the squad, but it’s not being used properly. Defensive issues weren’t fixed, Colwill’s injury hurts, Sanchez is unreliable, and some signings (like Hato) aren’t even getting minutes. That CWC win just covered up the cracks.

This team is toothless, boring, and lacking mentality. If this continues, we’re Europa League level at best. I’m not “Maresca out,” but his in-game decisions are starting to look worrying. And on top of that – still no shirt sponsor after all that PR hype.

Finishing a game like this with 1 shot on target is a disgrace.

Edited September 21, 2025Sep 21 by CFC_SLO

1 hour ago, petre ispirescu said:

I believe Maresca is managing the squad very well. The club has had a long season with the CWC added on top of that. There was basically no pre-season at all and then Palmer got the injury plus that meaningless int. break in which a lot of our most important players were involved in some of the most useless matches, when they could have been given a good rest.

It is only September and these matches are not that important in the grand scheme of things. Season is long and I can understand Maresca's substitutions.

3-1 down away at Bayern, he takes Neto and James off when he (and us, also) aknowledged they need a rest as Bayern were keeping the ball very well and our team was mostly running w/o the ball. No need for those two players anymore as they were also coming after playing two intl. matches.

1-0 down away at United and a man down also, he takes both wingers out and also Palmer shortly after. Listen, I know people say "Ok, but we could have been at least trying to beat them even with a man down" or "What if they get a red card, too?!".

The thing is playing with a men down in professional sports is a hard thing to do. Also, a red card or a penalty is the two least anticipated to happen incidents in football, so you can't really play a match thinking "Oh, we got a red card, the ref will think he was harsh on us, so he will send out a player from the other team, too, at some point". This just does not happen in 99999/100000 matches.

Maresca thought United would see most of the ball and did not want his best players to headlessly run without the ball for most of the match, on a soaky pitch, as well. As I said, the season is long and we need the most important players to be at their best during February-May, not early September when nothing happens.

We got Bayern and United out of our way early so we move on. Champions League it won't be a problem to qualify for the play-offs and we were not going to fight for the league title, so a loss away at United is not going to harm us in our path of fighting for a CL place.

You’re joking right?

Dont be surprised if we only get 2-3 points in the next 4 league games, where will that leave us? Tenth?

Benfica at home would have been 3 points, not any more with Jose in charge, he will come here defend deep and try to catch us on the break if that happens even the owners will start to get nervous

When mistakes/ errors happen, depending on their severity, actions and importantly consequences must come into play.

Sanchez's red warrants a consequence for him.

Maresca s substitutions and poor tactics/ game management also require a consequence.

If the club don't act on either of these serious failings then we are in trouble and on a downward spiral.

There has to be consequences.

Edited September 21, 2025Sep 21 by OTL