5 minutes ago, Valerie said:

Turn enough corners and you're back to where you started.

Deep, I know.

Ooooooooooooh. 🙂

8 minutes ago, Zola_25Fan said:

Why does it always seem like that we have turned a corner and then Maresca rotates and f**ks up the whole process.

I think the reality is that we haven't turned any corners. That's the problem with modern day society, where every pass is brilliant and every player is brilliant. You only know you've turned a corner retrospectively, looking back. Nowadays, one win, one decent performance and we're world beaters.

I maintain that the only time I have ever seen us play an entertaining, convincing 90 mins of football (and often a lot less) is when we have NOT played the eye-watering mind numbing, pathetic excuse for entertainment this clown serves up. I genuinely struggle to recall more than maybe 4 or 5 matches that have entertained me watching and in every instance we have played fast, high pressing and transitional football. What this tosspot called chaos, basketball.

Trying to take some positives from the game - Im taking the point after Leeds. Im taking the clean sheet. Im taking Palmer back in the starting 11. I'll take Delaps injury not being too bad (fingers crossed).

I hope we find form and dont drift away like last season.

I have previously thought that Fernandez gets a bit of a rough ride here because whilst he might not have the glamorous Bellingham type of profile he puts more of a shift in than the other players. It's days like today where he definitely feeds the narrative put forward by many members on here. What a hopeless second gear performance today.

@GarnachoCheese countered me before by saying that a) that should be the bare minimum expectation and b) he put up a great graphic showing that this teams runs the least out of every team in the league. It was a compelling and sobering argument. @GarnachoCheese if I have not misquoted you, could you put that graphic up again please.

Another very disappointing result in a week we should be expecting 6 points from these two games especially as we go into the Christmas period when we are traditionally poor

I would say this with all due respect to my fellow Blues…. Blaming the manager is very lazy, although I understand it for Leeds not today. We simply dont have a journey man player who can pick the game up by the scruff of the neck. We have loads of examples but one that springs to mind is Drogba at home to West Ham when we went down to 10 men. He didn’t go into anything spectacular but he was as good in defence as in attack.

I feel we still need that journey man, experienced player that is the glue. Think John McGovern under Brian Clough at Derby.

it’s hardly the end of the world and we still got loads to play for but we need that strong leader to take us to the next level

KTBFFH

2 minutes ago, andy said:

I would say this with all due respect to my fellow Blues…. Blaming the manager is very lazy,

We start every single half of football lethargically, no enthusiasm, no effort, no urgency and you dont think any of that is on the manager?

5 minutes ago, andy said:

Another very disappointing result in a week we should be expecting 6 points from these two games especially as we go into the Christmas period when we are traditionally poor

I would say this with all due respect to my fellow Blues…. Blaming the manager is very lazy, although I understand it for Leeds not today. We simply dont have a journey man player who can pick the game up by the scruff of the neck. We have loads of examples but one that springs to mind is Drogba at home to West Ham when we went down to 10 men. He didn’t go into anything spectacular but he was as good in defence as in attack.

I feel we still need that journey man, experienced player that is the glue. Think John McGovern under Brian Clough at Derby.

it’s hardly the end of the world and we still got loads to play for but we need that strong leader to take us to the next level

KTBFFH

We look pathetically weak in the centre of the pitch every time Enzo plays there. So when things aren't going our way its like always playing with 10 men. Teams can get to our back line so easily and when they do Enzo is 35 yards from our goal watching it all happen. And when he gets on the ball in the centre, if he loses it, he makes sod all effort to work back and make amends.

Today James gifted possession in the centre. Guess who put on the vital challenge in the box to save the day...Jsmes. Enzo would have been bloody miles away if it had been him.

He puts up as much resistance as Bonny Blue's fanny to a pencil dick.

Pound for pound one of the most ineffective signings we have made since Roman took over the club.

Just not good/experienced enough yet to challenge for the league title. We are capable of great matches from time to time, but not consistent enough to do it every three days.

I can trust this team, fully fit, to beat the best in the world in the UCL late stages, rather than beat Leeds and Bournemouth in the span of three days while rotating the squad.

Hopefully City win the league now. Wish we were in the mix, too, but maybe next season. Anyone but Arsenal for the moment.

Watching Sutton United vs Shrewsbury Town FA Cup match is a thousand times more entertaining than our match.

2 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

What pisses me off is that nobody will challenge Maresca on his bullsh*t. Never seen a Chelsea manager have it so easy.

Comes from above. No accountability top to bottom throughout the club. No standards here at all

2 hours ago, PloKoon13 said:

Guess I'm watching Kuenssberg tomorrow morning

She could have run our midfield today

2 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

She could have run our midfield today

Everything would have been focussed down the right wing I'm afraid

2 hours ago, BewareoftheDrog said:

Dreadful performance. No heart at all. Where's the spine of the team. Cech Terry Lamps Drog. Makes ya wanna weep when you see those legends. Getting boring watching them now. At least we should beat Atalanta. European football seems to be Maresca's game. Til then try to KTBFFH. 👍

Uh-oh!

They’re going to struggle to make a season review last longer than 60 minutes runtime come May. Utter dross.

1 hour ago, PhilH930 said:

They’re going to struggle to make a season review last longer than 60 minutes runtime come May. Utter dross.

And 58 of those minutes will be multiple angles and replays of Estevao's goal against Barcelona LOL

4 hours ago, WhiteWall said:

I have previously thought that Fernandez gets a bit of a rough ride here because whilst he might not have the glamorous Bellingham type of profile he puts more of a shift in than the other players. It's days like today where he definitely feeds the narrative put forward by many members on here. What a hopeless second gear performance today.

@GarnachoCheese countered me before by saying that a) that should be the bare minimum expectation and b) he put up a great graphic showing that this teams runs the least out of every team in the league. It was a compelling and sobering argument. @GarnachoCheese if I have not misquoted you, could you put that graphic up again please.

4 hours ago, dkw said:

We start every single half of football lethargically, no enthusiasm, no effort, no urgency and you dont think any of that is on the manager?

Absolutely not, multi millionaire players don’t have urgency or effort ! Give me a break ….. that is seriously not down to the manager …… We know now under Roman he would be in the dressing room giving if what for.

I reiterate my massage, we are not too bad just had a disappointing week. It’s completely down to the players to pull their socks up despite the players selected.

So Delap has hit the ground running. Literally.

Jackson must be regretting having a hissy fit over the summer. He’d be playing every week if he’d just held his nerve.

54 minutes ago, GarnachoCheese said:

Thanks. It's a shocking indictment of this manager's approach. How can this be acceptable in any PL club dressing room.

17 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

Thanks. It's a shocking indictment of this manager's approach. How can this be acceptable in any PL club dressing room.

I never thought that running around like headless chickens was so energy efficient.

Sanchez: "we were up for it". Well the outfield players could have fooled me.

Bournemouth should have won. That Evelison miss is shocking.

At this point I’d say we’re really lacking experience. We no longer have the Lampard/Terry/Drogba level of leadership, and instead we’re relying on James and almost Caicedo as our “most experienced” players. Back then we had a core of guys with 100+ big matches under their belt, who knew exactly what needed to be done in those moments. Then you added a player with that extra spark (like Hazard), and that was enough.

This squad has an incredibly high ceiling — they’ve already shown many times that, as a collective, they can beat anyone when everything clicks. But our floor is also very low. On a bad day we can struggle against absolutely anyone. These aren’t the occasional off-days where you go to QPR and just lose — what’s worrying is that these dips happen in runs, and it’s not the first time. Last season was identical: the moment we were flirting with a title race, December came and the spiral followed.

Keeping the core together and building around it will be crucial, so those experiences can actually settle in. As long as we keep cycling endless talent and 60-million hit-or-miss signings, this is what we’ll get in the league. Even now we’re a nightmare team to face in cup competitions — on the right day we can beat anyone.

Yes, the players make mistakes, and yes, Maresca sometimes gets it completely wrong. But personally I wouldn’t overlook the importance of experienced leadership. These “stupid little games” are exactly the ones that end up tipping the scales over a long season.

What do you guys think?

Another very poor performance, on the back of the defeat by Dirty Leeds.

I was hoping for a much improved performance yesterday, or at least some kind of reaction!

Five points out of the last six have been thrown away.

The travelling supporters simply deserved much better.

13 hours ago, PhilH930 said:

They’re going to struggle to make a season review last longer than 60 minutes runtime come May. Utter dross.

A "Chelsea's Best Red Cards Special" should add a good hour.