8 minutes ago, The Rising Sun said:

You've got to figure in also that he says that it's the " most exciting" appointment too. .

Any chance you could do that comparison too ? 😂

Which do you think is more exciting?

Potter was Potter.

Poch was ex-Spurs.

Maresca's most exciting moment for Leicester fans was the day he left.

4 minutes ago, The Rising Sun said:

If you let me know what your first language is I'll try Google translate and send it to you again.

English please

1 hour ago, GarnachoCheese said:

Account created in 2025. Yawn, typical new era fan.

I wonder what the new insult will be now that new fans can't reasonably be called 'glory hunters'.

5 minutes ago, PloKoon13 said:

I wonder what the new insult will be now that new fans can't reasonably be called 'glory hunters'.

sufferers.

14 minutes ago, GarnachoCheese said:

Which do you think is more exciting?

Potter was Potter.

Poch was ex-Spurs.

Maresca's most exciting moment for Leicester fans was the day he left.

English please

Non comprende signor

All of the managers named were supposed to be the next best thing when they clearly weren’t yet with the same people doing the hiring asking someone else to work under these conditions we are expected to believe this time the man with the least qualification/experience is going to be different.

We haven’t had a top manager since they sacked the man employed by the last regime. None of their appointments have been good.

I have nothing against LR except his style of play which I suppose is quite a big thing. Just seems like same sh*t different shovel to me as the Meresca ball we all/most of us hated.

I would say Maresca's most exciting moment for us was the demolition of PSG in a final to become club world champions.

Some of the football we played was turgid, some of it wasn't, but that game was just brilliant to watch.

I'd like Rosenior to try and get us playing like that.

59 minutes ago, The Rising Sun said:

You've got to figure in also that he says that it's the " most exciting" appointment too. .

Any chance you could do that comparison too ? 😂

Some comments are indefensible.

Poch is the most exciting BlueCo appointment, Potter & Maresca were both obviously absolute duds. Rosenior can rank joint 2nd with Super Frank (We all knew it would be a disaster but at least it was our disaster)

15 minutes ago, Shweaves said:

I would say Maresca's most exciting moment for us was the demolition of PSG in a final to become club world champions.

Some of the football we played was turgid, some of it wasn't, but that game was just brilliant to watch.

I'd like Rosenior to try and get us playing like that.

PSG were, and still are, wide open at the back. Their defence is to attack. Bayern showed the way in the CWC semi-final by attacking them. Should have been a couple up in the first 10 minutes only they blew chances and couldn't keep it up. Our tactics mirrored Bayern's but we scored and didn't fade. If only more teams played as wide open as PSG do the football tactics world would be a simpler place.

Can’t shake this feeling he will shift to the dread 3-4-2-1/3-5-2 formation now. Had a look at the data while he was at Strasbourg; and he played that 65% of the time, only using a back 4 35%. Tyrique George & Buonanotte leaving from our forward options, and bringing in an extra CB in Sarr just supports this thinking. With Gittens out for a long period of time, and Palmer’s uncertain fitness status makes me think we are going down that path.

Think I've found the issue:

1 minute ago, markpitts said:

Can’t shake this feeling he will shift to the dread 3-4-2-1/3-5-2 formation now. Had a look at the data while he was at Strasbourg; and he played that 65% of the time, only using a back 4 35%. Tyrique George & Buonanotte leaving from our forward options, and bringing in an extra CB in Sarr just supports this thinking. With Gittens out for a long period of time, and Palmer’s uncertain fitness status makes me think we are going down that path.

Yes, I'm still unsure why he decided to use 3 at the back against Arsenal, with Cucu and Gusto as wing backs.

3 minutes ago, RMH said:

Yes, I'm still unsure why he decided to use 3 at the back against Arsenal, with Cucu and Gusto as wing backs.

Cause our wingers are f**king ass.

Palmer and Estevao weren’t available.

17 minutes ago, dermott said:

PSG were, and still are, wide open at the back. Their defence is to attack. Bayern showed the way in the CWC semi-final by attacking them. Should have been a couple up in the first 10 minutes only they blew chances and couldn't keep it up. Our tactics mirrored Bayern's but we scored and didn't fade. If only more teams played as wide open as PSG do the football tactics world would be a simpler place.

All fair, but my point stands. That was Maresca's most exciting moment for us, and it was a great one. It's also the most exciting moment Chelsea have had under the new owners (in my opinion). Winning a trophy against proper opposition.

We all hoped after that PSG game Maresca had seen the light and would stop the death by a thousand passes over complicated nonsense but it didn’t happen, now we have changed managers and the new guy is pulling the same sh*t.

He does seem to like santos in with Caicedo at least, can’t see how Meresca never saw that.

So many doable little tweaks that would make us a better side, consistent team selection being another easy thing to make us better. Playing our best players in their best positions…. Genius.

Edited February 6Feb 6 by C3blue

2 hours ago, Shweaves said:

I would say Maresca's most exciting moment for us was the demolition of PSG in a final to become club world champions.

Some of the football we played was turgid, some of it wasn't, but that game was just brilliant to watch.

I'd like Rosenior to try and get us playing like that.

Agreed on your other point that Maresca did have that moment against PSG. Like it or not he did accomplish that.

I just can't imagine this squad, with these players, playing the style of football most here want. It's not even about quality, but profile. The midfield alone is more on the rounded/physical side of the game.

I don't necessarily think Rosenior will fail given that I know nothing about him -- once again he was really a nobody before we hired him as head coach. He's a huge gamble tactically at this level though.
My issue is with expectations around a squad that has clear and obvious gaping holes in the starting XI, but even more so in the roster.

Crikey we have a lot of good folk on this thread and the fighting is over nothing at all.

my first game was Chelsea v Everton 1968-69 season. 1-1 if i remember correctly and my dad paid the extra to transfer to the benches in the west stand- i think he must have been well off 😂. up the chels.

On 04/02/2026 at 08:25, WhiteWall said:

I am not sure that they underperformed to be honest. I think the majority played to the level that they are at.

The first part of his tactic was relatively sound. He stifled them. 30 Mins into the game and Gyokeres had touched the ball once. It was a decent tactical ploy to nullify them, take away any momentum from their players and the crowd. However with a goalkeeper that we know from bitter experience is a flapper of shots from distance, we should have kept ourselves organised and structured but still jabbed from distance routinely, which would have undermined their confidence and created doubt if Kepa mispunched or flapped.

Back to the recruitment policy. The issue that we have is that we didn't have any players on the pitch, barring Caicedo, that is capable of shooting from distance. Joao Pedro gets a pass cos i think he was excellent. That was the best pinning centre forward play i have seen against the Arsenal defence this season. Lobotomy Liam was on the wing and wouldn't have had the gumption to have had a 20/25 yard dig anyway. Cucurella is a flying wingback or a box crasher, and Enzo, whilst havign a couple of goes just doesn't hav ethe physique to be crashing in bullets form 25 yards. None of our defenders can shoot, especially from distance and James was rested/injured.

So without those potshots, follow ups, resulting corners etc, Arsenal settled in because as sound as the tactic of containment was, we still weren't hurting them.

We then bring on an unfit (?) Cole Palmer and a mid-bereavement Estevao (who had just flown 6,000 miles form Brazil) expecting them to unlock an entrenched and settled Arsenal defence that is currently the strongest in Europe..

We can say the lads gave everything, we can say that our second half performance was really strong but we just couldn't break them down, but the reality is that we never hurt them or unsettled them once and, in truth, even on their day there are players forming the core of this side that are simply not good enough for this level and the tactics being employed, through a mixture of lack of ability and inexperience. Who'd have thought?

The squad we had available was probably the reason for our tactical approach.

I think he got it spot on in general and our subs didn’t or couldn’t do what was asked of them in an attacking sense. The gamble was that Palmer or Estevao would be able to give the team the impetus to go on and win the game. For different reasons neither were able to show up.

A decent tactical gamble that very nearly worked which already has me liking him more than Maresca. I wouldn’t accept that tactical approach against anyone other than Arsenal, Bayern and PSG though.

I’m still a page or two from catching up so apologies if this is old.

I don’t agree with Cheese on too much but I’ll back him on a couple of points.

Under the circumstances I think Rosenior set us up very well. I’d have maybe brought the subs on earlier to give us more time but the game was set up for our two superstars to come on and win the game. For different reasons neither really performed but we were struggling for options from the bench. We beat Napoli because our bench was so much stronger than theirs. Arsenal won that game for the same reasons but Rosenior at least came with a credible plan.

That brings me to semi agreeing a second point with Cheese. I’m more hopeful with what I’ve seen so far from Rosenior than most of our managers post Tuchel even taking into account how poorly we’ve played in parts of every game under him. I can’t stand managers that only have a plan A. Maresca, Potter and Poch very much felt like that with hindsight.

I’m hopeful once the squad gets up to speed with what he wants then we’ll improve. Has to finish in the top 5 though. There are some head scratching selections from him which definitely worry me but it’s been refreshing having a manager that will change formations/tactics.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but I just wish we’d steered clear of Lampard both times we appointed him and let him develop as a manager elsewhere. If we had he’d 100% be here now instead of Rosenior..

“We really wanted to match Arsenal’s physicality at home. If you look at [Piero] Hincapie, the two centre-backs, [Jurrien] Timber or whoever plays, they’re beasts and they’re strong. So, we wanted to be able to mix it up with them physically. I’ve worked with Liam before and he’s played for me on the right and been outstanding there. His position is a No.9, but I like to use players in different positions."

Tries to be too clever for his own good. You would think after the first mins when Delap tried beating Hincapie on the outside, and he saw Gusto running into the middle of the park, he would have figured out it wouldn’t work.

10 hours ago, markpitts said:

Can’t shake this feeling he will shift to the dread 3-4-2-1/3-5-2 formation now. Had a look at the data while he was at Strasbourg; and he played that 65% of the time, only using a back 4 35%. Tyrique George & Buonanotte leaving from our forward options, and bringing in an extra CB in Sarr just supports this thinking. With Gittens out for a long period of time, and Palmer’s uncertain fitness status makes me think we are going down that path.

This season 352 is difficult maybe next season with Quenda ( I heard he can play lb) because the only one who can play as lwb is probably neto.

Edited February 7Feb 7 by Bob stark

4 hours ago, Bob stark said:

This season 352 is difficult maybe next season with Quenda ( I heard he can play lb) because the only one who can play as lwb is probably neto.

We have no business playing a back 3. Where would he stick Palmer & Estevao? It isn’t a formation for developing players, its one managers hide behind.

2 hours ago, markpitts said:

We have no business playing a back 3. Where would he stick Palmer & Estevao? It isn’t a formation for developing players, its one managers hide behind.

Conte won the league with a back 3 with Hazard and Pedro behind a striker.

23 minutes ago, Caps_Lock_King said:

I tend to just go with whatever the opposite Tory Jennings has to say, blokes one of the biggest wet wipes out there. Up there with that Kinsella kid.

So this week I think Rosenior has learnt a lot. Not tactics, formations, fitness of our players. No, I'm not talking about the match. I'm talking about the agenda. Mourinho was right all along. He tells one Arsenal coach to fck off to their own half of the pitch, and the press and feeble minded w**kers on social media and Talksport try to turn it into an international fking incident.

What a load of bollox. Half a fking week of this mindless arse from cretins like Stelling White, Jordan and Brazil. How can Alan Brazil seriously pass comments on any sporting activities nowadays. He looks like his bloated, slightly decomposing body has just washed up by the side of the Thames.

This ridiculous non story they have been peddling has even kept our allegedly noncey Royal out of the news.

Hopefully he's learnt a lesson this week. They're not your mates Rosenior, they are not worthy to shake hands with. Just give these morons the minimum cos they will all use it to undermine you and the team.

Now let's get back to our abysmal owners and moronic, low quality SDs.