3 hours ago, GarnachoCheese said:

Neto would be starting every week FFS

On the flip side, Enzo wouldn't

2 hours ago, Richard P said:

Talk Sport have asked for someone from the club to speak on what the so called project is and explain to us supporters what the future plan is. I won’t hold my breath!

Don't they already have Simon Jordan for that?

This is on the players.

21 minutes ago, GarnachoCheese said:

This is on the players.

I know data is a big part of football these days, but when you watch the games you can make up your own mind without needing the data. I am sure the data made a case for a closer scoreline against Everton but in reality we were wretched and deservedly beaten.

Up until the last few games I would have assessed that our attacking play was better under Rosenior but we look more vulnerable at the back. That is roughly reflected in the data. But worryingly the last few games our goals have also dried up. And given we are incapable of keeping a clean sheet that has led to consistent defeats. Rosenior also looks unsure of what to do when things go wrong. Maresca at least gave the impression that he had some confidence in his plan at all times even if it frequently didn't work out. I think the players know that Rosenior is treading water and this is reflected in their performances of late.

1 hour ago, GarnachoCheese said:

This is on the players.

Nope. Our players are pretty decent. The issue is that the sporting directors and coach/manager are ass clowns.

With even slightly better man management and some above average coaching we would currently be 3rd in the table. The players need a leader - a general - in terms of ability the players are there or thereabouts. But now the players confidence is in the gutter and the PE teacher we currently have as manager is completely out of his depth and unable to help them.

41 minutes ago, TheCeleryKing said:

Nope. Our players are pretty decent. The issue is that the sporting directors and coach/manager are ass clowns.

With even slightly better man management and some above average coaching we would currently be 3rd in the table. The players need a leader - a general - in terms of ability the players are there or thereabouts. But now the players confidence is in the gutter and the PE teacher we currently have as manager is completely out of his depth and unable to help them.

No good manager has ever been successful working alone. The best managers have always had their 'general' on the pitch, identifying and influencing the leaders in the dressing room to coach the team on the pitch. Even a really good coach would need to bring in some of their trusted players, and that simply isn't going to happen because of the 'model'.

2 hours ago, SydneyChelsea said:

No good manager has ever been successful working alone. The best managers have always had their 'general' on the pitch, identifying and influencing the leaders in the dressing room to coach the team on the pitch. Even a really good coach would need to bring in some of their trusted players, and that simply isn't going to happen because of the 'model'.

I agree. One of the reasons we managed to get decent results even under the likes of Avram Grant was that back then the team was full of leaders. We are woefully lacking in that area now.

3 hours ago, SydneyChelsea said:

No good manager has ever been successful working alone. The best managers have always had their 'general' on the pitch, identifying and influencing the leaders in the dressing room to coach the team on the pitch. Even a really good coach would need to bring in some of their trusted players, and that simply isn't going to happen because of the 'model'.

In the current situation we have the players to get a top 4 spot. We still have the 3rd best goal difference in the league. The reason we are not in the top 4 at this moment in time is due the mismanagement of the manager/coach and his sporting director chums. Look at the body language of our players. The manager is working alone because he has already lost the respect of the players. Looks to me like he has lost the dressing room. Such a quick nose dive. LR has zero experience and ability at this level.

Is Liam all alone? Well he has the huddle helper - former rugby league player Willie Isa, who is the Chelsea squad's mentality coach. Maybe he can help LR get the players confidence back?

10 hours ago, TheCeleryKing said:

Nope. Our players are pretty decent. The issue is that the sporting directors and coach/manager are ass clowns.

Our players are pretty decent, its more the build of our squad thats been incredibly mismanaged, its just an absolute shambles, its more a gathering of individuals than an actual planned out. well balanced group.

2 minutes ago, dkw said:

Our players are pretty decent, its more the build of our squad thats been incredibly mismanaged, its just an absolute shambles, its more a gathering of individuals than an actual planned out. well balanced group.

10 hours ago, TheCeleryKing said:

Nope. Our players are pretty decent. The issue is that the sporting directors and coach/manager are ass clowns.

Are they though?

If we say the ‘direct’ competition for Europe is Arsenal, City, Utd, Liverpool, Villa & Newcastle then not many of our players ‘walk’ into those sides.

James, Caicedo, Palmer, Estevao. That’s it.

We have the worst GK out of that group.

Our ‘1st choice’ CB pairing of Trev & Fofana don’t get into any of those sides. Sarr & Josh are purely speculation on how good they’ll become (Give them the time and they’ll be the next JT/Carvalho level pairing)

Cucu gets into half.

Lavia could maybe.

Enzo doesn’t.

Pedro Neto/ Garnacho/ Gittens don’t.

JP again, as great as he’s been for us, only probably gets in the Arsenal side.

We essentially have 3-4 players who are at the peak of their positions and 7 hangers on. The squad isn’t good enough to compete in Europe. That’s on the recruitment not the Manager.

Exactly right. You look at the other thread about "players worth keeping", and within reason we have come up with the same names:

Palmer, Caicedo, Estevao, Cucurella, James, Acheampong, Colwill, Lavia, Santos, Pedro.

That's 10 players and some of those are squad players. I hear the lazy "expert" pundits say Chelsea have a great squad and LR coming out with lines about "incredible group of players", but when you analyse it, that's bo**ocks. We have a few VERY good ones, some decent and some with potential, the rest are nowhere near good enough.

Edited March 24Mar 24 by Nibs

1 hour ago, Nibs said:

Exactly right. You look at the other thread about "players worth keeping", and within reason we have come up with the same names:

Palmer, Caicedo, Estevao, Cucurella, James, Acheampong, Colwill, Lavia, Santos, Pedro.

That's 10 players and some of those are squad players. I hear the lazy "expert" pundits say Chelsea have a great squad and LR coming out with lines about "incredible group of players", but when you analyse it, that's bo**ocks. We have a few VERY good ones, some decent and some with potential, the rest are nowhere near good enough.

When a team is losing, the players look worse, that is just how it is. Most squads have what you've described. Arsenal have a great backline throughout, but they have some dogsh*t options up front.

If this team was put out properly, we would be a lot happier with the players. Yes we need a good backup striker, a world class CB and a reliable left winger. But most teams need something like that.

Merge the best of what Maresca and Rosenior did and we have a decent set up. And at a minimum should be 3rd in this league.

The squad building is what’s killed us.

The board seems to think quantity will equal quality.

A fully fit starting 11 will give any team a good game despite having Hackney Marshes quality goalkeepers, no left winger we can rely on and squad players as starting centre backs.

Problem is a fully fit 11 is rare and every player we swap out makes the team immediately weaker.

Do that with enough players in a match and you go from a team that should challenge for Champions League spots to a team that struggles to get past Wrexham.

We've got average players in many positions, but the team can play better than LR has them. I can't believe that this team is worse than Everton's and by a distance given the scoreline. It is incredibly stupid from LR to go back to playing either Jorgensen or Sanchez as keeper sweepers, and this after Maresca gave up on it after he realised that they were sh*t with the ball. This is what happens when you have an average coach.

LR could very well be our Igor Tudor.

Edited March 24Mar 24 by RMH

International break couldnt happen at a better time, an easy ( relatively) FA cup match, get a bit of confidence back we may win a few games. The issue with the squad is we have so many players , yet when you need a proven Central defence pair for a CL match, we have to play a 19 year old. Then you have a manager picking second choice GK for no apparent reasons.

16 minutes ago, bisright1 said:

When a team is losing, the players look worse, that is just how it is. Most squads have what you've described. Arsenal have a great backline throughout, but they have some dogsh*t options up front.

If this team was put out properly, we would be a lot happier with the players. Yes we need a good backup striker, a world class CB and a reliable left winger. But most teams need something like that.

Merge the best of what Maresca and Rosenior did and we have a decent set up. And at a minimum should be 3rd in this league.

Couldn’t disagree more tbh.

On the topic of Arsenal they don’t have a striker, but Eze, Saka, Martinelli & Trossard are some top top level options to keep defenders honest.

We have Estevao as a wing option, Jesse Derry could become something, the rest are absolute sh*t and wouldn’t get into a top side.

Arsenal, City & Liverpool all have better squads than us. Utd, Villa & Newcastle have better starting XI’s than us.

At full strength, injuries aside, and set up tactically how most on here would agree is our best XI. We’re 7th borderline 8th with Everton for the best side on paper.

LR isn’t good enough for this level yet, and his insistence on the nonsense with GK’s will be his death sentence but even bringing in a Elite Manager, it would look more like Conte/Jose’s spells at Spurs than anything else.

I think just as Sarri got fortunate that he had prime Hazard and Hazard carried that side and made us look better than we were, over the last couple of seasons, although not as Hazard levels, Cole Palmer has done similar. Look back at some of the games where we only got a result, due to a bit of Palmer brilliance (Conference and CWC finals big evidence of this).

Now Palmer looks way off that level, the squad is what it is. Pretty damn average.

9 hours ago, TheCeleryKing said:

Is Liam all alone? Well he has the huddle helper - former rugby league player Willie Isa, who is the Chelsea squad's mentality coach. Maybe he can help LR get the players confidence back?

Or have them kick away possession after the fifth tackle.

1 hour ago, bisright1 said:

Merge the best of what Maresca and Rosenior did and we have a decent set up.

Not possible with the players we have.

• If we want to play an open attacking game, we need better defenders. (We aren't even scoring goals now)

• If we want to play a rigid possession game, we need vastly better quality in attack. (Encourages too many individual errors)

In all comes down to what everyone is saying. The team is poorly recruited based on quality + balance. Nor do I have faith in the manager to handle adversity or out coach another manager.

1 hour ago, RMH said:

LR could very well be our Igor Tudor.

That's not even funny, what a dreadful thought.

14 hours ago, TheCeleryKing said:

Nope. Our players are pretty decent. The issue is that the sporting directors and coach/manager are ass clowns.

With even slightly better man management and some above average coaching we would currently be 3rd in the table. The players need a leader - a general - in terms of ability the players are there or thereabouts. But now the players confidence is in the gutter and the PE teacher we currently have as manager is completely out of his depth and unable to help them.

The players are quite good, its on them for quite clearly down tools

This coach is done at this level,

5 hours ago, dkw said:

Our players are pretty decent, its more the build of our squad thats been incredibly mismanaged, its just an absolute shambles, its more a gathering of individuals than an actual planned out. well balanced group.

This is the real issue. The SD buys the same profiles of CBs, wingers (except Estevao) and GKs.

Not helped by the fact the ownership arrogantly assumes that managers don't matter when managers are the glue that brings everything together

I’m not one for stats but I just saw an interesting one.

Every single league game this season we have failed to outrun our opponents.