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Atalanta vs Chelsea (UCL) Tuesday 9th December 20:00 GMT

I’ve been out for x’mas drinks with some mates and it looks that I haven’t missed much. I can only say that I’m glad i didn’t get a ticket for the game. I’ll try to watch the highlights before i make my mind up about how bad we were.

 
Note that i’ve checked the results, I hope that i don’t coincide with the Spuds pricks in my train!

 
Said it before, Would City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Barcalona or Munich have him as manager? Of course not so why should we?
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Let alone give him a 5-year deal upfront?

 
Taking Trev off because of a yellow card without putting Reece into the RB slot and Josh in at CB was strange, gittins coming back on for the second half equally so.

Neto subbed off without Estaveo coming on? Loads of options but Maresca chose to go with Gusto to win us the game.

I really find no excitement watching this team under this manager and it's got me feeling like I'm struggling through the Benitez era again.

Everton must be rubbing their hands about now.
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Agree, Chippy.

It's good to see you back posting. Loved reading your posts back in the day especially during the Benitez and Mourinho 2.0 years.

 
MARESCA IS A LIAR AND A COWARD

When Fofana came off, he elected to bring on Tosin Adarabioyo.After the game, Maresca was asked why Estevao wasn’t introduced.

he answered: “The change of Tosin was because we needed to change Wes.

“For sure, with one more change there would have been a chance for Estevao or Andrey to come on and potentially change the game.”

It’s not a nonsense explanation, but it doesn’t quite track. There were already five defenders on the pitch without Tosin, and the match was all square at 1-1. Surely, bringing some attacking threat onto the pitch would have been the right move.

It’s not the first bit of stick Maresca has gotten for substitutions over this winless run. His in-game management hasn’t been at the level we’ve grown used to.

 
How bad do things have to get for Maresca to go? What’s the tipping point? Because I still think we have much lower to go. He’s only just getting started and it’s not even Christmas yet.

 
How bad do things have to get for Maresca to go? What’s the tipping point? Because I still think we have much lower to go. He’s only just getting started and it’s not even Christmas yet.
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Club already said, through their media mouthpieces, he stays until his end of season review.

 
Club already said, through their media mouthpieces, he stays until his end of season review.
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Yup, he isn’t going anywhere. They “might” sack him in the summer if he doesn’t make top 4, which they say is the target. Currently on track for 63 league points if we continue at this rate; only once in the last 10yrs has that been good enough for Top 5, Leicester in 2019/20.

 
That was really poor. Couldnt believe what i was watching. Anyone would think we didnt need the points and that we had already qualified.

Maresca conducts far too many experiments at the same time.

Trying Gusto as a game changing midfielder while trying Gittens for 90 minutes to see if anything actually happens while trying Badiashile to see if he is actually a footballer. Leaving out Estevao to see if just his presence on the bench can influence the result.

I wish he would just limit himself to one experiment per game, maximum.

Decent performance from Josh, certainly worthy of being dropped for the next game.

 
That was really poor. Couldnt believe what i was watching. Anyone would think we didnt need the points and that we had already qualified.

Maresca conducts far too many experiments at the same time.

Trying Gusto as a game changing midfielder while trying Gittens for 90 minutes to see if anything actually happens while trying Badiashile to see if he is actually a footballer. Leaving out Estevao to see if just his presence on the bench can influence the result.

I wish he would just limit himself to one experiment per game, maximum.

Decent performance from Josh, certainly worthy of being dropped for the next game.
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That’s it in a nutshell for me. Very disappointing performance.

We never matched their tempo and effort from kick off.

Yet when we went ahead, I thought we’d seen them off and would win the game 2-0.

 
That’s it in a nutshell for me. Very disappointing performance.

We never matched their tempo and effort from kick off.

Yet when we went ahead, I thought we’d seen them off and would win the game 2-0.
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I am surprised that the horrendous miss from Reece James at the beginning of the second half, when their defence suddenly froze, hasn't been wheeled out as a difference maker. But realistically, how many other testing attempts did we have in that second until the end of the game and desperation took over. Shocking management

 
Could see them coming back into the game from a mile off. They had so much more intensity than us. Pressing us, forcing us to move the ball quicker which we were incapable of without making mistakes.

To be effective you need to be very comfortable on the ball and pick out spaces from the press. We clearly are not attributed to effective possession football, unless it's slow and turgid.

The sooner we get a manager in that can change us to a counter attacking team the better.

 
God what a hard watch that was yesterday...

I've been somewhere inbetween giving Maresca time and sacking him for quite a while, but I just can't see us competing in CL or PL as long as he's here. There were some rare great matches under him but I guess that just came down mostly due to individual moments of brilliance and a highly-motivated matchups. Tactically, he really seems out of his depth, lost with no real shape or idea.

Real Madrid seem to have the same issue with Xabi Alonso, but of course they have much more individual quality so perhaps it doesn't show quite as much as for us.

But then there's another question... IF we could sack him tomorrow - which jobless manager would we want to bring? There's no good options out there at the moment.

Also, why are we pretty much the only big club that keeps giving 5-year contracts to new managers???? I will never understand that.

 
My two cents. (sorry for my english)

There are good individualities in Italian teams, almost all foreign, but Italian soccer has neither quality, nor pace and nor intensity. It no longer even has that tough defensive phase that once distinguished it.

So losing to an Italian team at this historic stage, more or less, is equivalent for a team like Chelsea, to having lost to a Belgian team like Malins (Mechelen) thirty or more years ago.

Why do I say this? Because our defeat yesterday is probably the result of a presumptuous attitude that led us to play at a low level. And when you stoop too low to your opponent's level (it's also a rule of life) he defeats you with his experience playing at low levels.

I have always defended Maresca but surely the biggest fault of what happened yesterday is his.

But it's also true that the players go on the pitch and not him.

I can't forget about Atalanta's second goal, when a player (very good) like Cucurella stepped back into the penalty area, giving De Keteleare the chance to shoot unopposed.

Evidently, ours is still an immature team, and this is not related to the age of the players.

Last year the crisis came when, having started without any objectives, and we found ourselves in second place.

This year the crisis came after "walking" with Barcelona, and a great match played with Arsenal.

Now Everton is coming...and we need to unite because the season is still long and very open and it's not a given that our players emerge from the torpor that has enveloped them, and return to give us so much satisfaction.

 
Taking Trev off because of a yellow card without putting Reece into the RB slot and Josh in at CB was strange, gittins coming back on for the second half equally so.

Neto subbed off without Estaveo coming on? Loads of options but Maresca chose to go with Gusto to win us the game.

I really find no excitement watching this team under this manager and it's got me feeling like I'm struggling through the Benitez era again.

Everton must be rubbing their hands about now.
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He is Benitez all over again. His ceiling is Benitez at Liverpool, all cup runs and maybe a half-season challenge for the league, and endless excuses blaming everyone and everything except himself.

 
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