21 Sep 2025 17:55:16
6 games into the new season and still all to play for, well not quite all as I think the premier league is beyond us but did anyone really think that was on? The players are dropping like flies which is probably due to fatigue of having no real quality time off over the summer, Levi out long term, BB out, Lavia out (a few rumours this might not be a physical issue? ), Delap out until Christmas, Essugo out until next year and now rumours that Palmer might be out for 6 to 8 weeks with a groin issue, he has been playing with injections! Add to that the scud missile which hit towards the end of the window when UEFA went strong on our spending (no issues with that) but I think it caught the club out and our interest in Simmons, a new centre back (as requested by Maresca) and another striker had to be reeled in leaving some gaps particuarly at centre back. Maresca has stated that he sees Pedro as a second striker and clearly doesn't see Marc Guie as being ready to step up to fill Delaps boots. Fine margins in the opener when Santos really should of buried that chance late on, a dodgy VAR against Brentford, a blatant red car not given in the Munich game and then the sending off yesterday have all conspired against us but the counter to that is the Fulham VAR which went in our favour so no real complaints there. Maresca divides opinion on here with 2 or 3 clearly not rating him and 2 or 3 clearly backing him (At a guess I would say there are probably around 9 or 10 regular posters? Has he made mistakes? certainly subbing off both Estevao and Neto yesterday was a mistake in my opinion and bringing George on, who just looks nowhere near the level required, was another mistake? Playing James at RB helps but we do need support in midfield for Moises so surely Santos or James has to play in there to stop us being over run? I would persist with Maresca as constantly changing coaches isn't the answer, look at Villa? Emery was being bigged up last season but they are struggling, the same with Howe at Newcastle. Not a good start but other than Liverpool the rest all look bang average to me and this could be another close run race for the top 4 but I think our squad has enough about it secure that. Can we win another trophy this season, after all, that is what we do, 2 last season and Maresca dipped out of the domestic cups early, will he go strong against Lincoln? I hope so because complacency should never be allowed to creep in and the likes of Josh, Hato, Gittens, Garnacho, Santos, Guie and the loanee from Brighton must start together with a couple of young academy players like Reggie Walsh would be good to see. Sorry for the long post but having had roast beef and yorkshire pud I thought I would pen my thoughts.
21 Sep 2025 18:13:50
RPD, very enjoyable post mate.
21 Sep 2025 22:00:38
RPD, enjoyed your post. I am envious of your roast. I doubt whether any of us believed we were serious contenders for the title. For my part, too many elements missing for that. I think you are harsh on Emery and Howe, I’m not suggesting that they are elite coaches but they haven’t been backed by their clubs in the transfer window because of PSR issues. Our start to the season has been disappointing; our performances have been poor and the football has been sterile and franky boring. Obviously, it is early days yet. I really doubt that we will see much of Lavia and BB, for whatever reason they just can’t seem to be be fit enough to be relied on. I wouldn’t be using Reece in midfield but Santos definitely deserves more game time.
As for Maresca the question I ask myself is: is he good enough to take us to a higher level? The answer imo is No.
22 Sep 2025 08:40:15
Absolutely agree with your assessment Jimbo, I would add Fofana will also probably get injured soon.
22 Sep 2025 08:59:12
I agree with you Jimbo that Santos needs to start in midfield, he might not be at Lavia's level but will give us more solidity in midfield than Enzo who can push up into the 10 if Palmer is unavailable. As regards Maresca I'm not sure if he can take the next step up to go head to head with the elite coaches but in coaching terms he is still young and learning his trade and having won a promotion and championship in his first year as Leicester manager and then guiding us back towards the top table after missing out on champions league football for several years and winning a european trophy and winning the club world cup by completely outsmarting one of the worlds super elite coaches in Luis Enrique I think he deserves this season at least, especially as he wasn't given the top level experienced centre half he asked for and so desperately needed. Time will tell of course.
22 Sep 2025 10:32:06
RPD, fair comments. It’s early days yet so no need for panic. As for Maresca I am not suggesting he should go, I expect him to be here for the rest of the season. True his tactics in the WCC final were spot on but equally his tactics and substitutions against a very poor Man U were woeful. You mention that he is learning the trade, that was my main issue about his appointment, I didn’t want someone to use the job to “learn the trade”. However, I accept that elite coaches are few and far between.
I think Spurs made a smart appointment with Frank and I do worry that they might finish above us this season. As I said early days.
22 Sep 2025 11:04:25
I do know what you mean Jimbo about a coach "learning his trade" and from that perspective we are at times at a disadvantage with Maresca and he did cock it up against Man U and with better subs we might of nicked a point late on but let's hope he learns from that mistake. I think Spurs will finish below us due to their lack of squad depth and fragile nature, they lost at home to Bournemouth who just sold most of their defence! The one coach out there who would interest me is Glasner at Palace but as I said earlier I would stick with Maresca this season, my worry though would be will he stick with us? he is very confident and seems to have a bit about him and if we don't back him (the centre half he so desperately wanted) he might move on if the right offer came in? City springs to mind if Pep moves on.
22 Sep 2025 11:22:43
I think the substitutions EM made against Utd were understandable and showed a welcome degree of flexibility.
22 Sep 2025 13:13:44
Tom
They were poor and were typical Italian tactics.
22 Sep 2025 13:41:37
Bill, he could well have gone 441 but he chose to go 531 with width being supplied by Cucarella and James.
My point is, change was needed and it showed some flexibility going to a five.
My criticism would have been not Starting Tosin when they were always likely to start with Sesko.
22 Sep 2025 16:17:37
Tom
Knowing CP was carrying an injury, he should have been the one coming off instead of one of our other attackers.
To me that's was a bad decision by Maresca.
22 Sep 2025 18:05:52
Bill, I believe he needed to bring Tosin on to combat Sesko. I also believe that it’s reasonable if you have a player sent to get “three” box to box central midfielders.
Of course he could have taken off Fofana or Chalaboa for Tosin and kept a back four. If he had gone down that route he could have gone 441 or 432 keeping on Neto. Given the circumstances I’m happy enough with the managers in game decisions.
I remain unhappy about not starting with Tosin in this particular game.