01 Feb 2026 15:22:24
Hard away trip in Europe a few days earlier, semi final second leg in a few days. Was it really that much of a surprise that Rosenior rotated the squad like he did? Hato, Badisahille and Garnacho should have done much better than they did vs that West Ham team. He would have had every expectation that they would do much better, and was once again brave enough to make positive substitutions, which impacted the performance and got us the result.
If he hadn’t made the changes and we didn’t get a positive result, no doubt plenty would be complaining that he has to utilise more of his big squad.
One positive, when Garnacho knocks on his door, having been left out of the bigger games to come, and asks why he’s not playing, it’s becoming a very easy answer. I think he’s a player who fools you with the odd important goal here and there, but in general play he leaves a lot to be desired - most of all, effort.
01 Feb 2026 16:49:10
Agreed, J. Our second string are generally weak (Maresca talked about that previously) .
Garnacho looked a rubbish signing, and nothing I've seen from him thus far changes that perception – a couple of important goals, but on the flip side has missed a huge number of chances. He strikes me as someone who's suddenly realising that he's not anywhere near as good as he thought he was – had the talent a few years ago, but has been left behind by his peers.
He'll really need to change his attitude if he's not to be another lost talent. Seems like it'll be hard though, as the attitude looks baked in at this point. Would love him to prove me wrong, can't really see it happening. Gittens looks totally out of his depth at the club as well, unfortunately.
01 Feb 2026 19:09:59
Gittens needs a loan, more ability in one on ones than Garnacho, but desperately needs to build his confidence. Somewhere like Palace for a season would be good for him.
01 Feb 2026 19:31:34
gittrns needs selling whilst we can still recoup something for him. an absolute mile off the pace.
01 Feb 2026 19:49:33
J, as for Garnacho agree with you. Most posters thought it was a bad signing; he reminds me of Sancho; both lightweights. How the SDs thought he could improve the squad or make a profit on him amazes me ; we will be spending time in the future trying to loan him out.
Regarding Gittens, I see nothing in him that fills me with any confidence. The fact that we might have to loan out a £47 million player is ridiculous.
01 Feb 2026 20:25:49
Looked a very good player last season and although I expressed one reservation when we signed him, I’m sure he will prove a valuable asset to CFC for years to come.
Hope his injury isn’t to bad. We potentially have a lot more games to play this season and we will almost certainly need to use the full squad.
01 Feb 2026 22:28:49
What I can't understand is how our SDs thought that Gittens would be an upgrade on Madueke. Buying attackers from the much weaker than EPL Bundesliga quite a gamble as Sancho and Werner signings suggested. Madueke had already shown he could have an impact in EPL games for us and beat defenders one in one. Garnacho has done this on occasion beflre disastrous game be had yesterday.
Gittens hardly at all aa far as I can recall though he has fine game again src Lincoln City . Of course confidence so important and Gittens may yet come good. But he has generally been a big disappointment thus far though there was one very good cross he put in for a Neto goal i think.
02 Feb 2026 04:39:08
JBS, I will do my usual and wait a while before I write a player off.
02 Feb 2026 09:11:44
Madueke mainly plays on the right, Gittens mainly plays on the left. Maybe we should be asking if we’d rather Madueke or Estavao? Meanwhile the left side of our attack remains a concern / work in progress.
02 Feb 2026 10:10:02
Tom you are right not to write this player or any player off at such a still v early stage in his career. Adapting to a new club - let alone if it is from another league to the EPL - can be tough and both of us can think of examples of many who have taken time to adapt and reach their best, Cucurella one example and even the great Didier D's first season only yielded about a dozen goals I think. Though he didn't seem short on confidence.
What makes it even harder for those coming to CFC at the moment is how little game time some get so they have little time to build up understanding with other players, or own rhythm or confidence as Ed001 suggested. The fact that most of them are so young makes this that much harder for them I'd reckon.
My point though was I could not understand why we would take a gamble on a young EPL untested player lwhen we already had a pretty good winger option in Noni M at tfe club (good understanding with Palmer etc), Estevao already bought and on his way, and Neto doing well. so keeping Noni and only bringing in one of Garnacho or Gittens or someone else EPL proven to be better seemed to make more sense. I think most of us would have gone for Semenyo from Bournemouth but this apparently would have challenged/broken our wage structure? Or.? .
But believe me when I say that I always hope for the best of course from our signings and will hope you are right about Gittens. I never watched him in the Bundesliga so can't comment on the potential you've clearly seen. Perhaps he
It may be that he has been carrying an injury that has been hampering him and that forced him off v West Ham if that wasn't a tactical subbing.
He has certainly looked so lacking in confidence and out of sorts in the recent game time he's had. And in the West Ham game neither he nor Garnacho offered anything much either in attack or defense. Though Garnacho has scored a few good goals for us in other games.
Gittens looked devastated when subbed v Naples but had done nothing in that game. But so very hard for a young player to gain confidence when clearly second choice to a Neto or Estevao so not going to have constant game time in which to improve if he can. Mental toughness must be key if particularly ina league as demanding as the EPL with few easy games.
02 Feb 2026 10:29:58
Garnacho had a shocker but has had a couple of good ish games.
My concern about Gittens is the same as it was at the start of the season but I’m sure he will come good.
My guess is the manager will want a long look at both players before he makes a decision.
02 Feb 2026 16:05:54
We've also got Quenda coming in the summer. From what I've seen he likes to play on the right and drift inside. Hmm.
It seems mad that we've signed so many wingers in the last couple of years (plus have George on our books), and only Estevao is currently actually convincing in the position (and that was a no-brainer, as he was the most talked about youngster in Brazil for the last few years) .
But I do think it's also important to remember it's a position that will almost always divide fans when the player isn't at the very elite level (see: Kalou), and wingers, more than perhaps any other area of the pitch, need confidence – look what happened to Malouda for that one season. When you look back at the wingers the club has had, very few have had a consistent impact a la Robben or Hazard, and they were proper elite players.
Looking at the following list (made off the top of my head, so not in date order), how many of these were unqualified success stories, in the sense that you were never frustrated with them, and how many went through terrible periods with the fans on their backs where they were perhaps able to play their way back into form (where our wingers don't get that opportunity)? Pedro, Duff, Kalou, Quaresma, Schürrle, Salah, Werner, Moses, Salah, Marko Marin, Alexi Smertin, Joe Cole, Willian, Geremi, Wright-Phillips, Gronkjaer.
I'd say all of those players who are remembered as being consistently excellent for us (Pedro, Duff, Joe Cole, Willian) went through phases in their Chelsea careers when the fans were massively on their backs, and their output was questioned. It's easy to look back with rose-tinted glasses now and remember their good bits, but by the standards of what we ask of contemporary wingers would any of them have satisfied us now?
Joe Cole was treated pretty harshly by Mourinho for not doing enough defensive work, Duff went through a terrible period after his injuries, Pedro was inconsistent, Willian had awful spells in open play too (before redeeming himself by carrying the team with a succession of free kicks) .
Not sure what the point of this post was really. Perhaps I'm saying it's difficult in our current setup for these young players in this particular position to get the consistency to come good unless they're world-class. Especially if we then sell them just as they start settling.
02 Feb 2026 16:26:11
Ziyech maybe the worst wide player ever signed by Chelsea.
02 Feb 2026 20:32:08
Good shout, Tom. Although I think Marin was worse – Ziyech at least had a few decent moments in his first season.
02 Feb 2026 21:01:42
Edw, you may well be right. I had forgotten how bad he was. Over the years, like most clubs, we have signed some very poor players.
02 Feb 2026 21:37:31
Forgot about Marco "the German messi" marin.