Chelsea International Banter 3

21 Feb 2026 19:35:24
Home and not happy with yet another poor performance at The Bridge.

The only player who comes out with any credit for me is Chalaboa.

The marking for there equaliser was a joke, particularly from Santos.

Fofana deserved the second booking but the first yellow was very soft. Tosin might have also seen red.

It is down to us to break these teams down who play with virtually six at the back and 80% possession is pointless unless you creat at least some clear chances because I can't remember there keeper having to make a save.

22 Feb 2026 09:10:28
Tom It was the same with Maresca. There was lots of possession, but he did nothing with it. The defensive issues from set pieces, as well as the indiscipline issues, were also present under his reign.

22 Feb 2026 10:52:02
Bill, our shape has definitely changed after watching yesterday's game. We are now almost a 4312, with the FBs being asked to over- or underlap, but not being inverted. I can see patterns of play that I like, but as we know it's hard to break down a team who play their four defenders narrow and bring their wingers back as FBs.

On top of that, their DMs just sit in front of the back four. It's like playing against a back eight. Anyway, we should have created more, and I forgot the one-on-one Palmer had. If he scores, the moaning stops.

22 Feb 2026 14:30:12
We were really poor, Tom, going backwards under this guy.

22 Feb 2026 14:42:24
Greenaway, our performance yesterday was poor, but I do not think we have gone backwards under our new manager. He has introduced a different shape, and I think we have to give him time to see if he can get a tune out of this group of players.

22 Feb 2026 15:19:34
Tom, we were also poor against Leeds and not much better v Palace, West Ham and Wolves, but won those games, which helps. I don't like the way he wants to put everything through the middle, and this relentless tippy-tappy stuff that all the Pep lites play nowadays, but you are right, he needs time. Will he get it if we miss out on top 4/5?

22 Feb 2026 17:03:26
I wouldn't have a clue if he will be our manager next season or if not finishing in the top five will be a deciding factor. I would like to think he will be given more than half a season, but that isn't always the case. I think we have played well in games under his management, but not for ninety mins.

23 Feb 2026 09:14:39
Greenaway, Poor against Leeds. We were battered against them under Maresca. It won't be until the summer where he can properly get on the training ground with the players, and I know you are going to come back and say he gave the players time off, but to be honest, they needed it.

Will he last past this season? Who knows, but he has only just started. Maresca has gone (he walked), so we need to move on whether it's with LR or somebody else. As you say, perhaps Gon, next through the revolving door.

23 Feb 2026 10:17:22
We have not played well for all 90 mins in many home games this season under either EM or LR. Barcelona is the standout exception, together perhaps with Ajax - but they were woeful - and Liverpool. But there have been a large number of disappointing results at home in the EPL under EM, don't forget, as well as, eg, that dreadful game away v Leeds. To me, this speaks to problems of various kinds with the squad as much as to who has been manager. Cucurella, for me, was a huge miss in the last game and a half. Remember, he had to come off at half time v Leeds when we were absolutely dominant. Also, I wondered whether James coming off just before stoppage time v Burnley removed an organising figure in defense for us.

Plus the absence of a commanding calm CB figure like Silva. James is about the closest we've got to that kind of commandingly calm presence at the back, though not at CB - TC the closest perhaps - and that might have been why we didn't have one of our taller CBs (Tosin, TC or Acheampong - just brought on for James and surely with the possibility of defending set pieces in mind - and Mourinho always stressed the need for height in the team for this reason) marking their attacker who scored with the header rather than comparatively shorter Santos. Lack of leadership at the back might be part of the reason why we have lost 19 points from winning positions in the EPL - second most behind West Ham?

21 Feb 2026 17:24:37
Another dreadfully disappoint home result made worse by the Burnley - Burnley for goodness sake - equaliser coming in the third minute of injury time. A result that together with the Leeds dropping of two points might just have sunk our hopes of a Champions League qualification place in last two of the last three remaining 'easy' home games of our season. The third of the three is v Nottinghm Forest in May.

Yet another red card contributing to the result. This time Fofana the culprit and Tosin might have followed. Discipline has been a major problem this season. Frankly pathetic and perghaps we donb't desrve ECL qualification. Can only hope that our rivals drop points aplenty now too. As it is we missed the chance to close the gap v Villa who did drop 2 at home like us. Perhaps it's the additional games catching up with those who have had to play more on several fronts and we had the CWC thrown in as well. But we had just had eight day btreak from last game with R&R in Dubai. And surely we should have had a squad big enough to cope and surely we could score more goals against Burnley. Pethaps some were mentally still on the beach in the UAE!.

I give up on us gaining any long-lasting consistency and am stunned by our inability to pick up a home win against either Leeds or Burnley. I may have to take a rest from the site for my own mental R&R even if I won't be able to get to Dubai!

I was lambasted for lamenting outr home form and commenting that we were in the lower mid-table mediocrity band in thsi respect if only home results counted. I hardly need to be told that away results count too. duh! The point is that most fans go to home games and desrve better - not least those who pay the extortionate prices of tickets in Westview for even games like today's. And the lack of a calm headed CB - you could never say WF calm even if at times he can be excellent - has cost us sorely too even if everyone but the SDs though we needed to bring such a player in especially after LC injured.

OK rant over. I'm not in the ever a boo boy or ever a happy clappy club must never be criticised vcamp. I've just lot it this time having watched us bottle it again in one of the supposedly easy home fixtures we have left. We better win the harder ones then!

21 Feb 2026 19:29:00
JBS, a guy at the game today, was telling me about a Westview ST. Apparently it costs £3k and that's for all home and away games, with extra tickets available for away games.

22 Feb 2026 11:00:52
Thanks for this, Tom - I had thought that there was a long list for season tickets, but perhaps this Westview offer is new and may be a sign that the club is not selling out match-by-match tickets at huge prices. Mind you, 3000 pounds is quite a lot if, like me, you can't make all home games because of travel, but I may investigate!

22 Feb 2026 11:14:11
JBS, If I were a lot younger, I would consider paying the £3k. It probably moves you up the Home ST list, and I think you are allowed an extra two away tickets. I was told those two extra tickets are included in that price.

My guess is the guy has got the package wrong, but it's worth looking into. Again, if I were younger, I would prefer an away ST to a home ST.

21 Feb 2026 17:11:04
Our home form this season is atrocious as is the red card situation.

Not sure why Fofana was not substituted before his second yellow and I would blame LR for that.

21 Feb 2026 19:37:14
Bill, blame Fofana for a stupid challenge when there was no need and no danger.

22 Feb 2026 09:13:18
But it's not just Fofana, Tom, we have the most red cards and are bottom of the league for yellows and reds. I believe last season we were near the bottom, and the season before we were bottom. It's just not good enough, and these cards are costing us dearly.

22 Feb 2026 10:54:44
Yes, they have cost us and I'm sure it's something that is discussed with the players. We can't just substitute players who are on a yellow. If we did that, Caicedo wouldn't ever finish a game.

21 Feb 2026 17:09:27
Two points chucked away these red cards cost us.

But as I have been in hospital for four weeks I have had other things on my mind and as much as I love chelsea, football is not that important.

21 Feb 2026 17:38:36
Very sorry to hear you've been in hospital, Seymns, and for four weeks, so it must have been for something serious. I do hope you are at least slowly getting better. Yes, I think we'd all agree that health and many other things are more important than football. But having a rant from time to time about this season's red-card madness and dropping points, after having dominated, is worth a momentary outburst.

It is almost necessary and therapeutic. Before the likes of your situation, and things in our own lives, bring us back to that reality of what enduringly matters. So thank you, and please update us, hopefully with positive news, on your situation if/when you can.

21 Feb 2026 19:22:07
Seymns, I am very sorry to learn about your health issues. I hope you make a full and speedy recovery.

21 Feb 2026 19:26:57
Seymns, I hope you are on the mend, mate? Look after yourself.

21 Feb 2026 22:38:32
Thanks, guys, for your wishes. I had a heart attack followed by a quad bypass and a collapsed lung, but things are looking up, and hopefully rehab will go well. In the last week I saw a couple of the Chelsea games, but they sort of passed me by.

Champions League top 5 qualifying will be three out of Liverpool, Man United, Villa and us. I think we may sneak above Villa.

22 Feb 2026 01:11:32
Seymns, I will stick with my pre-season prediction of 2nd-4th, but I fear both Liverpool and United will hit form on the run-in. Like you, I think Villa will falter. For the first 60 mins at the Bridge, they were the worst team I've seen this season.

How they won that game remains a mystery to me, but as I said at the time, that result was more about the managers.

22 Feb 2026 10:57:02
Seymns2, all strength to you with the rehab, and good indeed to know you're now feeling on the up. Tom, as said, will obviously hope you are right and I am wrong about 3rd to 7th, recently sharpened to 4th to 6th!

22 Feb 2026 14:31:00
Best wishes to you, Seymns2.

21 Feb 2026 17:06:22
This muppet is so far out of his depth he reminds me of AVB. The grass was never going to be greener with this school teacher in charge. He will be gone in the summer as should the clowns who appointed him and pushed out Maresca because he dared to stand up against them.

21 Feb 2026 17:51:47.
Trouble is that Maresca hadn't done all that well in the league himself. Greenaway, though, I agree that getting in young, inexperienced coaches is a gamble - as is the seeming 'youth only' buying policy. EM was right to try and get us in a CB in the transfer window, but as others have pointed out, he almost certainly knew what to expect when accepting the job in terms of being a head coach, not a manager in the Fergie/Wenger/Mourinho sense. His tactics against top teams were also good, but in fact, like LR in the last two home games, he tended not to be so good - or that much better than LR - against lower EPL sides, I reckon.

OK, only six games in, his win ratio in the EPL is 66%, whereas overall EM's was c.59%, I think. On a par with Tuchel's, for what it's worth! I've liked the way LR has conducted himself in interviews and pitchside, and his results thus far in the EPL are no worse than EM in statistical terms. But I did raise concern on his appointment that LR may not have enough hairdryer-throwing, if necessary, 'personality' and gravitas in the dressing room if things start to go wrong, particularly with a largely young side. Still a long way to go in this season.

21 Feb 2026 18:16:14
Greenaway We were just as bad at home, if not worse, with Maresca in charge. We have been useless at defending set pieces all season, as was the red-card situation. I'm glad that you agree with us about wanting the clowns gone.

21 Feb 2026 18:16:56
Maresca had a top record against the top teams, JBS. I think we would have beaten Arsenal in the semi-final with him in charge, but who knows? That ship has sailed now.

21 Feb 2026 18:29:49
Yes, Greenaway, like Tuchel, if more dramatically by winning the Champions League, Maresca showed tactical acumen against PSG and in some other big games. Neither all that good in the EPL v supposedly weaker sides. EM may have got us past Arsenal in the Carabao Cup. We'll never know!

21 Feb 2026 19:37:55
Since Tuchel, the head coach appointments have been poor. Apart from Poch, all of them were out of their depth. I am trying to fathom this consistent failure to appoint a coach who can lift us to a higher level. Perhaps the hierarchy think that their ducking and diving in the transfer market for young, unproven players can bring success.

More likely, they are worried that an elite coach might shine a light on their incompetence. It is getting to the stage now where no top-class coach would consider taking the job, so more of the same.

21 Feb 2026 19:39:15
As always, I will wait before I judge him as a manager. I have this feeling he is going to be successful.

21 Feb 2026 20:00:18
'Muppet' 'school teacher' 'clowns.' Very interesting post from someone who's been a major advocate for the SD's not too long ago. Posting from the wrong account, maybe?

21 Feb 2026 20:36:27
Bill, I'm ok with their recruitment of players, but, as you know, I thought Maresca was doing a pretty good job, and I was very clear that the grass was not always greener by bombing him out and bringing in a new coach.

Whoever made that decision, and, as Jimbo says, those responsible for the poor head coach appointments all along, including Poch in my opinion, need to be hoofed. The way this is panning out, Gary O'Neil will be in charge next season!

22 Feb 2026 09:18:55
Greenaway, it has to be the SDs who are responsible. That is their job role.

22 Feb 2026 10:43:37
But which one, Bill? There are 4 people heading up the recruitment of players, and, by and large, I'm fairly happy with the players coming in and going out, but which one recruits the head coach? It won't be all 4 of them.

22 Feb 2026 10:56:40
It could just be a collective decision. It's early days in this manager's reign. We have dropped silly points, but let's give LR a chance.

22 Feb 2026 14:33:17
ED01, Do you have any idea who appoints the head coach at Chelsea? Is it one of the sporting directors? all of them? or even the owners?

{Ed001's Note - it is down to the sporting directors. Not sure which one has the final say, probably has to be cleared by the ceo in event of disagreement.}

23 Feb 2026 09:35:43
Thanks ED01.

{Ed001's Note - very welcome.}

21 Feb 2026 17:01:17
Another awful result againdt 19th poor again and discipline issues cost us another couple of points with our run we'll be lucky to make 6th atm but oh well we now have a horrid looking FOS sponsor from a dodgy ai company with links to clearlake all fun and games.

21 Feb 2026 19:49:17
Kazblue, are they "dodgy"? The little I've read seems to suggest a very successful technology company, with 7000 global employees. They seem to supply AI and other technology solutions across a whole spectrum of industries and hundreds of companies. I guess they could well be a technology vendor to Clearlake or a Clearlake affiliate.

21 Feb 2026 21:01:29
I think the last manager we appointed who was my first choice was probably Conte. As his second season in charge progressed, I wasn't a fan of his either. Jose twice and Carlo forever will always be my favourites.

21 Feb 2026 21:03:18
Wrong thread but ho hum!

21 Feb 2026 16:56:51
All too predictable once again. Thank god its 5pm rather than 3am like it is for Melbourne CFC and other international fans.

21 Feb 2026 16:56:45
Another example of having people in charge not knowing what there doing from owners to the pretend in fill PE teacher.
Throwing it away but not good enough anyway it's now it's a joke.

21 Feb 2026 19:42:39
The "PE" teacher you refer to has played football and managed teams that you could only dream about. He has certainly earned my respect by what he has achieved in a very competitive business. I certainly hope he is successful.

21 Feb 2026 20:14:25
You know nothing about me. And I am sure he's very happy he's earned your respect.

21 Feb 2026 20:46:27
Nib, what I do know is that you must have a very good pub team, and I hope your keeper isn't a "clown". Of course, the manager of your pub team may well have played at the top level of football, passed his coaching badges, and managed professional football teams. I try and show respect to everyone. Not just football managers.

21 Feb 2026 21:29:35
Tom, perhaps you should show more respect for fellow posters. As for LR in the context of coaches: he was sacked by Hull and managed a team who are 7th in the French league, which I would count as fifth in terms of strength in Europe. Hardly a pedigree for a club who claim they want to challenge for the top trophies.

21 Feb 2026 21:48:54
If I didn't show respect to my fellow posters, I would hope that the Eds would bar me from this site. I will take no lectures on that score. Our manager is qualified to be a manager/coach and was a top player.

He wouldn't have been my first choice as our manager, but I will personally give him a chance to show he has the qualities to be a successful Chelsea manager.

21 Feb 2026 21:53:55
Actually on reflection I have shown a lack of respect. I apologise.

21 Feb 2026 22:34:38
Tom, fair play to you. I have also posted things that, on reflection, I should have stated in a less emotional manner. As for the Eds, I think they have to give a certain amount of leeway for posts, otherwise the site would become too vanilla.

21 Feb 2026 22:46:15
Let's see how many others apologise for a lack of respect. I assume they will all be called out? We are the words we use, and we should take the view that a player or manager's family might read a post. So I should take more care!

22 Feb 2026 00:16:27
Tom, I understand your point. However, I have no regrets about my criticisms of the SDs and Ben Roberts. Posters might not agree with my opinions, but I stand by them. Taking LR as an example, as I have said from the start, he does not have the pedigree or experience to be appointed as head coach at our club. He has taken on the job and will be judged by the supporters and the media; that goes with the territory.

He believes he is good enough and gets big bucks, so he will have to deliver. I was slightly concerned about his post-match comments criticising the players; some probably deserved it, but this is from a coach who hasn't played the same back four since his appointment.

22 Feb 2026 01:04:19
Jimbo, I have made plenty of criticisms about players, managers, SDs and owners. I have zero issues with valid criticism or personal opinions, but it can't be a one-way passion street. I will accept valid criticism of me as a poster, and I freely admit that I have biased opinions, an agenda, being a hypocrite, being pompous, and that virtually every single one of my opinions is guesswork. I also desperately try not to say "I told you so." If a poster wants to call a player a pub player, clown, or worse, then they shouldn't be surprised if other posters feel the need to respond.

The same obviously applies to the manager, SDs and owners. If people want to moan about a lack of respect, how about showing some respect to others. I have not praised today's performance. How could anyone? But I would like to think my criticism could be read by any player or the manager as at least reasonable. I have said many times the ability of players at the top level is, in my opinion, off the scale and something most fans could only dream of having; that ability alone deserves some sort of respect. Sorry for the rant but it gets on my t/ts.

14 Feb 2026 13:46:18
Is Guiu injured/ill?

15 Feb 2026 09:35:27
Sorry Bill, no idea what's going on with lad. The sad thing is, I like him as a player.

16 Feb 2026 09:59:46
So do I Tom and think that he has had a raw deal after being recalled from loan with Sunderland. But hope he and the club have a plan for his development/game time experience.

13 Feb 2026 20:35:41
Solid first half.

Sarr has looked very good, although untested defensively. That ball for Estevao was absolutely gorgeous and really should've been put away.

Garnacho and Delap have a chance to build confidence and perform, not easy on a snowy night away at Hull, but also not close to being achieved by either of them. Both young, both have time, both show very little when given chances.

Santos has been brilliant again and although Caicedo looks exhausted, he should really benefit from having Andrey next to him. Neto also doing a good really job of creating space and the goal was a stunner.

Hopefully Estevao can get more involved second half as he went missing for a while there and wasn't very crisp when he had the ball. Snowy day at hull for an 18 year old Brazilian was never going to be his cup of tea though haha.

13 Feb 2026 22:11:25
Agree with your first half analysis Melbourne Sarr looked very assured and Santos standing out. Neto took his goal v well. Second half we looked increasingly comfortable as Neto got to his hat trick - deservedly MoM - and Estavao chipped in off one of Delap's two assists.

LD unsurprisingly looked more confident and effective against this opposition . Good boost for him after sone pretty poor outings lately.

14 Feb 2026 08:34:35
I think the commentator mentioned that Delap had only started nine games prior to last night, that is probably due to injury but I'm personally in no rush to judge the lad.

He made a big contribution last night with three assists and his movement and first touch were good. Long may it continue.

14 Feb 2026 11:21:07
Yes three assists for LD not two. I forgot his first one!

V tricky for manager of a side fighting for an ECL qualifying spot to balance between giving game time so younger/new players can improve even if they are still not as good as first choicers (ie Pedro and Cucurella) but ensuring we get best results possible. Playing in four competitions, well now three, helps that cause as does rotation/subs caused by injury. But CFC managers in last few xseasons have had tghat much greater a problem by extent of player turnover and focus on (almost only) youth-only approach to buying.

Hato also did well last night and has improved as season has progressed.

Seems to me that confidence crucial and that this might be easier to have/retain when playing away v Hull than in an EPL game before home crowd at the Bridge.

So can only hope that Delap can take his performance in Hull into next hoe game he has game time in at the Bridge. Some game time v Burnley perhaps?