Chelsea Banter

03 Mar 2026 15:13:03
I find it hard to believe that a squad containing Reece James, Wes Fofana, Levi Colwill, Marc Cucurella, Romeo Lavia, Andre Santos, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez, Cole Palmer and Jaoa Pedro in it along with some of the most talented young players in Europe in their positions in Estevao, Acheampong, Hato, Penders, Sarr, Essugo, Quenda etc will not at some point click! We have to address some positions, CB and LW to me are the main areas of weakness at the moment but I just don't think we are that far off being a top 3 team! Keeping the above together is key for me.

03 Mar 2026 18:01:39
Greenaway, some of the players you mention will have to stay fit and be able to play two consecutive games. As for Fofana, I don't really rate him that highly; he had more points on his driving licence than appearances for the team.

I agree that Estavou and Achepong have huge potential, as for the rest, they still have a lot to prove. Individual players don't click: that's what you have a top class coach for. I hope our ambitions go further than being a top 3 team.

03 Mar 2026 18:53:10
I agree with you, Jimbo, that is what a top class coach is for.

03 Mar 2026 19:36:59
Greenaway, I agree. He will be very good in time. When Colwill is fit, we will have a strong team.

Need a top keeper, an experienced head for game management, and we need to keep a manager in place for years, not months.

02 Mar 2026 08:35:18
A top manager plays to the strengths of his team, Maresca saw the weakness of Sanchez playing out from the back and turned him from an accident waiting to happen with match day fans on his back into a very competent and confident member of the team who was allowed to go a little longer. Is Sanchez the answer long term? probably not but carry on playing that way this season and change things in the summer. What does Liam do? turns Sanchez back to what he was before by asking him to play tippy tappy short passes into areas which are being pressed! it is school boy stuff and further proof of Liam being out of his depth, he has destroyed Sanchez confidence.

Surely, as an incoming manager with little time to work with players mid season you keep the things which are working rather than going back to a style the previous manager had found was not working and had corrected? This bloke so reminds me of AVB and the way he calls out the players in his post match interviews (without actually naming them) will have the dressing room switching off very quickly.

02 Mar 2026 10:52:54
No goals were conceded by tippy tappy football. It was from being weak at corners. This won't change with him in goal.

That's not on the manager. Sanchez just doesn't cope with anxiety when faced with chaos. General shot stopping is ok. But the rest isn't great.

02 Mar 2026 11:51:38
I am reluctant to attribute blame for the Sanchez drop in form, but he is now being asked to do things he is not good at, and just maybe that is a contributing factor in his lack of general confidence.

He was showing improvement, but he is now looking shaky again.

I always take the view that when a player or the team is performing poorly, you support them more. That is certainly the case with our home supporters at the moment. I guess, with some justification.

02 Mar 2026 10:01:19
I completely agree with you about EM and how he improved RS Greenaway.

EM also did well tactically in many of our games against toughest opposition. Yet in the 21 EPL games he was in charge this season he only accumulated 31 points or about 1.5 points on average per game. If continued over the season this would only have got us to 57 points - though I would still have stuck with EM until the end of the season if this had been possible

Yet as Ed001 pointed out he had seemed to lose focus on CFC when bad run began and talk of him wanting to leave to City or Juventus.I would still have liked him to havce seen out the season if that had been possible.

As it is, we change manager mid-season yet again and LR chosen as within BlueCo system and had done reasonably well with Strasbourg and knew some of the CFC players.

In LR's first seven EPL games he has accumulated 14 points or an average of 2 per game. So he is still ahead of EM average at this stage. The problem is that we have a tough run in and we blew those 4 points v Leeds and Burnley.

But hard to know how to distribute blame there between players - Caicedo rash challenge for Leeds first goal, Sanchez/JoshA muddle for second one; with Burnley, Fofana getting stupidly sent off - and LR.

I do think LR could have protected RS better v Arsenal yesterday -with EM borrowed tactics which in fact LR had used in the Caraboa cup game at Emirates to good effect. But then Neto brain freeze second tackle and getting sent off a disease that both managers seem to have had and not dealt with and any manager must do.

LR will surely be given until the end of the season and if he could average 2 points a game from here on we would finish on 68 points and might make 5th place and Champions Leage qualification.

If we don't make that qualification blame has to lie between the two head coaches - I won't call them managers as they no longer are in old sense of the term - the players, and last but not least the owners/SDs.

Weaknesses in squad apparent at start of season. Partly why my prediction was for us to finish between 3rd and 7th (prediction now 4th to 6th but teetering towards 5th to 6th) for not fixing weakness in squads eg left attack - and possibly need for more experiened left back or wing back cover for Cucurella whose injury coincided with those dropped points v Leeds and Burnley and way we were wide open down our left v Arsenal esp. first half; also quality experienced CB to cover for known LC injury; better striker assistance for Jaoa Pedro given Jackson loaned and Delap injured. Guiu brought back from Sunderland loan but seemingly not trusted though given v few minutes.

I still hope LR can be a success. We don't know how much time he will be given, perhaps at least fair chunk of next season when (worryingly injury prone) Emegha arrives from Strasbourg plus perhaps squad perhaps strengthened with one or tow more additions plus will be some outgoings.

If LR is not a success - but would getting us UEFA Cup qualification not Champions League be enough? - the 'manager' merryground continues.

02 Mar 2026 12:06:22
JBS, very well balanced post, mate. I found myself agreeing with the vast majority of its content.

02 Mar 2026 13:43:24
Sounds like you like Rosenior Greenaway.

02 Mar 2026 14:28:09
I think it's a confidence thing, Finchy. Bob has gone back to being a bag of nerves playing out from the back, and that, in my opinion, is affecting his overall game. Maybe Liam will give Jorgi a game against Wrexham and see how he does.

02 Mar 2026 16:03:16
Finchy, I agree with your post re chaos.

Arsenal at set pieces, Leeds, Brentford to a lesser extent, Fulham; I regard all as teams who enjoy chaos, and we have not coped well with any of them.

02 Mar 2026 16:06:45
As far as managers go, I would give them time. I would give Rosenior all of next season, but I wouldn't have sacked Maresca or Poch.

01 Mar 2026 20:45:15
Hi Ed
I was wondering what you think about the current trend of corners, and how you can now - apparently - hold on to attacking (or defending, for that matter) players with two arms without committing a foul.

In my opinion, it is scandalous that there was not a penalty on Joao Pedro in the 52nd minute, but it's just one of many, many instances surrounding many teams, but particularly Arsenal, where the players get away with crazy things.

{Ed001's Note - they need to start enforcing the laws of the game to put a stop to it. Every team is now blatantly cheating and it is not a good spectacle. It all comes back to weak, inept officials who are allowing it to happen.}

02 Mar 2026 10:04:33
Ed001, I totally agree that the rules should be enforced properly. However, I do have some sympathy for the refs, there is so much going on and every player is at it. The coaches are also responsible; it's their tactics after all.

{Ed001's Note - I have no sympathy as they have VAR and it is them that run that and choose to ignore it all. They are complicit.}

02 Mar 2026 11:45:05
Either enforce the law, or give up on it completely. Why not rename the game to incorporate the name "rugby"?

What is going on is a farce from the officials, and laziness from coaches.

02 Mar 2026 10:30:50
Completely agree with both of you Emil and Ed001 this is ruining the game and allowing Arsenal to be pretty boring in a matcvh like yesterday's then grab key goals tghrough such tactics. And other teams foloowing suit - have to perhaps

{Ed001's Note - it is becoming borderline unwatchable.}

02 Mar 2026 10:59:15
You are correct Ed. They either need to come out and say its ok to grab and hold players, or they actually start giving penalties for these offences.

We are just as bad. If you start giving penalties away it would soon stop. Be teams are taking advantage knowing it won't happen so keep pushing the boundaries.

02 Mar 2026 12:18:41
Ed001, yes the officials are at fault but even more VAR interventions is just as unbearable. As I said the players and coaches are also at fault. The responsible body should communicate to all clubs that players will be penalised appropriately for this grabbing etc so that no one can claim to be surprised when a player is sent off or a goal is disallowed.Arsenal will have to change their tactics.

{Ed001's Note - you wouldn't need to intervene after the first week or two, no coach would set up like that after a few are sent off.}

02 Mar 2026 13:34:21
Ed001, dead right. That's I suggested that it is made clear that these tactics are unacceptable. I don't want to listen to whines from coaches saying everyone else is doing it.

{Ed001's Note - agreed. Maybe fine the clubs as well.}

01 Mar 2026 18:36:23
The reason Arsenal won that game was their keeper. Oh to have a keeper of the quality of Cech or Courtois. No idea who we should go for but Sanchez just costs us too many points.

01 Mar 2026 19:19:07
Seymns, it's a shame because he was showing improvement this season, but he has gone back to having "no confidence" over the last few games.

01 Mar 2026 19:32:09
Agree, Seymns2.

01 Mar 2026 19:50:04
I think it's safe to say he is not the GK to take us to the next level.

01 Mar 2026 19:56:06
I do wonder if Jorgensen would be getting games if he had not got injured.

01 Mar 2026 20:15:17
Say what you like about Sanchez, but I don't think Jorgensen has had one good game in goal for Chelsea.

01 Mar 2026 20:29:11
He kept us in the Conference League final. I personally would have given Jorgensen a run of games ages ago, but then Sanchez put a run of good performances together and became the first pick. For whatever reason, his confidence looks broken at the moment, and that is a massive thing for any player, but in my opinion, particularly for a keeper.

01 Mar 2026 22:19:56
Tom RS has always had a weakness when pressed with the ball at his feet and when trying to pass out from the back, plus in a crowded box. He improved with the first weakness when allowed by EM to play long passes, and EM also helped with the crowded box from long throws and corners by getting some of our players to move towards the halfway line, which made opposition players follow them out of the box.

LR should have used that tactic today.

02 Mar 2026 06:53:08
JBS, I agree about having players on the halfway line when defending corners. I was surprised we didn't use that tactic at least occasionally. Gives the opponent something different to think about.

01 Mar 2026 18:29:15
I thought we were far too timid against a team who often looked scared to win.

Sanchez will deserve criticism for there winner. He had a very poor game.

Chalaboa was very good again as were Caicedo and James. Also, Sarr and Hato showed how good they can become. If we can keep Lavia fit he will be some player.

Neto, bonkers challenge.

01 Mar 2026 20:19:12
I am really glad to see Chalobah getting his flowers. The disrespect he was shown, initially by the club and now the fans, has been poor.

01 Mar 2026 20:52:43
Standard, the club belatedly changed its mind, although maybe it was forced to admit its mistake. The sad thing is, I can't remember many posters praising his performances this season. For me, he has been our most consistent defender, who very rarely lets himself down with a poor performance. Also, touch wood, he is always available.