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13 Nov 2026 11:40:04
I loved the Morgan Rogers interview where he defends Cole Palmer. Showed me he has his team mates backs and could be a future captain for us.
Without doubt my POS so far alongside Joao and Lavia.
13 Nov 2026 07:39:20
{Ed's Note - Ed001 has posted a new article entitled, Matchday 10 - Quick Round Up
13 Nov 2026 06:26:16
{Ed's Note - Ed001 has posted a new article entitled, Matchday 10 - Quick Round Up
12 Nov 2026 10:48:54
I have made my position very clear, I think we need to sign a world class centre back and then I see the latest headline suggesting Alonso wants to sign his fellow spaniard Martin Zubimendi.
ED01, do you think Zubimendi is a better player than Caicedo or Lavia who currently form our 2 man midfield pivot?
{Ed001's Note - not even close to as good as either. A big upgrade on Barco from what I have seen of him though. I don't rate Zubimendi at all.
12 Nov 2026 14:13:29
Thanks ED01, I really hope common sense prevails and the club, sporting directors and Alonso steer clear of signing another midfielder which is just not needed. Let Lavia and Caicedo build on their partnership and we will flourish in that area of the pitch.
{Ed001's Note - you just have to hope Lavia stays fit as he is a top class midfielder.}
12 Nov 2026 15:24:25
I think we will sign a midfielder and I'm hoping for Sadiki or Camara but it could well be Scott.
12 Nov 2026 16:16:23
Tom, I'm a great believer in "fillers", players who can come in at a good level and fill gaps when the main starters are out through injury or suspension. Fillers are often players who are young and coming out of the academy, think Mahdi Nicoll-Jazuli or slightly past their best, think Henderson. We have 2 brilliant midfielders in Caicedo and Lavia and they must be left alone to form what could become a formidable midfield partnership.
Buying the players you wish for will only disrupt that as not one of those 3 will be happy on the bench and if we drop Lavia he will likely look to move on and that will be another top player lost. Surely it is time to consolidate on we have got and not keep dropping another £100million again.
The forward line is the same, so are the 2 keepers, fullbacks as well.
The only real weakness is at centrehalf in my opinion.
12 Nov 2026 16:37:41
Apparently Villa are after Lavia who let's be honest is injury prone albeit when fit is an excellent MF.
Zubinmendi can't get a game for Arsenal so not sure why Alonso thinks he would be good enough for us.
I think that both Scott and Camara are Liverpool bound.
12 Nov 2026 17:09:04
JT, unlike some I have never lost faith in Lavia and I believe if he stays fit he will be our POS. Also Caicedo has carried this team for the last two seasons.
I do not see the signing of another midfielder as a "filler, " I cannot see Henderson playing many games this season and he certainly isn't a long term solution. Like others, I am not convinced about Barco but I live in hope.
I want us to play with three top midfielders. We have Lavia and Caicedo and I believe one of the three I have mentioned would do nicely. Just one small note, if I believed James could stay fit, I would have him sitting in between the two CH's instead of Lavia. I think if you give Lavia freedom to go box to box if would be a game changer.
13 Nov 2026 09:17:32
Tom
Labia won't stay fit i'm afraid and unfortunately, where Caicedo has had to carry us for a couple if seasons, he is now getting injured, probably due to the extra work load.
13 Nov 2026 09:33:27
The problem with our squad for some time is that though our first team when all fit (and all on form - esp Cole Palmer who has far too often been below his best recently) may be very competitive (though really great commanding upgrade still needed at CB) too many of the back up players have been considerably below standard required.
13 Nov 2026 09:35:32
Would have hope we had signed Camara but perhaps Sadiki or Scott better than Barco though am one of the few who have thought he has done ok for us when given game time.
13 Nov 2026 11:41:03
Bill, how do you know Lavia won't stay fit?
13 Nov 2026 13:43:23
JT
I hope he does but history tells us he won't.
Let me throw the question back to you JT, what makes you think he will stay fit?
13 Nov 2026 13:58:38
Bill, I seem to remember Alonso intimated it was a "mental barrier" Lavia had to break through regarding his fitness and he appears to have done that.
13 Nov 2026 17:31:23
Fingers crossed.
12 Nov 2026 07:39:18
{Ed's Note - Shappy has posted a new article entitled, Pochettino, United, and the poisoned chalice
11 Nov 2026 10:13:31
EbW, the Sunderland game was the worst so far as regards, player performance, ion and tactics. Every man and his dog knew Sunderland would play a low block and use Brobbery to bully our weak CBs. Fofana has been rightly called out for his poor performances but Colwill has just been marginally better. He is living on his "potential " it's about time he lived up to it.
You are are also right about Alonso being decisive which is good, as long as you back it up with results. Clearly, he doesn't trust certain players. On the other hand, he seems to want to show in certain out of position ; Neto being the prime example; no way should he start as a false nine.
So far I would give Alonso a very generous 6/10. It's early days but things must change. We are very lucky to be close to the top four.
11 Nov 2026 21:08:49
Jimbo, Alonso is currently out of his depth and was yet another poor appointment but I think we need to give him time to work, maybe 2 seasons. He did well in the German farmers league challenging and beating Munich but was exposed at Madrid.
He is 3/10 at the moment. Our player recruitment is actually pretty good but our manager appointment is terrible. And who decided Poch and Maresca had to go? madness.
12 Nov 2026 14:14:15
We've certainly recruited some good players EbW but under the new owners we've not allowed a manager - but may be this changes with Alonso - sufficient time or say in building a complete team/squad that is sufficiently strong in every position to challenge for the EPL or ECL.
Some of this is about not sufficient talent but there is also the matter of tehemuch spoken about in recent times mentality of tehnplayers - is it strong enough? Even with on their day supoerb players like Palmer and Rogers there seems tio be too many occasions when their form dip and/or they make too little impact on a game. Only in his frst season did Palmer mote often than not produce his best form. Rogers, a very big money signing, has had some wonderful moments and clearly has great talent, but also seems to lack impact in some games. I think part of the reason us that when Pedro is not playing they have no focal point up front t play off and with, and there is no back up striker for us of sufficient quality to play the Pedro role well enough in his absence.
There is also the matter of the continual problem of a weak defense with no commading figure there as we had with a Terry or Thiago S.
Likewise with Reece James past his best as a RB and with Cucurella sold we are not as strong as we could or should be in thsoe positions, though I think Pep C has dne pretty well at LWB and Neto as a makeshift RWB. Josh perhaps the best of a curent crop of CBs.
Palestra surely has potential, we know Estevao has, Penders too I'd think and Hato (injured? ).Quenda and Emegha possibly too. LC could get back to his best, Anselmino may be good.
But only Caicedo, Pedro and- when fit as he is now - Lavia look to me to be consistently top quality, with Neto close to being as consistent when played in position (RW or RWB) and Palmer and Rogers (on their day!).
I amy have missed some out or been a bit hasrh, but I still think our squad - or petrhaps because of early stage so many of our players are still at in their development - cannot match Arsenal's or City's or CFC squads of much of the Abramovitch era (esp early RA era).
12 Nov 2026 14:58:07
You make some good points JBS but I still think we have a very good starting 11 if everyone is fit and I also think we have some brilliant academy players coming through. What we need is that layer in between to be upgraded.
If all were fit this 11 would challenge.(3-4-2-1)
Penders
James
Achempong
Lacroix
Pep
Lavia
Caicedo
Rogers
Palmer
Estevao
Pedro.
13 Nov 2026 04:49:23
I think it is an overstatement to say that he failed at RM and was exposed. At the time of his sacking, he had a win rate of over 70% in all competitions. He got sacked because of player power, not because he was failing at the job.
13 Nov 2026 09:39:07
Agree re Alonso's fate at RM Dracred.
Yes EbW I think that your lne up looks very competitive if - and I'm afraid it's a big if - all our fit on form and available. Though am not sure that Reece still has the legs to bomb up and down as a RB as he did so very well when younger and before his string of injuries?
10 Nov 2026 13:28:17
Opinions on Alonso so far? ED01, I would like yours as well please.
I like the fact that he is decisive when viewing a player in the team, he acted quickly with Sanchez and has now done the same with Levi Colwill. He hasn't given the likes of Quenda or Barco many minutes so probably doesn't rate them and he clearly doesn't trust Estevao at this time nor Welbeck or Emegha as a striker. I don't agree with him on some of those players, particuarly Estevao, but at least he is decisive.
What I don't like is his negative set ups playing 4-3-3 against the likes of Sunderland and Spurs, 3 defensive midfielders was paying those sides way to much respect.
So, all in all I'm split on him but can't see any point in not giving him this season at least. That said, Real Madrid sacked him pretty quickly and no one else made a move for him.
Views appreciated please.
{Ed001's Note - I think a lot of his problems stem from his success in Germany teaching him the wrong things and now he is having to reset his ideas. In Germany the defending was awful, so he was able to take more risks, knowing the team would get plenty of chances and put them away. In the Prem, he has had to step that back as the risks just saw you ship so many goals. Now he just has to figure out the right balance.
I have to say, I can see why he hasn't give Barco much time, he looks dreadful. Ed77 told me Barco was bad, and I hate to admit it but he was right. He doesn't look top flight level at all. And that is the issue, you have a huge squad but so many are not really good enough. He needs a couple of seasons to pare the squad down a bit to workable proportions and with a higher level of quality.
It is a very mixed start, but he did have a lot of clubs interested, the issue was that very few that make a move mid-season for a new manager are in anything like reasonable shape. They are usually teams like Man Utd, on a death spiral, which is not a job he wanted to look at.}
10 Nov 2026 20:29:17
Thanks ED01 for your insight. Fair play to Alonso then for the reset and in fairness to him we are far tighter now at the back. It is going to take a season or two at least before we challenge again but my guess is patience is required? It took Artita and Arsenal 6 years of failure before getting it right!
{Ed001's Note - exactly, it is never a quick fix if you want it to work long term. It takes time to build a lasting change within a club. In the past, it was always expected that a manager would get a bare minimum of 3 years to effect change.}
11 Nov 2026 09:15:01
ED001
Alonso seems to be our new 'tinker man', not knowing what his first 11 are apart from the 3 forwards when fit.
He also seems to make silly decisions and give far too much respect to the opposition Sunderland the latest in line and playing Neto up top was rather silly.
Alonso has more or less a free week to work with the players and therefore we should at least see some resemblance of a first team.
You say a coach needs roughly 3 years but we all know he won't get that amount of time.
{Ed001's Note - I think he probably needed another job before coming to Chelsea to be honest. His time at Real Madrid seems to have affected him badly and made him question himself. He seems much less decisive than he was.}
11 Nov 2026 15:23:16
I would totally agree with what you say ED.
09 Nov 2026 22:11:54
London scot, I think Palmer could become absolutely top class. I hope he doesn't go the way of Mount who believed he had already done it all. Young players should look to players like Kane and Ronaldo ( whatever you think of him). Both worked hard throughout their careers to improve and accepted that resting on their laurels was not good enough to become top class.
09 Nov 2026 21:31:45
Yet again very disappointing performance and result. I can see no positives from the game. Any team on a losing run who have a bit of fight in them must relish playing us. In fact, since the Everton game we have only played one decent half against Man U.
Neto playing as a false 9 just doesn't work. Colwill was dreadful: and it's not just today, he has been no better than average all season. Looks like he's got lead in his boots. If all our CBs were fit, he wouldn't be a nailed on starter for me: he needs to step up.
G8
Sorry that you are going to have a long miserable journey home; at least have a couple of beers.
09 Nov 2026 07:39:14
{Ed's Note - The fox has posted a new article entitled, Manchester United After the SJR Investment