I think we need to stick with this formation.

Enzo, Lavia and Caicedo need to start.

If Maresca want to play inverted rb, the best way possible is to put caicedo as rb and invert when we in possession of the ball.

Madueke can go to team "B" and pay in the UECL.

Cucurella as usual performed very well as left back. I think we all can forget about ben chilwell and hope he can leave during this january transfer window to revive his career.

i would like to add a bit about the london derby last weekend.

caicedo inverted rb and badiashile as lcb is not working due to high pressing by spurs players. they managed to press man to man and badiashile dominant leg is his left leg so he is not comfortable enough to receive the ball from sanchez and turn his body to find a better pass to his team mate. enzo quickly rectify this and bring out lavia (which is not related to his performance or injury, just tactical tweak) and bring in malo gusto as natural right back and operate as inverted rb.

sanchez will always plays like that because enzo principal is to play from the back and sanchez as +1 during recycling the ball at the back.

to be frank when cucurella slipped twice and spurs capitalized on that mistake i do feel very frustrated but deep in my heart i feel that this team can score goals and spurs are losing their best cb partnership in van der ven and romero. they lost vicario too which is their first gk.

so idk maybe i feel like i believe in this team spirit to fight back and turn around match to get the result.

and we are not a title contender yet. not yet.

You are probably right. Modern football now requires goal keeper to be really comfortable with the ball. Distribution with the legs become important as saving the shot on goal with you hands.

Thats why petrovic went on loan to other club.

I hope maresca stick woth jorgensen until end of season.
Then have to ofload sanchez asap. Bring one proven striker no matter what. Ask jackson to be the backup.

If possible bring one experienced center back to guide the young guns.

Liverpool got knocked out too. talk about magic of the cup.

by the way, I think we shouldnt be too anxious about our recent performance.
we are actually doing good in the league. We might get to the top four by the end of the season.

dont compare arne slot with enzo maresca. both have their own qualities. just be patient.

you guys should blame Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley for splashing the money on players that not needed by enzo maresca - joao felix.

the match vs brighton last week really fucked up. not gonna lie that is the worst performance under maresca (so far) for me.

suddenly jackson got injured and even though he is kinda useless at least when he is in the team cole palmer can operate at this preferred position rather than being deployed as dlf or false 9.

this situation showed that letting felix on loan to ac milan was a stupid decision. felix can be a center forward better than cole palmer.

two major problem now that need to be fixed by eghbali :-

1) GK crisis.
2) Striker crisis.

no need to have coaching license, it is too obvious to see. even palmer look so mediacore and he missed at least 2 great chances iirc.

vs arsenal expected to lose.
vs spurs is a must win. top four still possible.

It is correct. But it is Spurs. Even in our most dire from we still managed to beat them.

Yes. We owned them. We owned them hard..

Sanchez playing against us.

We never knew what kind of performance he will give on the field when he plays.

I dont feel safe at all with him between the sticks.

it's gonna be the end if arsenal won the ucl. when a team beat rm in the ucl knock out stage, they tend to win it. at least that was the case last time we won the ucl.

where to start?

chalobah as rb when u have james and gusto on the bench. facing team that only won 4 games so far, need to have three at the back as rest defence.

ask madueke to dribble his way in without any support, only enzo to support.

useless rotation cost us 4 points. drew vs brentford and ipswich felt like a lost. now we are in 6th. forest dropping points, instead of took the opportunity to climb the position maresca decided to experiment like it was a pre season instead of race for top 5.

i dont know how long can i say that i still believe in his project. the results so far showed backwards progress instead of moving forwards.

Just to share, during Ramadan last time i joined a talk show on tiktok to test my ball knowledge especially related to EPL. I won the episode. They said I'm the second chelsea fan to win the jersey as episode winner.

next i will compete with other episode winner in the grand finale with a chance to win a trip to stamford bridge. wish me luck!

our neighbour beat rm. now left only psg, inter and barcelona to deny their first elusive UCL title.

i guess it will be arsenal vs barcelona and if this happen provided that they beat psg, it will be their revenge for their loss last time they qualified to the final.

just to ponder something.

we lost 1-2 at home againts legia warsaw ffs in the fucking uecl.

while arsenal under arteta won 3-0 vs real madrid at home in the fucking ucl last week. they even won at bernebau 1-2 while rm had 0 shot on target on the first half.

both maresca and arteta come from the school of pep.
but i hate to say it but maresca is a fraud and championship level manager.

but why we blame him instead of the players? cole palmer now completely off form at the crucial moment.

because it is the head coach to instill the blue print of how a team would approach a game. players on the pitch follows the instruction. and a good coach would be able to adapt quickly on how the things unfolded during the match.

i would say maresca to get sacked by the end of the season after we failed to qualify to the ucl.

Watched his post match press conference and he said they want to manage the result a bit with rotation because they got important match this Sunday at Fulham (which i think will be ended with a draw or defeat to us) and the main target is to avoid injury after leading 3-0.

It says a lot about his mentality as a head coach. 🤣

i must say this inverted rb must be stop. even pep didnt use it anymore.

as and rb, you suppose to stay wide, providing options to your winger and your midfielder to pass the ball to. madueke and enzo struggled a lot when attacking from the flank.

when the turnover happened and fulham use their flank we invited a lot of dangerous cross from robinson.

iwobi goal happened because james lost the ball at the middle of the park. he was out of his defensive position and fulham took the advantage of that. seriously, no other team use this inverted formation anymore except maresca.

uecl winner auto spot for uel. not ucl. only 1 tier above auto spot.
no wonder enzo keep on talking that we are not title contender because he knew he would fucked up so bad at the end of the season.

last season we end on high note. win vs fulham was our first away win in 2025. ffs.

MCI: WOL (A), SOU (A), BOU (H), FUL (A)
NFO: BRE (H), CRY (A), LEI (H), WHU (A), CHE (H)
NEW: IPS (H), BHA (A), CHE (H), ARS (A), EVE (H)
CHE: EVE (H), LIV (H), NEW (A), MUN (H), NFO (A)
AVL: FUL (H), BOU (A), TOT (H), MUN (A)

Man City (61 pts) P34
Nottingham Forest (60 pts) P33
Newcastle (59 pts) P33
Chelsea (57 pts) P33
Aston Villa (57 pts) P34

By the looks of it City got easy run for the race of top 5.
we in the other way around. we have to face liverpool (most possibility with guard of honor), newcastle at st james park which is not our good hunting ground, united, and our rival for top 5 finish forest away from home. i would say we will get no 5th.

we will give the champion guard of honor next.