Sly

Wouldn’t it be really, really weird, if this all fell apart and he rejected them now

Eh …… I did t mind Marescas football.

With so many clubs at risk If being on minus points, at what points do the clubs rebel against the stupid rules they voted for?

I’m surprised this hasn’t been done yet.

Chelsea fans hated Sarris football. It’s not different to Maresca though.

He’s by far the best player for the style we played last season. We struggled without him. Depends how we setup. It’s that odd adage, ask a fish to climb a tree….:

I also wouldn’t disagree with anyone who said had we not got promoted by the skin of our teeth; he’d have been sacked.

Can we all agree that his in game management was woeful? The style he’s adopted is modern football. It works as you can’t lose if you have the ball. It‘s more like a game of chess, however people aren’t paying £100 a ticket to watch chess. I don’t think the Chelsea fans will take to him, like they didn’t to Sarri.

He’s tied into Uruguay until the end of the next World Cup.

Yes, I agree. I don’t think we can play the type of football we played last season. At this point I’m not sure we renew Vestergaard either if we’re not playing the way Maresca did.

On the list with about 10 other potentials I’d imagine. Agents will be making names to the media. To enhance profiles not just for this role, however others. Interviews are a two way thing. I’d want to know what I’m dealing with in terms of potential points deductions. We must have an idea internally. What’s happening with the “legal” challenge. What squad do I actually currently have. Have KDH, Mads, McAteer got to be sold etc. Is Vardy leaving? What is my capacity to change it. Do we actually have any movement to play in the market. What are the boards aims? For me it’s staying up, what do they want? I’d need to believe in the project. It’s a tough ask in my opinion, as you could in theory have a worse squad in the Premier League, than we did in the Championship. Next season could be a real shit show and no one wants to be associated with the person that oversaw that!

At his peak, you could have argued the case for him being one of the world’s best “destroyers”, so to speak. Technically he isn’t at the level unfortunately, to play a more expansive game at the top end consistently. That’s why he’s stayed with us for so long in my opinion. His injury record hasn’t helped him either. Good servant to us and played a major part in our history.

Apparently he turned down a contract?

Our wage bill has what has crippled us in reality. Our finances have always been on a knife’s edge and we haven’t had the luxury of not selling a player to keep us afloat. Our wage bill to turnover has been high since 17/18. When you’re paying the likes of Amartey, Soumare, Ndidi, Ricardo, Vardy, Praet, Albrighton, Iheanacho, Evans, Bertrand, Maddison, Tielemans and Perez over £75k per week, then turning out some of the performances we did last season, it’s criminal that we went down. We just massively overplayed to certain players to chase the dream. Let’s not mention whatever we are paying the 5 goalkeepers we have! Then we’ve overpaid for acquisitions in reality that we’ve never fitted the system at the time like Souttar, Kristensen, Tete, Vestergaard, Bertrand, Castagne, Under, Silva, Slimani. The squad has always had a look of being unbalanced in my opinion. A club of our financial standing can’t afford the luxury of having Ricardo, Justin and Castagne. I know we’ve had injuries, however we should have covered with “cheaper backups”. This season, we’ve had four striker options for a system that utilises one. Again, we shouldn’t be doing that. We basically paid for Cannon then hardly used him. Then bizarre decisions like sending Perez and Albrighton on loan when they’d have aided the fight for survival as well will always baffle me.

I’m inclined to agree. Similar to Pochettino (PSG aside), looks great on paper, however never won a thing. Potters win % is low as well and I’m not sure if it’s just more PR machine / media hype. One that hasn’t really been mentioned is Marcelo Gallardo. Massively successful in Argentina with River Plate. It didn’t work at Al-Ittihad and he’s basically been sacked despite finishing the season I believe. It would appear the noise we are getting with Van Nistelrooy is because we may have reached out. Everyone’s PR machine is in full swing alerting the media on our potential replacements. His playing style does fit as well though. The list of higher profile coaches that are currently unemployed is crazy though. It depends on how attractive we are perceived as a club, and how brave the board are. If you walk around Sea”ACL”grave you are going to be impressed. Just looking down the list at better know names that are currently not coaching, I’m not saying these would be attainable, if they, or we we would interested, or we’d even tough them with a barge pole how you’ve got Pioli, Pochettino, Mowbray, Tevez, Allegri, Terim, Wagner, Cooper, Mourinho, Allardyce, Garcia, Kovac, Sarri, Gatusso, Favre, Strubber, Van Nistelrooy, Blanc, Fischer, Parker, Sampioli, Heckingbottom, Van Bronckhurst, Gallardo, Carvalhal, Deila, Still, Potter, Lampard, Conte, Genesio, Rutten, Van Leeuwen, Lage, Cocu, Arena, Kluivert, Hofkens, Grayson, Karoglan, Benitez, Inzaghi and last but not least Bruno Berner! A do feel we will go with someone that has experience of the English game, our previous appointment tend to point to this. That narrows down that list massively though but does leave some scary and also ambitious and intriguing names in the mix.

Ruud Van Nistelrooy would be an interesting one. He left PSV due to a lack of support. He’s used similar tactics to Maresca with a 4-3-3 and a box midfield, with the fullback stepping in to compact the space. More on his overall tactics here…. https://totalfootballanalysis.com/head-coach-analysis/ruud-van-nistelrooy-at-psv-eindhoven-202223-tactical-analysis-tactics

FFS!

He’s got no experience and has never taken another job in football, despite doing his badges with Maresca.

Please - No. This needs to stop. Can I start blocking people that mention this.

I’m sure Fatawu knew of us!! We were the bloody champions of the EPL on FIFA17! It’s not like when Mahrez joined and he thought we were a rugby team.

https://www.football.london/tottenham-hotspur-fc/james-maddison-questions-enzo-maresca-29256454#google_vignette James Maddison questions Enzo Maresca to Chelsea decision with ironic 'jumping ship' call James Maddison has raised eyebrows by questioning why any gaffer would want to "jump ship" from newly-promoted Leicester City amidst the ongoing departure of Enzo Maresca to Chelsea. This statement carries a touch of irony, given that it was only last summer that the 27-year-old did exactly that following the 2022/23 relegation season. The midfielder sealed a £40m move to Tottenham Hotspur, where he has since clocked up 30 appearances, netting four goals and providing nine assists.

Football Is a brutal job. You’re only as good as your last match. Look at Rodgers, turned us around, gave us an FA Cup, Top 6 finishes, played some nice football. What will he be remembered for?

Are we looking at Bielsa, after the COPA America?

It’s a common release clause for most top level coaches now. So Chelsea will be paying out for Potter, Poch etc It’s one of the reasons Alan Curbishley never took another job in football apparently.