Chelsea Banter Mobile

12 Mar 2026 12:57:09
It's just that maturity and in game management that's still letting us down. I actually thought the team were set up ok and we caused PSG problems. Back to the Bridge at 2-2 would have been a brilliant result, poor mistake from the GK and it's 3-2, not ideal, but not the end of the world with the home leg to come.

We just lacked the in game management to see the game out at that point, leaving the tie seemingly beyond recovery because of a collapse.

12 Mar 2026 15:02:28
Agree with you, J.

12 Mar 2026 18:17:29
Have now seen the game, and obviously Jorgensen deserves criticism, as do all players when they make a mistake, but James made several errors and received virtually zero criticism.

The manager has repeatedly mentioned "moments" as being an issue for this team.

I prefer the term "mental weakness," or an inability to concentrate for 90-plus mins.

I could agree with some of my mates who genuinely believe our performance deserved better, but I think we got what we deserved.

Anyway, a good game to win at the Bridge.

12 Mar 2026 18:50:38
Because he's a near world class player, Tom, and always delivers strong performances. Yes, he made a couple errors, but as opposed to Jorgensen, who really has not set the world alight and has looked shaky nearly every time he's played, the criticism is very understandable, though I hope he gets support at the Bridge in the next game rather than booed.

12 Mar 2026 19:28:43
I have zero problems being critical of any player when it is deserved. I don't care if they are close to being "world class" or not.

We all see games and individual player performances differently. I also thought that Enzo was outstanding, and, unlike some of my mates, I thought Caicedo was solid but not his usual standard.

12 Mar 2026 20:39:27
I agree it is a game of moments. We lack game maturity and game management. Chasing the game at 4-2 down was naive.

James, in my eyes, makes many more mistakes in midfield, and he looked really tired at the end.

The keeper made a mistake, but also some decent saves; the sad fact is that he is not good enough.

The same is true of the centre halves.

But onwards and upwards. I am of the view, if we don't cash in our top players, we will become a serious force to be reckoned with if we get a top keeper.

13 Mar 2026 08:24:16
James was poor, but he is not a midfielder; in that position he is bang average.
We keep hearing excuses about a lack of maturity, but that is the road the hierarchy have chosen. Don't forget PSG are a young squad and they have already won the Champions League.

As for lack of mentality and game management, that is one of the skill sets that a top coach should have to build a winning mentality.

13 Mar 2026 09:46:06
Jimbo, I agree. I find it hard to use age as an excuse, and certainly the owners can't, as it's their choice.

The mentality thing isn't new, and was mentioned by every Chelsea manager since Conte.

There have been some good coaches between then and now, and none of them have improved the issue, and that also includes one hell of a lot of players, and not just this squad.

13 Mar 2026 10:28:14
One thing I'd also highlight is that the ability to take off Doue, who didn't have his best night but is undoubtedly a brilliant player, and bring on a player of Kvaratskhelia's talent whilst having Ballon d'Or winner Dembele on the pitch (and Barcola, for God's sake) for the last 20 minutes is insane. That is the kind of elite option we simply don't have from the bench.

But it's taken PSG's owners a long time to get the squad in the shape they're in now - there were many, many mistakes along the way, first by going for highly paid elite stars, then with the youth route (which they seem to be doing better than us). How good is Vitinha, by the way? Such a fantastic player to watch.

11 Mar 2026 22:14:28
We had a manager, Maresca, who schooled PSG, won us 2 pots, got us top 4 and put us in a semi-final of the League Cup. He asked for a CB, got told no. He changed the way we play to make sure our best keeper plays to his strengths. What do we do? Bin him off for Liam who is totally clueless, blows a semi-final v Arsenal, plays a total calamity of a goalkeeper in such a big game, plays suicidal tappy tappy football.

This is AVB all over again. I said it at the time and got slagged off for it, the grass is not always greener.

11 Mar 2026 22:27:59
After the first 15-20 minutes, I was thinking to myself, 'Has this bloke really set us up to counterattack, because Maresca beat them 3-0.'

Gareth Bale gave an interview recently, speaking about how at Madrid they didn't really have tactical discussions under Zidane (obviously a special team/place to be able to do it), and how, in today's game, the managers control everything, which stifles more creative players. Liam does seem like the perfect example of a bookworm manager.

Overthink how important you are, and it seeps into the amount you overthink tactics.

I thought Liam has done relatively well, and surprised me to this point. But it's clear, with how we set up against Napoli in the first half, the Arsenal second leg, and the way we played tonight, that while he yaps about 'winning is the most important', he really cares most about being seen as some sort of tactical wizard by the footballing world.

Imagine giving him a 6 year deal, haha.

11 Mar 2026 22:28:10
I wouldn't have sacked Maresca, but he clearly wanted out. Time will tell with Liam, but without Colwill we need a centre back and a keeper.

11 Mar 2026 22:34:27
I will give our manager time.

I remember one poster wanting Maresca sacked after the disastrous pre-season results, before he had even managed a Premiership game.

I will judge him after a pre-season and a summer window. Probably towards the end of this year.

11 Mar 2026 23:14:52
What was it, Greenaway? Don't wet your knickers.

Anyway, I really can't see why there's been around 10 posts from you saying that Liam Rosonier is the problem. This is a near 2 billion pound squad that has the same issues and makes the same errors 4 years in a row. Until this strategy is shifted, this will unfortunately continue.

12 Mar 2026 08:53:24
Standard, I absolutely agree with you.

LR has been here 5 minutes, and the SDs have been here a few years too long, in my view.

Greenaway, I know you were in love with Maresca, but he wanted to leave and made it quite clear through the media that he was leaving.

What happens now? Maybe another squad rebuild, as we are, as Yom said, a trading club and the SDs like to see shiny new toys to play with.



We all knew our GKs were second class at best, and Greenaway, rather than change tactics to suit a GK to avoid his weakness, how about buying one who has no weakness.

12 Mar 2026 10:37:11
It would be madness to sack another manager now, and EM leaving was surely, as much if not more, his wanting this than the club's, given that EM had been talking to Juventus and City.

None of us chose LR, but there seemed not many alternatives given the timing and who was available, and at least he knew some of our players.

I do think he made an error last night in not giving Sanchez the game, as Sanchez had done so well against this opposition in New York and PSG, not an Arsenal wrestling set piece outfit.

So Sanchez's largely agreed-on shot-stopping ability, his strongest asset, is more useful and tested in CFC colours than PJ's.

Also, LR should have given Jorgensen license to hit the ball long, not do what Sanchez did so badly in terms of getting caught out when pressed with the ball at his feet. Too much clever fiddling around at the back, at great risk, last night. PJ's howler cost us not just the game but the shoulder-slumping disaster that has just about put the tie completely out of our reach. Having said that, it was a PJ howler, and he should have been aware of players around him and just booted the ball into the stands if needs be. 15 mins to go and still 2-2, for goodness' sake, and that scoreline suggests we had done pretty well up to then.



Hardly worth mentioning the other glaring weakness in the side, the lack of steady, headed, quality, experienced CBs. Still, I think TC did a fair bit better than the undoubtedly skilled but hardly calm-headed reader of the game, WF, though both were out of position on occasion. Partly perhaps cos Cucu is not yet back to his best, and Gusto was pushing forward a lot, with not much assistance from either Neto or Palmer.

Would just add that the French league gave PSG the weekend off, and perhaps next weekend as well. I don't know. But the depth of their squad and fresher legs were pretty evident in those final 15 minutes. Delap's poor shot when he had his sole chance was disappointing in terms of the backup striker quality needed. At least Lavia is not injured again yet!

Enough said. The main aim for the rest of this season is to qualify for the Champions League again, and hopefully have a more competitive squad in terms of chances in it and also in the EPL. Just a few more upgrades are needed, and we know where.

Meanwhile, another massive game against Newcastle this weekend.

12 Mar 2026 10:43:38
Sorry, it is next weekend; PSG have been given off, not last weekend, while we have another must-win game v Newcastle. PSG also play in a much easier league, which they have tended to dominate with ease in recent seasons, or certainly never having to struggle in a highly competitive league like ours for Champions League qualification.

12 Mar 2026 12:50:09
I really don't understand why Sanchez was dropped. Although he's not fantastic, I haven't seen Jorgensen have one convincing game.

12 Mar 2026 13:50:40
Neither are at the correct level to win big titles or play in the CL.

12 Mar 2026 15:05:10
Probably not, Londonscot, but perhaps Sanchez is the safer bet to pick v PSG, given he had happy memories of heroics against them, and, despite other faults, is a high quality shot stopper.

Yes, but expect almost all of us on here believe an upgrade on both is surely needed.

12 Mar 2026 13:56:08
Make no mistake about it, last night was all on Rosenior.
You can blame Jorgensen all you like but he is under instruction to play like that. We could have Donnarumma or Courtois in goal and they would still be asked to play like that. Its suicidal and it looks like its dumped our asses out of the Champions league before we have even got to the 2nd leg which is a travesty. Maresca binned it off and told Sanchez to go longer which actually saw Sanchez improve but since Rosenior has come in, he has reverted to this style of play which is unforgivable.

Ultimately, it will cost him his job. Very sad because we have some great players and play some good stuff but we are always let down by the suicidal rollocks at the back and that is down to Liam and if you look at how he set up at Straasbourg he had Penders so high up the pitch it is like old school "rush goalies" for any of you who are old enough to remember how we played them as kids.

12 Mar 2026 18:23:05
Win, lose or draw, every manager is responsible for the result.

As far as goalkeepers are concerned, buy Costa and have, in my opinion, the best keeper in Europe. Of course, Penders would then probably want to leave.

11 Mar 2026 21:51:33
For me, the worst showing under LR so far. We can have the ball in the box and we will play it back to the keeper to hit long. We have shockingly bad center backs, that for some reason are given the ball constantly to do f all with it. Lavia comes on in the 82nd minute and it's the first time a midfielder plays the ball forward through the lines, instead of back to a defender who thinks he's world class on the ball.

Absolute joke of a game, against an utterly terrible PSG.

Might just be these early mornings getting to me, but this squad, with this manager, are bang average. Give a man a break, finish 9th in the league so I'm not stuck wondering why I wake up to watch an English football team, play in Europe, as an Australian man, that lives in China.

11 Mar 2026 22:10:29
Chucked that game away with a keeper error, James getting caught in possession, and then over-committing players forward

It's clear that we haven't got a keeper who can play out under pressure. Not sure what Penders is like at playing out from the back, but we need someone else.

PSG may be poor defensively, but they are a joy going forward.

11 Mar 2026 22:19:35
The error didn't help, but realistically, we were overrun in all areas. Even with a terrible defense, Pedro had zero opportunities. If it wasn't for Neto playing against an elderly man, we wouldn't have had a sniff.

Vitinha did what he wanted in that second half. Enzo and Moises linked up with absolutely nothing.

I mean, who was our best player? Fullbacks didn't offer an outlet outside of Gusto's goal, which was given to him by lazy defenders being out of position.

I really can't think of a player that played well.

If your keepers are useless, and your defenders average at least one complete implosion every game, what are we doing, having the ball constantly fed back into their area?

One huge positive. Thanks to the last 10 minutes of typical Chelsea play, I can sleep until 7:30am next week.

12 Mar 2026 09:37:52
Melbourne, I agree with a lot of what you have said in your posts. If we aren't good enough to qualify for the Champions League, I have no appetite for the other Mickey Mouse European competitions. Just more inconvenience for supporters with Thursday night and Sunday games.

11 Mar 2026 21:36:58
I mean, really?

Obviously Liam likes to have his keepers play out but maybe think about whether they're capable. If a new keeper isn't signed, we continue the struggle of being a could be team.

11 Mar 2026 21:54:00
Liam is so out of his depth mate. Maresca schooled this lot. Grass greener? Pathetic and Liam is cluless. Get rid of him now.

11 Mar 2026 22:04:26
Greenaway

Is it LR who has been there for five minutes, or is it the SDs who can't see what us fans see? We needed a top-class Gzk, CB and ST. But not; we keep getting kids from nurseries.

11 Mar 2026 22:37:33
If a top keeper and a top CH become available, then I would like us to be interested, but us fans will never agree on any player signings.

12 Mar 2026 18:19:07
Tom, if we signed Costa and Bastoni, I doubt that there would be many complaints.

12 Mar 2026 19:42:56
Neither will, sadly, happen.

13 Mar 2026 08:31:08
Tom, exactly: That was my point. We don't sign experienced top class players. That is why there is so much dissent from fans about our signings.

11 Mar 2026 20:45:54
We can defend. I’m embarrassed for them. Missed opportunities and awful defending, just showing the standards.
If we’re 2-0 up I don’t feel safe.