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25 Oct 2026 22:48:13
Tom, no doubt Carrick is toast but I don't think it will happen until the international break. I agree with you about the double pivot, I don't like it. It seems that Alonso doesn't fancy Barco or Lavia in that position. I
worry about Penders especially as his next game is at Anfield. Let's hope he steps up and shows us that yesterday was just a bad day at the office.
I'm not sure but I think Palmer's suspension is for the next Premier League match. That said, I would like a shake up in the forward line with Estavou to start on Wednesday.
I still have faith in Alonso putting him in the same category as Carrick is ludicrous.
JT
Fair enough none of us know what happened regarding Maresca but even if he was blocked from making signings it doesn't excuse his sneaking around to get the City job. No doubt, be touting himself for a new job in the not to distant future.
G8
A very nice idea for a meet up with the usual suspects.
26 Oct 2026 06:54:06
Palmers suspension is against Liverpool,
Was surprised Lavia didn't come on at ht on Saturday.
Replacing Pedro will be important hopefully the lad we got from Strasbourg is fit soon.
26 Oct 2026 07:12:21
Seymns, thanks for the Palmer clarification. Maybe Palmer not playing will mean a change of shape.
I was also surprised that Lavia didn’t get any mins against the spuds. I assume he will play against Liverpool.
25 Oct 2026 22:47:00
For those interested, I have put my United ticket up for sale on the clubs ticketing site.
25 Oct 2026 13:24:19
Disappointing result and very poor performance and no real positives. We have two big games before the international break and obviously we need to step up.
JT
I have no regrets about Maresca and Jackson leaving. The narrative from Maresca that he was refused signings was just a cover for him sneaking around behind the club to get the City job. Jackson was just like Sterling: score a few goals early on and be absolute crap for the rest of the season. Pedro is far superior in every respect.
As for Alonso, every coach gets "found out" at Madrid. What have they done since he left? The club is run by the egos of certain players.
It It has been sketchy start to the season and clearly there is a need for a couple of top class in January but no need to panic.
25 Oct 2026 14:46:48
I didn't want us to sell Jackson but it appeared as if he wanted guaranteed playing time or wasn't prepared to fight for his place.
I assume United will have a new manager or another temp manager in charge for next week.
25 Oct 2026 15:16:54
Tom
Is Carrick any worse than Alonso at the moment?
25 Oct 2026 15:21:11
Bill, the league positions would suggest he is and I personally think he is far worse than Alonso.
25 Oct 2026 15:46:00
So he is worse than both then.
Just a question, who has the better squad, Carrick or the two Alonso's.
25 Oct 2026 16:06:17
A reasonable question and I think we have the better squad.
25 Oct 2026 16:38:34
I agree with you Tom and it looks like after today's result, the question who is better won't matter anymore.
25 Oct 2026 16:33:44
Jimbo, not one of us on here actually no the full story and truth behind Maresca leaving, as Chelsea fans we tend to side against him and prefer to see him as a snake creeping around to get the Man City job but there is also a strong belief amongst a number of people that he genuinely wanted to stay but wanted more control over transfers plus a pay rise.
I guess it might all come out one day but the bottom line is we have fallen away sharply after the highs of that top 4 finish, winning a European trophy and demolishing the very good PSG managed by the worlds best manager.
Bill, I get the feeling you are not a fan of Alonso?
25 Oct 2026 18:24:26
Maresca was under contract and stupidly had face to face secret meetings with senior people at Sham City.
If some people think that shows him as a person who "genuinely" wanted to stay then I am "genuinely" surprised.
25 Oct 2026 18:37:10
Or did those meetings happen AFTER he got told he would not be allowed any further control over transfers? Did he genuinely want to stay only to be told that he could have no additional control, which he felt he had earned, which led to the breakdown with the sporting directors and hence him deciding he wanted out of the project Tom? As I say, not one of us know the truth.
{Ed001's Note - no they didn't.
25 Oct 2026 18:40:37
JT
it's too early to call it on Alonso however at the moment he is mot filling me with confidence to sat the least but I hope he proves me wrong.
25 Oct 2026 19:11:25
If Maresca wanted to talk to Sham City he could have asked for permission, fact he didn't. He secretly had face to face meetings with Sham City, fact. Chelsea sent him home on garden leave, fact. We got compensation from Sham City, fact.
25 Oct 2026 19:13:16
I agree with you Bill, I really hope he comes good and is given time but he got it badly wrong yesterday.
25 Oct 2026 20:32:58
Thanks as always Ed.
I am grateful for the clarification.
Chelsea gave him the opportunity to manage in the premiership. I am pleased we won two trophies, particularly the WCC but he did what he did and far as I'm concerned, good riddance.
25 Oct 2026 21:54:05
If you know that for sure ED01 then that is good enough for me despite what I have heard.
Bottom line though is quite sad as he clearly wanted out of the project and highlights what many on here and elsewhere think, the ownership model is flawed and the club is stagnating.
He was a very good manager and a clear loss to us, we were cruising into Europe but ended up mid-table, he now has Man City top of the league and we have been through a couple of managers and now have one who has split the fanbase.
{Ed001's Note - he had never really stopped being in contact with Citeh, with a view to taking over when Pep left. He was literally just taking other jobs to gain experience with that in mind. He only left for Leicester as they wouldn't have considered him for the role otherwise.
I think the problem was that he was not at Chelsea long enough to gain proper lasting affection. If he had been a player previously or had another season or two before Pep was ready to retire, then he might well not have been pushing himself for the job so hard. But the lure of the enormous money to spend on players, plus the under the counter payments no doubt, was too much for him to resist.}
25 Oct 2026 13:09:44
I would like to see Estevao start against Liverpool, the boy has so much talent and needs a run of games to build his match fitness, confidence and rhythm. Palestra is another and Quenda showed enough to deserve a another start. Young Penders has to forget his howler and prove he is worth persevering with or he will be gone when Martinez returns.
At nil nil the game yesterday could of gone either way and even at 1 nil and down to 10 men I still thought we might grab something but let's move on, dust ourselves down and put in 2 big performances against the northern mobs.
25 Oct 2026 13:23:14
G8
Hand on heart, can you honestly see us getting anything from those two games.
This team reminds me of a ship without a rudder, drifting aimlessly at sea.
25 Oct 2026 13:27:51
G8, I agree with your post mate.
I am a big fan of Palestra but so far in his limited amount of mins for Chelsea, he hasn't looked comfortable. He probably needs a run of games.
I'm hoping Estavao plays as a 10 against Liverpool as I think he will play in that position against Utd. I would also like to see Barco, Lavia and Caicedo all play in midfield against Liverpool.
25 Oct 2026 14:17:57
Bill, the rudder is the gaffer Alonso so hopefully he will come good.
Tom, I can't see Estevao playing against Man United as Palmer will be back from his suspension.
25 Oct 2026 14:48:23
G8, I was told yesterday that Palmer misses the United game not the Liverpool game. Of course, they may well have been wrong!
25 Oct 2026 14:55:14
G8
I can see why he did not last too long at RM.
As for Estavo, he needs to play otherwise we will lose him.
25 Oct 2026 09:00:09
Don't expect to win many friends with this post. I'm sick of Palmer appearing to think that he is the go to guy for the team. I have seen one too many performances from him that reek of petulance & selfishness.
25 Oct 2026 09:09:38
Londonscot, on his day Palmer is a fantastic player but I happen to agree with you that when he's not on it he does come across as petulant and selfish although this season he has been tracking back far better so hopefully Alonso is working with him on his all round contribution.
25 Oct 2026 11:00:53
Petulance yes, selfish no think he works really hard for the team tends to lose focus when thinks aren't going well.
24 Oct 2026 19:23:17
We are so poor why not play with a striker the first half everyone could see the issue. They were the better side but both sides are very poor if the palmer and rogers where garbage Henderson should be playing cup games caicedo needs help in there still proves the goalkeeper recruitment team are crap quenda was a total let down and doesn't look much of anything estavao should be getting more time colwell and pong at back aren't good enough.
Caicedo is awesome and for me the only one you can hang a world class tag on but requires help the rest will be good some days and poor others average players.
24 Oct 2026 21:42:03
Most of these players are doing just fine, 'pong' included. Though, losing to a terrible spurs at home is not good enough.
24 Oct 2026 23:08:10
Josh has been our best defender by miles so far this season.
25 Oct 2026 07:41:17
It's a shame that we had to put a young zhk in spenders in against Spurs as we all know it's a fierce London Derby and if you make in errorcitsxdoubly highlighted.
What this will do for his confidence, who knows but hopefully he has the mentality to overcome his howler.
Speaking of howlers, why did Alonso not just replace Pedro with Welbeck, moving Rogers completely changed our dynamic. It's also a shame that we have another striker that is always too injured to kick a ball, hopefully that changes soon.
With games against Liverpool and Man United coming up if we lose both, I believe Alinso will be under immense pressure.
25 Oct 2026 08:58:58
I thought Penders generally had a good game. Yes he made a mistake but these things happen.
I definitely see him as a good keeper who hopefully will learn from his mistakes and keep on improving.
25 Oct 2026 09:11:14
Nib, surely you are not calling for Josh "Pong" to be sold?
25 Oct 2026 09:57:50
My point though Tom is that i hopw it does not affect his performances hoing forward, we have Liverpool and Man United to play next and i'm not sure our defence or midfield can protect him.
What the answer is I have no clue, we have tried so many fbings since this ownership gas taken over, maybe like Man U, Spurs, we have become unmanageable.
25 Oct 2026 10:26:21
Bill, while I do like to see a manager/coach think outside the box, the tactic of keeping four players up field for corners in my opinion is a signal to our opponents that the keeper isn't a fan of a crowded penalty area.
I would also say the tactic worked and our defenders plus Pender generally dealt well with corners. The one exception was when he punched the ball into his own net. These things happen.
My bigger concern was how the spuds played little triangles around our midfield and how completely clueless we were when a simple four man press was applied.
I am not a fan of a so called two man pivot and yesterday was a classic example of why.
25 Oct 2026 10:52:05
Tom
The obe time it worked for Spurs led to a goal, that's all it takes for us to go a goal down.
The midfield is Caicedo and a guy in a wheel chair.
Also, why was Quenda thrown in for a fierce zlondon derby when the youngster has not had a kick for us.
Alonso lost it at RM, it now looks like they realised he was out of his depth.
As I have said, i'm not sure there is another coach, manager out there who would do any better with the players at our club.
25 Oct 2026 13:51:25
Bill, I will be critical of the manager when I think he deserves it but I will give him time to build these players into a team.
I think Quenda was ok and Penders made a mistake that cost us a goal but before that he had made a few very good saves.
Palmer was ok but he deserved the second yellow and Roger's for me was our worst performer but he was being asked to play in an unfamiliar position.
21 Oct 2026 10:59:16
Tom, I doubt a move would solve the issue.
the way TflL is run. I'm going to write to Andy Burnham as he is concentrating on football and transport issues. I hope to see a motion in the H of C: TfL banned from suspending District Line on Chelsea match days.
21 Oct 2026 12:39:26
It's a London Derby, so the vast majority of supporters will have to drive. Last home game our average speed to the ground was under 8MPH. Joke.
21 Oct 2026 15:48:00
Transport wise, we must be the worst ground to get to, Fulham Broadway looks like it should be demolished and re-built.
22 Oct 2026 14:45:18
Old Bill will be out in force with facial recognition camera's in place at West Bromton station with the usual trouble expected. Nothing like it was back in the day but so much real hatred between a small minority of the two sets of fans.
23 Oct 2026 10:58:14
Good posts all and completely empathise with them. Thanks Jimbo for trying to get some attention to this at PM level! Do update us if you get any response.
20 Oct 2026 09:43:01
Tom, thanks for your concern but I am fine.
I agree with you regarding the 5: 30 kick off for the Spurs game. To make matters worse, Fulham Broadway is shut again and I think there might be issues with the overground to West Brompton. Disgraceful planning by TfL.
I am positive about our start to the season. Having no minor European football is definitely helping us by giving Alonso more time on the training ground. I get the impression that there is a togetherness building in the squad.
Once again James is injured and the cycle continues. That said, where does he fit in unless we play a flat back four?
20 Oct 2026 11:20:15
Jimbo
Not much to be said about transportation to the Bridge as it happens far too often, maybe a stadium away from the Bridge would solve the issue.
You are correct on your assessment on Reece.
I just cannot see where he now fits in but more importantly, his injury record means he cannot be relied on. I have said in an earlier post, perhaps retirement from international duty would help his world load.
20 Oct 2026 07:39:11
{Ed's Note - Big C has posted a new article entitled, Everton Need Stability Under Moyes
19 Oct 2026 22:19:18
Hi Eds, Jimbo 56 here. I am unable to post as comes back as "post failed, try again " I have tried various fixes but none have worked. I tried to re-register but it comes back as bad request. Any suggestions?
{Ed033's Note - If you can't post, then it would make sense to use the contact form as if the posting forms aren't working for you, i will never find out.
Maybe as this posting form worked, it is ok now?
Btw anyone on mobile.chelsearumours.co.uk should now use https://chelsearumours.co.uk
20 Oct 2026 11:15:06
Welcome back Jimbo, after a lay of i too could not post so reset myself up as Bill19551 altgough this confused Standard.
20 Oct 2026 12:33:49
I have problems with new messages. I put it down to an "age thing." 😇.
20 Oct 2026 14:51:57
Age is only a number Tom.
20 Oct 2026 18:16:12
A bloody big one in my case Bill.
20 Oct 2026 18:24:23
Welcome back Jimbo. Tom, do you remember many many years ago on this site when someone suggested we all put our ages next to our names on this page? and we all did it as well.
20 Oct 2026 21:28:17
I have assumed, probably wrongly, that Jimbo is 70 and Bill is 75. I am just a bit older.
21 Oct 2026 09:31:57
Tom
I was born in November 1955, I will be 71 next month. Still a spring chicken lol.
21 Oct 2026 12:37:11
Bill, yes you are a spring chicken. I just assumed it was 1951 and not 1955. Silly me.
21 Oct 2026 15:49:05
Tom,
It happens to us all lol.
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