18 Mar 2026 13:19:46
I thought starting three at the back was a risky decision. I do not understand why Josh isn't playing more. I think Palmer was awful again, but Enzo was also poor and he has been playing well recently. PSG got their tactics spot on by going man for man.
We got lucky against Brentford when did the same thing against us and they ain't no PSG. Some small pluses, Hato did ok and despite losing out on an important tackle I thought Santos was good. Hope the Chalaboa injury isn't as bad as it looked.
1.) 18 Mar 2026
18 Mar 2026 13:34:17
Tom
Let's be honest, over the two legs, we were terrible. Someone has to be called out for this, whether it is the owners, SD's, players, or coaches.
Goodness knows what this is going to do to the players for the remainder of the season.
2.) 18 Mar 2026
18 Mar 2026 18:08:30
We will be okay. Highly disappointing result (thankfully I was celebrating St Pats and missed the game), but we will still finish in a Europa League position at worst. That would be a failure of a result, but a likely one currently.
3.) 18 Mar 2026
18 Mar 2026 18:46:25
Bill, I remain convinced that if it hadn’t been for a mad 15 mins in Paris, last night would have been a lot different.
Last night, I thought they did a number on us going man for man. They won all the 50/50s and took their chances.
It’s probably me, but if we make a mistake, we are always severely punished, but if the opposition make a mistake, we never take advantage of it. Probably blue-tinted glasses at play!!
4.) 18 Mar 2026
18 Mar 2026 19:57:47
70 minutes into the away leg I thot Chelsea were the better team, with smarter combinations & slicker patterns of play. PSG's goals were given to them. Chelsea's goals were worked for. Then the wheels came off. Often, when a team takes a beating of 3 goals plus in the CL, it is not so unusual for them v very good teams to draw or lose the second game.
Last night Chelsea were awful in all aspects of the game. But, imo it will take a good team to beat PSG. I also think that result might signal the end for LR. It looked bad for the lad, & I truly think he drowned in it all. But the SDs do require a reality check. The team needs a GK, two CBs, & a CF, & all of them need to be at CL, if not WC, level.
5.) 19 Mar 2026
19 Mar 2026 09:23:51
I agree with you Londonscot. No one on here surely believed preseason that we had a squad able to challenge successfully for the EPL or Champions League. Yes, we had won the League and the 2-level Conference League.
We had also won the CWC, but we had a very easy route to the final compared to the far tougher one PSG had, and they had also won the Champions League. We looked far fresher and more up for the final than they did, and thanks also to Maresca getting tactics spot on. Some fine saves by Sanchez and Palmer, in particular Palmer at the top of his game in a way he largely hasn't been this season, meant we won that.
But perhaps this 'flattered to deceive' in terms of expectation for some of us this season, and we didn't fix the weaknesses in the squad still obvious to most. I am by now pretty exhausted, as probably others are, by having to repeat all this, and yes, mention that the club's Vision is Vision 2030, not 2026 or 2027. We just have to hope, hugely, that we can still qualify for the Champions League next season, so keeping at least most of our best, and now mostly our most experienced, players, and that the SDs will gradually get the squad closer to being a really competitive one in the two competitions that really matter, the EPL and the ECL.
6.) 20 Mar 2026
19 Mar 2026 23:59:57
I agree with TomB that if we'd finished the first leg at 2-2, it would have been a much different game at home. We gifted PSG almost all of their 8 goals, but stats show we outperformed their xG in both legs. Poor defensive lapses and a slight lack of clinical finishing/good goalkeeping from PSG made the games look far worse, imo.
That's not to say we don't need to change personnel to fix the mistakes we keep making, but I don't think it is necessarily a tactics issue.