Objective Chelsea fan
London, England
Joined May 2024
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All this civil war shit online isn’t necessary imo because in the cold light of day I think the majority of Chelsea fans probably agree with the bigger picture right now. (Even those that have huge concerns)
Hopefully we can all agree that being BOTH fucking furious with what happened on Saturday
…AND not even slightly entertaining any noise of sacking Xabi Alonso at this moment in time is probably the healthiest state you can be in right now as a Chelsea fan imo.
I personally can’t resonate with anyone who’s too calm, downplaying or overly defensive about what we saw
…OR already in the state of ‘Xabi out’.
I get it, especially those that are very concerned, but I think both aren’t healthy at the min tbh.
Interested to see the set up and response for Liverpool and more importantly United.
We are where we are, very damaging defeat but let’s continue to fail forward and see where we’re at come May.
For me, more continued emphasis on developing structure, control, possession, being more horizontal, patterns and build with time would be energising and drive more personal optimism tbh - progress not perfection and all that.
CL imperative and priority imo - again, I think everyone can agree with that. Squad more than good enough to achieve it too and when you add the context of one game a week, for me, there isn’t really a valid excuse for us not to get it.
🔵
For me, when looking at foundational principles….
Rightly or wrongly;
Maresca was too horizontal early on.
Too much early emphasis on structure.
Too much early emphasis control.
Too much early emphasis possession.
Too much early emphasis on the build.
Too much early emphasis on the collective unit.
Too little early emphasis on individuality
Too little early emphasis freedom.
Too little early emphasis uncertainty.
Too little early emphasis on energy
The majority of the fan base (and the bridge) let him know very quickly that the balance was off and he slowly started to evolve…
As he evolved, on pitch fortunes changed, the noise lessened, silverware followed and the haters even began to turn.
He almost make it though…
For me, Alonso is the polar opposite in philosophy and principles.
He’s almost too vertical early on.
Too little early emphasis on structure.
Too little early emphasis control.
Too little early emphasis possession.
Too little early emphasis on the build.
Too little early emphasis on the collective unit.
Too much early emphasis on individuality
Too much early emphasis freedom.
Too much early emphasis uncertainty.
Too much early emphasis on energy
Those who were more naturally patient with maresca through the early days, weeks and months (culturally = the minority) will likely be very agitated right now watching alonso’s approach
In contrast, vice versa, those that were maybe less patient with Maresca will likely be more patient now. (Culturally = the majority)
It’s all to do with personal preference, there are many ways to skin a cat.
For me, the objective of the managers was the SAME though - to create a balanced successful football team.
The prioritisation on foundations are just different.
The speed of progress under Maresca meant he almost didn’t make it through the early fan resistance of the majority.
All eyes now are on the speed of progress under Alonso, I personally think it will be quicker than maresca’s journey mainly because of what the majority of the fan base resonate more with him.
Due to his status, Alonso is also benefitting from a MUCH much higher patience gap than any Clearlake manager has had so far.
This is my logical big picture overview of what’s happening.
Personally, I was in the minority with Maresca. I backed him through the darkness because I understood the logic and his approach resonated more with my personality.
With this in mind, is only natural that the current approach doesn’t resonate as much with me personally and is therefore causing me a lot stress
…but that doesn’t make it wrong.
What’s more, despite being personally painful for me, taking into account the culture of the club and the majority of the fan base - i can logically see why this could end up being the right path to take.
In spite of these early road bumps, my current expectation is still that we’ll be more than fine.
My body is telling me opposite though, I’m getting triggered like a mother fucker tbh 😅
Being a Chelsea fan isn’t for the faint hearted.
Win or lose
🔵
All fan bases will tolerate boring or poor performances IF their team is winning…
The moment the team loses however, the truth will come to the surface quicker than you can say fleetwood town.
I don’t like Arsenal, but i still feel I can objectify them (and Arteta) and praise/criticise accordingly…
One thing they have seemingly mastered is the ability to not play well, often hardly create and still win consistently (every 3 days)- it’s incredible and it’s not luck. I respect that.
They’ve also built their recent success on a defensive foundation and I think there is a lot to be said about that too.
One thing I can’t get my head round though is people referencing them as elite, because for me, they’re not.
Last season, they were a Matheus Fernandes miss away from demonstrating the biggest bottle job in premier league history.
Add in the fact that;
-Their goalkeeper won player of the year in a title win in season - truly deep that.
-None of their attacking players got into the PFA team of the season - in a title winning season (deep that too)
…and none if their players won the PFA player of the year in a league winning season.
They also had the easiest path to the CL final I think there has ever been and parked the bus against PSG and tried their luck on pens.
In a parallel universe, Matheus Fernandes scores that chance, city take the league and Arteta maybe loses his job imo - crazy.
Their fan narrative (and media) around Eze, Saka, noni, Odegaard, havertz and others especially Gyokeres would also be astronomically different than it is too.
Fine fine margins imo.
This year, for me, they’re also lucky that city are in deep shit, because Arteta has somehow made his attack weaker than it was over the summer imo -
I actually think if city weren’t in the position they’re in, Arsenal would have big big fight for the league this year.
They are though, which means Arsenal will win it again imo.
Best signings in last two seasons? Calafiori, Hincapie, Konsa, Bruno and likely Tzolis too imo. The rest are very suspect imo
Thats my general thoughts with them tbh.
Estevao, Wes, Palestra and lavia will def start tomorrow imo…
Welbeck too with emegha likely off the bench (or vice versa)
When the entire team plays horrifically like that you need to look deeper as to why.
Saturday wasn’t an attitude issue or a player quality issue imo - it’s was a much bigger problem.
Our set up and tactics against spurs were absolutely tragic. Quenda spent half the game watching the ball fly over his head into space with zero chance of actually getting it - so he just ran around
…he’s more than good enough to play for Chelsea imo but until we learn how to build attacks back to front sometimes (be a little more horizontal at times) I don’t think we’re likely to get the best of out of his talents.
Same applies to Estavao imo.
Still confident Emegha will pleasantly surprised a few people IF he can stay fit…
Especially given the way Alonso seemingly wants to play at the minute
Whilst I agree with the overriding sentiment, In fairness when you get dogwalked by spurs at home in the way we did you deserve to both be questioned and critisised imo.
The thing I like about xabi Alonso is he would probably agree with me too tbh.
Agreed - No excuses.
Shit happens, navigate it imo.
Arsenal currently have Saliba, Tzolis & Saka out.
Bayern played the other night against Arsenal without Olise and Diaz
Not ideal but get on with it man. This seems to be the message from XA too.
As a general principle…
Personally, I don’t like a team being overly reliant on one football player to play well.
If the main reason we played badly and lost on Saturday was because JP wasn’t playing (in-spite of pretty much being full strength aside from that)
…It’s a big problem that needs to be fixed imo.
As a broad big picture summary:
Maresca too horizontal and needed to be more vertical imo.
Alonso too vertical and needs to be more horizontal imo.
Those that hated Maresca will be more patient with Alonso.
Those that loved Maresca will be less patient with Alonso.
For me, when looking at foundational principles….
Rightly or wrongly;
Maresca was too horizontal early on.
Too much early emphasis on structure.
Too much early emphasis control.
Too much early emphasis possession.
Too much early emphasis on the build.
Too much early emphasis on the collective unit.
Too little early emphasis on individuality
Too little early emphasis freedom.
Too little early emphasis uncertainty.
Too little early emphasis on energy
The majority of the fan base (and the bridge) let him know very quickly that the balance was off and he slowly started to evolve…
As he evolved, on pitch fortunes changed, the noise lessened, silverware followed and the haters even began to turn.
He almost make it though…
For me, Alonso is the polar opposite in philosophy and principles.
He’s almost too vertical early on.
Too little early emphasis on structure.
Too little early emphasis control.
Too little early emphasis possession.
Too little early emphasis on the build.
Too little early emphasis on the collective unit.
Too much early emphasis on individuality
Too much early emphasis freedom.
Too much early emphasis uncertainty.
Too much early emphasis on energy
Those who were more naturally patient with maresca through the early days, weeks and months (culturally = the minority) will likely be very agitated right now watching alonso’s approach
In contrast, vice versa, those that were maybe less patient with Maresca will likely be more patient now. (Culturally = the majority)
It’s all to do with personal preference, there are many ways to skin a cat.
For me, the objective of the managers was the SAME though - to create a balanced successful football team.
The prioritisation on foundations are just different.
The speed of progress under Maresca meant he almost didn’t make it through the early fan resistance of the majority.
All eyes now are on the speed of progress under Alonso, I personally think it will be quicker than maresca’s journey mainly because of what the majority of the fan base resonate more with him.
Due to his status, Alonso is also benefitting from a MUCH much higher patience gap than any Clearlake manager has had so far.
This is my logical big picture overview of what’s happening.
Personally, I was in the minority with Maresca. I backed him through the darkness because I understood the logic and his approach resonated more with my personality.
With this in mind, is only natural that the current approach doesn’t resonate as much with me personally and is therefore causing me a lot stress
…but that doesn’t make it wrong.
What’s more, despite being personally painful for me, taking into account the culture of the club and the majority of the fan base - i can logically see why this could end up being the right path to take.
In spite of these early road bumps, my current expectation is still that we’ll be more than fine.
My body is telling me opposite though, I’m getting triggered like a mother fucker tbh 😅
Being a Chelsea fan isn’t for the faint hearted.
Win or lose
🔵
Trying hard to not to get dragged back time this game (and repeat myself) on seemingly an hourly basis…
To be honest, I agree with this.
My anger wasn’t with the approach.
My anger was with the persistence with the approach that evidently wasn’t working from minute one
…especially with viable options on the bench to change the attack, system entirely or the build
I was expecting a massive HT shift, even Gary Neville on comms was and by the sounds of it, Martin Tyler on Chelsea tv too - it never came, he persisted and the rest is history.
For this, he deserves to be criticised in isolation imo.
Jason Cundy on Chelsea's defeat to Spurs:
"I came away from there yesterday, and I’m like, ‘I think there’s something there we should be concerned about’.
“Why didn’t he change it? Why are we going man for man? Tactically — I can’t believe I’m going to say this — De Zerbi got it right, and I can’t believe Xabi Alonso didn’t change it. I’m still in shock.
“At half-time, that’s where you earn your money. So I’m thinking, he’s going to change it. Personnel or a tweak to the system, something has to change. Nothing changed.”
United’s current situation is where Chelsea were heading before last summer imo.
When you take the weight of the badge and pressure pot of expectation that comes with it and don’t sign the right types of players and employ a manager who can handle that weight and add time - you can get yourself in huge huge fucking trouble.
For United, now the weight is MASSIVE and the foundations are piss weak. With this environment you can even end up with major issues - even relegation etc because it becomes toxic.
With this in mind, I’m grateful for the Chelsea ownership pivot tbh - was getting dark. We might not be in a perfect spot at the min, but the foundations and connection feel much better - more stable in the inevitable rocky waters that this sport takes us through anyhow.
For United, I think next manager is imperative, and like Chelsea’s pivot, I think they should move for status manager above almost anything.
Someone who commands respect from both the fan base and dressing room instantaneously
…unpopular, but I’d throw the bag at someone like Diego Simone. He’s sort out a lot of issues quite fast imo. The path forward for them is long, dark and treacherous - they need a strong strong character to lead that.
Very unlikely, I get it. But given the context, that’s where my personal energy would be.
I can’t stand Naglesmann tbh, I think he has red flags all over him and Eddie Howe just feels like the weight would be too much. I’m not sure he’d get enough of a patience gap to survive the storm.
Unpopular, but I personally hope United rise again, the premier league is better when the big clubs are competitive.
Big job ahead for them though, executive leadership looks ridiculously suspect, squad is full of overpaid players who aren’t good enough and they’re currently rudderless - Nasty combination.
They ideally need a 180 transformation like we had this summer to rapidly pivot but it’s impossible for them to do so because of their model/wage structure etc
As I said - Nasty.
Thoughts?
It’s was definitely far from ideal… 😑
Again though, what we saw didn’t pissed me off.
Persisting with what we were seeing, when we had viable options on the bench (and ample time to change it) pissed me off…
Spoken a lot on the micro and macro of this in last 24 hours so I won’t repeat myself.
Horrifically painful day that will be hard to forget. If we learn and grow from it though - I’m can personally make peace with it.
Onto the next…
🔵
