Chelsea ‘morons’ axed Maresca for wrong reason with one of four Rosenior alternatives ‘needed’ | OneFootball

The Mailbox is fed up with Chelsea’s ‘f***ing incompetent morons’, who ‘desperately need’ to appoint one of four alternatives to Liam Rosenior…

Also, a ‘frustrated’ Manchester United supporter reckons ‘Stewie would make a better manager’ than Ruben Amorim, who is the ‘worst’ boss ‘in 40 years’ at Old Trafford.

Send your thoughts to theeditor@football365.com…

‘Stewie would make a better manager’ at Man Utd than Amorim…

Amorim is the WORST Manchester United manager in 40 years. It’s not even close. People very often say since 2013 we have been crap, but we have never been this crap. We had never finished below 8th. We always challenged for the cups at least if nothing. We made a half hearted attempt at top 4. We didn’t lose to some of the worst teams to grace the Premier League. There is a period between 2013 & till Ten Hag left, and then there is this.

If Amorim won his next 14 games IN A ROW, he will still be 1 win off matching David Moyes’ record at MUFC. That is an abolsutely shocking stastic. His formation is rubbish, his man management is rubbish. He is using Manchester United as work experience to learn on the job, and waste our time, effort & money. Losing to Grimsby & [drawing versus] this Wolves team in the same season is a sackable offence 10 out of 10 times. But the board will never learn. They keep hiring “up and comers” in managers, in strikers, in defense, in everything. Hoping to find a gem in a pile of horseshit, but what we are left with is just horseshit.

I want Amorim to succeed, I want Manchester United to succeed. But he looks so far out of his depth, that I honestly feel 90% of the mailbox, including raigbater champion Stewie would make a better manager at MUFC. It’s that bad. Chatgpt would make better decisions. The whole job of a manager is to have good tactics & plans, manage the players, have an eye for what will work. He knows none of that. He is an embarrassment to the club and just football in general.

This is a manager who was so scared of what the media will say, he preferred to lose playing 3-5-2 rather than change it to 4 at the back and win. In his own words. He is so clueless from day 1 that he himself feels 75% of his decisions were wrong.

These are signs of a weak, fragile & clueless man. I will always hope the manager succeeds, but I can’t help but be frustrated. We couldnt beat fuckin WOLVES!!! And they honestly had the much better chances and should have won. It’s that bad. And all the Amorim supporters say “give him time”… it’s been 60+ games!! If you wanna back him, fair enough. But let’s not be blinded by saying this is the version of Amorim that will ever succeed. He needs to change EVERYTHING about himself, his tactics, his mindset, his knowledge, his attitude and maybe then he will have a chance. Just turn into a whole new person & manager to even have a chance. Aman

Chelsea sacked Maresca for the wrong reason, and is Rosenior really the answer?

I’m glad Maresca has gone, although I’d have rather he be sacked for the insipid performances rather than falling out with the board.

His football was awful to watch and stifled exciting players. He’d come up with a tactical masterpiece once every 20 games (PSG, Arsenal), but that’s not good enough.

Now the grass is most certainly not greener. Liam Rosenior could become a great manager, but Chelsea can’t replace one project manager with another. If he does poorly he’s out by the end of the season. If he does ok, he will be given 18 months at most.

Chelsea need an experienced manager, with discipline to guide this young team. A better manager than Maresca is out there (Xavi, Folioli, Ireola, Glasner) and Cheslea desperately need someone in that frame.

They won’t hire any of those though, because Egbahli, Winstanley and Laurence are all f**king incompetent morons. I don’t mention Boehly here (although he doesn’t seem like the sharpest knife), because all the decision making over the last 18 months seems to have been done by the brain society of E,W&L.

While this ownership and board are in charge of Chelsea, the club will regress. I felt that about a month into the new owners, I feel it now.

Perhaps this was Blueco’s plan all along. Make the fan base so disconnected and apathetic that they just stop caring and let them do whatever with the club.

That’s the way I’m feeling anyway. Will

Chelsea ‘deserve better’ than Maresca…

Happy new year! There appears to be a lot of face saving and revisionism from Chelsea fans now, and dare I say it a divide in the fan base, so I want to kind of set the record straight and use only facts to discuss the sacking of Enzo Maresca.

David Ornstein is reporting that back in October, Maresca told the Chelsea board he was already in discussions with Man City about replacing Pep. Then he was doing the same again, a second round of negotiations in December. That is a manager who has had his head turned. Would that be accepted by a fanbase if it was a player? Let’s ask Liverpool FC supporters and Trent Alexander Arnold.

So Maresca isn’t focussed fully on Chelsea at this point. And that appears to have found its way to the dressing room, where he conceivably lost the players confidence and trust. Results have been pretty good since though… no? Oh. No.

Then there is the argument that Maresca wasn’t backed by the Chelsea owners/board. The facts of the matter are he asked for Man City academy products who he knew. He was behind the signings of Palmer (thankfully!), Delap, Tosin and Sancho’s loan. He also asked for Dewsbury Hall, and duly received. On top of this he was handed young players capable of developing into world class talent. Yet he has appeared completely incapable of coaching a defence or improving any individual. His greatest successes in respect of individual players are Robert Sanchez now making fewer mistakes and Reece James being injury free for a year. That’s pretty much it.

There are Chelsea fans saying that Maresca wasn’t given time. He had 18 months. Maresca was the tenth longest serving Premier League manager when the bell chimed on his final minute in charge.

Finally we have the “he had to rotate to keep everyone happy” argument. And Chelsea’s bloated squad is the reason behind the rotation. A reminder then, that in every single competition Chelsea play in, they are bound by the same squad size limits as every other team. They are not trying to give 60 different players minutes in the Premier League. It’s just not a thing. Chelsea have used 25 different players in the Premier League. The same number as Man United, Wolves, Brighton and Sunderland. One player more than Arsenal and Man City. Yet Chelsea have made the most changes to their starting 11.

Maresca’s stubborn refusal to find/use a consistent lineup or even consistent spine ultimately led to Chelsea lacking consistency until his final breath, as it were.

His greatest win is undoubtedly the club World Cup success. A genuine display of tactical awareness caught even me off guard, in a final where we out PSG’d PSG. But an end of season cup competition where Maresca could consistently play his best team, with the fewest changes to each starting line up… well, that’s there for all to see isn’t it. Consistency breeds consistency.

He was given time, he was given players he asked for, he was provided opportunity and he fluttered his eyelashes at Man City at the nearest opportunity.

Whilst I understand the frustrations of many Chelsea fans about the direction of the club, the recruitment policy and the continuation of Circus FC, Maresca had to go. We deserve better. Ash, CFC, Kent

Only 4 shots on target by Man City against Sunderland tonight. I’m sure the pundits will be hammering Pep as ‘too timid’…after all, Arsenal managed nearly double that on target (and actually scored 2) but were derided for ‘playing with the handbrake on’

Alternatively, maybe Sunderland are a more than decent outfit at home and deserve to be where they are in the league? Pete, Norfolk

The Lewis Family TM?

I get that Dave Tickner is a disillusioned Spurs fan but his coverage has now become so narrative driven and obtuse that even when he’s making a good point he has to dress it up in pure nonsense. So yes, it is extremely significant that spurs have sold Brennan Johnson for a reasonable price instead of holding onto an unrealistic valuation and letting his value decline over time.

An article about this doesn’t need the snide The Lewis Family TM nonsense, both because it really isn’t as clever as Dave thinks it is, but more importantly because pretending the powers behind the throne have always been the same is patently false. The Lewis Family isn’t a single fungible amorphous mass but is instead made up of different people from the same family, and it is clear that the children of Joe Lewis view things very differently from their dad. That is why Daniel levy has gone, along with his chief lieutenant on the board in Donna Cullen, and there is a new CEO and a new chairman in place. Still, why let facts get in the way of a good narrative? Phil, London

Post football

I used to watch football to be entertained by high pressing with interchangeable midfielders flooding the box and tracking back within the same breath. Fullbacks bombing and kamikaze strikers. And goals — so many goals — like a byproduct of the madness. But thankfully I’ve now evolved to understand that goals mean little, possession is king, and recycling play is how players add to their statistical values that tell you how well they will perform in a computer a year from now even if they look a bit lacking using those prehistoric inventions called eyes. A ball delivered into the box is a needless risk. A back pass is still a pass as the team aims for a thousand of them. I finally understand. I am post football. I am enlightened. 2 + 2 = 5. Niall, Annapolis

AI in football

I was reading a column reviewing the EPL so far this season and at one point it was stated that there were rumours that at least 3 clubs use AI to select the team each game.

Now, as a Fantasy Football player, I have 3 teams. One, my regular team, I select using my own thoughts, gut instinct, on who is playing well, upcoming fixture difficulty, etc. Another uses some available online AI tools to suggest transfers and who to select for the current game week, and another using my own Python/AI attempt at selecting the team and transfers.

Guess what? My original team is still better. The AI teams look like they are working, mostly make reasonable changes, but sometimes make bonkers ones too.

You also realise just how many variables exist, with what is really a small data set of games and overall information, making it tricky to get it right. I am sure an EPL club can afford better talent and tools, but would still be subject to the same limitations of a small data set. 38 games is just not enough and as teams change dramatically each season (and half season) not sure that past data is as useful. Wondering if Chelsea and Maresca were one of the teams? Might make more sense of some of his seemingly whacky team selections. No?

The other topic was the most recent pronouncement of the KMI (the body that reviews major refereeing decisions and makes a judgement on which were right or wrong.) It all sounds rather important and impactful but is ultimately another cosmetic PR exercise. No real visibility into the process or at least how any outcome of the panel might impact refereeing process changes.

So yet another cul-de-sac in performance accountability of the PGMOL, it seems. Other than some fans getting more pissed when the KMI pronounced that Everton, for example, should have had a penalty in the game they lost 1-0 Arsenal. A decision that could have a huge impact on the final outcome. Certainly end of season earnings.

While the commonly held belief is that these things even out over a season, as mentioned above, there isn’t enough data so it isn’t likely to be true over a 38 game season.

Whether the decisions were right or wrong, those that track impact of VAR either positively or negatively in the last full season showed Newcastle at the top with a +9, while Bournemouth were at the bottom with a -7. And most would recall several times the PGMOL had to apologize to Bournemouth for their errors. So they clearly don’t even out over a season.