Very interested to see how Maresca sets up against Brighton this time, and more so, if he sticks with the slow motion "walk- a- thon" which is his 2025 version of how he wants us to play. He could spring a surprise by going into attack mode, which would mean leaving out James and Fernandez, both as slow as Fulham Road traffic. But I suspect it will be more of the same. Same tactics, line ups and approach. Oh how I'd love to see him try something different , but I don't think he does different, and he doesn't seem to trust his bench or players to try something different.
Surely it's time to change it up a bit? How have we managed to go from title contenders to will we make its it the space of 10 games? What has changed? I suspect that the powers that be have said that certain players need to be played.
Whats changed is Lavia is out and Enzo Fernandez is playing, plus Reece James is back. Add to that Nicolas Jackson and Cole Palmer seemingly suffering from burnout......is my diagnosis of the squad.
I think you're both right . The 2 Duds definitely want all the "big money" players they have overpaid for, to be on the pitch. Only one of them deserves to be, and that's Caicedo.The rest have been underwhelming with occasional flashes of form. Reece James is nowhere near match fit and should be a second half replacement until he is. Palmer looks knackered and frustrated, Jackson is injured because he's overplayed, Guiu' injured because he's underplayed, Caicedo is heading for a torn hamstring, and Colwill is not far behind. Mudryk has himself solved the problem of what to do with him, so we can forget him. Sad for player and Team. Unless Maresca loses his fixation for only playing one way, not much CAN change. Every Team in the PL has sussed us out, and our always predictable play makes it a doddle to block up their goal area and watch us fuddle around.
The worst game plan from any Manager since Baghdad and Boehly took over. We played right into Brightons' hands, and they simply waited for us to screw up. And we did, in our best fashion, with not even a single shot on target. We never looked likely to score against a Team which simply packed defenders into their goal area, then counter attacked directly and with minimum passing and went straight at our goal with pace. It is incredible how many times our midfielders are facing backwards when passed to. It means they start their runs facing the wrong way, and from a standing start, with defenders pouring in on them, they are swamped .Rarely is anyone up front running onto through balls, or into space, or playing directly. We're so predictable and so easy to defend. Can't see a way forward unless our tactics change, and players are selected who can actually play the tactics. Right now "Marescas Way" is not working or our players can't make it work, or both.
