ell that Newcastle United v Chelsea match was grim viewing. A truly disgusting performance from a group of players that looked totally uninterested from the first minute.
A horrid performance from the forwards, only Mudryk looked threatening in the slightest. Felix once again in the conversation for worst player on the pitch, probably spared this by Disasi and KDH. Make no mistake though, the 65m we spent on him in total will go down as one of the worst mistakes this regime makes. 1 assist across both spells for us. A truly back-breaking signing.
I suppose we also now have the answer about why Sanchez keeps playing in the prem. Enzo once again offered nothing, but it’s hard when your midfield partner has a worse first touch than Lukaku. Still, are we getting our money’s worth out of him? Absolutely not. No back-up striker to speak of, crowbarring Nkunku there in the hope his quality in front of goal will dig us out of holes. Disasi, BB and Tosin were all awful. To think we spent 80 million on those three and shipped out Chalobah.
Once again, serious questions need to be asked about how we have spent so much money and we are still lacking in so many areas. The bitter irony is that we have sold so many players that would fill these gaps and bought in players that flatter to deceive.
This B team might be able to get away with playing the 8th best team in Greece, but I don’t think it has enough to win the conference league. Added to that, we’ve now got one less trophy available to win. I was raging when we lost the final, but Poch got us there at least.
I’m not sure how much longer Maresca can get away with the two distinct teams. It appears to me that players in the B team realise they aren’t going to get a chance to start games in the Premier League and are stuck playing these games. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t blame Maresca for the fact we have spent a load of money on bang average players who we didn’t need, but I think he needs to show a little bit more flux between the two squads.
The team looked like it lacked motivation, when they should be up for it as it’s their chance to make a statement that they should be playing in the prem. Either they are demotivated because they know they won’t get a chance, or they just aren’t good enough.
In addition, they know they can’t get dropped because players like Chilwell have been banished. Neither options are great. Besides, when has the aim of playing in a cup been to spare injuries? We should be playing to win, if that means players need to play twice in a week, so be it. Everyone else does it.
Oh and a word on this set piece coach who was brought in to much fanfare. Least amount of shots from set pieces in the league. Maybe Poch was right when he said it was about the skill of the taker and aerial dominance of both boxes?
Anyway, rant over. Let’s just hope this isn’t a momentum killer going into the weekend. At least we aren’t going to have to watch the majority of this lot play in that game.
Written by RBD October 31 2024 20:08:26
