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Achraf Hakimi

Sindre said:
I think he'd shine at RCB myself.

Will also give us a lot of flexibility as he'd be able to contribute offensively as well. The RCB/LCB are allowed to push up in Tuchel's system and when we have the ball it's likely that James would be much more of a midfielder than a defender.
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Just because he can play CB doesn't mean he should, its a waste of his attributes in attack.

 
dkw said:
Just because he can play CB doesn't mean he should, its a waste of his attributes in attack.
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I don't necessarily disagree with your thinking. But I do think you'd be surprised about his contributions in attack from even from RCB. It's far from a traditional CB. Even in the season that was you more often than not found Rudiger "fighting" in midfield areas instead of deeper as a traditional CB would have. And you also had him going on marauding forward runs a lot of the time. If we had James going on those instead of Rudiger I think that could only be good for us.

And at least on paper Hakimi is an even better attacker from wingback and if we could get both him and Reece James performing at a top level I think that would be fantastic for us.

 
ozboy said:
Looks nice maybe on paper but it won’t happen. And Silva will play even less this season, and i expect Kante to as his body gives up. play less minutes , he’s already 30 with a game built around  running. 
 

we need midfield support and a defender. I am a huge fan of Hakimi since his time at Dortmund but not until we have the spine sorted. 
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If we get a good wingback, I absolutely don't see the need to get another defender. We'd have Rüdiger, Silva, Christensen, Azpi, Zouma and James. The 4 I mentioned first have all proven that they are good enough to be starters, Zouma is a good backup and James a lot of potential in this role.

@dkw 

I think James is going to be a utility player for us who can perform to a high level as a RWB, RCB, CM or RB should we switch formations again. In a 3-4-3 the RCB pushes up a lot, so we would see quite a bit of his attacking prowess. He could be a weapon delivering crosses from deep. Add Hakimi's dribbling, directness and goal threat, and we would have a lot more potency in attack than we currently do.

 
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Sindre said:
I think he'd shine at RCB myself.

Will also give us a lot of flexibility as he'd be able to contribute offensively as well. The RCB/LCB are allowed to push up in Tuchel's system and when we have the ball it's likely that James would be much more of a midfielder than a defender.
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I don't think that will happen since Tuchel like to keep three player behind. 

 
I think Rudiger marauded up the pitch because that's his nature. James is more disciplined and when he has played as the RCB with Azpi as RWB we haven't seen him pushing forward too much.

But I am warming up to the option of landing Hakimi, especially if he is as versatile as some in here say.

(And apparently Arsenal fans are fuming as Le Arse were interested until PSG and us got in the middle  :laugh2: )

 
Sindre said:
If James went forward T.Silva, Rudiger & at least one of the two midfielders would stay behind.
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Tuchel like to defend in

DM

cb - cb - James

So when james push up high, you can't defend in 1-3 shape anymore, you can't suddenly ask the dm to run behind and for the cb to run wide,that is total chaos. 

It will be 

Dm - dm

Cb - cb

For few instances, Tuchel will be fine with this. But he won't be happy if james do this 20 times a game. 

 
Bob stark said:
Tuchel like to defend in

DM

cb - cb - James

So when james push up high, you can't defend in 1-3 shape anymore, you can't suddenly ask the dm to run behind and for the cb to run wide,that is total chaos. 

It will be 

Dm - dm

Cb - cb

For few instances, Tuchel will be fine with this. But he won't be happy if james do this 20 times a game. 
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True but it also depends on the situation of the game. When we beat Leicester 2-1 (with James at RCB) he often found himself in the following position:

image.png

Three men behind or in line with the ball but Reece James is in a attacking position right there in my view.

 
Sindre said:
True but it also depends on the situation of the game. When we beat Leicester 2-1 (with James at RCB) he often found himself in the following position:

View attachment 16478

Three men behind or in line with the ball but Reece James is in a attacking position right there in my view.
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That picture shows exactly 

Jorgi 

Rudi - Silva - James

 
Sindre said:
Good point.

My point stands though. Reece James would find himself in attacking areas a lot of the time as the RCB as well.
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Offensively Reece is suited more for a rcb than a rwb. That imo is quite obvious, however as rcb his  "number" contribution will  probably drop because you simply will be in that dangerous area less.

Like I said before you cannot please everybody. 

 
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If we get hakimi, rice and haaland then the formation will look like it’s 343 but might actually be more like a 4-4-2 hakimi right midfield Mount left midfield with haaland up front with either Werner or havertz and James would be a right back. All ifs buts and maybes but it would certainly be flexible 

 
Bob stark said:
Offensively Reece is suited more for a rcb than a rwb. That imo is quite obvious however, as rcb his  "number" contribution will  probably drop because you simply will be in that dangerous area less.

Like I said before you cannot please everybody. 
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What are his numbers contributions though? He takes a lot of corners/indirect freekicks and his overall numbers read 1G/4A in 56 PL games. Reece is a dynamic player, but that doesn´t automatically make him a good attacking player. One of the reasons Chelseas struggle to break down deep-sitting teams is the lack of attacking thread from the wings. I think Tuchel views Reece/Hakimi as perfect complementary player. You can play them together in a 3-4-2-1 or it´s simply match-up dependent whether you need a shutdown defender (Reece) or an attacking menace (Hakimi) against a  specific opponent.

 
Sindre said:
I don't necessarily disagree with your thinking. But I do think you'd be surprised about his contributions in attack from even from RCB. It's far from a traditional CB. Even in the season that was you more often than not found Rudiger "fighting" in midfield areas instead of deeper as a traditional CB would have. And you also had him going on marauding forward runs a lot of the time. If we had James going on those instead of Rudiger I think that could only be good for us.

And at least on paper Hakimi is an even better attacker from wingback and if we could get both him and Reece James performing at a top level I think that would be fantastic for us.
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If we have a player like Hakimi who is an out and out attacking Right wing back then any RCB wont be expected to leave their position and join in the attack I wouldnt have thought, one of their primary roles is to cover the Wing backs attacking.

 
With  Conte’s system and the same withTuchel one of the centre backs is expected to drive forward from time to time to make the extra man. For my money I thought we did better when Dave was at cb and Reece was wing back than the other way round, but that’s because Dave isn’t a great wing back. It might be different with Hakimi. But it would also require Reece to be positionally strong in defence and I  have my doubts about that right now. What I do know is Hakimi is about the best right wing back I’ve seen or at least as good as any other. We might not need him but he sure won’t make the team worse. 

 
dkw said:
If we have a player like Hakimi who is an out and out attacking Right wing back then any RCB wont be expected to leave their position and join in the attack I wouldnt have thought, one of their primary roles is to cover the Wing backs attacking.
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When CHO played wing back against Burnley, the opener came from azpi overlapping CHO, there is definitely flexibility in the formation to allow the right centre back to push forward. Even under conte, Azpi was stepping into midfield and putting in dangerous crosses. 

In the youth team, James played right centre back, with Dujon Sterling at right wing back and it worked out well. 

I dont think it is a priority area to strengthen, but I also dont think it is a bad thing for James, he is quality, and he will play, and personally i think he isnt that suited to wing back anyway, because he isnt great taking on his man 1v1, by the looks of it, Tuchel feels the same, hence the Traore and Hakimi links.

Azpi will be the one that sees his minutes reduced, which was also the case at the start of last season under Lamps ironically enough. 

Livramento has 12 months on his contract, maybe he wasnt planning on staying anyway, after seeing Lamptey leave because of James, who knows whether he wants to stay. 

Hakimi is class, and will improve us if we manage to pull this off. 

 
ElTerrible said:
What are his numbers contributions though? He takes a lot of corners/indirect freekicks and his overall numbers read 1G/4A in 56 PL games. Reece is a dynamic player, but that doesn´t automatically make him a good attacking player. One of the reasons Chelseas struggle to break down deep-sitting teams is the lack of attacking thread from the wings. I think Tuchel views Reece/Hakimi as perfect complementary player. You can play them together in a 3-4-2-1 or it´s simply match-up dependent whether you need a shutdown defender (Reece) or an attacking menace (Hakimi) against a  specific opponent.
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👏 

 
dkw said:
Just because he can play CB doesn't mean he should, its a waste of his attributes in attack.
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In a back 2 I would agree but outside CB in a back 3 is a totally different ball game, you almost have to be a hybrid CB and RB and that would especially be true if Hakimi (or CHO) is the the wingback infront of him. How many times has Azpi gone forward and made key contributions in that role? (And that was with Moses who is worse defensively than Hakimi).

The main sell point of a wingback formation is to create the kind of overloads that simply aren't possible (without seriously compromising your structure) in a standard back four, two attacking fullbacks down one side is one of them.

 
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