He's not out of form or anything. He's just an average defender lol. He was good last season because of our sitting deep and counter football. This season when we are mostly playing high he's being exposed.

 

If we start to play Zouma I bet he wouldn't do any worse than Cahill imo.

Edited January 21, 201511 yr by CFCBlue12

Watched the Real Madrid-Atletico match and on both of the Atletico goals, Pepe and Sergio Ramos (World Cup winner, CL winner, Team of the Season defender) took turns in either diving in or backing off against Atletico attackers. Said at the time that if Cahill did that then he'd be crucified and it happened last night.

 

Skilful attacking players running at defenders are a nightmare to deal with and diving in leaves you at risk of being mugged off and your goal exposed whereas backing off gives them time, but also gives your midfielders a chance to get back. It seems as though Jose prefers the latter yet Cahill cops flack when he does it. 

 

Not saying that he's a world-class defender but some of the specific criticism is as unwarranted as it is predictable.

It's strange that the best manager in club football hasn't noticed Cahill's backing off tendencies and mentioned it to him in training.

Watched the Real Madrid-Atletico match and on both of the Atletico goals, Pepe and Sergio Ramos (World Cup winner, CL winner, Team of the Season defender) took turns in either diving in or backing off against Atletico attackers. Said at the time that if Cahill did that then he'd be crucified and it happened last night.

 

Skilful attacking players running at defenders are a nightmare to deal with and diving in leaves you at risk of being mugged off and your goal exposed whereas backing off gives them time, but also gives your midfielders a chance to get back. It seems as though Jose prefers the latter yet Cahill cops flack when he does it. 

 

Not saying that he's a world-class defender but some of the specific criticism is as unwarranted as it is predictable.

 

Agree with this. Still wouldn't mind Zouma being given a run in the side though, he has impressed when given the chance.

Cahill should have stayed with sterling on that occasion, as if he did he would have drove sterling to shift further out left and not allow him the space to shoot and score. It is so obvious with 99% of pacey left (and right) footed players who like to dribble, which way they're going to go. Cahill should have learned by now how to read certain players. I am sure José shows them plenty tapes before a match.

He never had the cover, perhaps his final decision wasn't the best, but hindsight is a bitch.

 

John Terry got skinned twice against Newcastle, had no cover similar problemo just that they didn't score.

It's strange that the best manager in club football hasn't noticed Cahill's backing off tendencies and mentioned it to him in training.

 

just going to say this is the most annoying thing with Cahill he always backs off.

I remember at home against Schalke he backed off against Draxler for a long long time.

Cahill should have stayed with sterling on that occasion, as if he did he would have drove sterling to shift further out left and not allow him the space to shoot and score. It is so obvious with 99% of pacey left (and right) footed players who like to dribble, which way they're going to go. Cahill should have learned by now how to read certain players. I am sure José shows them plenty tapes before a match.

 

But he does try and shift him onto his left foot. Ultimately he narrows the angle such that Sterling has to hit his shot right into the corner of the goal. It's actually a very good finish by a player moving at pace and striking with his unfavoured foot.

Skilful attacking players running at defenders are a nightmare to deal with and diving in leaves you at risk of being mugged off and your goal exposed whereas backing off gives them time, but also gives your midfielders a chance to get back. It seems as though Jose prefers the latter yet Cahill cops flack when he does it.

I agree, backing off is the better option in certain situations but not at the edge of the area BD. On a counter your midfield have the time to get back but near the box I believe it's always better to have the player make a decision. Allowing him to run and get off a shot is higher risk.

In the main I think Cahill's done well but this one situation has popped up quite a few times now and I think he fails on occasion. I've watched Kompany handle it numerous times and almost always making the right choice.

I remember at home against Schalke he backed off against Draxler for a long long time.

 

Home to Spurs against Adebayor is the one that always springs to mind with me. 

He can't always go in because he has no cover, the RB has probably gone wandering, again.

To be honest I thought Cahill had done very well up until the goal, he pulled off a number of last-minute blocks and tackles in the box which saved our skins. It is a shame they were allowed to score but Cahill was not alone in being at fault for that.

He just seems to lack consistency, can be uneven, unpredictable, but in the current climate (refs and Chelsea + media attention) he may be having a confidence crisis. The past couple of months haven't been great for him, I'd love to see him return to form sooner rather than later for him as well as the team. As has been said he's one player and needs support from others on the pitch.

Edited January 22, 201511 yr by Droogba

Its fine to back off but Cahill backs off TOOO much! I think with a player running at him, he should pick a moment sooner to actually try and intercept the ball. If the player then decides to skip round him, well then that leves a narrower channel for him to run into and maybe one of the players either side of Cahill can close down the attacker.

 

I'm not saying it will work but backing off and giving the attacking player a free shot on goal does no favours.

To be fair if anything Cahil has been far to aggressive this season not lenient.

 

He reminds me of David Luiz here, just going for the unnecessary challenge which almost results in a yellow card, just doesn't have to make it.

 

If we are going to haev a go at Cahill here we should at least be having a go at some of the other players that didn't even bother taking Sterling down such as Matic.

Cahill was the last man. The midfield did nothing to stop Sterling yet Cahill is getting criticised for not diving in (as last man) and instead showing Sterling onto his left foot, There are so many things that went wrong in that goal before it even gets to Cahill that I find the criticism (he could've been a yard closer and he should've put in a better block perhaps) laughable.

 

There seems to be this narrative about him now which is overblown in my opinion stemming from a couple of incidents. Look at the Adebayor one for example. The team allows him to run 50 yards onto goal yet Cahill (who beats EVERY other defender back to his position) is criticised for allowing Adebayor to have a shot from 23 yard against Petr Cech???

 

Adebayor?? 20+ yards??? Petr Cech?? 

Whoever has kidnapped the real gary Cahill, can we have him back please

He shows why he most definitely not captain material yesterday, as senior in the defence he should have taken control yet had no influence at all.

Something wrong goes with him, I'm starting to worry and have to ask myself if this form is temporary or will stay untill the end of the season...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWgXoDWxh3M&feature=youtu.be

 

Someone's made a compilation of his backing off.

 

Fun side game while you are watching this, try and spot Ivan. In one clip he's literally strolling back. 

/\ sheesh, salt and wound!

Blaming our defensive frailties on cahill is a little unfair, I think our slip ups are a combination of a few things. Firstly ivanovic at right back is so bad positionally, he should be rotating with zouma, cahill and terry for cb. I also think that our midfield is largely to blame, there is far too much reliance on matic, if he has a bad day we get run right through, we need a box to box midfielder, pogba would be amazing in this position, if not Ramires would do this job well. A quick fix would be to play a 4-3-3 looking like this:-

Azpi---cahill/ivan--terry---luis

---------------matic---------------

----------Ramires---Fabregas-------

--Oscar---------------------hazard--

----------------Costa----------------

We have rotated barely this season and that's one thing we could improve. (But this has been a problem in other positions as well.)

Cahill and also Terry look IMO both tired.

Edited January 25, 201511 yr by Uxanga

I do like Cahill but he does have those mental lapses from time to time of which JT covers up the cracks most of the time. I am worried how we will cope without JT eventually we will need to be in the market for a top defender like Varane although that would be virtually impossible.