The only player from the Premier League to be included in the 2014/2015 Champions League squad of the season.

http://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2015/06/european-recognition-for-ivanovic.html

Well done Ivan!

Beat me to it, Blueblur. Well done Brana.

 

http://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2015/06/european-recognition-for-ivanovic.html

 

Branislav Ivanovic has been named in the 2014/15 Champions League Squad of the Season.

The squad, made up of 18 players, has been put together by UEFA technical observers’, with Ivanovic the only Barclays Premier League representative.

The Serbian played in all but one of our matches in this season’s competition, only missing the group-stage home game against Sporting Lisbon when we had already qualified for the knockout rounds.

Ivanovic scored our goal in the 1-1 draw away at Paris Saint-Germain and made his 50th Champions League appearance in the 6-0 win over Maribor in October.

 

Squad in full:

Goalkeepers

Marc-Andre ter Stegen – Barcelona

Gianluigi Buffon – Juventus

 

Defenders

Branislav Ivanovic – Chelsea

Gerard Pique – Barcelona

Javier Mascherano – Barcelona

Jordi Alba – Barcelona

Giorgio Chiellini – Juventus

 

Midfielders

Ivan Rakitic – Barcelona

Sergio Busquets – Barcelona

Andres Iniesta – Barcelona

Claudio Marchisio – Juventus

Andrea Pirlo – Juventus

Toni Kroos – Real Madrid

 

Forwards

Luis Suarez – Barcelona

Neymar – Barcelona

Lionel Messi – Barcelona

Alvaro Morata – Juventus

Cristiano Ronaldo – Real Madrid

Edited June 10, 201511 yr by Boyne

So basically the two teams who made the final plus World Player of the Year Ronaldo and of course Ivan the destroyer. 

Beat me to it, Blueblur. Well done Brana.

http://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2015/06/european-recognition-for-ivanovic.html

Branislav Ivanovic has been named in the 2014/15 Champions League Squad of the Season.

The squad, made up of 18 players, has been put together by UEFA technical observers’, with Ivanovic the only Barclays Premier League representative.

The Serbian played in all but one of our matches in this season’s competition, only missing the group-stage home game against Sporting Lisbon when we had already qualified for the knockout rounds.

Ivanovic scored our goal in the 1-1 draw away at Paris Saint-Germain and made his 50th Champions League appearance in the 6-0 win over Maribor in October.

Squad in full:

Goalkeepers

Marc-Andre ter Stegen – Barcelona

Gianluigi Buffon – Juventus

Defenders

Branislav Ivanovic – Chelsea

Gerard Pique – Barcelona

Javier Mascherano – Barcelona

Jordi Alba – Barcelona

Giorgio Chiellini – Juventus

Midfielders

Ivan Rakitic – Barcelona

Sergio Busquets – Barcelona

Andres Iniesta – Barcelona

Claudio Marchisio – Juventus

Andrea Pirlo – Juventus

Toni Kroos – Real Madrid

Forwards

Luis Suarez – Barcelona

Neymar – Barcelona

Lionel Messi – Barcelona

Alvaro Morata – Juventus

Cristiano Ronaldo – Real Madrid

Fantastic recognition for arguably the most underappreciated player in the squad.

Not sure if it was posted before...

 

 

That laugh gets me every time especially when he's leaning on John Terry to remain balanced

Not sure if it was posted before...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZE-U2lWGvMU

[emoji3]

Lol.

New style, more severe 

 

Looks even more like a warlord now.

He's an action movie villian. 'I must break you'

If our strikers fail, there is always a solution 

 

                       

Pressing 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNHr2IXseTQ

Bloody hell who captioned that?

How is that shameful he just wanted a chat with a former team mate

Brana is looking increasingly dishevelled and disorganised, but he is still a beast of a defender, and he's still good for cover if Cahill or terry get injured.

Bloody hell who captioned that?

 

Probably some ARSEhole.

I've seen quite a few Ivanovic is overrated comments recently, I think at times he can be a bit inconsistent defensively, but going forward he's phenomenal, to be honest I don't think I've ever seen a better finisher from that position. If anything, he doesn't get enough credit, certainly in the media.

Best RB in the league last season. Legend for single handedly destroying Liverpool.

I think he times his runs forward pretty well and he is a decent finisher aswell. I don't think his delivery is very consistent though.

I think he is good defensively when we are deep, but he can leave us exposed as he can struggle to get back in position after he has gotten forward.

By far his greatest assets are his determination, strength, and commitment, and he is an asset in both boxes.

I can see him struggling to meet the demands of a modern fullback in the next 18 months, I think he will move inside to centre back as he gets older.

I think he might not be the best RB in the league this year, but he is the least of our problems. 

Montero had an excellent game yesterday and maybe Ivanovic wasn't at 100% but that doesn't worry me at all. What I like about Ivanovic is that he has proved times and times again that he can adapt to a new situation and compensate for his weaknesses. 

He is a very good central defender....I'll leave it at that...but generally he leaves us more exposed on the right side than a naked man in a dirty raincoat. 

I have said it before on here and I will say it again, Brana may bring many things to our team but he is NOT and NEVER will be a full back as he is not disciplined enough when out in the wide positions. He IS and always WILL be a decent centre half and for his goal scoring feats in big matches he will, IMO, always be considered a Chelsea great.

I'm a bit torn on Ivan, he certainly isn't a bad player at RB and mainly suffers against quick mobile wingers as we saw Saturday but surely Jose's gameplan must include Ivan's forays forward as I'm certain he would be screaming his head off for him to stay back if they weren't.

 

Jose seems to be happy for one of the wingbacks to attack and as we see, Azpi rarely gets forward down our left, the fact that Ivan can't cross the ball seems lost on Jose but how can we doubt the usefullness of the plan with the way last season went?

 

I do think Ivan looks a bit slower than he did and I'd find it easier to understand him getting forward and having to sprint back so often if the player beside Matic was more inclined to cover, Willian isn't dissaplined enough and I think his defensive duties when trying to cover for Ivan are telling on the attacking part of his game.

 

I don't want to come across as a Cesc basher but I feel our problems are exagerrated by the need to accomadate him, well worth it though it is when he's at his mercurial best but when he isn't the whole team looks disjointed.

 

I find it difficult to think of an answer, I wouldn't move him to Oscars position as I have always had high hopes for Oscar and feel he fits better there, I think leaving Cesc out of the side is unlikely but for me and against City for sure, I'd play Ramires or Zouma next to Matic and the rest of the team would be as it was Saturday.

 

Hopefully either that will happen or Cesc will have a hatful of assists next week to underline how absurd my idea of dropping him is.

Edited August 10, 201510 yr by Chippy

I have said it before on here and I will say it again, Brana may bring many things to our team but he is NOT and NEVER will be a full back as he is not disciplined enough when out in the wide positions. He IS and always WILL be a decent centre half and for his goal scoring feats in big matches he will, IMO, always be considered a Chelsea great.

You must have a headache like mine... keep banging your head against the same wall on the same subject..