Cesc connects well with his teammate especially with diego costa.. goals win you game so really for f**k sake give him a good run of games.. He's done more than enough in his overall cameo appearance to suggest he can contribute to the team quite significantly... He's involved in most of the goals when he plays..

I don't need kante to wander forward that could let the team exposed during counter, he's there to protect the backline and if he's focus on doing that, it's pretty much a safe house for us because he's very good at it..

1 hour ago, bola said:

Cesc connects well with his teammate especially with diego costa.. goals win you game so really for f**k sake give him a good run of games.. He's done more than enough in his overall cameo appearance to suggest he can contribute to the team quite significantly... He's involved in most of the goals when he plays..

I don't need kante to wander forward that could let the team exposed during counter, he's there to protect the backline and if he's focus on doing that, it's pretty much a safe house for us because he's very good at it..

It's almost as if you've not actually watched us play in the last 11 games. Goals win games so play fabregas, erm we've been scoring goals and winning games without it unless you hadn't noticed. As for kante going forward and leaving us exposed, 2 goals conceded in 11 games for f**ks sake.

Edited December 18, 20169 yr by dkw

Is Bola for real ? He cant watch us can he ? 

Yep he's real, I think Cesc can play with both Kante and Matic, and this is the winning partnership, but we do look more dynamic with Cesc playing, just a conundrum for Antonio..

2 hours ago, dkw said:

It's almost as if you've not actually watched us play in the last 11 games. Goals win games so play fabregas, erm we've been scoring goals and winning games without it unless you hadn't noticed. As for kante going forward and leaving us exposed, 2 goals conceded in 11 games for f**ks sake.

Oh, so you have watched us play?  It's weird that you didn't notice that goals and goalscoring chances have been becoming scarce in the last few games.. Just because we conceded only 2 goals, doesn't mean we didn't concede chances and half of those chances were as a result of kante leaving his post and pretty sure I used the word 'COULD' in that sentence if you really wanna push it..

By hiding in the stats, you have shown that you don't know what hit you until it HAS hit you.. keep that mentality to yourself, conte is better off being proactive, act on the signs/hints provided to keep on winning..

 

1 hour ago, bola said:

 

By hiding in the stats, you have shown that you don't know what hit you until it HAS hit you.. keep that mentality to yourself, conte is better off being proactive, act on the signs/hints provided to keep on winning..

 

What?

2 minutes ago, dkw said:

What?

My thoughts exactly 

I like Fabregas but we need to maintain the defensive solidity which has served us well the last 3 months and not change things suddenly because he's on form. He can still play against the lesser teams who defend with 10 men but against attacking sides we need that Kante Matic partnership.

15 hours ago, Sindre said:

I want this man to start most of our away games from now on until the end of the season. We were losing control of todays match before he was subbed on with roughly 30 minutes left but Cesc saved us with a fantastic cameo for me. The 3-5-2 we ended with today is a great option for our tougher away games for me. Take Tottenham at WHL in a couple of weeks for example i think he definitly needs to play. He doesn't need to be fast or great defensivly when he can control a game and the tempo of it like no one else.

Example: https://streamable.com/zq58q

Controls the ball and without even taking a step he pings it too Hazard for a dangerous situation 50 meters ahead.

At no point in this game were we losing control. It was one of the most comfortable victories we've had this season. Even  Sunderland had more opportunities than palace.

31 minutes ago, Ivanov87 said:

I like Fabregas but we need to maintain the defensive solidity which has served us well the last 3 months and not change things suddenly because he's on form. He can still play against the lesser teams who defend with 10 men but against attacking sides we need that Kante Matic partnership.

He did fine against City

2 minutes ago, Bobbywoodhogan said:

He did fine against City

He made a great assist but I think he was anonymous in a lot of it, whilst City tore through our defence with ease. Also let's be honest, we were very lucky not to lose that game so I wouldn't really use that game to support his case.

Hes going to be a very key player for us though no doubt.

17 minutes ago, Ivanov87 said:

He made a great assist but I think he was anonymous in a lot of it, whilst City tore through our defence with ease. Also let's be honest, we were very lucky not to lose that game so I wouldn't really use that game to support his case.

Hes going to be a very key player for us though no doubt.

I think he played better Han was given credit for tbh. Sure City could have done us over in that match but they have far more quality than Bournemouth.

1 hour ago, Ivanov87 said:

At no point in this game were we losing control. It was one of the most comfortable victories we've had this season. Even  Sunderland had more opportunities than palace.

Between to 50th and 63rd minute when Fabregas was subbed on we were about to. Couldn't keep the ball anymore and Palace retained it time and time again for attack after attack. Still didn't create chances courtesy of amazing defending in that period aswell but there was a good chance they would score if they were allowed to play like that for the rest of the match.

The guy is closest to Xavi and Iniesta in threading passes IMO. He can see passes no one else sees and executes to perfection even if rushed.

1 hour ago, JoseBlues said:

The guy is closest to Xavi and Iniesta in threading passes IMO. He can see passes no one else sees and executes to perfection even if rushed.

That is the thing about Fab he never really looks rushed when passing. He seems to have everyone's position sorted before he gets the ball and knows what type of run they will make. His first touch is then sublime and his weigh of pass usually perfection. A passing genius.

He did well coming on, he did pass quicker yesterday and tried tougher passes than Kante and Matic. He made space for himself but people will counter that palace were looking for an equaliser and left gaps in midfield. There is still room for him in the 3 4 3 formation as teams that park the bus, you don't need to defence minded central midfielders.

What's not to love about Cesc he has two smokinghot wives and lives in his own palace. Fab is the man!

 

 

 

 

Oh and he sends his Christmas wishes

 

 

 

Needs to start more especially against teams with lesser quality in midfield 

He's done incredibly well with the limited playing time he's been given. 1 goal and 6 assists in only 5 premier league starts (8 Substitute appearances). Having played 513 minutes in the league this is a goal contribution every 73 minutes. Love everything about this man. 

Desperately need him to start against Arsenal. We need that creativity and composure in the centre of midfield. Willian, Hazard and Costa really suffered today. We could all see the difference in our play when he came on for those last 15 minutes.

His passing hasn't declined. He's never been the ball-winner. He can still shoot, still take corners, still score penalties. Why has he been benched again? For being slow? Matic is as slow. Sillly. He'd still be getting 20+ assists per season if he was at Barcelona. We don't have their forwards, I accept that, so cut that down to 12 or so for us. He'd probably exceed that if given the amount of game-time he deserves. 

Also, considering he has more accurate passing than literally any player on planet earth, why isn't he plopped into the Pirlo role like in Juventus, the 3-5-2 not so different from our own? His speed is then a non-issue, and he gets to control the tempo..

I believe when we have Cesc in the team, we don't need to defend that much because this guy will control the tempo, help us to keep the ball and play the game more at the other end of the field. He's not a great defender, but we have 3 central defenders and Kante, that's like 4.5 defenders in the middle with 2 wing backs. Cesc doesn't have to defend around the penalty box, others got him covered. We will definitely see attackers receiving balls in advanced areas, and opposition will think about pressing too high because Cesc could beat the pressing by thread that pass through. To my limited football brain, it's a no brainer, and I won't discuss Matic here. However, managers are usually a stubborn bunch, so won't be surprised if Matic starts again on Saturday.

Conte needs to find a starting spot for Fabregas and the best way to do that is 3-5-2. I also believe that would improve Hazard, when he can play a bit further forward and linkup with Costa. I also believe Pedro could be a good contender for that right wingback spot, atleast switch with Moses a bit more frequently to give us fresh legs in that position.

We "needed" Cesc to start at vs Arsenal last time and look what happened.

Cesc coming off the bench is working, and if Conte can somehow convince him to be a rotation option for a few years that would he great.

I don't agree he HAS to start at all, but he was really good every time he got the ball today.

he's been really good every time he's had the ball for a few months now. it's just making sure we can compensate when he doesn't have it.

I am not convinced at all that he can do it in the two regularly but he is making a decent case for conte to look at putting him in behind the front two.