2 hours ago, Nibs said:

Think we all know where we are with Fabregas. He is still the best passer in the team and has great vision but his legs have pretty much gone. He has always been slow but now he's at snails pace.

As much as I love him as a player, can't help but feel we should have parted company in the sumrmer as he's only going to keep declining and the likes of RLC deserve some minutes.

Cesc and Ruben are battling for the different positions these days, what happens with Cesc has about as much impact on Ruben as what happens with ZappaCosta does. 

Just looks so far off the pace, as he did I games last season. At first I thought it was because he was spending more energy  defending under conte, but I now I think his time playing at the highest level is coming to an end. 

I know he is only 31, but he has been playing regularly since he was 16, and I think it has taken its toll. 

I wouldn't renew his contract, he has been a joy to watch in his time here, and his experience will be missed, but I would rather bring in a young jorginho deputy, or even try and mold Ampadu into that role. 

Love Cesc, but he can't run to save his life anymore. He's so slow now

Yes, he made some good passes to Chelsea players but he also made a few good passes to Bate players as well. Should have gone over a year ago IMO.

Thought it was interesting that Sarri bought Fabregas on as his first sub yesterday. 

He must see his passing range and ability as something that can change up our attacking approach rather than switching out an attacker. 

1 minute ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Thought it was interesting that Sarri bought Fabregas on as his first sub yesterday. 

He must see his passing range and ability as something that can change up our attacking approach rather than switching out an attacker. 

Jorginho played midweek, and he was also on a booking, made sense to bring him off, it would've been a disaster for him to get a 2nd booking for a tired tackle, especially with spurs up next. 

Fabregas was okay, he had one big chance, kante was through for either a clear shot at goal, or a square ball to morata for a tap in, but cesc played a poor pass. 

It's very rare you see a trademark world class pass from fabregas these days, even against weaker sides in the Europa league.

19 minutes ago, big blue said:

Jorginho played midweek, and he was also on a booking, made sense to bring him off, it would've been a disaster for him to get a 2nd booking for a tired tackle, especially with spurs up next. 

Fabregas was okay, he had one big chance, kante was through for either a clear shot at goal, or a square ball to morata for a tap in, but cesc played a poor pass. 

It's very rare you see a trademark world class pass from fabregas these days, even against weaker sides in the Europa league.

I don't think it was a poor pass, for me it was more a case of Kante not anticipating/reacting to it (an attack minded player perhaps would have been in a better position to receive the pass).

Thought Cesc did well when he came on, I'm not trying to suggest he should start ahead of him but I don't think we missed Jorginho and I'd argue maybe even raised our game.

You know that, I know physically he's on the decline and will probably be leaving us next season but his quality on the ball is unquestionable. Some of the passes that he was playing yesterday were exquisite.

Brilliant performance.

Edited November 30, 20187 yr by JMaher94
Too many commas

He is still good value in a league that plays slow ball or a team that has great defense. I think selling him is a win win win for both Chelsea , Cesc and his new team. 

1 hour ago, brownindian said:

He is still good value in a league that plays slow ball or a team that has great defense. I think selling him is a win win win for both Chelsea , Cesc and his new team. 

But who would come in for Jorginho when we need to rotate? Players like that aren't easy to find. If Fabregas is sold, Sarri would need to completely change the way the team sets up when Jorginho isn't playing, and I don't think Sarri will do that.

19 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

But who would come in for Jorginho when we need to rotate? Players like that aren't easy to find. If Fabregas is sold, Sarri would need to completely change the way the team sets up when Jorginho isn't playing, and I don't think Sarri will do that.

I think Ampadu could do well there if he understudies Jorgi-boy & Cesc for the season. He’s got a good eye for a pass and would probably offer more defensively than the other two put together. Would be better there than at right-back!

41 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

But who would come in for Jorginho when we need to rotate? Players like that aren't easy to find. If Fabregas is sold, Sarri would need to completely change the way the team sets up when Jorginho isn't playing, and I don't think Sarri will do that.

We are linked with that player from Brescia who plays a smiler role to Jorginho.

On 30/11/2018 at 12:33, Scott Harris said:

But who would come in for Jorginho when we need to rotate? Players like that aren't easy to find. If Fabregas is sold, Sarri would need to completely change the way the team sets up when Jorginho isn't playing, and I don't think Sarri will do that.

I think the 2 posters after your post have answered it. The advantage with selling Fabergas is that - it is a now or never time and it also frees up some capital  for squad improvement.

My other concern is that - if our system is so fickle that the absence of one player destabilizes the entire system then we really need to reevaluate the system.  Like what happens if Jorjinho get injured and is out for a month ? 

Today new contacts between # Milan and # Fabregas lawyers , the negotiation continues. We are talking about a contract of two and a half years, the parties are still distant but there would be a willingness to do the operation @ milannewsit

 

Hopefully that isn't true. We need players like Fabregas. He can step in for Jorginho when the latter is injured or suspended. We have no other player like him in the squad. 

Isn’t it illegal to approach him while he’s got over 6 months left? Unless of course the club have given their blessing which, given how we’ve treated players in the past, could well be the case. 

Maybe we should think about letting him go in the summer, but only if we can replace him, we certainly shouldn't be letting him go now. We need him for cover if Jorginho get's injured. We just got our midfield back to looking strong again after the disaster of last season's midfield, why weaken it? Unless Kovacic can play the jorginho role, I think this move would be stupid from our point of view.

Rumors of our interest in Houssem Aouar from OL would constitute us looking at a replacement for Cesc.  I think we should keep Cesc until the summer, at the very least, though.

14 hours ago, Munkworth said:

Isn’t it illegal to approach him while he’s got over 6 months left? Unless of course the club have given their blessing which, given how we’ve treated players in the past, could well be the case. 

Players with 6 months left on their contracts are allowed to agree pre-contract agreements with teams from other countries. 

Not sure I'd want to be anywhere near that AC Milan team if I were Fabregas, they've been a mess for a few years now. 

11 hours ago, mwblue10 said:

Rumors of our interest in Houssem Aouar from OL would constitute us looking at a replacement for Cesc.  I think we should keep Cesc until the summer, at the very least, though.

From what I've seen of Aouar, he would be better suited to the attacking midfield role. He looks a fantastic player, but we have RLC, Barkley, and Mount on our books, all similar players and under the age of 24, and that's without the prospect of keeping Kovacic. So I'm not sure whether there is anything too serious in those rumours. We have been linked with Tonali aswell though who could be a Fabregas replacement.

Billy Gilmour has been training with the 1st team this season, maybe we could keep Fabregas around for another 18 months and see whether Gilmour, or even Ampadu can provide cover for Jorginho. 

Gilmour or Ampadu proving cover for Jorginho during the next 18 months?  Well, its interesting this should come up in the Fabregas thread after the weekend when Fabregas has said that Jorginho is struggling. Listening to commentary on the live streem they brought up the point of all that possestion but doing nothing with it and opinion in the match thread is showing a definate turn of the tide against Jorginho. The Premiership is too fast and competetive for him. I'd bet my house he wont be at Chelsea in 18 months.

I'd keep him until the end of the season if not another year. He's a better long passer than Jorginho, and applied trade for years in a possession based team, to be honest he's under played under Sarri.

As it stands Fabregas has a unique skillset within our squad. In addition to that, he is a member of two title-winning teams, and only four current players (Cahill, Azpilicueta, Hazard and Willian) have been in the Chelsea first-team squad for longer than he has. I'd be inclined to keep him for the time being.

I think it would be better to keep him till the end of season both for us to cover for injuries and also nice for him to get a summer move with the ability to get pre-season training elsewhere.

4 hours ago, big blue said:

From what I've seen of Aouar, he would be better suited to the attacking midfield role. He looks a fantastic player, but we have RLC, Barkley, and Mount on our books, all similar players and under the age of 24, and that's without the prospect of keeping Kovacic. So I'm not sure whether there is anything too serious in those rumours. We have been linked with Tonali aswell though who could be a Fabregas replacement.

Billy Gilmour has been training with the 1st team this season, maybe we could keep Fabregas around for another 18 months and see whether Gilmour, or even Ampadu can provide cover for Jorginho. 

After watching more video of him, have to say I agree with you.