According to Chelsea's facebook page, Cesc is now the first player in Premier League history to get an assist in six consecutive games.

We breaking records already loool Greaaaaat

Two different players but you are right. Just as I write Mata scores an excellent goal. Still love the little magician. Excellent in every way.

I love the little magician too n he will only do better in Man united

Can't really compare the two but in 2012 I regularly argued that Mata deserved to be in the national team ahead of Cesc and I'm sure some of you on here would of done the same.

 

It's hard/if not impossible to view such things objectively. The view on here is always going to be drenched with bias.

Can't really compare the two but in 2012 I regularly argued that Mata deserved to be in the national team ahead of Cesc and I'm sure some of you on here would of done the same.

 

It's hard/if not impossible to view such things objectively. The view on here is always going to be drenched with bias.

I suspect Mata will be completely dropped from the NT or remain on the bench at best. He can't play on the wing, can't play in the midfield, and Spain don't play with #10, so there's no place for him in their 4-3-3. Even now that Xavi and Alonso retired and Cesc is used as a midfielder rather than a False 9, Mata could have taken False 9's role, except Spain now has Costa. So Mata's Spain NT career is effectively over I'm afraid. He's not versatile enough.

Did anyone see G. Nev slamming Cesc after Swansea. What are your thoughts people?

http://www.givemesport.com/504359-gary-neville-critical-of-cesc-fabregas-performance-against-swansea

Did anyone see G. Nev slamming Cesc after Swansea. What are your thoughts people?

http://www.givemesport.com/504359-gary-neville-critical-of-cesc-fabregas-performance-against-swansea

Yes I saw it, it is justified however it's quite obvious he will only play in the midfield two against the smaller teams where we don't need as much protection in the middle, against the better teams Oscar will be dropped with Rambo coming in with cesc taking oscars place or playing as part of a midfield 3.

Did anyone see G. Nev slamming Cesc after Swansea. What are your thoughts people?

http://www.givemesport.com/504359-gary-neville-critical-of-cesc-fabregas-performance-against-swansea

 

I saw it and I wouldn't call it slamming really. I thought he made some solid points. I suspect that we will most likely play with a 4-3-3 against bigger teams for this exact reason. 

 

Neville has to be the best pundit on TV right now. I think he gets mostly everything spot on with little to no bias at all. Even Carragher isn't that bad (though he has nothing on Neville).

I saw it and I wouldn't call it slamming really. I thought he made some solid points. I suspect that we will most likely play with a 4-3-3 against bigger teams for this exact reason. 

 

Neville has to be the best pundit on TV right now. I think he gets mostly everything spot on with little to no bias at all. Even Carragher isn't that bad (though he has nothing on Neville).

Yeah, he made some valid points, though pretty much everyone got the pressing wrong in the first 30 minutes. But he's right that having a third midfielder frees Cesc up to attack and create. Playing Cesc in the pivot is obviously not ideal. It's not his best position.

http://www.footballorgin.com/2014/09/tv-show-skysportss-monday-night.html  +- @17min of the pre-match show for those interested.

 

If you see the clips he highlights, there are concerns on a few occasions with regards to not only Cesc, but the positioning and covering by Matic, Schurrle and Oscar. It could be blamed on the international break but collectively the team was all at sea for 30 mins. I wouldn't expect the boys to be that disorganized once the games start piling up.

Edited September 17, 201411 yr by venom2011

Took me a while to warm up to him because of the history. However the guy has been pure class on the field, and he doesn't talk about Arsenal no more, guess he's truly over it. He's exactly the missing link we were looking for, got give credit to Jose and the back room staff to sign him up

http://www.footballorgin.com/2014/09/tv-show-skysportss-monday-night.html +- @17min of the pre-match show for those interested.

If you see the clips he highlights, there are concerns on a few occasions with regards to not only Cesc, but the positioning and covering by Matic, Schurrle and Oscar. It could be blamed on the international break but collectively the team was all at sea for 30 mins. I wouldn't expect the boys to be that disorganized once the games start piling up.

Could someone tell me at what moment they start talking about Chelsea? I wish I had the time to watch it all but I dont at the moment and i will definitely forget about this in two days.

Could someone tell me at what moment they start talking about Chelsea? I wish I had the time to watch it all but I dont at the moment and i will definitely forget about this in two days.

It's right there next to the link. 17mins into the pre-match show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjP9KVWA91U

Very interesting analysis. I think he will still play fabregas in a 2 against a lot of the prem teams, bar the top 7 and maybe Southampton, as those are teams that can move the ball quick enough to expose him there.

It was also interesting that oscar played very well second half when he was moved out wide. I thought oscar played well for Brazil on the wing in the wold cup, and in his first season he played there alot for us, with mata playing centrally.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjP9KVWA91U

 

Great to see some actual intelligent and insightful analysis of the game that goes beyond describing what anyone could see, it certainly wasn't something I picked up on when watching the game, although obviously the tactical change of bringing Rami on for Schurrle made a visible impact, this really showed why.

^ I never in a million years thought I'd say this, but both Carragher and Neville are good pundits. They make the MOTD panel seem very stale by comparison.

^Even more evidence last night of Fabregas' inability to defend. He barely ever puts in a challenge and a lot of the time is in the wrong tactical position when we lose the ball and look to recover our defensive shape. We'll get away with it against the lesser sides at the Bridge but in big games I think we have no choice but to play 433 with Ramires there to do the dirty work that Fabregas seemingly can't.

 

It's strange because the Fabregas I remember from Arsenal would stick his foot in a fair amount. Hopefully he can get back to that soon.

^Even more evidence last night of Fabregas' inability to defend. He barely ever puts in a challenge and a lot of the time is in the wrong tactical position when we lose the ball and look to recover our defensive shape. We'll get away with it against the lesser sides at the Bridge but in big games I think we have no choice but to play 433 with Ramires there to do the dirty work that Fabregas seemingly can't.

It's strange because the Fabregas I remember from Arsenal would stick his foot in a fair amount. Hopefully he can get back to that soon.

He's been plsying in Spain remember, which is full of fairies diving due to even the slightest ampunt of contact so maybe there's a fear to not tackle. Also he was at Barca where they usually had the ball all the time.

Some of his passes last night were extraordinary, but then sometimes he just dawdles on the ball. It's who he is and I think in matches where we dominate he'll be fantastic, slicing open defences and breaking them down.

 

But I do wonder if he'll start against City on Sunday. Matic is nailed-on, Ramires is probably down too so that leaves space for one other and you'd expect it to be a more creative player. We could obviously go with Mikel and really look to stop City but I think Oscar's workrate might just nudge him ahead.

 

That isn't to say Fabregas is doomed, but that in about 8 matches a season he might sit it out. Of course Jose could look to go at City and play Fabregas in the 10 spot like he did last night but that asks a lot of Matic and Ramires.

^Even more evidence last night of Fabregas' inability to defend. He barely ever puts in a challenge and a lot of the time is in the wrong tactical position when we lose the ball and look to recover our defensive shape. We'll get away with it against the lesser sides at the Bridge but in big games I think we have no choice but to play 433 with Ramires there to do the dirty work that Fabregas seemingly can't.

 

It's strange because the Fabregas I remember from Arsenal would stick his foot in a fair amount. Hopefully he can get back to that soon.

Not true at all. He was always trying to recover the ball and tackled plenty of times. Just checked the stats and he made 3 successful tackles, had 1 clearance and 1 block. In comparison, Ramires made 2 tackles, while Hazard, Willian and Oscar all made 0 tackles. Fabregas was pretty solid defensively yesterday, his best defensive performance after Burnley, IMO.

Edited September 18, 201411 yr by Ward

Not true at all. He was always trying to recover the ball and tackled plenty of times. Just checked the stats and he made 3 successful tackles, had 1 clearance and 1 block. In comparison, Ramires made 2 tackles, while Hazard, Willian and Oscar all made 0 tackles. Fabregas was pretty solid defensively yesterday, his best defensive performance after Burnley, IMO.

 

And to be fair his 'tackle' set up our goal.

I also saw him let midfielders run past him. But the biggest issue is that he's hardly ever in the right place when we lose the ball. Top level football is as much about being able to set up the team's tactical 'block' when you lose the ball, as it is creating chances when you have it. Fabregas will have to improve at the latter, regardless of how good he is on the ball. Just listen to Gary Neville in the videos above. We can get away with it against Swansea etc but against top opposition we won't.

Edited September 18, 201411 yr by Celery1989

I also saw him let midfielders run past him. But the biggest issue is that he's hardly ever in the right place when we lose the ball. Top level football is as much about being able to set up the team's tactical 'block' when you lose the ball, as it is creating chances when you have it. Fabregas will have to improve at the latter, regardless of how good he is on the ball. Just listen to Gary Neville in the videos above. We can get away with it against Swansea etc but against top opposition we won't.

This is just as big of an exaggeration as your previous post about him "barely ever putting in a challenge," which was wrong as well, since he put in a challenge more often than all our midfielders bar Matic. He isn't the fastest player around, so it just looks like he doesn't work as hard as others while in reality he did more dirty work than most of our players.

I also saw him let midfielders run past him. But the biggest issue is that he's hardly ever in the right place when we lose the ball. Top level football is as much about being able to set up the team's tactical 'block' when you lose the ball, as it is creating chances when you have it. Fabregas will have to improve at the latter, regardless of how good he is on the ball. Just listen to Gary Neville in the videos above. We can get away with it against Swansea etc but against top opposition we won't.

 

But you have to take the rough with the smooth with some players. When players like Fabregas and Hazard are capable of opening teams up time and again with loads of creative play, you cannot expect them to be making tackle after tackle too. Maybe in an ideal world but that just doesn't happen. Both will do their fair share and a lot more than players like Mata, but it's not what they are in the side for first and foremost. That's what Matic is in there for mainly and the others will all chip in - it's just that it works better sometimes than others.

 

I like what we are trying to acheive and we just have to accept that it's not going to go to plan every game but give me that over playing a whole team of physical specimens who have limited ability.

But you have to take the rough with the smooth with some players. When players like Fabregas and Hazard are capable of opening teams up time and again with loads of creative play, you cannot expect them to be making tackle after tackle too. Maybe in an ideal world but that just doesn't happen. Both will do their fair share and a lot more than players like Mata, but it's not what they are in the side for first and foremost. That's what Matic is in there for mainly and the others will all chip in - it's just that it works better sometimes than others.

I like what we are trying to acheive and we just have to accept that it's not going to go to plan every game but give me that over playing a whole team of physical specimens who have limited ability.

Agreed Nibs.

Fabregas is not a box to box midfielder who is going to dictate play AND break up play. He is an assist machine who is capable of passing a ball through the eye of a needle while scoring goals too. As you Matic is the type that is expected to put himself about and get his tackles in.

We have a side now that is capable of sacrificing the central AM to accommodate another midfielder should we need it if we are being out gunned in the middle of the park.

Cesc has been a great addition and already shown he can set up goals galore while chipping in himself, expecting him to do the other stuff too is fantasy stuff.