47 minutes ago, Ernie_blue said:

Tbh the whole team was bad, Kante and Baka looked poor and outplayed.

Kante had a shocker. Seemed Knackered by the end.

Baka did not look poor (imo) but surely was outplayed. Cant fault him though. City played 3-6-1 in possession. We were simply outnumbered and outclassed.

Fabregas finally admits it was him who threw the pizza at Alex Ferguson in 2004!

http://metro.co.uk/2017/10/04/cesc-fabregas-finally-confirms-he-threw-pizza-at-sir-alex-ferguson-after-infamous-battle-of-the-buffet-clash-6976179/

Edited October 4, 20178 yr by Blueblur

15 minutes ago, Blueblur said:

Fabregas finally admits it was him who threw the pizza at Alex Ferguson in 2004!

http://metro.co.uk/2017/10/04/cesc-fabregas-finally-confirms-he-threw-pizza-at-sir-alex-ferguson-after-infamous-battle-of-the-buffet-clash-6976179/

I'd prefer it if he had meant it 

22 minutes ago, Valerie said:

I'd prefer it if he had meant it 

Me too. But I'd pay to see the pizza slide of old bacon nose's face and all over his nice black suit

1 hour ago, didierforever said:

Kante had a shocker. Seemed Knackered by the end.

Baka did not look poor (imo) but surely was outplayed. Cant fault him though. City played 3-6-1 in possession. We were simply outnumbered and outclassed.

No player could be blamed as one of the main reason's though, the whole team was poor.

15 hours ago, Backbiter said:

Fabregas has zero pace but he runs his nuts off every game. He isn't lethargic, he's just painfully slow. He's still a fabulous player, though. We just have to ensure his slowness doesn't leave us exposed. I think it's become clear that he's most effective when coming off the bench against a tiring team. He's a joy to watch when he does that.

Isn't that what lethargic is? His physical game is very weak, if it wasn't for his football IQ he wouldn't even be a PL player. But his footballing brain is fantastic, amazing technical ability also, that's what makes him such a great player. 

And again that's just it, he's a great squad player, look at the impact he had last season, let him rotate, start him in the games where we need to break teams down, bring him on during tough games. 

1 hour ago, Ernie_blue said:

No player could be blamed as one of the main reason's though, the whole team was poor.

I don't think I blamed any ONE person.

8 hours ago, didierforever said:

I don't think I blamed any ONE person.

It was the post replying to. Doesn't really matter, no one had a great game.

10 hours ago, Slojo said:

Isn't that what lethargic is? His physical game is very weak, if it wasn't for his football IQ he wouldn't even be a PL player. But his footballing brain is fantastic, amazing technical ability also, that's what makes him such a great player. 

And again that's just it, he's a great squad player, look at the impact he had last season, let him rotate, start him in the games where we need to break teams down, bring him on during tough games. 

Not so sure about the first part.

The last part seems to be a very logical solution. I do think he's more suited to playing CL matches than PL. I'd trust Cesc to play against any team on the continent we could be up against bar PSG, Dortmund, Bayern or Napoli

I think too that Fabregas is a brillant passers, but except his pass, his game is quite poor, he often lose the ball, sometimes at dangerous position... In the big games, i don't know if he do more mistakes than make pass for to score

On ‎04‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 09:02, didierforever said:

The way the game is developing or has developed, there is not much place for vanity players like Cesc.

Yes, he is one of the best passers, but sadly thats IT!!!

Something as essential as shielding of the ball, he is poor, which is really strange considering the fact that he played with the likes of Xavi and Iniesta and he would have learned something from the masters of ball shielding in his 3 year tenure. He loses possession often, he is defensively absolutely INEPT. Again, for someone who has played for barca, his pressing is atrocious. 

Cesc can play the magic ball, but in a league where there are so many Top teams (top 6 + the likes of everton [or rather what they should be]+soton), Cesc is redundant for half of the games. As a squad player + an impact sub, cesc is great. But I would rather want a more complete player if conte wants to move to a mid 3.

You mentioned he can come on against the Swansea's of this leagues etc. Fabregas is not a liability in these games and when we player lower placed teams in league, he is a wonderful asset. He more times than not dominates the game against these type of teams and they are sh*tting themselves when he has the ball because his vision is that good. He ended up with double figures in assists last season despite being a squad player which shows how effective he is, especially against these teams. I agree he is best used as a squad player but saying he finally can come on when needed against the lower placed opposition is not true. I would prefer seeing him in the lineup because he is the best creator in the team. How many games last season against the lower placed teams was he pivotal in dictating the games? There were several.

4 hours ago, STATS said:

You mentioned he can come on against the Swansea's of this leagues etc. Fabregas is not a liability in these games and when we player lower placed teams in league, he is a wonderful asset. He more times than not dominates the game against these type of teams and they are sh*tting themselves when he has the ball because his vision is that good. He ended up with double figures in assists last season despite being a squad player which shows how effective he is, especially against these teams. I agree he is best used as a squad player but saying he finally can come on when needed against the lower placed opposition is not true. I would prefer seeing him in the lineup because he is the best creator in the team. How many games last season against the lower placed teams was he pivotal in dictating the games? There were several.

Fair enough.

But I would not be against not giving him a contract extension after 2019 and instead getting in RLC if he shows his worth and/or a real world class Mid who can complement Kante/Baka irrespective of the opponent.

On 04/10/2017 at 13:58, Slojo said:

Isn't that what lethargic is? His physical game is very weak, if it wasn't for his football IQ he wouldn't even be a PL player. But his footballing brain is fantastic, amazing technical ability also, that's what makes him such a great player. 

And again that's just it, he's a great squad player, look at the impact he had last season, let him rotate, start him in the games where we need to break teams down, bring him on during tough games. 

Fabregas is definately more a squad player these days and physically I take onboard what everyone says, but people on here slagging him off should quieten down a bit, because when we are all crammed into sh*tty selhurst park next Saturday and an hour has gone by and palace are having their game of their season and cesc starts warming up we'll all be singing about his magic hat, as he will be our creative hope to come on and create a chance, let's be honest we got no one else like him?....."fabregas is magic he wears a magic hat"

Cesc is an extremely talented footballer.

His long career has clearly taken it's toll on his pace because at Arsenal he was reasonably quick (see goal vs Spurs)

However, we can no longer play him in a midfield two. It quite simply, doesn't work.

Games this season with him in a midfield two (PL):

Burnley (H) 3-2 Loss

Arsenal (H) 0-0 Draw

Palace (A) 2-1 Loss

That is evidence enough that he simply isn't cut out for the physical presence of the Premier League. He should be in a midfield 3 or on the bench and this is coming from someone who is a massive fan of Cesc.

He seems to get so knackered in the last 1/4 of games, and misplaces simple passes all the time.

can't wait for drinkwater to come back. it needs to happen asap, he would be perfect accompaniment to kante/baka with fabregas or next to kante/baka. 

He cannot play in a two end of we just dont have the players to carry him

3 hours ago, Andy2461 said:

He cannot play in a two end of we just dont have the players to carry him

I agree, the EPL has just moved on. Fab might work wonders in a less competitive league but not in the EPL any longer. Not if we want to compete with the best.

Good to see Baka get his first goal for us even though we lost.

Either the bench or a new formation where he has cover.
It isn't working for him right now.

1 hour ago, TomCFC85 said:

Either the bench or a new formation where he has cover.
It isn't working for him right now.

We need to switch to a 4-3-3 if he’s gomna be in the team. Far too much of a liability otherwise 

7 minutes ago, Theafonis said:

We need to switch to a 4-3-3 if he’s gomna be in the team. Far too much of a liability otherwise 

I was thinking 3511 or 352. 

Like I said. Simply does not cut it in a 2 man mid.

21 hours ago, didierforever said:

Like I said. Simply does not cut it in a 2 man mid.

When you put it that way, it sounds like u are saying that with every component of the Chelsea team being the same, just replacing Kante (Injured of course) with Fabergas led us to lose the game against Crystal Palace.

You are right in the fact that Fabergas sadly is not defensively solid and hence cannot be played against all teams in a 2 man midfield, but when u lose to Crystal Palace you cant put the blame on Cesc. Among the list of things that we mucked up on, Cesc is not the worst. Heck you could Kante in there and maybe we would have drawn the game, not win it.

1 hour ago, brownindian said:

When you put it that way, it sounds like u are saying that with every component of the Chelsea team being the same, just replacing Kante (Injured of course) with Fabergas led us to lose the game against Crystal Palace.

You are right in the fact that Fabergas sadly is not defensively solid and hence cannot be played against all teams in a 2 man midfield, but when u lose to Crystal Palace you cant put the blame on Cesc. Among the list of things that we mucked up on, Cesc is not the worst. Heck you could Kante in there and maybe we would have drawn the game, not win it.

I was not talking just about the CP game. Simply as a general statement. You could put a mixture of Makelele and Kante beside him and even that abomination (), would not be able to cover for his defensive liability.

If willian/hazard/bats are losing balls leading to CP counter, Cesc should have the basic sense of holding his position. But so many times he was just way off. I would say Baka was our best player on the pitch, simply because he had the nuance of playing as a breaker. cesc simply has none of it in his game. 

But the statement I made was not just for the CP game, but looking at Cesc in general.

22 hours ago, didierforever said:

I was not talking just about the CP game. Simply as a general statement. You could put a mixture of Makelele and Kante beside him and even that abomination (), would not be able to cover for his defensive liability.

If willian/hazard/bats are losing balls leading to CP counter, Cesc should have the basic sense of holding his position. But so many times he was just way off. I would say Baka was our best player on the pitch, simply because he had the nuance of playing as a breaker. cesc simply has none of it in his game. 

But the statement I made was not just for the CP game, but looking at Cesc in general.

I get where u are coming from, But i am more generous to Fabergas and will not split hairs over our opinions. Lets hope that Fab gives his offensive best to Chelsea.