That is absurd, he had more touches than anyone else on the pitch yesterday, by a massive margin.

 

I watched it, and the woman was fairly having a go at him being a statue.  It' shocking, and I really wish these fu**ing YouTube channels would disappear.

 

Cesc made a lot of poor passes, it wasn't his best game, and sure he's not getting the assists that he started the season with.  However, one thing that Lee DIxon did manage to get right (despite trying 4-5 times to have a dig at Chelsea for their "lack of discipline" in the CL match) was he pointed out that Cesc was still constantly wanting, and showing for, the ball.

He has been clearly off the song since start of February so has been our team. I really can't blame him, although he still has that Arsenal DNA in him :p.

His set pieces have become somewhat wayward, his passing also has become bit poor as comparison to the earlier part of season and if he doesn't tick our team cry's for creativity and the whole burden lies in the hand of our Belgian wizard who is already double man-marked.

 

I think that's why we need somewhat a creative #10 who can unlock defenses with his creativity rather than the players like Oscar or Willian who provides next to nothing in terms of creativity. Or at least play Hazard at #10 moving Willian to his preferred LW, and Cuadrado to RW. Let's see how it works.

 

It's all because we rely too much on Cesc for creativity and if he's not playing well our team suffers. That's how important he's too our team.

We need some player to share the creative burden from these 2. This season we have been lucky with City dropping points but if next season the competition is high we might actually suffer if his performance go down like this at such vital part of the season. He's the main anchorman in our team.

 

P.S Ignore that Arsenal DNA thingy.

Hmmmm.... Interesting. I had no idea it was this bad. His 1st and 2nd halves of seasons compared.

http://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/cesc-education-why-fabregas-slumps-time-every-year

As our long as our fans get behind him he'll be alright. Madness that any of the team were booed on Sunday (if they were, I wasn't there).

Those booing him are complete morons simple as.

I would give him a rest against Hull though tbh, I think he needs a rest.

Didn't hear him get booed on Sunday, but there were lots of groans, frustrated shouts etc when he gave the ball away, which he did a lot on Sunday...no doubt he is not playing anywhere near as well, like many, but also think opponents have stepped up their efforts to stop him

I think his passing and creativity are fine. Not his fault oscar and cuadrado cant even finish their dinner

There was no booing, just disgruntled moans when he kept giving the ball away. Just because some idiots have started the rumour that there were boos doesn't make it true.

Actually read a thing where it said he completed 103 of 120 passes not too shabby,

I don't think he was bad at all on Sun personally thought he was one of our better players actually.

Did not think he was that bad on Sunday tbh. He kept trying, he did not hide or give the responsibility to someone else to try and make things happen.

 

Was either him or Costa that was our player of the season for the first half of the season imo, and while he is not adding the goals or assists at the moment he is still showing some quality and some leadership.

 

All fans can be guilty of over rating their sides players but I would say Cesc fits in to the "top class" category, same one I would say Tibo, Cech, Matic, Azpi, and Costa fit in to at this time, one step down from world class.

 

Only player of ours I would say for certain that fits in to the world class category would be Hazard. Well him and I would sentimentally argue JT still is as well.

Matic before his dip was routinely putting in world class performances.

Hazard, Fabregas, Matic, Costa and Courtois are all world class, in my opinion.

Costa is good, but not world class really. Fabregas as well, he tends to go off song during the second part of the season since last 3-4 years on succession. Unless he sustains his level for most of the season then he might be but a of now Nope.

 

They both are good but definitely not world class.

Edited March 18, 201511 yr by CFCBlue12

Costa is good, but not world class really. Fabregas as well, he tends to go off song during the second part of the season since last 3-4 years on succession. Unless he sustains his level for most of the season then he might be but a of now Nope.

 

They both are good but definitely not world class.

 

I think that is fair, although I suppose it all depends on your definition of world-class I suppose.

 

I would argue that in terms of indisputably world-class players we have Courtois, Cech, Terry, Hazard and maybe Matic and Azpilicueta. (and Mikel obviously)

I think that is fair, although I suppose it all depends on your definition of world-class I suppose.

 

I would argue that in terms of indisputably world-class players we have Courtois, Cech, Terry, Hazard and maybe Matic and Azpilicueta. (and Mikel obviously)

 

 

Are you worldclass in comparison to your peers or in a more holistic view of things, compared to players past and present. 

 

If we are talking about the hear an now then you can make the argument that Costa is world class, but I do think there is a lack of truly top notch strikers. It  

We should be doing just as good with or without his assistance. Yes he is an important player for us, but we shouldn't have to rely soley on him or hazard for creation. Something isn't right with that.

Edited March 18, 201511 yr by enigma

I really think the criticism is harsh, but there's certainly something wrong in this team. Is it Cesc or is he looking poorer because his game relies so much on spraying the ball around and the movement ahead of him is poor? Are teams defending deeper which means there's less room for Costa to get in behind? Is Matic's downturn in form giving Fabregas less space and time? Is Oscar's decline giving Fabregas less support?

 

There's a number of explanations you could choose from but our main 3 midfielders have played more than a thousand minutes more than the fourth most-used midfielder (Ramires). Jose has run the first eleven into the ground. I'd start looking there.

A bit off topic and maybe it deserves its own thread but Axman stated it perfectly, fans tend to overrate their own players (Not referring to Fabregas who is a top player). How do you define a world class player? How many players would you fit in that parameter? & if a team sat back and defended, nicking a goal in the process and repeated it for several years does that make the players worldclass players?

IMO there should be only 24 players labelled as world class at any given point. I would argue there are 3 in the PL at present, and one of our GKs belong in that category.

Matic before his dip was routinely putting in world class performances.

Hazard, Fabregas, Matic, Costa and Courtois are all world class, in my opinion.

Matic has had quite a few dips this season. At one stage Mikel even looked the better player. 

 

Good player no doubt but not really world class just yet. 

Y'all wrong, the only world class player we have, the German Messi, is out on loan.

It depends on the definition of course. For me, if you can arguably place a player in the top 5 or 6 players in the world playing in his position, he's world class.

Hazard - top 6 wingers in the world? Arguably yes.

Costa - one of the top 6 strikers around - arguably yes.

Matic - one of the top 6 defensive midfielders in the world? Yes.

Fabregas - one of the top 6 creative attacking midfielders in the world? Yes.

Courtois - one of the top 6 keepers in the world? Yes.

Ronaldo and Messi are in a separate bracket of their own, you could say.

Also, I agree that their is a shortage of quality strikers around.

It depends on the definition of course. For me, if you can arguably place a player in the top 5 or 6 players in the world playing in his position, he's world class.

Hazard - top 6 wingers in the world? Arguably yes.

Costa - one of the top 6 strikers around - arguably yes.

Matic - one of the top 6 defensive midfielders in the world? Yes.

Fabregas - one of the top 6 creative attacking midfielders in the world? Yes.

Courtois - one of the top 6 keepers in the world? Yes.

Ronaldo and Messi are in a separate bracket of their own, you could say.

Also, I agree that their is a shortage of quality strikers around.

 

i dont think costa is among the top 6 strikers

 

suarez, aguero, benzema, lewandowski, tevez, ibrahimovic are all better IMO

i dont think costa is among the top 6 strikers

 

suarez, aguero, benzema, lewandowski, tevez, ibrahimovic are all better IMO

 

Suarez? Ibrahimovic?

 

Costa much better than them this season.

I'd put him at least on par with Ibrahimovic, Benzema, Tevez. His recent form hasn't been great, but I think most people won't find it out of the question for him to be in the top 6.

Suarez? Ibrahimovic?

 

Costa much better than them this season.

 

I still think ibrahimovic is better. And yeah Suarez started slowly but hes really hitting his stride, and thats playing out wide, not centrally. Suarez is a top 3 striker for me

After he got subbed off his knee got taped up and he wasn't tackled badly or anything. Small squad and his massive drop in form, there must be more to it than just him not playing well second half of the season.

Agh I never noticed that, good spot!