Duff and Robben did it under Jose

But not a hallmark was it?

Then it pretty much always was a Frank and Drogba show.

But not a hallmark was it?

Then it pretty much always was a Frank and Drogba show.

What! Duff and Robben were electric in 2004/5

What! Duff and Robben were electric in 2004/5

 

  Eidur was much better than both of them.

Would love for us to move Haz central to the #10 role and have Willian and Pedro flanking him on the LW and RW.

Oscar to be moved deeper next to Matic.

Him and Fabregas to rotate based on form and opposition.

Personally, i would prefer a 4-3-3 with pedro and haz wide and matic, fabregas and willian in midfield.

Personally, i would prefer a 4-3-3 with pedro and haz wide and matic, fabregas and willian in midfield.

I think Oscar makes this team tick. I'd rather drop Willian in a 4-3-3.

Edited August 20, 201510 yr by Sing the Blues

Eidur was much better than both of them.

He didn't play in the same position as them though

so willian.....

 

ee's not goin nowhere!

 

think that covers everything....

We've never properly replaced Damien Duff to be honest, even now. Absolutely phenomenal winger.

We've never properly replaced Damien Duff to be honest, even now. Absolutely phenomenal winger.

 

I liked Duffer but when I look back, I think he was only with us for what, 3 seasons and we probably only saw the best of him for about half of that time. I think after the shoulder injury, he was never the same player.

I'd like to see Willian play deeper now that we've signed Pedro.

 

When you look at how Cazorla has adapted there for Arsenal, I think he'd do great.

He could potentially play alongside Cesc, with Matic dropping back to be a single holding midfielder, instead of having this pivot thing, which I have never liked and I don't think works very well as it's too easy to pass responisbility for covering onto your partner, instead of having someone dedicated to just being that shield, like we have with Makelele and to a lesser degree Mikel

Ive always felt Oscar should play deeper not Willian. Willian is better playing behind the striker than Oscar is.

2nd game running playing through the middle and again he disappoints and frustrates me.

His decision making and ball retention against City was one of the low points last week.

First half today on at least three occasions he wasted good openings with dreadful finishing. With basically the whole goal to aim at he put the ball wide... Misses like that could cost us big time.

I'm sorry but he's a liability in that central area, his final ball, decision making and shooting ability isn't good enough to justify his playing there for me.

I think he's played well thus far aside from that absolute choke of a finish, he gives us a lot of energy going forward and unless i'm remembering wrong, played a role in at least one of our goals?

People have been saying since he joined he needs to improve his finishing and final ball, and I'm just not seeing any improvement. He's generally a tidy player and his workrate and usually his ball retention are pluses for the team, but in the role he plays he needs to be either scoring or setting up goals on a regular basis and he's just not.

Willian is at his best when we're playing for a clean sheet and he's on the right. He's really ineffective in the middle, he doesn't have the shooting or passing skills to play there.

His shooting and final ball are pretty bad.

He's a tireless worker and has speed and stamina in abundance but my god he's awful in the final third.

We need Oscar back and we can use Willian as a back up

2nd game running playing through the middle and again he disappoints and frustrates me.

His decision making and ball retention against City was one of the low points last week.

First half today on at least three occasions he wasted good openings with dreadful finishing. With basically the whole goal to aim at he put the ball wide... Misses like that could cost us big time.

I'm sorry but he's a liability in that central area, his final ball, decision making and shooting ability isn't good enough to justify his playing there for me.

 

I don't even know how he is messing these chances up to be honest. He's a professional footballer who plays football everyday........surely tap ins like today is pretty basic football right ?

His shooting and final ball are pretty bad.

He's a tireless worker and has speed and stamina in abundance but my god he's awful in the final third.

We need Oscar back and we can use Willian as a back up

he just isnt that direct but he was before he came here, i suspect jose has asked him to play this way, hes scored some good goals for us and at times looked our best player

Edited August 23, 201510 yr by Bigthrobberus

If Pedro will continue in that way and Oscar will recover and play at his best, Willian will lose his spot in the starting line. Now we have two wingers that knows how to score and Oscar is hardworker also knows how to score, especially free-kicks. 

i don't see what he offers us apart from pace. oscar is a far superior no.10. willian doesn't assist, is hopeless at scoring goals, so what exactly is he providing us as an "attacking" midfielder? 

http://www.chelseafc.com/news-article/article/3436444/title/terms-agreed-for-willian

 

 

Not sure if Im happy or worried about the transfer, and what does this mean for the future of Mata and De Bryune. Just when I thought Chelsea were making all the right decisions.

Nothing quite like looking back at this post now. Wow, think it said it all didn't it?

I like willian. I think he is good to bring on late in games as his pace is frightening.

Really looking forward to a front 3 of Hazard oscar pedro

I've said it before and I'll say it again, he's an Iniesta-type player and he should be playing in a 3 in midfield.

 

If only we had somebody else to play right wing.

 

Sorry to quote myself from two weeks ago but I've been banging this drum since the latter half of last season. It seems we finally have somebody to play right wing. Those of you who haven't understood our criticisms of Willian on that right flank might understand a bit better after today. Pedro was direct, he made things happen, he hurt the opposition, he scored one and created one and he was always a threat.

 

Willian is not a winger, he's a midfielder in my view, much like Iniesta who I've compared him to many times, although obviously he's not quite at that level. Iniesta once played as a winger, and I commend Willian for doing a decent job, but his role on that flank has been less to hurt the opposition and more to run up and down and join in with the build up play. Don't get me wrong, he's a really good player, one of our best players towards the end of last season, and this could be a really big season for him, if he plays in midfield as he did today, alongside Fabregas and Matic. Obviously if we buy Pogba suddenly he's struggling for game-time.

 

We all know his limitations, he is not going to score many or create many, but neither does Iniesta. In front of goal he's a liability  but we have to remember that hardly any midfielders score and assist loads. That is not his game, he is the man who provides the assist for the assist if you like, as he did with our second today.

 

He gives you skill, vision, a great work ethic and a great engine, and he may just provide the answer to our midfield conundrum, namely that Fabregas alongside Matic isn't really trusted anymore, it's a flawed pairing, as we all know, but a 3 that includes Willian is a lot better and makes us a lot less vulnerable while giving us a lot of quality in midfield.

 

Oscar and Ramires are the players most threatened by Pedro's arrival for me, and it was telling that neither was on the bench today and neither was Cuadrado, the three players who are getting linked with Juventus.

 

Maybe I'm reading too much into it but it's food for thought.

It's shocking how unclinical he is at finishing for a professional footballer, and an attacker no less. It's just completely unnatural to him - like Fellaini trying not to elbow someone in the face but worse. His miss today is one of many where a teammate has done all the hard work and put it on an absolute platter for him, only for him to completely fluff his lines (he had about three or four last season with the ones at West Ham and Swansea being glaring examples). It's like the more time he has to aim the less likely the ball is to go in. Dave, of all people, showed more of a natural eye for goal than he did. Plus, despite executing a decent pass today that you really should expect one of your forwards to make in acres of space (couldn't see who it was, but the pass to Willian was more impressive), for all his speed and decent dribbling skills, he's often shocking on the counterattack as well.

 

Despite my obvious frustrations, I do still like him because he seems like a nice, humble person, and a guy that works so hard for the club is tough not to like, but I'm at that point again where I'm thinking, surely we could do better? And I don't even mean going out and buying someone. When Oscar comes back and presumably (hopefully) starts, do you really want Willian as your game-changing attacking option off the bench when we're a goal down? I'd rather have Traore or Remy or even Musonda come on before him. Perhaps we can use Willian as the attacking mid version of Mikel to come on to kill a game when we're ahead.