On 29/12/2019 at 08:40, sonic90 said:

His hard work and willingness to run got us the winner, sprinted past Saka despite the guy having a headstart on him. Good stuff

 

how old is Saka? Let's look at the foot race again

 

4 hours ago, robdog said:

how old is Saka? Let's look at the foot race again

 

It is, as Strider says, magnificent, especially when you consider how much running he’s already done over the course of the game.

2 minutes ago, Dean said:

It is, as Strider says, magnificent, especially when you consider how much running he’s already done over the course of the game.

 

I reckon he may well end up with David Luiz at Arsenal. They are really good mates, own a restaurant together so I doubt Willian wants to leave London.

 

As good as he is doing I do not think the club will crack and give him the wages and length of deal he is after.

On 30/12/2019 at 12:10, Dean said:

Doesn’t anyone consider the possibility that Willian’s shortcomings and errors are a direct consequence of the shift he puts in? I imagine many of you have played football to some level and therefore must recognise a tendency to become more error-prone after a really intense period during a game. E.g.: you’ve tracked back to defend, then there’s a break, you chase and by the time you have to do something with the ball your touch let’s you down due to sheer exhaustion.. Think how many times Willian is in this situation in a game. I’d be dead several times over. Fitness/ the engine is such a crucial ingredient in modern football. Too many of you focus on the errors and not on the engine that’s got him in those positions in the first place. Barcelona aren’t crazy for wanting him and every other club in the premier league would take him in a heartbeat. We’re lucky to have him. 

Whats the excuse when he's doing it in the first half of matches etc.?

8 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Whats the excuse when he's doing it in the first half of matches etc.?

Dunno, marathon not a sprint blah blah. But a better answer might be: why do I need to make excuses for arguably our best player this season? What’s YOUR excuse - the ‘purple patchers’ among you (not you necessarily but I haven’t checked) - for  ignoring the contribution he’s made, pouncing on the errors, refusing to see the bigger picture and accept that you’ve been wrong?

45 minutes ago, Dean said:

Dunno, marathon not a sprint blah blah. But a better answer might be: why do I need to make excuses for arguably our best player this season? What’s YOUR excuse - the ‘purple patchers’ among you (not you necessarily but I haven’t checked) - for  ignoring the contribution he’s made, pouncing on the errors, refusing to see the bigger picture and accept that you’ve been wrong?

@RIP Mourinho is upset how Slick Willie treated spuds

21 hours ago, Dean said:

Dunno, marathon not a sprint blah blah. But a better answer might be: why do I need to make excuses for arguably our best player this season? What’s YOUR excuse - the ‘purple patchers’ among you (not you necessarily but I haven’t checked) - for  ignoring the contribution he’s made, pouncing on the errors, refusing to see the bigger picture and accept that you’ve been wrong?

Been wrong about what? He's average or below average for 70% of every season he's been here with  purple patches each year. Pulisic in his first season has been better than Willian this year, Tammy in his first season is doing better. 

20 hours ago, robdog said:

@RIP Mourinho is upset how Slick Willie treated spuds

I'm upset that people think we can win titles with Willian as our main man. 

22 hours ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Been wrong about what? He's average or below average for 70% of every season he's been here with  purple patches each year. Pulisic in his first season has been better than Willian this year, Tammy in his first season is doing better. 

I'm upset that people think we can win titles with Willian as our main man. 

I don't think anyone expects us to win a title this season.

I agree that sometimes he needs a spell on the bench too.

On 01/01/2020 at 14:32, RIP Mourinho said:

 below average for 70% of every season he's been here with  purple patches each year. Pulisic in his first season has been better than Willian this year, Tammy in his first season is doing better. 

Pulisic has had his purple patch by the looks of it as well. Thankfully Tammy hasnt dipped below a shade of mauve so far.

Willian has been one of our best players, there's really no need to single him out here. 

The purple patch bit has been debunked, even in our sh*t December Willian played some very good games. 

Don't get me wrong some games he has been useless, but overall I can't fault him, I think he's having one of the best seasons he's had at the club, if he keeps this up I would be glad to keep him here for another year, but yes, we obviously need better alternatives soon. 

On 03/01/2020 at 20:55, Slojo said:

Don't get me wrong some games he has been useless, but overall I can't fault him, I think he's having one of the best seasons he's had at the club, if he keeps this up I would be glad to keep him here for another year, but yes, we obviously need better alternatives soon. 

As it stands, I would be happy to keep him around for another season.

Still one of our best players despite the criticism he receives.

Say whatever you want about him, but you can be damn sure he is going to end up a legend for this club!

32 minutes ago, Droopy said:

Say whatever you want about him, but you can be damn sure he is going to end up a legend for this club!

Eh, not sure about that, I like him but legend is a strong word. 

Played well again today. Looks better on the left hand side where he can cut inside and curl them.

At the moment he is still our most creative outlet. I've been critical of his attitude at times, but without reinforcements we actually need him in the squad.

5 minutes ago, Spiller86 said:

Played well again today. Looks better on the left hand side where he can cut inside and curl them.

At the moment he is still our most creative outlet. I've been critical of his attitude at times, but without reinforcements we actually need him in the squad.

Cuts inside far too often and predictably to be considered our most creative outlet. He put one cross in today ... one ... and he's playing as a winger !!! CHO managed eight on the other side ... and Reece ten ... even Azpi managed two from the left !

I agree he had a good game, but it was more in terms of winning the penalty for the first goal and his usual impressive work rate, especially defensively ...

On 02/01/2020 at 07:51, Strider6003 said:

I don't think anyone expects us to win a title this season.

I agree that sometimes he needs a spell on the bench too.

 

I am not sure if Willian need a spell on the bench because of performance, but maybe he deserves a rest? I am still quite surprised with his continued work rate. This guy never seems to run out of steam.

But having Willian, Pulisic, and CHO to rotate on the wings is a very nice problem for Lamp.

What is the probability of Willian staying beyond this season? I imagined Willian might want a rich multi years contract, as it will likely be his last; but I am not sure Chelsea would be willing to do that?

 

 

 

Edited January 11, 20206 yr by haviet1

1 hour ago, Droopy said:

Say whatever you want about him, but you can be damn sure he is going to end up a legend for this club!

He's already a legend after the Spuds game 

His defensive contribution stood out for me. 

48 minutes ago, haviet1 said:

I am not sure if Willian need a spell on the bench because of performance, but maybe he deserves a rest? I am still quite surprised with his continued work rate. This guy never seems to run out of steam.

But having Willian, Pulisic, and CHO to rotate on the wings is a very nice problem for Lamp.

What is the probability of Willian staying beyond this season? I imagined Willian might want a rich multi years contract, as it will likely be his last; but I am not sure Chelsea would be willing to do that?

I think Willian has kids and so would prefer to stay with us, so think that will depend on the club.

Caught Dave Basset on the stream I was watching and he said he never understood Pedro playing in front of Willian in previous seasons as Willian was a much better creator on the pitch. I'm not saying he is right by any means just interesting to hear another professional opinion.

4 minutes ago, Strider6003 said:

I think Willian has kids and so would prefer to stay with us, so think that will depend on the club.

Caught Dave Basset on the stream I was watching and he said he never understood Pedro playing in front of Willian in previous seasons as Willian was a much better creator on the pitch. I'm not saying he is right by any means just interesting to hear another professional opinion.

Thought it was tony gale? 

5 minutes ago, big blue said:

Thought it was tony gale? 

Sounded like Dave Basset to me, unless of course you heard the same words and the speaker was introduced. I was watching on hesgoal stream.

Couple of times he tracked back from the other end to took the ball off attackers near our box were very impressive. He won us the penalty when were not really kicking along in the game.  I hope we are seriously working on a deal with him, he's not slowing down, and should he leave, we will suffer in both attack and defence

Just to reiterate my original point but in more detail, his work rate is that of Jose's Willian in 2014-15, but with much better attacking output. I really disliked Willian then, same with Oscar, they both became work horses with a few goals and assists, everything went through Hazard. 

This Willian is doing both it's incredible, he's good going forward and even though he seemed tired in the last 20 minutes, exhausted from all that running, he still had bursts of pace left in him. I think he's faster this season than he's ever been, or shown perhaps? He has bursts of acceleration that come out of nowhere, impressive. 

Got to say so far, this is the best Willian I've seen, I liked him when we first bought him, I thought he was one of our few good players under the miserable Jose 3rd season, and I thought he was very good under Conte as an impact player. But this season he's been a key player and instrumental, if he's playing like this to the end of the season, why not give him another year? 

10 hours ago, Slojo said:

Eh, not sure about that, I like him but legend is a strong word. 

Why not? Some people consider Duff and Joe Cole legends and their contribution is far behind Willian's + the years of loyal service...