The American commentator made a good point about the kind of chances Salah has been scoring and Creating.

Simple give and go's off the man in the box and he's through behind the defender.

His give and go, short passing, linking was something I thought was good when he featured briefly at Chelsea, as was his movement, and obviously his pace.

Everything else was pretty much lacking.

But this quick interplay in andaround the box is very useful in breaking packed defences and it's something Willian, Hazard and Oscar don't do enough of.

The hazard goal against Newcastle when be combined with Eto'o, and also the goal he got against Spurs at home are good examples of this, as is the chance he had against United that resulted in Drogba's goal.

Only caught 65 minutes but he played with better decision making and didn't give the ball away as much as he normally does.

Some good tidy play in the final third, keeping it simple when needed, hogging the ball less and slipping in players through on goal a few times.

A more 'mature' performance, as they say.

American commentary has improved, i've got to say, apart from the odd cringe-worthy moments...

("Cannon shot!"

"Magnetizes the ball!")

Edited March 5, 201511 yr by GhostOfDembaPast

He was utter dross everytime he pulled on a Chelsea shirt.

If anything this has got me questioning why we've paid £27m for Cuadrado.

He wasn't, Swansea he was good, arsenal he was good.. After that he couldn't handle the pressure... He's young but a very very good player.. Already more goals then Cuadrado got in half a season

This is in a league where gervinho is one of the best rates players remember .

 

 

That's scary, we just paid 27M for the second best player in their league.

This is in a league where gervinho is one of the best rates players remember .

Well Coutinho was a bench warmer for Inter, now look at him.

That's scary, we just paid 27M for the second best player in their league.

Can remember Jose saying; "So I think Mohamed needs six months to adapt to our game and the demands of the Premier League.

"I am calm and I'm telling him he has time because we have confidence in him. I think next season is Mohamed Salah's".

Turned out to be some breakthrough, think he played 41mins. I am echoing that same statement and I reckon we will see the best of Cuadrado next season.

Well Coutinho was a bench warmer for Inter, now look at him.

 

He's a good player in great form recently, but I wouldn't rate him elite because of his consistency.  Would he get a game at Chelsea? I don't think he will dislodge Willian or Oscar. I believe he was sold because he was injury prone ( still is), and Inter just never like youngsters for some reasons. 

 

Anyway, we haven't sold Salah yet, there's a recall button to press if he turns out to be great on loan.

He was utter dross everytime he pulled on a Chelsea shirt.

If anything this has got me questioning why we've paid £27m for Cuadrado.

 

This season maybe, but he was only given 7 games to show anything. Last season he had a few decent games for us.

 

I don't think people can really say that he is only playing well because Serie A is a poor league either, the Premier League isn't really covering itself in glory all that much in recent seasons. Most Chelsea fans want Pogba and he is playing in the same league and the same team that Salah scored 2 against tonight.

 

I do agree about Cuadrado though. It's still very very early days but i don't see how he is worth anywhere close to the amount we paid for him. Hopefully he proves me wrong.

All well and good to be doing it in italy but what the f were you doing when playing for us? Couldn't do a thing against bradford now you want to make us look silly against juventus?

 

Annoying. Now we will hear about how it's everyone elses fault he looked pants for us when played.

He wasn't, Swansea he was good, arsenal he was good.. After that he couldn't handle the pressure... He's young but a very very good player.. Already more goals then Cuadrado got in half a season

 

Would that be the Swansea game where he missed a host of glorious chances and we needed Demba Ba to score a late goal to get us out of jail and the Arsenal game where we was already 4-0 up by the time he came on and then scored a goal against a suicidal high line? 

 

 

This season maybe, but he was only given 7 games to show anything. Last season he had a few decent games for us.

 

I don't think people can really say that he is only playing well because Serie A is a poor league either, the Premier League isn't really covering itself in glory all that much in recent seasons. Most Chelsea fans want Pogba and he is playing in the same league and the same team that Salah scored 2 against tonight.

 

I do agree about Cuadrado though. It's still very very early days but i don't see how he is worth anywhere close to the amount we paid for him. Hopefully he proves me wrong.

 

Quite honestly I don't think the lad could complain about the lack of playing time, every time he played he was comfortably the worst player on the pitch and that included games against lower league opposition. 

 

For £11m he's got to rank as one our worst signing in recent years. 

 

The lad is doing well in Italy and I'm happy for him, I'd like if he returned to us as a better player and could become the signing he was supposed to be but there seems to be a lot of revisionism about his time at Chelsea now he's scored a couple of goals in Italy. 

 

As for Pogba, I do think he's being over hyped to an extent, the same way Rues was before he signed his new contract... Grass is always greener and all that but what I would say is that Pogba has performed well in Europe and for France so his ability isn't just limited to his playing time in Italy.

 

That said I'd still be wary of paying £50m+ for him.  

To be fair, I think it's largely down to their strategy. Fiorentina sat deep, played on the break, and attacked predominantly down the right (i.e. with Salah as their primary outlet). This meant that Salah got plenty of space he would never get when playing for us and plenty of chances - what the final score won't tell you is that he lost the ball seven times and hit two shots off target; imagine what the score could have been if they had Cuadrado as this outlet instead.

For what it's worth, I think that thus far in Italy he's played in a team that sits deepish and plays on the break.

 

That means he's got space in front of him to run into and then beyond the opponents defenders, that's one of his main assets. He runs in fairly straight lines, with speed as his main asset, unlike, for instance Eden Hazard.  He didn't get that here and probably wouldn't given how our opponents in the PL often play against us i.e. plenty of men behind the ball and sitting quite deep.

 

The one thing/skill that did seem to desert him here was his finishing, maybe this was a confidence issue?

 

Still, fair play to him for doing really well thus far. At the moment it would seem that as regards him, the club wins either way. Namely that, he comes back with better confidence and games behind him or if he stays in form and we sell him, we'll make a decent profit.

Edited March 6, 201511 yr by mhlower47

To be fair, I think it's largely down to their strategy. Fiorentina sat deep, played on the break, and attacked predominantly down the right (i.e. with Salah as their primary outlet). This meant that Salah got plenty of space he would never get when playing for us and plenty of chances - what the final score won't tell you is that he lost the ball seven times and hit two shots off target; imagine what the score could have been if they had Cuadrado as this outlet instead.

 

He lost the ball 7 times and hit 2 shots off target? I don't want it to seem like I'm picking at you but that really isn't that bad.

Yes he had 2 shots of target but at least he is getting shots away and it seems to be working for him.

Depay is getting his fair share of hype and he lost the ball close to 30 times in his last match against Ajax. 

 

Cuadrado has had his chance in Italy, he was there for 4(?) seasons I believe, so he's had his chance against Juve as well. 

 

I've always kept myself from commenting on how ''bad of a player Salah is'' because he didn't really get a shot with us this season and I thought he did quite well in his first season here. When people call Cuadrado out for not looking good so far they get told to shut up because it's unfair to judge him on so little game time (a statement I agree on by the way). But it seems to be alright to say Salah sucks although he also only had limited chances with us. 

Doesn't make any sense to me...

Maybe it’s because they have made him feel important? At Basle he was top dog and a player who was one of the first names on the team sheet, seems now he is getting that in Italy too.

Here he was used as an impact sub for most of the time from Jan to the seasons end, he couldn’t get in the team. Like Forevercarefree has said though when he has started he’s been woeful and usually needed to be hooked off for Schurrle or Willian.

He’s only 22 so younger than most of our squad just now and he certainly can and looks to be improving with first team football.

The big worry from many of us it seems is that he is taking Italy by storm and performing better than a guy we paid £27 million for and like Salah he has failed to impress with the minutes he’s been given so far.

He lost the ball 7 times and hit 2 shots off target? I don't want it to seem like I'm picking at you but that really isn't that bad.

Yes he had 2 shots of target but at least he is getting shots away and it seems to be working for him.

 

Well the rest of the Fiorentina side put together only lost possession 10 times. By that I mean they were caught on the ball, not trying to beat their man or pass it to anyone, he gave the ball away an additional 26 times via misplaced passes.

 

I don't want to sound too harsh on him; obviously I want him to do well and it sounds like he was the matchwinner and also that his recent form has been excellent, I just don't think we should get our hopes up prematurely.

Not too fussed by this. He's either inflating his transfer fee or building a case for him coming back and playing for us. We win either way.

What I will say is that you can't blame the club for letting him go because he showed very little in his tying here and his performance against Bradford was one of the worst I've ever seen.

Good on him though.

Well the rest of the Fiorentina side put together only lost possession 10 times. By that I mean they were caught on the ball, not trying to beat their man or pass it to anyone, he gave the ball away an additional 26 times via misplaced passes.

 

I don't want to sound too harsh on him; obviously I want him to do well and it sounds like he was the matchwinner and also that his recent form has been excellent, I just don't think we should get our hopes up prematurely.

 

I wasn't aware of all of the stats, but I do think he will improve on that. 

He's still a young player in a new league and in an unfamiliar team.

 

I agree with you that we shouldn't get our hopes up prematurely, but I am very pleased for the boy.

With regards to Salah this is good news. He'll either come back to us in form or he'll have increased his value.

 

Not so sure about the money we've paid for Cuadrado though. People saying Salah is only doing well because of the league's standard - the same could be said about Cuadrado except Salah's goal scoring record there is better, so far of course.

With regards to Salah this is good news. He'll either come back to us in form or he'll have increased his value.

Not so sure about the money we've paid for Cuadrado though. People saying Salah is only doing well because of the league's standard - the same could be said about Cuadrado except Salah's goal scoring record there is better, so far of course.

I think a big part of his form is the freedom he is given with Fiorentina, I mean with us he had to be aware to track back and defend as a unit like Willian. He didn't seem to suit our system and his form nose dived.

Is Cuardrado any different in that aspect? If he was given the freedom that Salah now has at his previous club can he now 'fit' into our system?

Surely we thought this one out before spending a huge amount of moeny.

Lack of confidence seems to have been the main issue for salah at Chelsea, but now his getting games and really showing his abilities. I think he's always shown some promise for us when he's featured, but unfortunately jose had no choice because he wanted cuadrado. I think fans expect way too much from players who rarely feature (myself included) and you have to give these players time; they are not just going to come off the bench and conjure something up out of thin air.

Edited March 6, 201511 yr by enigma

This bloke is like the Marko Marin v2.

Godly while on loan then invisible when he comes back.

He was bought as a 21 year old playing in the Swiss league... Some people on here are way too harsh.

These are good signs but he's on a very very good run of form, doesn't mean he's suddenly free of all those deficiencies which he showed playing here (the tiny amount of game time he got).

To be fair, I think it's largely down to their strategy. Fiorentina sat deep, played on the break, and attacked predominantly down the right (i.e. with Salah as their primary outlet). This meant that Salah got plenty of space he would never get when playing for us and plenty of chances - what the final score won't tell you is that he lost the ball seven times and hit two shots off target; imagine what the score could have been if they had Cuadrado as this outlet instead.

Yeah exactly what I was thinking, looking at his goals the opposition defence was very high up the pitch, when was the last time we came up against a defence like that? Watching highlights of other Italian games defences are definitely not what they once were in Serie A, and a high defence seems to be in fashion. Its fair to say their league is knowhere near the strength of the Prem, Germany or Spain and suits certain types of players more. Salah is one of those players.

He was bought as a 21 year old playing in the Swiss league... Some people on here are way too harsh.

 

De Bruryne, Courtois and Lukaku were all bought at teenagers from the Belgium league, it didn't do their careers any harm when moving onto bigger and better things. 

This bloke is like the Marko Marin v2.

Godly while on loan then invisible when he comes back.

 

Haha I think 'godly' might be overstating it, he hasn't been a starter for anyone since he left Chelsea, other than one season at Sevilla which was blighted by injuries. He's currently starting at Anderlecht, but hasn't completed 90 minutes yet.

Do Fiorentina have an option to buy?