But along with who? You think we'll play ramires and fab alongside him? If so, I'd rather zouma than rami in the midfield and maybe gives matic a little more room to move forward if he wants. We got overrun in midfield last leg and they'll likely have their other players back.

 

I think it will be Fabregas to play alongside Matic, like he has done pretty much all season and where his and our best football has come from.

said it elsewhere, but the sky pundits actually said 'Chelsea won it in spite of Zouma, not because of him'. spat out my night-cap last night when I watched it back after getting home from wembley

Seriously? Let me guess which brainless cretin that was, redknapp Jr maybe?

Zouma what a player! Terry on weekdays, Maka on weekends.

Zouma is brilliant for a 20 year old and has a great future ahead of him! I'm amazed by how well he's performed this season and he was arguably man of the match on Sunday. 

 

What's even more brilliant is that his attitude is top class. He knows he's achieved a lot already for a 20 year old but he has plenty of work left in him to maintain this standard. 

Interesting that Jose only told him 2 days before, did he not make his mind up all week?

Interesting that Jose only told him 2 days before, did he not make his mind up all week?

Was probably toying with the idea between different players and made his mind up afrer watching them all train?

http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/85/england/2015/03/04/9487472/mourinho-zouma-can-replace-terry

If that isnt one of the best recommendation from one of the best coaches in the world to France and an idea for us to what he means to the team and the futere for us , then I don't know what is. Got to be really exciting for Zouma .

Edited March 4, 201511 yr by chillz88

What a lad, what a lad,

what a mighty big lad,

what a lad, what a lad,

what a mighty big lad,

Thats Zoumaaaa,

   Zoumaaaa.

Will make a nice song, will try to get it into our repertoire

What a lad, what a lad,

what a mighty big lad,

what a lad, what a lad,

what a mighty big lad,

Thats Zoumaaaa,

Zoumaaaa.

Will make a nice song, will try to get it into our repertoire

Hmmm

I'll stick with the ZOU ZOU ZOU ZOUMMAAA

About Jose tipping Zouma to one day be the captain.

 

This debate was in place about two years ago on here about David Luiz. Pretty much everyone involved and some posters that I have much respect for suggested that Luiz will one day be the captain of our team. And I came out saying that it will never happen due to many different reasons including his reckless style of play and childishness even at the age of 26 or 27 or however old he was at the moment. Even though I did understand why many might've gotten carried away as he was never late to defend his teammates.

 

Time has proved me right!

 

However, I see where Jose is coming from. At his age he plays much more maturely than Luiz, I've never seen him lash out or make silly decisions on the pitch and once again.. for his age, I've rarely seen him make a mistake in crucial situations on the pitch. I remember a tackle, I believe it was against Liverpool in the Capital One Cup semis where it might've been Coutinho was one-on-one with the goalkeeper, Zouma came running in and actually took the ball away from him from behind him.

 

Combine what he already has with what he can learn from the veterans that our currently in our team such as Cech, Ivanovic, Drogba and the culprit himself, Terry. I see no reason why Zouma cannot become a fantastic leader and if he does stay with us in the long-term, a fantastic captain for out team.

 

As Jose said a week or so ago: Marcel Desailly!

Zouma seems quite quiet and timid in his playing style. Only 20 years old obviously but he doesn't strike me as a leader just yet. 

 

JT's got another 10 years in him yet so no need to worry about future captains. 

Definitely seems like a quiet guy, but he should start coming into his own as he gets more and more comfortable. I love the guy already.

Zouma seems quite quiet and timid in his playing style. Only 20 years old obviously but he doesn't strike me as a leader just yet. 

 

JT's got another 10 years in him yet so no need to worry about future captains. 

Care to specify in what he has 10 years left in? Although I must admit he's showing no signs of slowing down.

 

Ofcourse, he's only a rookie still, but I'm sure if he's willing then he has all the tools around him to become a great leader!

JT speed has always been very deceptive, he is slower than he looks.     

That tackle, I was worried and still worrying, dangerous game.

I thought he was playing central defense today.

Turns out he was in midfield, he's just so fast we might as well have been playing with a sweeper.

Hope it's the last time we see him in midfield. Kids a central defender and it's asking a bit much for him to be a Matic.

I think he did the job he was assigned to do, it was the kind of game where having someone as conservative as him in midfield wasn't a bad choice.

I don't even know what job he was assigned yesterday. Against Spurs it was obviously to man-mark Eriksen and he did that superbly, to the point where Pochettino brought on Dembele and moved his number 10 out-wide.

 

Yesterday though I don't understand what his job was. He clearly doesn't have the experience of the position to know where to be and he struggled when in possession, especially when facing his own goal. That's where we could've done with a midfielder who could move us forward but instead we hit long balls to a striker who was seemingly incapable of holding the ball out. Also meant the midfield got bypassed a hell of a lot and we put ourselves under pressure time and time again.

I think he did the job he was assigned to do, it was the kind of game where having someone as conservative as him in midfield wasn't a bad choice.

I'm not so sure.

He didn't look to be doing one particular job like in the cup final and that showed IMO. Our midfield was sloppy and ended up getting overrun in the second half, Zouma did his best and was at his best when facing up to the opposition but we needed someone who could pass forward and make a run now and then.

It's not Zoumas fault though as he is 20 years old and has played CB since he turned pro so it was an alien position and one that a top class Defensive midfielder in Matic usually plays so the bar is set very highly.

I think the lad deserves more credit on here than the 'nitpicking' he seems to be getting..
ANYONE would struggle to do as well as Matic does in that role (he's one of the best in world football at it), let alone a 20yr old with only a handful of matches behind him who's asked to do it for the first time in a cup final at wembley !!, then away at a very hostile and difficult ground a few days later..
Give the kid a break lads, after all we did win both games 

I'm not 'nitpicking' just calling it as I see it.

I've said several times Zouma is a fantastic prospect and currently our second best CB, he's not a defensive midfielder though.

He's done well in a job asked of him but that should be the last of it as we require midfielders in midfield not centre backs.

That's no slight on Zouma but rather the way it has looked given the mdifeld was overrun last night.

I think the last couple of posts are directed towards the lack of a backup holding midfielder rather than Zouma, he did everything he was asked well.

^ You mean backup to the backup

 

And in such circumstances you'd expect a defender to fill in if both DM's are injured.

^ You mean backup to the backup

 

And in such circumstances you'd expect a defender to fill in if both DM's are injured.

 

Is Nathan Ake not considered a DM now? Maybe that's what Jose feels which makes me wonder what the point of him being at this club is.

 

Zouma deserves credit for his performance against Spurs and for trying his best last night but I think that there's a gulf in class between both performances because he was asked to do different things in each of them.