To me this is a very difficult question.

 

As unlike a few teams this year, we do not rely on solely one player. Signing Fabregas and Costa has done wonders for Hazard as it takes the pressure of him completely.

 

How would we get on if all of a sudden JT wasn't around anymore, would we be able to replace him with someone as good as him?

 

Would we still be able to play our type of game without Matic in the side?

 

This isn't a thread to say who our best player is, but a player who isn't playing for a game and we know we would struggle massively without.

Edited December 5, 201411 yr by JMaher94

Matic and JT for me. If we lost either for a significant period of time we'd be in trouble. Everywhere else I think we have cover, but those two are irreplaceable right now.

Matic and JT for me. If we lost either for a significant period of time we'd be in trouble. Everywhere else I think we have cover, but those two are irreplaceable right now.

 

At this moment in time, I voted for Matic. Simply because no one is good enough to replace him, whereas I feel Ivanovic and Cahill albeit not as good, would still perform to a good level. Mikel is not good enough, in my opinion to replace Matic.

JT, we nearly always look significantly worse without him.

The things you don't realise when he plays go missing when he isn't in the team. The organization in defense is so much worse without him.

Every one else I feel like we can cope without them even if we aren't as strong.

lol, kinda hard to say. I do feel everything would collapse if hazard got the long injury as opposed to Fabregas (even though he's very important)

A lot of key players which are great characters and are going to be hard to replace, Costa, Matic and JT for instance. But I think the obvious one here is Hazard it has to be, who could replace Hazard if he left? I don't think we will get a better player than him for a long time it's a horrible thought if he left and something which I do think is possible should he really impress in the future.

Hazard, the most talented player at the club.

The only thing irreplaceable at Chelsea is the fans ............................................everything else can and will change .....................

Terry, worry for when he's either not good enough anymore or retires

I'd say Hazard because he's real superstar for us. It's very hard to choose because all these players are important, but they got players who can replace them and do 70 percents of their work. About Hazard I don't think so, I don't see Schurrle, Salah or any other player on his position leading the counter attack like he does, his dribbling, passing, shooting, just brilliant, so I guess he's our most important player, I won't be suprised if in few years, he will reach leadership experience and will gain the captain position.

 

Edit: Tomorrow we will be able to see how Fabregas will do without Matic, because Matic is a big part of our system.

Edited December 5, 201411 yr by IliyaKrostin

Terry for me followed by Costa. Easy to replace players for a few games but long term is different.

I don't seem to see the same Hazard as most of you do. I love his ability on the ball and there is no doubt he can be completely world class, I just think he still makes the wrong decision far too often at the moment - though he's improving at that.

Terry definitely. We've been able to cope whilst losing everyone else. I dread the day he retires.

Fabregas for me. We just don't have another player like him or even close to be able to do what he can.

At this moment in time, I voted for Matic. Simply because no one is good enough to replace him, whereas I feel Ivanovic and Cahill albeit not as good, would still perform to a good level. Mikel is not good enough, in my opinion to replace Matic.

If we lost Matic we could always play Mikel/Ramires and put in back to the walls performances like we did so well prior to Matic joining. It wouldn't be the end of the world by any means. Not ideal but we would get by. 

Edited December 5, 201411 yr by Remodez

Hazard

There's no one better on the eye in world football at the moment. Bit of a hyperbole but still...

Hazard may well leave for a team like Madrid anyway in a few years' time, and even though we wouldn't be able to replace him with an exact equal, someone like Reus would be good enough to fill the hole at least. Matic however is irreplaceable. I wouldn't even swap him for Yaya Toure at this point.

Hazard, then Oscar, then Terry

Oscar for me, obviously replaceable as they all are but we lose something when he isn't in the team for sure, even when he was having what most saw as a bad run of form it always seemed to me we  just didn't have the same cohesion without him in the team.

 

Certainly nice to look through the squad and see so many quality important players, no longer one or two great players amongst a squad that can beat anybody on their day (not knocking those times as they were some of the most enjoyable for me).

Don't understand how you can answer anything other than Matic. Each to their own I guess. 

Matic for me he just keeps us ticking top player

It's between Matic and Fabregas.

 

Against the big teams we'd struggle having Mikel or Ramires in place of Matic, that said Jose had a great record against the top teams even before Matic arrived.

 

Without Fabregas we'd struggle to break down anyone that defends deeply against us and as i've said on a few other topics, the only thing I believe that could stop us winning the title is him picking up a long term injury.

 

So I voted for Fabregas.

It's a hard question because this Mourinho side has such perfect synergy. The side's greatest assest is how each person works together.

If I had to choose, I'd say Diego Costa.

After today, I'd have to say Matic. Drogba and Remy have both looked good on the pitch with and without Costa. Willian does a similar job to Oscar and always looks to be covering the same ground back and forth, just with less end product which we can cope with. Terry, I think would be a huge miss, however Bran and Cahill are both really good defenders who can do the job to a high standard, just maybe not as high as Terry + Cahill. And as of late, Hazard hasn't looked as good as he usually does, he could maybe do with sitting a game or two out and if he did, I don't think we'd notice such a huge difference as when compared to games where he's always looked like scoring earlier in the season. Fabregas' assists would also be a big miss, however, it looks like we could cope with Matic playing a slightly similar role,  with some of the passes he's managed to play this season and last season, except obviously with less of an effect. Which is why I believe he's so irreplaceable.

With Matic, he does so much when you watch him. Whenever we need him to win a tackle, he'll win it 9/10 times. He's started going forward a lot more as well, and he's actually quite the driving force when he does run. Not only this but his decision making as to where and when to stand, and when to go for the tackle is brilliant.

The second goal in todays game showed how much we missed him. Newcastle went on the break, and Mikel went in with an important challenge that he had to win, and was left on his backside, and then Fabregas followed him with an even more important tackle that he had to win more than the last tackle, and he didn't, which left us completely exposed with a 3 v 3 counter attack to deal with whilst on the back foot. I genuinely believe that if Matic was playing today, he wouldn't have fallen into the same trap that Fabregas and Mikel fell into and he would've followed the defence staying on his feet, trying to keep pressure off the defence, and not making such a rash decision to quickly try and tackle straight away and putting all the pressure on our defence and this would've greatly reduced our chance of conceding such a goal.

Matic and Terry. Although if and when Cech leaves Courtois is right up there.