Barcelona probably is a great place for Christensen to reach his potential, he’s never going to succeed here with his figure. Top lightweight and easily bullied like some have already mentioned.

One of the worst performance by a central defender for years, can't recall last time a Chelsea defender, or any defender from the top 6 teams had a shocker like that. If all his problems were initiated from that one bad pass against Barca 2 seasons ago, I dare to say he's not mentally cut out to play football at the top level.

Forget about selling Luiz, looked like letting Cahill go for free was the biggest mistake we made. Cahill is not world class, but he's doing all the basics right and provide asome leadership on the field.

He would be a really, really good player in Spain, especially for Barca. For his sake and ours he needs to be sold.

3 hours ago, icecoolguy22 said:

One of the worst performance by a central defender for years, can't recall last time a Chelsea defender, or any defender from the top 6 teams had a shocker like that. If all his problems were initiated from that one bad pass against Barca 2 seasons ago, I dare to say he's not mentally cut out to play football at the top level.

Forget about selling Luiz, looked like letting Cahill go for free was the biggest mistake we made. Cahill is not world class, but he's doing all the basics right and provide asome leadership on the field.

i thought we needed to get rid of Cahill because he was average in a 1v1 situation and also limited in ball playing.. but the two we had yesterday couldnt deal 2v1..  it will be a while before we sort this out i dont see a ready replacement that we can bring in either..

Luiz also didn't over himself in glory in 2 v1 situations remember Wolves at home?

It seems good CBs are rare at the moment though like the idea of selling Christensen to Barca at some point, we should get good money.  

I really thought Christensen was a great CB prospect when he came through the academy. He looked class and it was either Drummy or Viveash who touted him as the best young defender in Europe and a future star. And at that point they were probably right and I was so glad we didn't spunk a load of money on John Stones when we had our own potential CB for the future. So I am gutted that it looks unlikely now as it is apparent that as good as he can be, he won't cut it at the top level.

We were spolit by the JT, Gallas, Carvalho, Ivan years. Christensen is one of these modern era footballers and is clearly not a CB in the classic mold, like JT, Tony Adams etc. Maybe if he had a JT in his prime playing alongside him he would be okay, but he ain't what we need right now and I would look to move both him and Zouma on and get as much as we can for them.

I will be honest and say although he is ok I have never rated him even when others were bugging him up a few years ago.

I thought he was diabolical second-half. The way he allowed Evans a free header at a corner was ridiculous, but there were so many instances where he just wasn't at the races. He's not good enough, not by any stretch. I've no idea why Frank is playing him.

4 minutes ago, Davey Baby said:

I thought he was diabolical second-half. The way he allowed Evans a free header at a corner was ridiculous, but there were so many instances where he just wasn't at the races. He's not good enough, not by any stretch. I've no idea why Frank is playing him.

I think he had a few bad moments but I have to say you expose any centre back like we did second half and they will struggle. Our disastrous lack of compactness would make it hard for John Terry. 

Where I will criticise him is his inability to win a f**king physical challenge. How many times did Leicester win the first ball and then manage to counter on the back of that? 

If only we could combine he and Zouma we'd have a decent centre back.

6 minutes ago, Davey Baby said:

I thought he was diabolical second-half. The way he allowed Evans a free header at a corner was ridiculous, but there were so many instances where he just wasn't at the races. He's not good enough, not by any stretch. I've no idea why Frank is playing him.

Probably giving him a run in the team like he did with Tomori and Zouma. I'm still not sure what our best combination is. Rudiger is obviously 1st choice, but Christensen, Tomori and Zouma all have weaknesses. Christensen is too weak, Zouma is too clumsy and prone to mistakes and Tomori looks like a player still learning (which is to be expected)

Personally, I would go with Tomori out of the 3 of them. He's the only one I can see with a future with us. Zouma and Christensen aren't good enough in the long term.

The way he lost Evans was criminal. Enough to get him dropped imo.

looks like he was playing with a fever.

16 minutes ago, Spiller86 said:

I think he had a few bad moments but I have to say you expose any centre back like we did second half and they will struggle. Our disastrous lack of compactness would make it hard for John Terry. 

Where I will criticise him is his inability to win a f**king physical challenge. How many times did Leicester win the first ball and then manage to counter on the back of that? 

If only we could combine he and Zouma we'd have a decent centre back.

 

It's worse than that Spiller. You're being very kind to him. Their attack at the end, when they claimed a penalty, came from Christensen losing out on the touchline, putting us in immense danger. He needs to be much stronger there, as you say, but there are so many instances where he doesn't sniff the danger, which is what all good CBs do. It all just seems to go on around him. He's out of his depth in the PL I'm afraid.

 

Their chance in the first half, which Willy saved. We gave the ball away and it led to the chance but Christensen is the covering defender and he should be flinging himself in front of the ball to block the shot. It's last ditch. He should be trying to stop a certain goal. He doesn't even go to ground.

 

He has to go in the summer so we can all stop having these conversations.

5 minutes ago, Davey Baby said:

 

It's worse than that Spiller. You're being very kind to him. Their attack at the end, when they claimed a penalty, came from Christensen losing out on the touchline, putting us in immense danger. He needs to be much stronger there, as you say, but there are so many instances where he doesn't sniff the danger, which is what all good CBs do. It all just seems to go on around him. He's out of his depth in the PL I'm afraid.

 

Their chance in the first half, which Willy saved. We gave the ball away and it led to the chance but Christensen is the covering defender and he should be flinging himself in front of the ball to block the shot. It's last ditch. He should be trying to stop a certain goal. He doesn't even go to ground.

 

He has to go in the summer so we can all stop having these conversations.

Hard to disagree with those points but I will give him a pass simply because it is so open and he has no cover.

I think he'd be the one most likely to leave now that we have a strong homegrown cohort. Fiven the funds I'd replace him and Zouma ideally with one left footer. But one signing is a bridge too far for us at the moment let along two centre halves!

Ive never been a big fan to be honest, he would be fourth choice for me. 

Everytime I dare to believe he turned a corner he goes back to square one. I still try to hold on to hope with him because as we saw before Barca gate his potential is/was huge.

He's actually been decent lately but straight back to type today. 

1 hour ago, Argo said:

Everytime I dare to believe he turned a corner he goes back to square one. I still try to hold on to hope with him because as we saw before Barca gate his potential is/was huge.

He's actually been decent lately but straight back to type today. 

 

He played in a 3 under Conte, and I think the significance of his Barca mistake is overstated, because there were concerns about him expressed on these boards before that. There has always been a timidity about him, and s lack of personality.

 

It's far easier to play in a 3 if you're a CB. Has he ever impressed in a 2?

Rudiger - Tomori partnership going forward.

3 hours ago, Davey Baby said:

 

He played in a 3 under Conte, and I think the significance of his Barca mistake is overstated, because there were concerns about him expressed on these boards before that. There has always been a timidity about him, and s lack of personality.

 

It's far easier to play in a 3 if you're a CB. Has he ever impressed in a 2?

While i would certainly agree playing in a 3 is easier, I personally felt in that period the difference between him in and out was huge, we looked so much more comfortable with him at the back.

I remember him going off against Bournemouth, they went on to get three then we shipped four at Watford without him, he returns next game clean sheet.

Barca and the few games afterwards seemed to really f**k him up, I remember watching that Newcastle game at the end truly stunned thinking what the hell has happened to him.

Lamps raved about his first half performance, but said he complained of a fever at half time. He wasn’t good defensively second half - neither was Rudiger.

Kepa has taken a hell of a lot of stick this season, some justified and some not. 2 goals conceded today but it could have been 4-5. I don’t think the goalkeeping situation is our most urgent issue to fix. There’s a fundamental flaw with how we’re defending - we are giving away far too many clear cut chances that don’t give the goalkeeper a chance. I don’t know whether it’s personnel or tactics, probably a bit of both. 

If Andreas was not feeling well at half time Lamps should have subbed him.

Not like Willian nor Barkley were any use when they came on.

25 minutes ago, DannyVblue said:

Lamps raved about his first half performance, but said he complained of a fever at half time. He wasn’t good defensively second half - neither was Rudiger.

Kepa has taken a hell of a lot of stick this season, some justified and some not. 2 goals conceded today but it could have been 4-5. I don’t think the goalkeeping situation is our most urgent issue to fix. There’s a fundamental flaw with how we’re defending - we are giving away far too many clear cut chances that don’t give the goalkeeper a chance. I don’t know whether it’s personnel or tactics, probably a bit of both. 

Tbh complaining of fever at halftime feels like classic noodle armed Christensen. Biggest criticism is that he melts under pressure so it proved in the second half. Fever or no fever.

I agree that our system is so open that it doesn't help any defender. But the real measure of a central defender isn't how they stroke the ball around or how they manage when we well protected but their performance when exposed. How they compete physically, marshall strikers and anticipate play. Andreas is currently coming up short. A couple of times last night on the break Andreas was turned inside out. 

That said Gab Marcotti wrote a great article about young centre backs recently and how the best don't really emerge until 26 or 27. John Terry is perhaps the exception. I'm not sure he'll last that long here but it's worth keeping in mind:

https://www.espn.com.au/football/blog-marcottis-musings/story/4030044/matthijs-de-ligts-benching-at-juve-reveals-why-football-is-so-poor-at-identifying-top-centre-back-talent

8 hours ago, Spiller86 said:

Tbh complaining of fever at halftime feels like classic noodle armed Christensen. Biggest criticism is that he melts under pressure so it proved in the second half. Fever or no fever.

I agree that our system is so open that it doesn't help any defender. But the real measure of a central defender isn't how they stroke the ball around or how they manage when we well protected but their performance when exposed. How they compete physically, marshall strikers and anticipate play. Andreas is currently coming up short. A couple of times last night on the break Andreas was turned inside out. 

That said Gab Marcotti wrote a great article about young centre backs recently and how the best don't really emerge until 26 or 27. John Terry is perhaps the exception. I'm not sure he'll last that long here but it's worth keeping in mind:

https://www.espn.com.au/football/blog-marcottis-musings/story/4030044/matthijs-de-ligts-benching-at-juve-reveals-why-football-is-so-poor-at-identifying-top-centre-back-talent

I’m a big fan of Marcotti and I think he’s spot on there. Our 4 centre-backs are all 26 or under, and I think it really shows. JT was definitely an exception to the rule. It’s possible that given a few years we will have 4 top quality centre-backs to pick from - I think we need a more senior head at the back for the immediate future though. 

10 hours ago, DannyVblue said:

Lamps raved about his first half performance, but said he complained of a fever at half time. He wasn’t good defensively second half - neither was Rudiger.

Kepa has taken a hell of a lot of stick this season, some justified and some not. 2 goals conceded today but it could have been 4-5. I don’t think the goalkeeping situation is our most urgent issue to fix. There’s a fundamental flaw with how we’re defending - we are giving away far too many clear cut chances that don’t give the goalkeeper a chance. I don’t know whether it’s personnel or tactics, probably a bit of both. 

They shouldnt of scored 4-5. The first goal was lucky, huge deflection. Leicester had three clear cut chances, they scored one of them(Creswell) and missed the other two(Barnes shot, and a Evans header).

Ask yourselves this: What Evans did to Andreas at that corner, brushed him aside to win a free header, could you ever imagine Andreas doing that to Evans at a corner in a million years?

 

If the answer is no (and the answer is no) that alone is reason enough to get him out of our club.