I thought Gerrard was spot on in his analysis also, Baka doesn't seem to know what his role is on the team, he looks lost at times. Maybe it's an injury but whatever it is he needs to be off the pitch for some time, he will become a liability if we keep playing him in this situation. 

At the moment I haven't heard one pundit praise Bakayoko, not that it matters but keep in mind majority of pundits were w**king over Kante, and that's because of what he does, he's a beast, 49 times out of 50 he will impress. All I've heard about Bakayoko is criticism, and I can see why. 

I like him and have liked him since seeing him for Monaco against PSG last season but when he's got on of his "off" days he's really, really dangerous to ourselves. Gives away freekicks in dangerous positions, his touches bounces in every direction and his passing is poor. Saturday was one of those unfortunatly.
Need to add consistency asap.

Right now i think Drinkwater should start over him.

1 hour ago, Slojo said:

I thought Gerrard was spot on in his analysis also, Baka doesn't seem to know what his role is on the team, he looks lost at times. Maybe it's an injury but whatever it is he needs to be off the pitch for some time, he will become a liability if we keep playing him in this situation. 

 

For me, he has to be a box to box midfielder similar to the likes of Essien. It's what he is built for. 

His athteticism and build set him apart from the majority of his likley competitors in midfield battles. 

We have alreday seen glimpses of what he looks like when he gets on the ball and drives forward into space, and equally he is going to be able to hold his own when stopping others.

I thought he had a bad game against Liverpool. I don't see a broader problem than that at the moment, he has had as many good games as bad games I think, so he needs to try and be more consistent. 

The is certainly room for improvement, and with Drinkwater putting in respectable performances since his return from injury, he needs to do more to guarantee his place in the starting 11. But for now, I have no regrets about signimng him, or selling matic for that matter. 

If RLC continues the way he is playing then that is only a good thing. Fabregas will be 31 next season and oppertunities will be there for Ruben. 

Edited November 27, 20178 yr by mclovin83

30 minutes ago, mclovin83 said:

For me, he has to be a box to box midfielder similar to the likes of Essien. It's what he is built for. 

His athteticism and build set him apart from the majority of his likley competitors in midfield battles. 

We have alreday seen glimpses of what he looks like when he gets on the ball and drives forward into space, and equally he is going to be able to hold his own when stopping others.

I thought he had a bad game against Liverpool. I don't see a broader problem than that at the moment, he has had as many good games as bad games I think, so he needs to try and be more consistent. 

The is certainly room for improvement, and with Drinkwater putting in respectable performances since his return from injury, he needs to do more to guarantee his place in the starting 11. But for now, I have no regrets about signimng him, or selling matic for that matter. 

If RLC continues the way he is playing then that is only a good thing. Fabregas will be 31 next season and oppertunities will be there for Ruben. 

I think he's levels behind Essien, we signed Essien when he was like 22 and although his technical ability was never world class he was definitely a much better footballer. 

52 minutes ago, Slojo said:

I think he's levels behind Essien, we signed Essien when he was like 22 and although his technical ability was never world class he was definitely a much better footballer. 

I would never claim he is on Essiens level, just that that's the style of midfielder he is/can be. 

That said, we are 3 months into his first season with us, so there is no reason why he can't develop and dramatically improve. 

To put in in perspective, at 22 years of age, there were very few people who would have predicted Frank Lampard could nail down a place in our starting 11, let alone become arguably our greatest ever player. 

1 minute ago, mclovin83 said:

I would never claim he is on Essiens level, just that that's the style of midfielder he is/can be. 

That said, we are 3 months into his first season with us, so there is no reason why he can't develop and dramatically improve. 

To put in in perspective, at 22 years of age, there were very few people who would have predicted Frank Lampard could nail down a place in our starting 11, let alone become arguably our greatest ever player. 

Very true, like I said. I really hope he does prove me wrong, I wrote Hazard off when he first came (Yes really!) 

Because I didn't like what I saw of him in the friendly games prior, I also thought he was overrated at Lillie, yet now I'll happily say Hazard is the greatest Chelsea player to ever wear the shirt. But I think his only true potential is the box to box, something that Conte likes actually, (Vidal style of player) but Baka is way off that, he needs to really sharpen up his game and study because he's looking very clueless at the moment. Maybe sitting out for a bit might do the job. 

I really like him as a player and for me, he'll be one of the best midfielders around in about two years but currently he looks absolutely f**king shattered. He didn't have a pre-season with us due to injury and was basically rushed back into action because we were so limited squad-wise, therefore playing every three days must be extremely difficult and I would definitely consider resting him for Swansea

2 hours ago, mclovin83 said:

His athteticism and build set him apart from the majority of his likley competitors in midfield battles. 

 

That was my point. He hasn't showed us so far that he is capable of doing that. So this is not a fact, this is just another wish. 

 

4 hours ago, Pendergast said:

That was my point. He hasn't showed us so far that he is capable of doing that. So this is not a fact, this is just another wish. 

 

Not capable of doing what?

I was saying that his physique means he will be physically bigger & stronger than his opponents. 

There is bound to be exceptions, but it's not really a "wish" .... he is bigger than most. 

52 minutes ago, mclovin83 said:

Not capable of doing what?

I was saying that his physique means he will be physically bigger & stronger than his opponents. 

There is bound to be exceptions, but it's not really a "wish" .... he is bigger than most. 

He can run he has a burst of pace and moves forward with purpose, when we have seen that it's been good, teh only thing is does he have the engine to keep doing if so he should be doing it, our link between Cm and attack is weak that's why we only play good when Fab can drop in and put balls forward, we can't play it from back to front like we could in a 3-4-3, baka is whats missing a player to pick it up and run it forward, he is actually similar to RCL, if anything RLC looks a bit more elegant, but to write Baka off is silly he is a monster in his day, he is young and finding his place in the team. 

I seem to remember reading that it took him a poor season at Monaco until he came into his own in his second season at the club. I can see him being a beast next season, so hopefully nothing more than a few teething issues at the moment. 

Conte needs to make a statement and bench him. Let's stick with Drinkwater for the time being, until Baka unlocks beast mode next season (hopefully!)

Some of his passes have been borderline amateur and I was and still am a huge fan.  He's just missing a gear right now.

1 hour ago, RIP Mourinho said:

I seem to remember reading that it took him a poor season at Monaco until he came into his own in his second season at the club. I can see him being a beast next season, so hopefully nothing more than a few teething issues at the moment. 

Funny thing about that 2nd season is we had Pasalic on loan at Monaco, and he performed better than Bakayoko. As usual we have messed up the former’s career by shifting out to Milan where he performed well & now he is in Russia.

The issue is we have bought Bakayoko on the back of one decent season where Monaco over performed. I am always sceptical about buying players from clubs managed by Pep, Guardiola & Jardim. These managers know how to setup up their teams to get the maximum out of their players. Unless you are able to replicate their system, you are taking a risk buying players of them.

Whoscored has him at 7 goals and 4 assists in 117 appearances, very poor stats for a box to box player. The good thing is stats wise, Bakayoko is having his best season ever with 2 goals & 3 assists in 16 appearances. 

 

 

2 minutes ago, ducavis said:

Funny thing about that 2nd season is we had Pasalic on loan at Monaco, and he performed better than Bakayoko. As usual we have messed up the former’s career by shifting out to Milan where he performed well & now he is in Russia.

The issue is we have bought Bakayoko on the back of one decent season where Monaco over performed. I am always sceptical about buying players from clubs managed by Pep, Guardiola & Jardim. These managers know how to setup up their teams to get the maximum out of their players. Unless you are able to replicate their system, you are taking a risk buying players of them.

Whoscored has him at 7 goals and 4 assists in 117 appearances, very poor stats for a box to box player. The good thing is stats wise, Bakayoko is having his best season ever with 2 goals & 3 assists in 16 appearances. 

 

 

Stats are very deceiving to be fair to the lad. Iniesta has a very similar goal return per game over his career and very few assists for the role he plays in such an attacking team, yet we know how instrumental he is to Barca. I think Conte must have seen something he liked/likes in Baka otherwise he wouldn't keep selecting. I believe its only a matter of time until Antonio gets the best out of him.  

I’m pretty sure he will end up a top draw player, I really like him but his finishing has been pretty poor. If he could finish like Toure he would be sitting on a lot of goals atm.

2 hours ago, ducavis said:

Funny thing about that 2nd season is we had Pasalic on loan at Monaco, and he performed better than Bakayoko. As usual we have messed up the former’s career by shifting out to Milan where he performed well & now he is in Russia.

The issue is we have bought Bakayoko on the back of one decent season where Monaco over performed. I am always sceptical about buying players from clubs managed by Pep, Guardiola & Jardim. These managers know how to setup up their teams to get the maximum out of their players. Unless you are able to replicate their system, you are taking a risk buying players of them.

Whoscored has him at 7 goals and 4 assists in 117 appearances, very poor stats for a box to box player. The good thing is stats wise, Bakayoko is having his best season ever with 2 goals & 3 assists in 16 appearances. 

 

 

I heard that there are visa issues with Pasalic. 

 

Edit: Dont know why I heard that and listened. He is Croatian so can work in the UK no issues. Always a strange one he hasnt been allowed to be a squad player, he would have played a lot of minutes at the beginning of this season. 

Edited November 28, 20178 yr by benjsross

1 hour ago, benjsross said:

I heard that there are visa issues with Pasalic. 

 

Edit: Dont know why I heard that and listened. He is Croatian so can work in the UK no issues. Always a strange one he hasnt been allowed to be a squad player, he would have played a lot of minutes at the beginning of this season. 

He does have visa issues.

Some long winded story as to why, I would have thought he should be fine but he was certainly having trouble.

Edited November 28, 20178 yr by PedroMendez

1 hour ago, benjsross said:

I heard that there are visa issues with Pasalic. 

 

Edit: Dont know why I heard that and listened. He is Croatian so can work in the UK no issues. Always a strange one he hasnt been allowed to be a squad player, he would have played a lot of minutes at the beginning of this season. 

Croations don't have free movement to work in the UK. So would require normal work permit regs to play for us.

Edited November 28, 20178 yr by charierre

22 hours ago, charierre said:

Croations don't have free movement to work in the UK. So would require normal work permit regs to play for us.

Ah okay

I should really know this, I am in recruitment. Just never come across Croatians in my line of work. 

https://www.thesportreview.com/2017/11/chelsea-news-frank-lampard-bakayoko/ 

I hope Frank sticks to punditry, will help to have him around. Criticism like this will only help Bakayoko, Frank praises him but says he needs to improve or he'll find himself left out at Chelsea. 

8 hours ago, Slojo said:

https://www.thesportreview.com/2017/11/chelsea-news-frank-lampard-bakayoko/ 

I hope Frank sticks to punditry, will help to have him around. Criticism like this will only help Bakayoko, Frank praises him but says he needs to improve or he'll find himself left out at Chelsea. 

If he can be mentored by Claude & Frank, take on what they’re saying and improved he could be a beast in midfield!

Cant believe most of the comments on here.

I think he has been good in some games (United/Spurs/Atm) and poor in some games (Pool). He is inconsistent at the moment, no doubt about it. But he is young (its not an excuse) AND its his first year here in PL. 

I have no doubt that he will come good for us and alongside Kante, he will shine even more. Needs some time and patience. Even Conte knew that Baka needed time, hence his comments about keeping matic. 

I have seen a lot of positive things from him. His drive forward with the ball is a unique attribute. Just needs a bit of composure in his passing as well as in front of the goal/final 3rd. 

On 01/12/2017 at 08:49, didierforever said:

Cant believe most of the comments on here.

I think he has been good in some games (United/Spurs/Atm) and poor in some games (Pool). He is inconsistent at the moment, no doubt about it. But he is young (its not an excuse) AND its his first year here in PL. 

I have no doubt that he will come good for us and alongside Kante, he will shine even more. Needs some time and patience. Even Conte knew that Baka needed time, hence his comments about keeping matic. 

I have seen a lot of positive things from him. His drive forward with the ball is a unique attribute. Just needs a bit of composure in his passing as well as in front of the goal/final 3rd. 

Yup. Looks like Drinkwater has taken his first team spot though. 

At this stage I'd take Drinkwater, just a more steady player. Bakayoko looked like a great player at time, then the next second he'd lose the ball because he's not aware what's around him. It happened again yesterday during that 15 minutes cameo, he got the ball, beat a couple of players, players were making runs for him to lose, somehow stopped and get disposed from behind, it's nuts. Realistically, I don't think we expected him to be a starting player at this stage, so still time for him to develop, but he needs to cut out the sloppy part of his game out