When he's good he's got a bit of Vieira about him when he's bad he's Carlton Palmer. Sadly for us he's Carlton Palmer 99% of the time.

I'm hoping this is just an awkward first season in England and we will see better from him next year. The physical challenge of the game here seems to take him by surprise - he'll learn.

Great idea selling Matic for Bakayoko. And to a rival no less. 

 

Zappcosta vs Bakayoko for most useless signing of the season I genuinely wonder who it will be at the end.

Been useless since he got his song.

2 hours ago, JTerry said:

Great idea selling Matic for Bakayoko. And to a rival no less. 

 

As poor as Bakayoko has been, he still hasn't sunk to the lows Matic did in the FA Cup final.

Edited December 9, 20178 yr by Argo

4 hours ago, dan_cfc said:

When he's good he's got a bit of Vieira about him when he's bad he's Carlton Palmer. Sadly for us he's Carlton Palmer 99% of the time.

He’s never once shown he’s anywhere near as good as Patrick Viera or any likeliness. 

This. Never once while watching him have I thought - "Just like Viera!!"

Good driving forward. Average in every other facet of the game. At least Matic was great defensively. Hell, I'd even take Mikel back for the rest of the season (something I'd never thought I would ever say).

Edited December 10, 20178 yr by venom2011

He'll need some time and he has played a lot of minutes while recovering from injury. But at the moment he's looking like a costly mistake. Certainly not 40m better than RLC or Nat Chalobah.

Edited December 10, 20178 yr by Spiller86

Don't think he was bad at the weekend but we needed to change the shape and bring on another attacker. 

An important goal for his confidence. Had a good game against Huddersfield, let's hope he will keep playing in that way.

A very good game from him, the best I've seen him at. I give him a lot of slack but he made me eat my words today and I hope he continuously does that in the future. 

Interesting, as I was watching him closely and thought he hid from the ball a lot. When players had it near him, he would move behind a Huddersfield player or make no effort to move away from them, so he couldn't receive a pass.

I maintain he's got a lot of the tools that could make him an absolute monster of a midfielder....

 

Needs to string a number of good games together though.

22 minutes ago, Zeta said:

Interesting, as I was watching him closely and thought he hid from the ball a lot. When players had it near him, he would move behind a Huddersfield player or make no effort to move away from them, so he couldn't receive a pass.

I think it's because the attackers were more available, Willian was dropping deep a lot, Bakayoko was just sticking onto their players and putting pressure on them, he actually did that well.

It was similar to how he played against Arsenal, he's better off the ball than on the ball, although he's had some games where he's really bad off the ball too but I'll give him some credit. 

I said to my friend that he would impress more in a two rather than a three.

I don't actually see what he does when he plays in a three.

16 hours ago, JMaher94 said:

I said to my friend that he would impress more in a two rather than a three.

I don't actually see what he does when he plays in a three.

Look his game against Man Utd for see his role when we play in 3

I've said this a few times now, but I really believe that he is not 100%.  He came back from the knee injury and looked decent his first couple showings, but I think his knee is sore and it's not allowing him to play as he did last season.  Of course, because players want to play, he is probably telling the medical staff and Conte that he is fine, but it would not surprise me one bit if this is affecting his performances.

On 12/10/2017 at 00:23, venom2011 said:

This. Never once while watching him have I thought - "Just like Viera!!"

Good driving forward. Average in every other facet of the game. At least Matic was great defensively. Hell, I'd even take Mikel back for the rest of the season (something I'd never thought I would ever say).

Neither have I, but I can understand why someone my make a mild comparison and don't understand why people are bemused by it; Bakayoko, at the very least,  has the physique and potential presence of a Viera/Essien type. He obviously isn't as good as them, but it's not hard to see why someone may say that (at his best) he has a bit of them about him. 

Oh yes Matic was "great defensively"..... apart from all the times that he wasn't. Like the FA Cup final where he got brutally exposed by a piss poor Arsenal side. 

No offence, but your post smacks of selective memory/nostalgia; were you a fan of Matic & Mikel when they were actually playing for us? 

13 hours ago, mclovin83 said:

Neither have I, but I can understand why someone my make a mild comparison and don't understand why people are bemused by it; Bakayoko, at the very least,  has the physique and potential presence of a Viera/Essien type. He obviously isn't as good as them, but it's not hard to see why someone may say that (at his best) he has a bit of them about him. 

Oh yes Matic was "great defensively"..... apart from all the times that he wasn't. Like the FA Cup final where he got brutally exposed by a piss poor Arsenal side. 

No offence, but your post smacks of selective memory/nostalgia; were you a fan of Matic & Mikel when they were actually playing for us? 

It's not that, it's just you could literally make that argument about anyone, it's silly to say. It's like saying Jonjo Shelvey at his best puts in a Paul Scholes performance when he receives the MOTM award once every season then saying it's Scholes-esque. 

I personally think it's a silly assessment unless they're consistently putting the performances like that in you could go ahead and say it. 

As for the second part of his post I disagreed with, Matic wasn't great defensively for almost two seasons and that's why I was glad to get rid of him. The Arsenal game was the icing on the cake, he was bad in a very good season. And Mikel, in my honest opinion he should have gone 5 years before he eventually did. 

Never said he was as good as Vieria did I, meant he's got similar qualities at his best (driving force, powerful comfortable with the ball at his feet). Had a good game the other day needs to kick on and improve because he has not shown last seasons monaco form at all yet.

7 hours ago, Slojo said:

It's not that, it's just you could literally make that argument about anyone, it's silly to say. It's like saying Jonjo Shelvey at his best puts in a Paul Scholes performance when he receives the MOTM award once every season then saying it's Scholes-esque. 

I personally think it's a silly assessment unless they're consistently putting the performances like that in you could go ahead and say it. 

 

I think you (and others) are taking the comparison a bit too serioulsy to be honest. Nobody even said they were similar players, or that they were performing at similar levels, only that "when he is good he has got a bit of Viera about him". 

Given their physical attributes it's really not that crazy to suggest that. 

It wasn't even my quote to be honest, I just don't see why people jumped on it so much. 

You say you could "make that argument about anyone", but equally, if you are determined to disregard a comparison you can pretty much find a reason to disregard any two players being compared. No two players are ever going to be exactly the same, but if they play the same position, look a bit like each other, and have similar attributes then it's not exactly outrageous to see them compared. 

8 hours ago, Slojo said:

And Mikel, in my honest opinion he should have gone 5 years before he eventually did. 

But what wouldn't we have given for Mikel in several matches this season?

2 minutes ago, yorkleyblue said:

But what wouldn't we have given for Mikel in several matches this season?

No thanks.

6 minutes ago, Ernie_blue said:

No thanks.

Then you are letting bias cloud your judgement.  The job Mikel did would likely have prevented both City and Palace scoring, and Tottenham last season.  But don't let the sneering narrative get in the way of irrational hate, eh?

1 minute ago, yorkleyblue said:

Then you are letting bias cloud your judgement.  The job Mikel did would likely have prevented both City and Palace scoring, and Tottenham last season.  But don't let the sneering narrative get in the way of irrational hate, eh?

It is possible to think a player isn’t good enough without hating them, it’s your favourite line. Mikel wasn’t a very good Chelsea player and I don’t know any Chelsea fan who rated him. If Mikel played against City the ball would just be played round him, his legs wouldn’t be able to keep up.

You know yorkley, you can critise a player for a bad performance, a bad season or not even being the best player player in the world, you won’t be sent to hell for it.

I guess you would never have a bad word said against players like Furlong, Erland Johnsen and Hitchcock, all world class players.