7 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

I’d have him over Kovacic. 

I'm not a fan of Kovacic, but I would still take him over Bakayoko. Sometimes I wish Bakayoko would disappear in games like Kovacic does for us, Bakayoko looked like an accident waiting to happen every time he did get involved 

The idea of bringing Bakayoko back is just bad. The fact he has done well in Serie A says infinitely more about it's lack of speed and quality than it does about him. Just on 12 months ago since that match against Watford which remains the worst performance I've ever seen from someone in a Chelsea shirt.

I'd have ANYONE over this guy, van Ginkel Drinkwater.. whoever. I've never seen one of our midfielders hide on the pitch by hugging the touchline like he did. 

1 minute ago, sonic90 said:

I'd have ANYONE over this guy, van Ginkel Drinkwater.. whoever. I've never seen one of our midfielders hide on the pitch by hugging the touchline like he did. 

Well... I remember that game he bust his gut and tried to get involved.

Lost the ball 7 times, misplaced 4 passes, one almost leading to a goal, and then getting sent off. All in 30 minutes.

9 hours ago, dansubrosa said:

Well... I remember that game he bust his gut and tried to get involved.

Lost the ball 7 times, misplaced 4 passes, one almost leading to a goal, and then getting sent off. All in 30 minutes.

The worst ever performance by a PL player. 

55 minutes ago, bisright1 said:

The worst ever performance by a PL player. 

Even worse than Ali Dia ?

He can barely pass a ball, how would he fair in Sarri's sytem

He benefits Conte's system a lot more than Sarri's, so I can't see any chance of him raising his game here. 

It was obviously a confidence issue with him, we saw him at his worst, but he's fragile. Same with Morata, he can obviously do better, but he's fragile, both players are not going to give it their best here, cut our losses and move on. Although in the case of Morata, we might not have a choice given how limited our striker options appear to be. 

6 hours ago, Remodez said:

He can barely pass a ball, how would he fair in Sarri's sytem

Correct.  He doesn't think fast enough to act fast enough.

I'm not a fan of Kovacic, but I would still take him over Bakayoko. Sometimes I wish Bakayoko would disappear in games like Kovacic does for us, Bakayoko looked like an accident waiting to happen every time he did get involved [emoji3]

That was because we played him in a box to box position which requires great ability on the ball and talent. I think he will be a very good defensive midfielder who simply needs to just make interceptions, protect the back for but leave the attacking duties to the attackers. That worked well for us with Mikel.

 

On 04/05/2019 at 09:56, wallosh said:

That was because we played him in a box to box position which requires great ability on the ball and talent. I think he will be a very good defensive midfielder who simply needs to just make interceptions, protect the back for but leave the attacking duties to the attackers. That worked well for us with Mikel.

 

But he couldn't keep his hands to himself. He gave so many free kicks away around the box. The most important part of a defensive midfielder must surely be the defending.

I also think his improvement in Serie A is more a comment on the standard of Italian football against ours, than any indication of an improvement in his standard.

Bakayoko's overall skill has improved a touch since his Chelsea days (IMO his passing and first touch are better), but really the main difference is the way he is being used (as a stopper rather than a B2B/DM) and that Serie A is a slower, more tactical and IMO weaker league than the PL. He is also still prone to the odd Watford-like game, along with concentration lapses.

Maybe a case of a moderately talented system player who wasn't right for Chelsea under Sarri/Conte, or maybe even the PL full stop.

The comparison with Mikel is IMO inappropriate because while Mikel was frustratingly conservative for Chelsea as compared to Nigeria, he was always a much better passer than Bakayoko and fundamentally he was better defensively in terms of positioning, marking and tackling. 

 

Needs to be sold, was an awful player for us.

Looks like he is coming back lol

 

 

I wouldn’t blame him for not wanting to stay in Italy after the abuse he suffered. 

Even if he doesn’t come back to us I’m sure he’ll be happier returning to France, there would still be plenty of takers seeing as he’s had a decent enough season with Milan. 

8 hours ago, DidierDrogbalala said:

Looks like he is coming back lol

Mayne it's because I want to believe him, but say what you want about him as a player, I've never seen one shred of descent out of him in 2+ years... I believe him 

 

Hopefully Monaco will want him back.

On ‎04‎/‎05‎/‎2019 at 04:56, wallosh said:

That was because we played him in a box to box position which requires great ability on the ball and talent. I think he will be a very good defensive midfielder who simply needs to just make interceptions, protect the back for but leave the attacking duties to the attackers. That worked well for us with Mikel.

 

The DM position doesn't really exist in a Sarri system.  If it did, Kante would still be playing it.

Duplicated post

Edited May 7, 20197 yr by Boston Blue

This latest incident shows exactly why we shouldn't have him back. 

We need intensity, desire and work ethic. The kind of standards that Gattuso embodied as a player. If he is falling foul of those standards we don't want him anywhere near our team.

That's before we consider his awful first touch and lack of spatial awareness.

 

Far too many question marks around him for my liking - remember what Maka said before we signed him?

https://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/makelele-admits-he-had-to-talk-to-bakayoko-every-day-at/dekv2m4s0xev1v86a0hoyvubt

"When I came [to Monaco] I saw him on the bench, he never played or was a substitute, I’m like OK. I'd seen a lot of video of him, so I come to see him in the training ground.

"One day I decided to talk to him, I come down and every day I spend it with him. [He had] this wall, this midfielder, the way he plays, he does a lot of wrong things. 

"After I see that it’s not only football, the different way is the problem he has I just wanted to clear this way, but I can’t explain everything [with his personal life] so let’s just talk about football.

"I talked with him, cleaned him the way he needed to be free in the head. To play as a midfielder you need to be 100 per cent concentrated. If it’s always a little problem here, little problem there, you can’t focus on your job you know? I talked a lot with him, like a full month with him every day, explaining things on the training ground.

"Focusing on him, not just him, but a lot of players like [Kylian] Mbappe or [Thomas] Lemar who also were on the bench. So when I decided I was leaving, I said to the boss: listen this player needs to play more time, he needs more competition and then you’ll see.

"The next season this happened and it's like genius no? I think Bakayoko, I don’t know if he’s going to Chelsea or Manchester, but it will be good for him, he’ll be stronger. He has good qualities. He’s good, he needs time and he needs to learn also in the Premier League, as it’s not easy the Premier League.

"He’s not one to get scared. He makes the decisions all the time, sometimes it’s wrong, but this kind of player will make mistakes in order to get better. He has quality as a dribbler, passer, the timing of the pass. He’s good, very good. Now he needs one manager that will make him a big player."

Misunderstood genius. 

No. 

4 hours ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Misunderstood genius. 

  Years from now we will look back and say how lucky we were to see him play

 

elsewhere 

On ‎03‎/‎05‎/‎2019 at 12:19, Slojo said:

He benefits Conte's system a lot more than Sarri's, so I can't see any chance of him raising his game here. 

It was obviously a confidence issue with him, we saw him at his worst, but he's fragile. Same with Morata, he can obviously do better, but he's fragile, both players are not going to give it their best here, cut our losses and move on. Although in the case of Morata, we might not have a choice given how limited our striker options appear to be. 

Fragile, yes.  But not helped one bit by the way he was treated by his own supporters.

I get that he was poor for us.  It was painful to watch, he clearly was not able to do what was required, he obviously felt bad about it, and I felt sorry for him.  I think he really was looking forward to playing for Chelsea.