Remember when we had the likes of Alex who couldn’t even start for us regularly? Now we have Rudiger as our ‘senior’ CB. 
 

The guy has to go. He’s not young, he’s not got potential. I don’t care if he helps us sign Sancho, Havertz, Skriniar, Messi and Ronaldo. He still has to go. He’s just simply not good enough. Shocking on the ball. Shocking at defending. 

4 minutes ago, EdinburghBlue said:

Remember when we had the likes of Alex who couldn’t even start for us regularly? Now we have Rudiger as our ‘senior’ CB. 

We use to have defenders who’s first priority was to not concede, who went on and set loads of records for their great defending. 

Just now, Munkworth said:

We use to have defenders who’s first priority was to not concede, who went on and set loads of records for their great defending. 

We’re the new Liverpool, living by our former glory 

Awful, absolutely awful tonight.

From needlessly giving away that corner, to not marking at set pieces and so much more.

Seriously, if I was Frank as soon as his mate Werner has signed on the dotted line I would start to look to replace him the very next day.

If we want to challenge for honours again we need better than him.

7 minutes ago, EdinburghBlue said:

Remember when we had the likes of Alex who couldn’t even start for us regularly? Now we have Rudiger as our ‘senior’ CB. 
 

The guy has to go. He’s not young, he’s not got potential. I don’t care if he helps us sign Sancho, Havertz, Skriniar, Messi and Ronaldo. He still has to go. He’s just simply not good enough. Shocking on the ball. Shocking at defending. 

I'll say he remains the best of a not great bunch. Easy to crticise him for the final goal tonight, and it is one where JT would have shown AY onto his right foot if he was there, but the truth is he wouldn't have come close to getting back to make the challenge which Rudiger did. 

In a poor defensive system where we seem to often be exposed I won't criticse too much. He has been a very strong defender under the tighter regimes of Conte and Sarri. 

Came here to Read the comments lol lol

Always thought he'd be a good squad player for us, wonder be sad to see the back of him now. Zouma - Tomori going forward for me. 

1 minute ago, Spiller86 said:

I'll say he remains the best of a not great bunch. Easy to crticise him for the final goal tonight, and it is one where JT would have shown AY onto his right foot if he was there, but the truth is he wouldn't have come close to getting back to make the challenge which Rudiger did. 

In a poor defensive system where we seem to often be exposed I won't criticse too much. He has been a very strong defender under the tighter regimes of Conte and Sarri. 

Strongly disagree, he is far and away the worst defender we have on our books. I could happily not see him play for us again.

 

JT would never have allowed us to get in that position in the first place.

I don't know what has happened to him. He used to be pretty decent, not perfect, but dependable 90% of the time. Now I'm biting my nails watching him play. He constantly looks on edge. It's like somebody needs to get hold of him and calm him down. 

If we can sign Malang Sarr on a free I wouldn't be disappointed to see Rudiger sold this summer.

Edited July 1, 20206 yr by the special one

Is Rudiger seriously the Hot Topic tonight? Cristesen keeps getting away with his regular sh*tty performances. 

Doesnt cut it for me. He has never looked a top centre back in his whole career. 

He hasnt been part of solid defence under any of the 3 managers he has played under here. 

This season he has been poor in the majority of games he has played.

 

Laughable performance, out-paced by Antonio in every duel, should never have allowed the inside forward to cut inside in the dying minute, surely it's basic for players at this level. It's performace like this make fans wonder if we need another 150M to get 2-3 defenders.

A real lack of focus and attention from all our defensive players today. Including Tammy. Right from that disallowed goal, where tammy gave away a cheap corner, onwards it was like they did not care.

Is basics. How can you Rudiger, in space, not concentrate and clear the ball for a throw in halfway down the pitch and instead put it out for a needless corner when you know we struggle against them?

I dont think it is a lack of talent as they could comfortably cope with a rubbish team like West Ham, is just they could not be bothered to put the effort it. That makes it worse for me. 

Hasn't been the same player since his injury. Not good enough at the moment.

I thought he was better than this technically and physically.  Plagued by inconsistency and actually quite poor technically (the corner today was a joke).  On top of that his positional play is not all that and his concentration is weak.

Sell or bench him next season.  Not Chelsea standard for me.

As far as I’m concerned, the third goal is the straw that broke the camels back. To me that just showed a shocking lack of understanding of the game. I’d expect a 15-year old CB to understand that you need to step out there and leave Yarmolenko offside. It was obvious that Antonio was going to play that pass for several seconds before he did.

And when he couldn’t do that, at least he could have lead the most one-footed player in the league towards his right one instead of defending like some brainless idiot and letting him have a free shot with his favored left.

Rudiger always struck me as someone whose attitude doesn't match his ability level. He is meant to be this quality centreback and a veteran, sort of a mentor to our younger players, the leader at the back, whose commanding presence is supposed to instill confidence in those around him. He's nothing like it, really, both in terms of his character and his natural ability. He's nervous and hesitant on the ball, can't pass worth sh*t and has poor instincts when it comes to actual one-on-one defending. He cannot organize things at the back because he himself is clueless and gets caught out of position time and again. How can you organize anything and why should anyone listen to you if you're just as prone to errors and poor judgment as the rest of our backline? Players like Terry, Carvalho, Ferdinand, Vidic, Cannavaro or Van Dijk commanded respect because they lead by example and pulled others up to their level. They could demand an absolute best from their teammates because a)they were world class players and b)they consitently performed at the highest level.

I watched Everton vs Leicester game right before ours. Michael Keane was MOTM and I liked the look of Soyuncu from the Foxes. They just looked like the centrebacks from the past, confident, tough, no-noncense, always n the right place, good in the air and strong in a tackle. Now I'm not advocating us going after those two, I'm just using them as an example. Our centrebacks don't seem to grasp the absolute basics, the fundamentals of what makes a solid central defender and Rudiger is way too old to improve in that department.

Edited July 2, 20206 yr by abramovich

Pretty sad when you have been so bad that rival fans start taking the piss out of you:

With that said. Surely he needs to go this summer? He reminds me of some poor lanky striker having been forced to play CB all season by some twist of fate. Just horrible on every level.

4 minutes ago, Sindre said:

Pretty sad when you have been so bad that rival fans start taking the piss out of you:

With that said. Surely he needs to go this summer? He reminds me of some poor lanky striker having been forced to play CB all season by some twist of fate. Just horrible on every level.

That is so embarrassing... I was actually laughing throughout a lot of it he's that bad. He's literally responsible for so many of the goals against us when he plays... Him and Christensen I definitely want to see gone. 

He's reached the Bakayoko level of being so bad we'd be better off playing with 10 men.

14 minutes ago, Dixon said:

He's reached the Bakayoko level of being so bad we'd be better off playing with 10 men.

Some achievement !

he just seems a lot of talk but nothing to back it up.. and loves to shout around everytime we concede as a substitute for leadership.. I think Azpi was the last real defender we signed.. 

He should be the first one of the defence to be let go.