8 minutes ago, Spiller86 said:

Hasn't affected his speed at all. Just a down year. 

That's quite some under statement!!

8 minutes ago, Nibs said:

That's quite some under statement!!

Haha. I'm not sure you could say anyone who plays in the back half has had an up year!

37 minutes ago, Nibs said:

That's quite some under statement!!

The point being is that both Zouma and Rudiger are the same players which frankfully and apologies for offending, is not very football intelligent. These are the players that can look good by being on the front foot and getting ahead to win and clear the ball, to be first, to dive in and press. What is needed is one of them and a CB alongside that has a brain and can play. By asking these to to mark space, box players in, nick possession and look to play out is a recipe for disaster. I now see Rudi galloping mindlessly all over the pitch then being exposed thus making stupid rash decisions allied to shocking positional awareness. 

The interesting thing about Rudiger is that he's quite active on Twitter. He's constantly posting after matches and people usually tend to respond well because they can easier relate to the players who publicly express their joy at good results as well as share disappointment after poor ones. He pretty much says the same thing after every defeat, how it's tough and how we're going to learn from it and how next time it'll be better. Then the next time comes and he's still playing like sh*t, we lose and he posts another spirited tweet about being proud of the team and the fans and holding our heads high and all that other nonsense.The funny bit is, he's been playing poorly for so long, the followers have stopped buying into it and instead are just telling him to f**k off now. The commentaries after the latest tweet are quite telling. Granted, some of them are fickle twats, but what do you expect when you're sharing your thoughts on a social network for everyone to see. I guess, there's only so much sh*tting the bed and apologizing afterwards you can do in today's society before they tell you what they really think of you.

 

 

Edited August 2, 20205 yr by abramovich

5 hours ago, Spiller86 said:

Hasn't affected his speed at all. Just a down year. 

His speed means nothing without basic ball skills, even with time on the ball under little pressure he has a knack of making simple passing/clearances look alien to him, like he literally just landed from another planet and never seen a ball before. If he's at the center of our back line next season, it'll be an ever longer season than this one was. 

He was good last season. Something changed, he lost confidence and isn't vocal anymore on the pitch as he used to be. At some point last season he was doing more captain stuff than Azpilicueta, now he has 0 confidence even with a medium-low ball is heading his way.

He might be a proof example that our coaching needs some adjustments. No real reason why he would be a worse player, hopefully Lampard addresses that problem.

Lacks football intelligence. He will always have a scuffed clearance in him and for some reason isn't as imposing as he was at Roma.

His position should be changed from CB to PR manager/club ambassador

7 hours ago, coco said:

His speed means nothing without basic ball skills, even with time on the ball under little pressure he has a knack of making simple passing/clearances look alien to him, like he literally just landed from another planet and never seen a ball before. If he's at the center of our back line next season, it'll be an ever longer season than this one was. 

I hear you,  but I go back to my earlier point. He didn't go from being one of the better CBs in the PL, last year and the year before, to rubbish in 12 months. This isn't an injury thing, this is a defensive organisation is a sh*tshow thing. I like Frank, I want him to do well, but I'm not blind to the fact that our defence is worse than any year apart from maybe the AVB disaster. That's not just down to the players. 

One thing I would say is that I learned he isn't the guy who can improve and organise our overall defence as I thought he might earlier in the year. 

I'd like to see how he does once we improve our defence structure next season, but I think he and Zouma are more Alex, Gallas, Carvalho, Cahill, Luiz type CBs not the Terry/Desailly who make others around them better.

Edited August 2, 20205 yr by Spiller86

4 hours ago, Spiller86 said:

I hear you,  but I go back to my earlier point. He didn't go from being one of the better CBs in the PL, last year and the year before, to rubbish in 12 months. This isn't an injury thing, this is a defensive organisation is a sh*tshow thing. I like Frank, I want him to do well, but I'm not blind to the fact that our defence is worse than any year apart from maybe the AVB disaster. That's not just down to the players. 

One thing I would say is that I learned he isn't the guy who can improve and organise our overall defence as I thought he might earlier in the year. 

I'd like to see how he does once we improve our defence structure next season, but I think he and Zouma are more Alex, Gallas, Carvalho, Cahill, Luiz type CBs not the Terry/Desailly who make others around them better.

i think gallas and carvalho were proper defenders.. and much better then the other you club them with...they would improve our defense in a heart beat..

Rudiger gives me anxiety anytime he is near the ball these days, he just looks so uncomfortable with the ball at his feet and he has 50p feet when it comes to clearances.

Penalty as soon as he came on last game. Worrying when JCS has a better run out than one of our experienced defenders. 

6 hours ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Penalty as soon as he came on last game. Worrying when JCS has a better run out than one of our experienced defenders. 

Now he has a World class defender next to him maybe he could pick up some valuable tips, like how to kick the ball, and which way we are attacking/defending.

As far as I'm concerned, this is his 'do or die' season. Either get your sh*t together or get the f out. Hopefully he'll help Werner and Havertz settle but next summer, unless he improves drastically, he should be shown the door. He's reached an embarrassing level of incompetence.

15 hours ago, coco said:

Now he has a World class defender next to him maybe he could pick up some valuable tips, like how to kick the ball, and which way we are attacking/defending.

😂😂😂😂

He takes way too long to make a decision especially now when we're trying to get to the next level.

His decision-making and judgement needs a lot of correcting before we even begin to talk about his leadership. 

That being said I like his attitude. I'll always be in favor of turning him into our PR manager or club ambassador. I think he might be good at it

1 hour ago, Deino said:

He takes way too long to make a decision especially now when we're trying to get to the next level.

His decision-making and judgement needs a lot of correcting before we even begin to talk about his leadership. 

That being said I like his attitude. I'll always be in favor of turning him into our PR manager or club ambassador. I think he might be good at it

I agree, he's not a leader . Talk is cheap. What good is being vocal when you're easily one of the worst performers on the pitch? Leaderhip is earned and comes at a high cost. You have to be at your absolute best at all times to demand the same from others and to expect others to follow you.

He has definitely gotten worse during the last season, he's become clumsy and inattentive to what's around him, always guaranteed to give away a free kick in a dangerous area and most recently giving away stupid penalties.  Whether Kepa has initiated this change whereby Rudi doesn't have any confidence I don't know but I'd keep him on the bench but wouldn't bring him on in any close games from here on in.

More of a PR guy, player agent than a footballer in the last 6-12 months, maybe that's the direction he's heading. It's probably just me, everytime he had a sh1t game and we ended up losing, he post something along the line of tough day for the team, we will get stronger etc, then followed up with another performance like that a week later.

On 01/09/2020 at 20:27, abramovich said:

As far as I'm concerned, this is his 'do or die' season. Either get your sh*t together or get the f out. Hopefully he'll help Werner and Havertz settle but next summer, unless he improves drastically, he should be shown the door. He's reached an embarrassing level of incompetence.

I agree. He was one of my favourite players in his first season with us, his second season he dropped off a bit but was still our stand out CB, and then got injured, and since his return from injury, he seems to have completely lost his composure. So often I see him shouting at team mates or getting really annoyed at things happening on the pitch instead of staying concentrated. He really needs somebody to tell him to calm down because he is a dream to play against right now.

If I was a striker playing against Rudiger, I would be in his ear all game saying things to put him off, or I would give him a few nudges on set pieces. You know these things are going to frustrate him and you know that eventually it's going to annoy him so much that it will lead to a mistake.

Edited September 3, 20205 yr by Scott Harris

Rudiger was less than impressive in that German 3 man backline. He has to be the clumsiest player there is. Anyone who is quicker with their feet than Cesc Fabregas will cause him to either clumsily kick their feet or let them past. He had his moments inside the box where he won some good headers but that is about it... That Pau Torres looked really good in the game.

3 hours ago, evissy said:

Rudiger was less than impressive in that German 3 man backline. He has to be the clumsiest player there is. Anyone who is quicker with their feet than Cesc Fabregas will cause him to either clumsily kick their feet or let them past. He had his moments inside the box where he won some good headers but that is about it... That Pau Torres looked really good in the game.

I wonder if we can sell Rudiger on the quiet to a Bundesliga side ? Being a current German International must count for something over there ?

Don't think a return to Italy would be an option for him, after the racist abuse he apparently had there and was quite vocal about ....

I wonder if we can sell Rudiger on the quiet to a Bundesliga side ? Being a current German International must count for something over there ?
Don't think a return to Italy would be an option for him, after the racist abuse he apparently had there and was quite vocal about ....

I wouldn't mind that at all. Selling him I mean. His legs are more suited for slower pace. He is quite fast in full run but his legs are like David Luiz' head: 'in the wrong place'.

I can't see Rudiger coming back from that atrocious season he had, no matter who he has next to him. It looks like he's physically and mentally regressed big time. 

3 hours ago, Slojo said:

I can't see Rudiger coming back from that atrocious season he had, no matter who he has next to him. It looks like he's physically and mentally regressed big time. 

I agree with you.  Really looks lost on the pitch and has no command or control of the space or position.  My growing concern is how flappy he has also become with his arms - lots of unnecessary free kicks.

1 minute ago, PhilH930 said:

I agree with you.  Really looks lost on the pitch and has no command or control of the space or position.  My growing concern is how flappy he has also become with his arms - lots of unnecessary free kicks.

He looks like David Luiz when he plays, but at least David Luiz can pass a ball.