4 hours ago, Brutos said:

Name a Better midfield in Europe now?

Barcelona and City for starters.

We have a very good midfield but we have to make it successful to be deemed the best in Europe and we have not been recently. It's pretty self explanatory.

Let's see how we do this season and then assess it.

 

1 hour ago, WalterWhiteCFC said:

He's a scouser it could have been worse, he would be well within his cultural norms to have a perm and a moustache 

Yeah crap hair comes with the territory. If you remember what it looks like when he grows it out then it's easier to understand why he prefers to keep it reigned in. He's just missing the moustache:

I have nothing of value to really add to this thread other than the bastard is playing really really well and it's great to see especially with the mayor all up in arms over the transfer ... how'd that work out for ya ya f**king prick

51 minutes ago, chiefBlueCFC said:

I have nothing of value to really add to this thread other than the bastard is playing really really well and it's great to see especially with the mayor all up in arms over the transfer ... how'd that work out for ya ya f**king prick

I just picture him getting madder and madder about this deal.  15mil, boy does that look amazing now.

Proving to be a shrewd signing and he's only going to get better. His attitude is just top notch.

So glad he didn't end up at Spurs.

We should give some praise to the medical department as well for sorting him out. Apparently he arrived to Chelsea in a poor condition and had been badly managed. 

2 hours ago, JM7 said:

We should give some praise to the medical department as well for sorting him out. Apparently he arrived to Chelsea in a poor condition and had been badly managed. 

One thing about Chelsea is that we've generally always managed our injured players really well and we rarely see our players out for long spells with injury. 

Zouma's cruciate injury seems to have been handled really well for example. For what used to often be a career ending injury he's back playing regularly now. 

When you look at players at some clubs and they have a reputation of missing a lot of games through injury we don't seem to have that at Chelsea. Costa came to Chelsea with a reputation of dodgy hamstrings, missed a bit of football in his first season but played regularly after that. 

On 27/10/2018 at 08:46, Ilya said:

What if a team of 11 Kovacices played a team of 11 Barkleys 38 times? What would be the total point tally?

Can't afford to have such a poor performance like he had today against Crystal Palace.

7 minutes ago, comtrend said:

Can't afford to have such a poor performance like he had today against Crystal Palace.

This is harsh, he's had an excellent season up until this point. I don't think he deserves to be singled out for having one poor game.

1 minute ago, Scott Harris said:

This is harsh, he's had an excellent season up until this point. I don't think he deserves to be singled out for having one poor game.

He had a bad game today. It happens. So nice to have squad depth for a change. Options like Kovacic and Loftus Cheek on the bench, mean we CAN afford for a player to have a bad day. 

9 minutes ago, comtrend said:

Can't afford to have such a poor performance like he had today against Crystal Palace.

He's been superb since the Liverpool game until today tbf, had really good performances. He just needs to be more tidy with the ball, he lost it in our own half a few times and that just shouldn't happen. 

Didn’t think he had a “bad” game. 

Strange to see him singled out. 

5 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Didn’t think he had a “bad” game. 

Strange to see him singled out. 

Yeah I don't get this either, he wasn't as good as his last few games but he certainly wasnt rubbish as some are claiming. The way some fans switch between amazing/rubbish with no allowance for anything in between amazes me.

1 minute ago, dkw said:

Yeah I don't get this either, he wasn't as good as his last few games but he certainly wasnt rubbish as some are claiming. The way some fans switch between amazing/rubbish with no allowance for anything in between amazes me.

He was rubbish today though, several passes that was easy to read and intercept and gave Crystal Palace some very good counterattacking chances. He spent to long on the ball several times and lost it and didn't offer anything going forward. Easily our worst player today, wich I find very strange when he was easily our best player against Burnley. 

1 hour ago, comtrend said:

He was rubbish today though, several passes that was easy to read and intercept and gave Crystal Palace some very good counterattacking chances. He spent to long on the ball several times and lost it and didn't offer anything going forward. Easily our worst player today, wich I find very strange when he was easily our best player against Burnley. 

Shouldn't find it strange as that pretty much sums up Barkley's career to date. Have heard Everton fans comment how he looks a world=beater one game and atrocious the next.

All we can hope is that Sarri and Zola work with him and iron out the sloppiness in his game and turn him into a consistent performer. Certainly one he'll want to forget today though.

I think Barkley's biggest weakness has always been related to his lack of spacial awareness. This is turn makes him struggle a lot when pressed, which can lead to poor choices on the ball. One of the biggest differences between Barkley and Kovacic is that when the Croat gets the ball, he has already scanned his surroundings, thus making quick one touch-passing possible, whereas Barkley more often than not needs an extra touch on the ball to orientate himself. I don't think it's a coincidence that Barkley's weakest games for us has come when facing a pressing opponent, whilst Kovacic' strongest games have come in the same type of matches.

Barkley is a top bargain and will contribute to a lot this season. But as footballers, I think there are leagues separating him and Kovacic.

He still looks to me like he lacks confidence despite his recent good form. He hardly ever dribbles with the ball or trys to be creative, he keeps it simple too much.

3 hours ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Didn’t think he had a “bad” game. 

Strange to see him singled out. 

I think Barkley has a problem when he's playing with his back towards the goal, he needs to be turned looking at the goal and a bit more space than what he was allowed today...

...maybe it's the way Crystal Palace set up the game against the Sarri ball I don't know...but Kovacic managed to attack the goal and tried a lot of through balls, felt like Barkley was missing that part of his game.

He was definitely one of the worst in that game. But that's fine, we still won, and one bad game doesn't make someone a bad player.

Pretty awful today. Which Barkley will show up? Thats how I feel every game. 

He wasn't that bad, just couldn't replicate 1 goal and assist per game every week. The expectation of the midfileders has gone up a couple of feet since Baka took a break from us. Last season, most of us contend with a midfielder not making 1-2 shocking errors every game.

On 05/11/2018 at 09:43, icecoolguy22 said:

He wasn't that bad, just couldn't replicate 1 goal and assist per game every week. The expectation of the midfileders has gone up a couple of feet since Baka took a break from us. Last season, most of us contend with a midfielder not making 1-2 shocking errors every game.

The expectation levels are crazy this season. Rather than looking at individuals, I'm just glad that we dominate the midfield now. 

I'm not Barkley biggest fan, but he's done well recently so if he puts in the odd 6/10, I would give him a pass. 

Yeah I felt the criticism was borne out of (understandable) disappointment arising from his past 3 games, even though he had a very average game. 

He was more like the Barkley of earlier this season - some effort going forward, no end product, misplaced passes.

Still that's 1 average game and 3 good ones so hopefully he's becoming more consistent. 

On 29/10/2018 at 14:31, bluedave said:

Yeah crap hair comes with the territory. If you remember what it looks like when he grows it out then it's easier to understand why he prefers to keep it reigned in. He's just missing the moustache:

Tbf that's his natural hair, he's 1/4 Nigerian, so I don't think he perms it he's just naturally curly. 

Edited November 7, 20187 yr by Slojo