23 minutes ago, Munkworth said:

25 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

8 minutes ago, Munkworth said:

So - I guess that is Saul gone.

I will no doubt be in the strong minority, but I quite liked him. Had a nightmare start, but didn't think he looked half bad when he played in the second half of the season.

He was basically our sole CM who was willing to have a shot at goal. Great control. Great passing. Stylish player. Handsome chap. Chelsea all the way!

There were a lot of times where I wish we played him instead of RLC, deserved more chances imo but maybe those first few games were enough to put Tuchel off him 

8 hours ago, nonotnowjim said:

So - I guess that is Saul gone.

I will no doubt be in the strong minority, but I quite liked him. Had a nightmare start, but didn't think he looked half bad when he played in the second half of the season.

He was basically our sole CM who was willing to have a shot at goal. Great control. Great passing. Stylish player. Handsome chap. Chelsea all the way!

even in the last game against watford he kept on losing posession in the centre of the field in dangerous areas.. not built for EPL really really struggled for me.

I have never seen him have a good game, it was terrible or average. There was a game where everyone was raving over him but that happened to be the one game I missed. So yeah never seen him have a single good game.

1 hour ago, sonic90 said:

I have never seen him have a good game, it was terrible or average. There was a game where everyone was raving over him but that happened to be the one game I missed. So yeah never seen him have a single good game.

He was MOTM in our 2v0 win against spurs. Guess that is the one you missed.

 

 

Deserved more game time for me. Our midfield bar Kovacic has been fairly dross all season, and is the big reason we've struggled so often.

On 25/05/2022 at 07:30, Malcolm9 said:

Deserved more game time for me. Our midfield bar Kovacic has been fairly dross all season, and is the big reason we've struggled so often.

I disagree, he's been rubbish in almost every game he has played. I still haven't forgotten his disaster class on his first appearance when Tuchel took him off at half time. He was well out of his depth. Any game where he wasn't complete rubbish, he was invisible. You could have played a youngster in any game he played and they would have done a better job.

Edited May 28, 20224 yr by Scott Harris

Even in the last game where he looked a bit better compared to his disaster start, he still gave the ball away stupidly several times.

Doesn't look right for this league at all.

So Saul Niguez is out of the exit door this morning.

He is returning to Atletico Madrid (I bet they are delighted). I really did think we had a player with this guy, but he hardly played,  Even when he did, he did not impress !!

 

44 minutes ago, coombsie said:

So Saul Niguez is out of the exit door this morning.

He is returning to Atletico Madrid (I bet they are delighted). I really did think we had a player with this guy, but he hardly played,  Even when he did, he did not impress !!

 

He needed a very long time to settle in. If he had been able to hit the ground running, he probably could have contributed much more.

He seems a likeable fella and I wish him all the best. 

I thought he would be the difference instead he didn't add anything we didn't already have.

Seems a good bloke but just can't hack it in the league

I don't know how he ever managed to thrive as a central midfielder.  Gives the ball away in dangerous areas way too often and is not that good technically compared to other Spanish midfielders.

Would have been a decent wingback but appears he's lost a lot of pace in the last few years.

11 hours ago, Whiskyjack said:

I don't know how he ever managed to thrive as a central midfielder.  Gives the ball away in dangerous areas way too often and is not that good technically compared to other Spanish midfielders.

Would have been a decent wingback but appears he's lost a lot of pace in the last few years.

When it comes to technicality, he was the best central midfielder we had last season.

His engine, pace, positioning and a general sense of looking off the pace and being lost were the biggest issues, but not his ability to control, pass or shoot.

17 minutes ago, nonotnowjim said:

When it comes to technicality, he was the best central midfielder we had last season.

 

In what way? Because his passing was dreadful, he constantly gave the ball away.

1 hour ago, Zeta said:

In what way? Because his passing was dreadful, he constantly gave the ball away.

I am not arguing that he gave the ball away too much. But Kante, Jorgi and RLC have all been very guilty of that too. 

For me the pace of the game was too much for Saul, and the game gave a distinct shock to his system. But for me, his touch/control, vision and shooting was all pretty tidy, you could see the underlying class of the player. Just didn't adapt to the pace and intensity of the English game sufficiently - which was to blame for him giving the ball away.

Have to agree with Jim, Saul was a quality midfielder that never adapted to the PL, and never got the chances to do it tbh. He wasn’t the worst of our midfielders in giving away the ball, but you could see that in a less physical league he can be a quality player. It could have worked out like Kova did, but it didn’t, which is a pity.

He came, he erm mediocred, he left. 

Sad it didn't work out. He became decent in the 2nd half but not enough to warrant us buying him. Really nice guy and a consumate professional. Unlike someone else on our team.

So to cut to the chase, overall he was another of our disasters. Basically crap.

£4 million loan fee, £10.3 million on his wages ... basically another £14.3 million of Roman's money pissed effortlessly into the wind ... 

4 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

£4 million loan fee, £10.3 million on his wages ... basically another £14.3 million of Roman's money pissed effortlessly into the wind ... 

And not a job sacking in sight. 

 

1 hour ago, Sexyfootball said:

£4 million loan fee, £10.3 million on his wages ... basically another £14.3 million of Roman's money pissed effortlessly into the wind ... 

When you put it like that, this was even more of a disaster than originally thought, when someone sits down with Boehly and explains this kind of sh*t, heads HAVE to roll.