Starting to show his potential. Needs now to keep fit so he can become part of the spine.

Fantastic player, love seeing a proper CB that can do all the dirty work at the back and also progress the ball up the pitch so confidently. If he can stay fit, he's one of the best in the league already.

Don't rate Nunez but it was funny seeing Fofana pocket him so easily.

4 hours ago, Sexyfootball said:

Ditto.

I'd like to see him play with Badiashile in a pair in our remaining league games. I think that might be the future for us ... or perhaps a trio with Colwill from next season.. 

I like Badiashille but Colwill is on another level to him. Unless Colwill can settle as a CCB BB will/should only be an (excellent) squad player.

I usually cringe when people pull the KDB/Salah card whenever we're linked with selling an U25 but it wouldn't be inappropriate atall if we're stupid enough to let this guy go.

15 minutes ago, Argo said:

I like Badiashille but Colwill is on another level to him. Unless Colwill can settle as a CCB BB will/should only be an (excellent) squad player.

I usually cringe when people pull the KDB/Salah card whenever we're linked with selling an U25 but it wouldn't be inappropriate atall if we're stupid enough to let this guy go.

My thinking was integrating Colwill a little more slowly, given he's still only just 20, but actually ... yes ... why not straight in 🙂 

Three terrific young centre backs will be a nice problem to have for our next manager !

In addition, I think Colwill has more future captain potential than James or Mount.

1 hour ago, Argo said:

I like Badiashille but Colwill is on another level to him. Unless Colwill can settle as a CCB BB will/should only be an (excellent) squad player.

I usually cringe when people pull the KDB/Salah card whenever we're linked with selling an U25 but it wouldn't be inappropriate atall if we're stupid enough to let this guy go.

 

1 hour ago, Sexyfootball said:

My thinking was integrating Colwill a little more slowly, given he's still only just 20, but actually ... yes ... why not straight in 🙂 

Three terrific young centre backs will be a nice problem to have for our next manager !

In addition, I think Colwill has more future captain potential than James or Mount.

I think Badiashile can play on the right side as well? He's played there before at Monaco and for France iirc. 

3 talented CBs with Chalobah as a squad option is fantastic for us. 

10 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

 

3 talented CBs with Chalobah as a squad option is fantastic for us. 

It should be the minimum that takes us back to where we were prior to the post-Conte squad mismanagement. We've had quartets of starting-quality CBs for the last 20 years, mostly within a 2-CB system;

• Terry/Gallas/Desailly/Huth
• Terry/Gallas/Carvalho/Huth
• Terry/Carvalho/Alex/Ivanovic
• Terry/Cahill/Luiz/Ivanovic
• Rudiger/Cahill/Luiz/Christensen

...and then it all fell apart for a few years until we got Rudiger/Christensen/Silva/Chalobah for a 3-atb system, stretching the depth.

Edited April 6, 20233 yr by SydneyChelsea

Really really poor yesterday. Yes, we were against the best team in the league but the give away for that goal is schoolboy. Glad we have him and i think he'll grow next season but we seriously overpaid for him when we got Badiashile for £34m and had Chalobah for free. 

over 70M spent on Fofana and my goodness he has been poor all season. Cannot stay fit and cannot defend

Please are way too harsh on him. He was really good after coming back from his injury. He has lost a bit of form since then but if he can stay healthy I have no doubt he is going to be a good CB. 

18 minutes ago, reparto corse said:

Please are way too harsh on him. He was really good after coming back from his injury. He has lost a bit of form since then but if he can stay healthy I have no doubt he is going to be a good CB. 

You've just been harsh on Lewis Hall after being the best player on the pitch for us yesterday against the league winners then complaining about people pointing out a £70m signing has only managed 1630 minutes in a full season and had one good game all season and made to look silly in a number of the others. 

1 minute ago, RIP Mourinho said:

You've just been harsh on Lewis Hall after being the best player on the pitch for us yesterday against the league winners then complaining about people pointing out a £70m signing has only managed 1630 minutes in a full season and had one good game all season and made to look silly in a number of the others. 

In reality he was MAYBE slightly better than the others but only because none of them put in a shift and instead put in an absolutely shameful display. No one was fighting. The pressing was non-existant. Hall was quite good going forward, I will admit that but defensively sloppy. We also played against their bench. It´s not like the players we faced yesterday won them the league but you already know that. I think it massively helped that they tried to abuse Azpi`s lack of pace everytime they had an attack going.

Why would you say Fofana had only one good game? How quickly people forget.

22 minutes ago, reparto corse said:

In reality he was MAYBE slightly better than the others but only because none of them put in a shift and instead put in an absolutely shameful display. No one was fighting. The pressing was non-existant. Hall was quite good going forward, I will admit that but defensively sloppy. We also played against their bench. It´s not like the players we faced yesterday won them the league but you already know that. I think it massively helped that they tried to abuse Azpi`s lack of pace everytime they had an attack going.

Why would you say Fofana had only one good game? How quickly people forget.

He was against Mahrez, why are you making out like he was up against Mahrez and Walker, not some random youth products City chucked in for sympathy minutes lmao. 

Outside of the Liverpool what game has Fofana played above what would be expected for a £40m signing, never mind a £70m one?

31 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

He was against Mahrez, why are you making out like he was up against Mahrez and Walker, not some random youth products City chucked in for sympathy minutes lmao. 

Outside of the Liverpool what game has Fofana played above what would be expected for a £40m signing, never mind a £70m one?

Can tell i'm tired at work today, that first sentence gave me an aneurism reading it back.

"why are you making out like he wasn't up against Mahrez and Walker, just some random youth products City chucked in for sympathy minutes lmao."

The only worry I have with Fofana is the same one I have with James, Chilwell, Kante etc. Keeping free of injuries.

On the football and defending front, I don't have one single doubt at all. Not one. I've said this before, very, very reminiscent of the young Jon Stones, (Fofana probably better at this age), and Stones is now unarguably the best centre-back on the planet  

Did we overpay? Course we did. Same as virtually every other player Toddy B has brought. But boy am I glad we got him.......... and Enzo.

who signed this player? One of the worst defenders i have seen in blue 

9 hours ago, KokeFran96 said:

who signed this player? One of the worst defenders i have seen in blue 

Have we not learned from the last time we wrote off defenders due to performances under Lampard?

Two horrific games back to back for him, directly responsible for two goals. Get this season over and start again next year. 

32 minutes ago, Argo said:

Have we not learned from the last time we wrote off defenders due to performances under Lampard?

Easy to blame Lampard for all our ills. Not being able to make a simple pass to a team mate 10 yards away whilst under little pressure shouldn’t be beyond a professional footballer of his standing. His distribution recently has been horrendous and sums up the general attitude of this team. 

20 minutes ago, charierre said:

Easy to blame Lampard for all our ills. Not being able to make a simple pass to a team mate 10 yards away whilst under little pressure shouldn’t be beyond a professional footballer of his standing. His distribution recently has been horrendous and sums up the general attitude of this team. 

But we've seen this before with defenders under Frank, last time we thought Christensen and Rudiger were sh*t defenders due to his coaching, it's a clear pattern at this point. That plus the fact he was one of our best players under Potter (and MOTM by a distance in Bruno's game) after returning from injury means I'm not putting much judgement into this run.

If he's still this sh*t under Pochettino fair enough, but I imagine he and other players will be making seemingly miraculous recoveries like the last time Lampard was replaced by a coach fitting of this level.

15 minutes ago, Argo said:

But we've seen this before with defenders under Frank, last time we thought Christensen and Rudiger were sh*t defenders due to his coaching, it's a clear pattern at this point. That plus the fact he was one of our best players under Potter (and MOTM by a distance in Bruno's game) after returning from injury means I'm not putting much judgement into this run.

If he's still this sh*t under Pochettino fair enough, but I imagine he and other players will be making seemingly miraculous recoveries like the last time Lampard was replaced by a coach fitting of this level.

Not saying he's a dud by any means but the pass against City then the pass to Rashford last night are the very basics. Blame Lampard for defensive shape or whatever else but you can't blame the manager for passing to the the oppositions twice in two games for the easiest of goals. 

37 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Not saying he's a dud by any means but the pass against City then the pass to Rashford last night are the very basics. Blame Lampard for defensive shape or whatever else but you can't blame the manager for passing to the the oppositions twice in two games for the easiest of goals. 

I don't disagree but my main post in this thread was against someone who said he's one of the worst defenders we've ever had, he's not even one of the worst in this squad.

11 hours ago, KokeFran96 said:

who signed this player? One of the worst defenders i have seen in blue 

He is young, had plenty of decent/good games under Potter and now plays under Lampard. I can`t remember any defender that looked good playing for Frank apart from Thiago Silva.

1 hour ago, Argo said:

But we've seen this before with defenders under Frank, last time we thought Christensen and Rudiger were sh*t defenders due to his coaching, it's a clear pattern at this point. That plus the fact he was one of our best players under Potter (and MOTM by a distance in Bruno's game) after returning from injury means I'm not putting much judgement into this run.

If he's still this sh*t under Pochettino fair enough, but I imagine he and other players will be making seemingly miraculous recoveries like the last time Lampard was replaced by a coach fitting of this level.

Lamps was doomed to fail - fans don't want to see his appointment for what it is, a stop gap. Our season was over with Tuchel preseason (players getting injured and making mistakes is related to poor fitness or the wrong type of training) and extra curricular dalliances. That is where this horror show started. By a manager many call a genius and couldnt understand why the club let him go. 

But hey, its easy to blame club legend Lampard after two managers systems/ ideas (touchel/Potter) 600 million spent and an enforced change of owners in the past 12 months. 

 

Uncertainty, like in business, at football clubs is a costly to employee morale.

 

 

Just now, olderschoolcfc said:

But hey, its easy to blame club legend Lampard after two managers systems/ ideas (touchel/Potter) 600 million spent and an enforced change of owners in the past 12 months.

When the topic is on a defender underperforming under him given the Rudi/AC situations of last time combined with the fact said defender in question was pretty good prior (and at his last club) then yes, probability suggests that one is largely Lampard's doing.

And yes i agree there's problems that go beyond Frank but he's the reason we're looking THIS bad, one of the redeeming features under Potter/Bruno was our defensive record that has totally gone to pot under Frank, to put it into context he's 5 off Potter's goals allowed record in the league having managed 14 less games (15 if you count Bruno's game as a Potter game in all but name).