Favourite player by far now, we will be lucky to hang on to him for the duration of his contract, he could play in any team in the world. 

I think he has more variety in his passing than Fabregas, he is more like Pirlo for me. Important to remember Enzo is 21, Fabregas wasnt that pass master at that age at Arsenal, he was more of a goalscoring playmaker, so difficult to compare a 28 tear old prime Fabregas, to a player that is still developing.

I think he shouldve been vice captain, there is clearly massive respect for him, and it's interesting that Silva has given the armband to Enzo in both the last 2 matches, after Chilwell has been subbed.

24 minutes ago, big blue said:

Favourite player by far now, we will be lucky to hang on to him for the duration of his contract, he could play in any team in the world. 

I think he has more variety in his passing than Fabregas, he is more like Pirlo for me. Important to remember Enzo is 21, Fabregas wasnt that pass master at that age at Arsenal, he was more of a goalscoring playmaker, so difficult to compare a 28 tear old prime Fabregas, to a player that is still developing.

I think he shouldve been vice captain, there is clearly massive respect for him, and it's interesting that Silva has given the armband to Enzo in both the last 2 matches, after Chilwell has been subbed.

I don't really think Cesc controlled games for us, certainly not against elite opposition. Where Cesc excelled was allowing us to get the ball up the pitch in transition quickly and with quality before a parked bus can get into settled shape (which we were excruciatingly poor with the season before his arrival).

Despite the results I think Enzo is a lot better than our version of Cesc in terms of controlling games and keeping things ticking over, but he has a long way to go to match his final ball creativity.

On 25/08/2023 at 23:47, Ernie_blue said:

Let's not get silly, nowhere near Fab.

Well it's still early days for him, but let's not fall out over it Ernie.

I'm sure we can both agree he's already miles better than Jorginho.

I think the expectations are piled on way too quickly. He’s 21, he loves getting the ball and he has a great passing range+technical skills. We had Fab4 at his prime, Enzo is not even close to entering it. 

18 hours ago, big blue said:

 

I think he has more variety in his passing than Fabregas, he is more like Pirlo for me. Important to remember Enzo is 21, Fabregas wasnt that pass master at that age at Arsenal, he was more of a goalscoring playmaker, so difficult to compare a 28 tear old prime Fabregas, to a player that is still developing.

 

Fabregas was better at 16.

1 hour ago, Jangz said:

Fabregas was better at 16.

23-26 when he was CAM at Arsenal and a False 9 at Barcelona. 

 

 

On 26/08/2023 at 13:41, big blue said:

Favourite player by far now, we will be lucky to hang on to him for the duration of his contract, he could play in any team in the world. 

I think he has more variety in his passing than Fabregas, he is more like Pirlo for me. Important to remember Enzo is 21, Fabregas wasnt that pass master at that age at Arsenal, he was more of a goalscoring playmaker, so difficult to compare a 28 tear old prime Fabregas, to a player that is still developing.

I think he shouldve been vice captain, there is clearly massive respect for him, and it's interesting that Silva has given the armband to Enzo in both the last 2 matches, after Chilwell has been subbed.

Great points. Enzo still feels so new that I haven’t really spent time thinking about him leaving - now I do!

Reality is he’d go to Madrid, as who else could afford and what would the appeal be. I think he really wants to be part of something special at Chelsea, and he’ll be one we talk of well beyond his Chelsea career. 

Anyway he’ll get a new contract at some point probably becoming our highest earner. His quality speaks for itself. Would like to see some goals though! 

15 hours ago, Jangz said:

Fabregas was better at 16.

 

On 25/08/2023 at 22:29, Scott Harris said:

He's good, but he's nowhere near Fabregas level when it comes to passing. When he starts pulling out assists like Fabregas used to do, then we can start comparing.

Is this not down to managers tactics though? With Fabregas we were more route one. Ball into Fabregas and hit Costa early. I don't think stats will favour Enzo, as we saw for Jackson's goal. Enzo made that goal with his first touch and pass in behind to Sterling, however it'll be quickly forgotten because the assist will go down as Sterling's. 

Passing range aside, one of my favourite traits of his I've noticed these past few games is the way he always seems to want to receive the ball on his back foot / on the half turn, it's a little thing but it lets us get on the front foot so fast.

Great fun to watch, sky's the limit for him, excited to see how he grows over the coming years.

11 minutes ago, cfr95 said:

Passing range aside, one of my favourite traits of his I've noticed these past few games is the way he always seems to want to receive the ball on his back foot / on the half turn, it's a little thing but it lets us get on the front foot so fast.

Great fun to watch, sky's the limit for him, excited to see how he grows over the coming years.

This is actually very normal stuff. 😭😭😭

Pretty much all this so called elite dpl or technical midfielder does this all the time. 

1 minute ago, Bob stark said:

This is actually very normal stuff. 😭😭😭

Don't disagree, but we've been starved of it for a few years now

 

First Chelsea goal in the bag. Hoping for #2 this Saturday !

 

Could've had 3 or 4 goals last night. God he's good. 

He's a gem.

106 million pound fee repaid. We're in to the 3rd round! 

 

On 29/08/2023 at 11:13, cfr95 said:

Passing range aside, one of my favourite traits of his I've noticed these past few games is the way he always seems to want to receive the ball on his back foot / on the half turn, it's a little thing but it lets us get on the front foot so fast.

Great fun to watch, sky's the limit for him, excited to see how he grows over the coming years.

A point that is often overlooked. The amount of players, especially in our side that receive balls in a passive manner rather than taking an active touch. By receiving the ball with an open and aggressive stance, on the half turn, you are already setting yourself for your second touch and immediately imposing yourself on the opposition. I pull my hair out when i see us hit an underweight pass to a player that takes a passive touch, which he then doesn't get right so needs another, then a set before passing. 3 and 4 touches just to get the ball under. You can't do that in this league at the speed of these PL players. 

18 hours ago, WhiteWall said:

A point that is often overlooked. The amount of players, especially in our side that receive balls in a passive manner rather than taking an active touch. By receiving the ball with an open and aggressive stance, on the half turn, you are already setting yourself for your second touch and immediately imposing yourself on the opposition. I pull my hair out when i see us hit an underweight pass to a player that takes a passive touch, which he then doesn't get right so needs another, then a set before passing. 3 and 4 touches just to get the ball under. You can't do that in this league at the speed of these PL players. 

I agree, but as @Bob stark points out this is basic football intelligence at this level and a core reason why we are so far behind the 8-ball compared to other clubs. It is a side-effect of the managerial mish-mash we've had over the years as every single manager has had pressure to deliver instant results, riding on momentum while ignoring the fundamentals. 

Both Tuchel and Potter's biggest mistake was never fixing the fundamentals and instead focusing on complex tactical and systemic changes. When the tactics got too complex and all morale and momentum was loss, the players couldn't even rely on the fundamentals to get us through. Tuchel thought he could compensate using the transfer market and failed.

It's definitely something that can and should be coached. Coaches like Bielsa, Guardiola and Klopp don't just magically have players with a good first touch and it isn't all inherent ability. It's about teaching players intentionality with their touch so they know where to direct their next play and feeling confident in a system so they know where their teammates will be. That has been sorely missing our squad for years, with Enzo being a stark, stark exception.

Honestly feel bad for him. He's making a lot of amazing passes, croses and through balls but there's only so much you can do when people miss chances

12 minutes ago, Frankie8Lampard said:

Honestly feel bad for him. He's making a lot of amazing passes, croses and through balls but there's only so much you can do when people miss chances

His crosses are terrible, he has no power. His set pieces in general have been bad, I don't know why he is even on them. His passing is okay in some games, but nothing to shout about in others, it's not like he is playing a ton of through balls through the defence in every game, and his shooting is awful.

I think some fans are getting carried away. He's done okay, but at this time, I feel like we are getting the bare minimum I expected from somebody of his quality. The game against Liverpool is the standard he should be playing at every week.

Edited September 2, 20232 yr by Scott Harris

1 hour ago, Scott Harris said:

His crosses are terrible, he has no power. His set pieces in general have been bad, I don't know why he is even on them. His passing is okay in some games, but nothing to shout about in others, it's not like he is playing a ton of through balls through the defence in every game, and his shooting is awful.

I think some fans are getting carried away. He's done okay, but at this time, I feel like we are getting the bare minimum I expected from somebody of his quality. The game against Liverpool is the standard he should be playing at every week.

Is something to cling to right? Cause otherwise a lot of money has been spent to turn us in to bottom half of the table kinda team who don't score goals and play boring football. 

8 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Is something to cling to right? Cause otherwise a lot of money has been spent to turn us in to bottom half of the table kinda team who don't score goals and play boring football. 

Definitely. Enzo is the least of our problems, but even he is struggling to get the best out of himself and I do think people need to stop getting carried away at everything he does. He's not star quality yet, he is still potential.

1 minute ago, Scott Harris said:

Definitely. Enzo is the least of our problems, but even he is struggling to get the best out of himself and I do think people need to stop getting carried away at everything he does. He's not star quality yet, he is still potential.

Agreed.

1 hour ago, Frankie8Lampard said:

Honestly feel bad for him. He's making a lot of amazing passes, croses and through balls but there's only so much you can do when people miss chances

Couldn't agree more, there are so many defficiencies in the team scoring wise, i think Enzo-Caicedo make a pretty good duo, the main problem is clearly the attack (same as last season), Enzo could've ended the game with at least 3 assists.

 

Regardless, and even if the gut feeling is not good for the moment, the season has just began, we need to have more patience and more faith, this is a very young team, with too many new players and a new coach also.

Edited September 2, 20232 yr by Upb78