Willian

[laeth 527]

Heat maps mean nothing imo. I could have a thomas the tank onto a table football pitch then shine an ultraviolet light on it and it wouldn't look dissimilar

That sentence makes no sense at all... Is Thomas the tank engine cuming all over the table or what?

[Liquidator 5,176]

That sentence makes no sense at all... Is Thomas the tank engine cuming all over the table or what?

Thomas the Tank rhymes with many words including one that begins with w

[Sheva. 5,373]

It's painful watching him in big games, no player at a top club will ever fall for his step-overs, even players at small clubs deal with that shit easily lol.

[Sir Mikel OBE 4,733]

It's painful watching him in big games, no player at a top club will ever fall for his step-overs, even players at small clubs deal with that shit easily lol.

Marcos Rojo's dumb ass fell for it repeatedly last time Brazil played Argentina but that is the only time I have seen it consistently work.

I mean, it had to work a lot for him as a youth player for him to keep doing it now, but that is the epitome of a one trick pony.

Our one or so attack in the second half that went to him ended the exact same way 99.999% of his attacks do. Step over to the left side run, defender doesn't buy it, and then he dribbles it out of the danger area and passes it back. I don't even expect him to try and win a corner anymore.

[WNDS 502]

Marcos Rojo's dumb ass fell for it repeatedly last time Brazil played Argentina but that is the only time I have seen it consistently work.

I mean, it had to work a lot for him as a youth player for him to keep doing it now, but that is the epitome of a one trick pony.

Our one or so attack in the second half that went to him ended the exact same way 99.999% of his attacks do. Step over to the left side run, defender doesn't buy it, and then he dribbles it out of the danger area and passes it back. I don't even expect him to try and win a corner anymore.

I agree that he should stop using the step-over 'embellishments' that he appears to be so fond of as they only serve to inform the defender(s) that he is about to attempt to dribble them. I view them as partly attributable to his being played out of position on the right, though; he seems to do them far less often when he's dribbling on the left or through the centre.

[The Skipper 20,593]

He needs to play in the middle.

[Barbara 15,149]

There's no way, situation, game size where Willian should start ahead of Cesc in the middle (supposing Cesc won't play in the pivot - his rightful and best position). Absolutely no situation. No, thanks.

Ahead of Oscar, absolutely, because he's in better form, but ahead of Cesc? Especially when we're supposed to either remove Cesc totally from the team or have him partner with Matic? Only works in small-medium teams, big teams will trounce us if we have a pivot with Cesc...

So yeah, he was poor, but he's supposedly injured, still I wouldn't have played him in the middle at all and I don't buy this story he plays better there. Willian when he's positive and smart he plays as well in the wing as in the middle. The problem is those occurrences aren't often. Having him the middle might even hurt the team more than in the wing if he doesn't have one of his rare special days.

[kalouda 23]

I would put Willian as AMF, only when Cesc plays CMF with Matic. Then Cuadrado would be the RMF, and Hazard stays on his position.

[Vybz Kartel 1,613]

We need him to impose himself on the game the way he did when he was at Shaktar when they beat us the other year, make teams think about him too not only about Hazard and Cesc, Because at the moment it seems teams are happy to see him with the ball as they know his decision making is more likely to be poor than good. He also needs to start running straight at players instead of attempting that stupid side step which no one seems to buy. This is not undermining his great defensive work which is an asset.

[CurlyHairLikeLuiz 1,625]

There's no way, situation, game size where Willian should start ahead of Cesc in the middle. Absolutely no situation. No, thanks.

Ahead of Oscar, absolutely, because he's in better form, but ahead of Cesc? Especially when we're supposed to either remove Cesc totally from the team or have him partner with Matic? Only works in small-medium teams, big teams will trounce us if we have a pivot with Cesc...

So yeah, he was poor, but he's supposedly injured, still I wouldn't have played him in the middle at all and I don't buy this story he plays better there. Willian when he's positive and smart he plays as well in the wing as in the middle. The problem is those occurrences aren't often. Having him the middle might even hurt the team more than in the wing if he doesn't have one of his rare special days.

Absolutely ahead of Cesc, he is much better deep than up front, when he plays in the 10 he just gets shut down

Having said that Jose even against big teams should be starting him deep, maybe in 4-3-3 otherwise we are offensively a non starter.

[Barbara 15,149]

Absolutely ahead of Cesc, he is much better deep than up front, when he plays in the 10 he just gets shut down

Having said that Jose even against big teams should be starting him deep, maybe in 4-3-3 otherwise we are offensively a non starter.

Even if Cesc is way better in the pivot, in a game like yesterday for Willian to play centered, Cesc has to be benched. There's NO WAY Willian is a better #10 than Cesc is, not even close imo. With Cesc in the pitch we can always have something created for someone else, as long as he's given the minimum freedom - which he wasn't yesterday. Willian will be only able to hold up better than Cesc, but what's the point if he won't do much with the ball? Then he'll give his trademark square pass or pass back to the pivot players a few yards behind him and we're exactly where we were if Cesc was there without 1) the set-piece threat and 2) the vision. No, thanks.

Now for medium and small teams where Cesc can play in his best position, then we can play with Willian as #10.

edit: I edited my previous post because I realized it wasn't clear that overall I prefer Cesc in the pivot. I've said many times Cesc is better as a pivot player, but in games where he has to play #10 because he would expose us in the pivot - aka big teams - he either plays #10 or he's benched for Willian (or whoever else) to play there. I still believe he's our best #10 in the team even if he's way better in the pivot. But we don't have someone with his passing, vision and creativity - even as a CAM - in the team.

[Jase 43,479]

He needs to play in the middle.

Willian is like so overrated as a no.10 at the moment. He certainly isn't going to turn into some creative machine when he can't create chances on a consistent basis out wide.

[CurlyHairLikeLuiz 1,625]

Even if Cesc is way better in the pivot, in a game like yesterday for Willian to play centered, Cesc has to be benched. There's NO WAY Willian is a better #10 than Cesc is, not even close imo. With Cesc in the pitch we can always have something created for someone else, as long as he's given the minimum freedom - which he wasn't yesterday. Willian will be only able to hold up better than Cesc, but what's the point if he won't do much with the ball? Then he'll give his trademark square pass or pass back to the pivot players a few yards behind him and we're exactly where we were if Cesc was there without 1) the set-piece threat and 2) the vision. No, thanks.

Now for medium and small teams where Cesc can play in his best position, then we can play with Willian as #10.

It could have been the illness and lack of training , which is fully understandable, but the PSG CBs and DMs completely stifled him and Costa, and I think Willian if he was supplied by Cesc who would then have more time on the ball with his pace would be able to break through better. Don't forget, square passes aren't necessarily bad, if there is space on the wing and Cuadrado and Hazard are on each side of you, nothing wrong with sticking it that way for them, or even if Cesc pulls up into a pocket of space. Willian doesn't need to be creative, he needs to upset the defence, something his workrate will accomplish better than Cesc can. Then again, in big games like I say I think we shouldn't have a #10 at all, play Fabregas in a DM-CM-DM formation where he is protected by Matic and one of Ake or Mikel who can draw his markers away, and a more end product centric Cuadrado - Costa - Hazard, then Cesc can push up when it makes sense in a false 4231 and fall back too. I'd imagine it would improve the link up between him and Costa, too.

I don't know, but Jose knows what he's doing, and so I think we'll see his line of thinking in the next lineup. At least he's beginning to rotate more, though.

[Barbara 15,149]

It could have been the illness and lack of training , which is fully understandable, but the PSG CBs and DMs completely stifled him and Costa, and I think Willian if he was supplied by Cesc who would then have more time on the ball with his pace would be able to break through better. Don't forget, square passes aren't necessarily bad, if there is space on the wing and Cuadrado and Hazard are on each side of you, nothing wrong with sticking it that way for them, or even if Cesc pulls up into a pocket of space. Willian doesn't need to be creative, he needs to upset the defence, something his workrate will accomplish better than Cesc can.

I don't know, but Jose knows what he's doing, and so I think we'll see his line of thinking in the next lineup. At least he's beginning to rotate more, though.

Cesc didn't play well, but neither did Willian. He didn't train - according to Mourinho - who also said he played with an injury against Everton.

Willian is supposedly also caring a physical issue - although Cesc was in bed for three days according to Mourinho.

So in that situation yesterday if we have Cesc in the pivot, we expose the defense - which had Cahill, so that's a walking nightmare and the only way for Willian to play CAM was benching Cesc and deploying either Cuadrado or Oscar in the wing as Cesc can't play in the wing. So we gave our best shot in terms of starters and the positions they were playing. The game play was poor though.

[The Skipper 20,593]

Willian is like so overrated as a no.10 at the moment. He certainly isn't going to turn into some creative machine when he can't create chances on a consistent basis out wide.

I'm not expecting him to be a creative genius because he isn't. His best attributes do suit that CFC number 10 role nicely though.

[LAM09 6,535]

Willian is like so overrated as a no.10 at the moment. He certainly isn't going to turn into some creative machine when he can't create chances on a consistent basis out wide.

According to some people, he will all of a sudden start to deliver in that position. Call me crazy, but I don't see it.

[Jase 43,479]

I'm not expecting him to be a creative genius because he isn't. His best attributes do suit that CFC number 10 role nicely though.

He is only suitable to play as a no.10 when we play on the counter, when there is plenty of space for him to drive into. Otherwise, he's useless in that position, especially when we play against the lesser sides.

[stroey 2,525]

He is only suitable to play as a no.10 when we play on the counter, when there is plenty of space for him to drive into. Otherwise, he's useless in that position, especially when we play against the lesser sides.

Don't think we played on the counter last season vs Stoke and this season against Everton.