Cesc Fàbregas

[The Skipper 20,593]

While looking for an answer to why Barcelona let Fabregas go, I stumbled upon this: http://neymarketing.wordpress.com/2014/06/09/requiem-for-a-dream-how-barcelonas-prodigal-son-became-their-most-damaging-signing-in-a-generation/

Haven't finished reading yet but it seems like an interesting read.

Edit: If the article can be any trusted, maybe we should be more concerned about his defensive capabilities than previously thought. I must confess I never saw Fabregas as this massive defensive liability that the article portrays. Yet I hope the author is right about this at least: "he will probably win more there (Chelsea) than he ever did".

Garbage article full of biased, bigoted opinions, as usual when it comes Barcelona fans regarding Fabregas. There are plenty of Barcelona fans who will convince that Fabregas has never been any good to Barcelona and that he is to blame for the reason why the tiki taka system has been exploited now (not the fact hat reputable coaches have managed to designs systems to counteract tiki taka). It's all sour grapes.

I can tell you as someone who has extensively watched Fabregas over around 10 years (his time at Arsenal - naturally due to my best mate being an Arsenal fan + his time at Barcelona) that he is competent enough at defending, similarly to how someone like Modric is.

[Dion 2,476]

As someone said in the comments, "this is almost entirely narrative driven article forcing facts to fit the narrative and shouldnt be taken as a forensic examination of the Cesc saga." That Barcelona fan basically puts all the blame for Barcelona's troubles on Fabregas, which is extremely naive at best. As someone who was forced to watch a lot of Barcelona's games while not being a fan, I can say that is a very one-dimensional article.

That said, I've always said Fabregas was very far from being a defensive genius, and that's why I'm not at all sure playing him in the pivot is the best idea. Granted, our team is much more defensively disciplined than Barcelona, and last season we struggled with creativity, not defence. We didn't really need another defensive-minded midfielder. So playing him in the pivot might work, but personally, I think playing him as #10 or the most advanced midfielder in 4-3-3 would be the best choice. His strength is in attacking and penetrating defences, not defending, though he's not completely hopeless at defending.

I'm very curious how Jose will use him in the friendly today. That should answer some questions.

That wasn't the understanding I've got from reading it. The article seems to split the blame between multiple people (Guardiola, Barca's board, Tito, Martino, the way Barca's midfield used to work and Fabregas himself). What it blames Fabregas for is he alleged inability to adapt himself to the tactical needs of the team (positioning to play as a sucessor to Xavi or awareness to swap positions with Iniesta on the left) and to play Messi's role as false 9 (which isn't really his fault, it's just about who he is or isn't as a player, he simply doesn't possess the pace or dribbling of Messi, nor is as clinical in his finishing). It also says he builds up his numbers against shitty sides amongst a few other unfair criticisms but I guess it should be expected coming from a Barca fan about Cesc.

In addition, when anyone suggests him in the pivot, they suggests it as a deep-lying playmaker. The point about that role is that you don't need to excel in any defensive aspect but positioning. As long as you can limit passing options and slow down attacking players you're already good to go being average at all the rest. The defensive side of a DLP is mostly tactical. That's why it got me concerned, the article criticizes his tactical awareness heavily. If he displays erratic behaviour and lack of positioning as the text suggests, he must be played as a #10 only.

However, from what I've seen from Fabregas and considering the type of player Mourinho tends to praise and look for, I'd say it shouldn't be the case. All in all, it only makes me even more eager to see how he's going to be deployed.

[Gilvorak 3,734]

Given your dislike for techno music i'd mute this one.

And scoutnation video again.

The Costa/Cesc connection should yield at least 30 goals this season. Wow.

[Daniel1980 1,425]

That wasn't the understanding I've got from reading it. The article seems to split the blame between multiple people (Guardiola, Barca's board, Tito, Martino, the way Barca's midfield used to work and Fabregas himself). What it blames Fabregas for is he alleged inability to adapt himself to the tactical needs of the team (positioning to play as a sucessor to Xavi or awareness to swap positions with Iniesta on the left) and to play Messi's role as false 9 (which isn't really his fault, it's just about who he is or isn't as a player, he simply doesn't possess the pace or dribbling of Messi, nor is as clinical in his finishing). It also says he builds up his numbers against shitty sides amongst a few other unfair criticisms but I guess it should be expected coming from a Barca fan about Cesc.

In addition, when anyone suggests him in the pivot, they suggests it as a deep-lying playmaker. The point about that role is that you don't need to excel in any defensive aspect but positioning. As long as you can limit passing options and slow down attacking players you're already good to go being average at all the rest. The defensive side of a DLP is mostly tactical. That's why it got me concerned, the article criticizes his tactical awareness heavily. If he displays erratic behaviour and lack of positioning as the text suggests, he must be played as a #10 only.

However, from what I've seen from Fabregas and considering the type of player Mourinho tends to praise and look for, I'd say it shouldn't be the case. All in all, it only makes me even more eager to see how he's going to be deployed.

That article basically suggests that the entire team, coaches, etc, were forced to accommodate Fabregas and that's why their tiki-taka system was failing rather than the simple truth of other teams finding weapon against it, Messi's form dropping, Xavi and Iniesta aging and dropping form, their defence being pathetic, their wingers' wasting numerous chances.

As for Cesc's lack of tactical awareness and erratic behavior,

From barcaforum,

His 2nd half of the season slumps are not acceptable and his future at the club does have to be in question. However, the fact remains that he has once again been thrown into the team without a clear role in order to accommodate Xavi. If we played a midfield of Busi-Cesc-Iniesta in these last couple of months and he underperformed then I'd have no doubts that he'd have to be sold. I know he has played games in midfield and still played poor but the poor form tends to begin once we get to the big games in the 2nd half of the season and try to shove him into the team along with all the other big names. Just when he appears to be getting sure of his role in the team he becomes lost again and when he returns to a normal midfield role he is already in a run of bad form/low confidence. He still should be playing much better but he hasn't been handled well by managers at this club....either play him in midfield with three attackers in front of him or dont play him at all.

Of course his tactical awareness and positioning suffered at Barcelona when he was played on a different position every other game. Give him the stability he had at Arsenal, and he should be fine.

The article's author says Cesc built up his numbers against shitty sides, and while true, he fails to mention that Cesc still created chances against big sides too. It's not Fabregas's fault others wasted those chances.

The assist stat is stupid. He still created numerous chances that other players missed, and that happened every year. Last year he set up Pedro and Xavi about 3 times at the Bernabeu and they didnt score, in other games it was Alexis. This year he put messi through on goal in early that should have made it 2-0 in the 4-3 win but Messi missed. I really cant believe people think you can create the chance and will the player to score it too.

All of this is conveniently forgotten, in order to make the facts fit the narrative. It's an interesting article, but quite biased.

[Chelsea? 892]

Lol fabregas was the reason the tiki taka failed? No wonder Spain did so well in the world cup with fabregas on the bench

[Dion 2,476]

That article basically suggests that the entire team, coaches, etc, were forced to accommodate Fabregas and that's why their tiki-taka system was failing rather than the simple truth of other teams finding weapon against it, Messi's form dropping, Xavi and Iniesta aging and dropping form, their defence being pathetic, their wingers' wasting numerous chances.

Maybe he tried to convey it in that way but to me he's blaming the coaches nevertheless. Unless we're assuming that he owned Barca and gave orders to their coaches, no one in their right mind can blame Cesc because the managers were trying to accommodate him - assuming it to be true. And it was still acknowledged that Barca had problems with their centre-backs, Xavi's aging, tiki-taka vs directness approach, so I don't think it was all that bad - every fan is biased in what concerns his own team.

But my main reason to post that article was to give insight on Barca's perspective on Fabregas (or their fans view at least). I was genuinely curious to know why they were getting rid of Fabregas and I thought that maybe others were too. It just occurred at the same time that he seemed to be convinced that Fabregas is terrible at defending beyond normal fan bias or fan hatred, so I brought that up because I don't particularly agree with. And I think he mentioned what you said about Cesc being played everywhere and never being given the chance to really adapt to the role, even if he didn't give it enough emphasis - of course, because it didn't suit his argument.

[Daniel1980 1,425]

Maybe he tried to convey it in that way but to me he's blaming the coaches nevertheless. Unless we're assuming that he owned Barca and gave orders to their coaches, no one in their right mind can blame Cesc because the managers were trying to accommodate him - assuming it to be true. And it was still acknowledged that Barca had problems with their centre-backs, Xavi's aging, tiki-taka vs directness approach, so I don't think it was all that bad - every fan is biased in what concerns his own team.

But my main reason to post that article was to give insight on Barca's perspective of Fabregas (or their fans view at least). I was genuinely curious to know why they were getting rid of Fabregas and I thought that maybe others were too. It just occurred at the same time that he seemed to be convinced that Fabregas is terrible at defending beyond normal fan bias or fan hatred, so I brought that up because I don't particularly agree with. And I think he mentioned what you said about Cesc being played everywhere and never being given the chance to really adapt to the role, even if he didn't give it enough emphasis - of course, because it didn't suit his argument.

I just think the author loses his credibility when he accentuates one player's faults, barely mentioning and glossing over inconvenient facts that don't suit his argument. I agree with the author that Cesc was needless signing by Barcelona, but the way the author made Cesc the scapegoat for Barcelona's fails is very naive (How Barcelona’s Prodigal Son Became Their Most Damaging Signing in a Generation, lol). It's wishful thinking. Those Barcelona fans who think that now that Cesc is gone Barcelona will go back to dominating are up for a rude awakening. Their system needs changing, but they're too afraid to do it.

[Pizy 17,860]

A part of me hopes we meet Barca at some point in the CL and Cesc scores the winner to eliminate them. I would say I hope we meet them in the final but I doubt they'd get that far since their defense is shit and their tactics have been found out.

Anyways, looking forward to watching him in a Chelsea shirt in a few hours. Expecting a bit of rust, obviously, but it'll be good to see him amongst our players on the pitch.

[Dion 2,476]

I just think the author loses his credibility when he accentuates one player's faults, barely mentioning and glossing over inconvenient facts that don't suit his argument. I agree with the author that Cesc was needless signing by Barcelona, but the way the author made Cesc the scapegoat for Barcelona's fails is very naive (How Barcelona’s Prodigal Son Became Their Most Damaging Signing in a Generation, lol). It's wishful thinking. Those Barcelona fans who think that now that Cesc is gone Barcelona will go back to dominating are up for a rude awakening. Their system needs changing, but they're too afraid to do it.

Yes. His whole point was to blame Fabregas the most he could but if you look behind that, there is some useful information. Still I wonder if that's the widespread feeling towards Cesc from most Barca fans and the board.

[kellzfresh 7,226]

Given your dislike for techno music i'd mute this one.

And scoutnation video again.

Wow and people ask me why I call him fabrepass. His eyes to provide clear chances is top5 best in world football. I was beginning to forget why I hated him at arsenal but admired his abilities as the best ever Epl passer I had seen at that time.

Vision =200%

[The Skipper 20,593]

Yes. His whole point was to blame Fabregas the most he could but if you look behind that, there is some useful information. Still I wonder if that's the widespread feeling towards Cesc from most Barca fans and the board.

On the flip side... One could say that Cesc's tactical awareness is top notch actually - the fact that he managed to play different roles for the team for the team quite effectively you could also say that his versatility = great tactical mind. Of course the author of that article won't mention that though. Too biased.

[Nero 1,793]

[Ollie 4,400]

MOTM today by a mile. As much as i detested him at Arsenal, there's no doubting his ability. He's a class footballer with great vision and execution of his passing. Him and Matic could be a perfect fit.

I'm so excited about seeing our first choice team with Hazard and Oscar with them. *DROOLING*

[Blue Armour 4,162]

Man of the match performance...wasn't just any pre-season game for him

[Special Juan 27,099]

This guy was excellent today, his vision was brilliant.

[Daniel1980 1,425]

Very impressive today, even without considering that it was his first game for us.

After so many years, it was strange to see him play so deep in the first half. But he did very well as a DLP. Great long balls, and he made some decent tackles, actually.

But he played more like the #10 in the second half when he assisted Costa.

[Term-X 7,891]

[zolayes 14,489]

Very impressive today, even without considering that it was his first game for us.

After so many years, it was strange to see him play so deep in the first half. But he did very well as a DLP. Great long balls, and he made some decent tackles, actually.

But he played as the #10 in the second half when he assisted Costa.

always knew he was a great player just playing for the wrong team .. he will be fine now