Ramires

[WNDS 502]

people have got to be fucking kidding me. after brilliant performances against pool and city, he had one average one yesterday and people are at his throat again. whats worse is that he did do his job. his workrate was brilliant as usual. defensively he was quite good. psg had nothing in the first half except for when costa and cesc kept losing the ball continously in dangerous positions. psg had nothing through the center of the mid cos we were solid there. it was JT and GC's lack of handling of psg's aerial prowess that cost us a win.

here are the stats for yesterday

ramires had 3 tackles, 3 clearances, 1 blocked shot, 50 passes (86%), 0 key passes

matic had 3 tackles, 1 clearance, 1 blocked shot, 85 passes (93%), 0 key passes

cesc had 2 tackles,0 clearances, 0 blocked shot, 51 passes (80%), 0 key passes.

we were set up to not lose. he was in the team to give us defensive stability and he did. people saying that all he can do is run should look at the way we were set up and what was expected off us.

Most people are pissed off with Ramires for almost costing us the draw with his entirely pointless off-the-ball challenge on Pastore. Making such a challenge in the box at such a critical time in the game is not a particularly effective way of 'providing defensive stability'.

It also doesn't help his case when he puts in such a limited, average display in general; I though his defensive positioning was poor on numerous occasions, and his passing was slow and almost all sideways or backwards. If he is going to feature in the starting 11 for the 'big games' then he has got to provide more than he did last night, because otherwise he is unable to offset the limitations he imposes upon our game when we are in possession.

[Tomo 21,681]

Ramires has regressed under Mourinho, before Mourinho Ramires was one of our better players even though he might have been frustrating at times he still was good at what he did

Our team has vastly improved in quality that's why he is not one of the better players anymore.

[stroey 2,525]

Our team has vastly improved in quality that's why he is not one of the better players anymore.

Agree, and he's now better for the team because he only needs to do where he is good at: interceptions, tackles, cover others, recovering balls and give it to Hazard/Cesc/Matic, rush forward when he's space, finish chances.

Last year he tried too much because we had no creativity and clear playmaker, so he tried to be that creative player from deep which he isn't.

[didierforever 7,349]

You're right that they didn't manage to create many attacks through our middle, partly down to Ramires playing there instead of Cesc but I think it was largely because they lacked quality there and didn't have anyone to play between the lines.

I have to disagree with your second point. It was quite clear that PSG had the beating of us in the air very early on (and that they were doing little through the middle) but Jose still refused to press or double up on their wingers. Instead he invited crosses by getting our FBs to drop into the box and our widemen to defend the wings alone. The outcome was inevitable. Terry and Cahill weren't having their best games but there was little they could do to change things. Mourinho, however, could have made tactical changes to minimise the problem but didn't (he arguably aggravated the situation) and so he must shoulder a bigger part of the blame IMO.

i totally agree. but i think that one is on jose (like you have said), not on rambo. the fact that van der weil, who should have been having nightmares cos of hazard was instead one of psg's best outlets in attack tells us the shortcomings of our tactics. VDW got behind our defence time and again and hazard simply could not cope with him. jose should shoulder the blame for it but people ridiculing rambo for it are way out of line.

[didierforever 7,349]

Most people are pissed off with Ramires for almost costing us the draw with his entirely pointless off-the-ball challenge on Pastore. Making such a challenge in the box at such a critical time in the game is not a particularly effective way of 'providing defensive stability'.

It also doesn't help his case when he puts in such a limited, average display in general; I though his defensive positioning was poor on numerous occasions, and his passing was slow and almost all sideways or backwards. If he is going to feature in the starting 11 for the 'big games' then he has got to provide more than he did last night, because otherwise he is unable to offset the limitations he imposes upon our game when we are in possession.

if that was the case, i would not have said anything, but unfortunately reading the comments, people have wanted to know why he is in the team, they have said that he has regressed under mourinho and a lot of other nonsense.

tell me a single oppurtunity that psg had through our mid? the only ones i can remember is when costa/cesc lost the ball. he is in the team for a particular thing, which is defensive stability. his passing is not his strong suit and i would rather hope that he passes the ball sideways to matic/cesc rather than try a hollywood pass and lose the ball. against big teams like psg (unbeaten at home all season and even beat barca 3-2 there), having a player like rambo inspite of his very apparent limitations is still a MUST.

[Jase 43,479]

Agree, and he's now better for the team because he only needs to do where he is good at: interceptions, tackles, cover others, recovering balls and give it to Hazard/Cesc/Matic, rush forward when he's space, finish chances.

Last year he tried too much because we had no creativity and clear playmaker, so he tried to be that creative player from deep which he isn't.

Well, I wouldn't blame him for trying to be creative last season. Clearly, he was acting under the instructions of Mourinho.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

Ramires - Fabregas at pivot

'We are dooomed'

'We will lose'

'We are f***ed'

Where is the optimism of 'My Ramires is back' people?

It seems Ramires has been written off already......

[Tomo 21,681]

Ramires - Fabregas at pivot

'We are dooomed'

'We will lose'

'We are f***ed'

Where is the optimism of 'My Ramires is back' people?

It seems Ramires has been written off already......

It's not Ramires himself that's the worry, its that pivot and understandably, it's a defensive disaster that even Bradford ruthlessly exploited.

[stroey 2,525]

Ramires - Fabregas at pivot

'We are dooomed'

'We will lose'

'We are f***ed'

Where is the optimism of 'My Ramires is back' people?

It seems Ramires has been written off already......

It's not about Ramires, he's the perfect partner for a CDM (Matic/Mikel). He's a box to box player with great pace, strength, great abilities to support the defense and attack.

It's more about Cesc in the pivot, we had Matic-Cesc pivot and got thrashed by 5-3. So can you imagine what will helpen to a Rami-Cesc pivot?

We need a solid CDM in this game plus Rami supporting him and Cesc, with Cesc having more freedom to create. That's the point.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

It's not Ramires himself that's the worry, its that pivot and understandably, it's a defensive disaster that even Bradford ruthlessly exploited.

It's not about Ramires, he's the perfect partner for a CDM (Matic/Mikel). He's a box to box player with great pace, strength, great abilities to support the defense and attack.

It's more about Cesc in the pivot, we had Matic-Cesc pivot and got thrashed by 5-3. So can you imagine what will helpen to a Rami-Cesc pivot?

We need a solid CDM in this game plus Rami supporting him and Cesc, with Cesc having more freedom to create. That's the point.

Yes, against Spurs of course I prefer 433. We're not convinced at all using 4231 against team with speed and have a decent counter attack.

But against small clubs it is not a problem imo. Shouldn't had to freaked out already.

[LAB 1,030]

Ramires was great tonight. Unlucky with the post.

[bethos1 802]

Ramires was great tonight. Unlucky with the post.

Idd, he had a really good game.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

Ramires was great tonight. Unlucky with the post.

The real big chance was the free header he missed. He really should have scored that. Apart from that, one of his best performances of the season.

[Laugh1ngMan 393]

The fact he just gave one of the best right wing performances of the season says alot to be honest. Hope cuadrado wll be able to deliver something similar.

Today he made our counterattack look so much more dangerous simply because he ran into the space which is something we lack from alot of our forward players bar Costa.

Therefore when we plan to play on the counter we can't play Willian at RW imo, we need runners and Willan waits for the ball too much just like Hazard which often just kills the momentum (+the fact

Ramires is actually quit good at finishing off chances)

[Sheva. 5,373]

The fact he just gave one of the best right wing performances of the season says alot to be honest. Hope cuadrado wll be able to deliver something similar.

Today he made our counterattack look so much more dangerous simply because he ran into the space which is something we lack from alot of our forward players bar Costa.

Therefore when we plan to play on the counter we can't play Willian at RW imo, we need runners and Willan waits for the ball too much just like Hazard which often just kills the momentum (+the fact

Ramires is actually quit good at finishing off chances)

Great points made. Willian kills counters because he's always standing centrally, and when he runs with the ball he needs at least 10 seconds to make a decision.

Ramires stays in his position and stretches the defence.

[Laugh1ngMan 393]

Also why we will miss Schurrlle since he would do the same attacking wise. Havent seen enough of cuadrado just yet but from the things i did see i was not overly impressed yet.

[lionsden 4,689]

His performance tonight came as a pleasant surprise to me tbh as he's always had terrible games on the right. It was quite refreshing.

[WNDS 502]

An excellent performance, reminiscent of the displays he used to provide us with quite regularly during the 2011/12 season.