Daniel1980

Personally, I would take anything Gazzetta writes with a big grain of salt. Their credibility has gotten worse with every year. They rarely get anything right, even when it concerns Italian clubs.

I'm not so sure about it. I'm sure he'd do a better job than Oscar as the CAM, but I'm not sure he'd be any better than he is on the wing for the club. To be a great CAM a player needs to have superior passing skills and vision--reading the game, awareness of his surroundings and the ability to make himself available when he doesn't have the ball--which is not that easy, because it's easier to surround the CAM than a winger. Dribbling past defenders and DMs is harder in the centre, so it's not a solution. I'm not at all sure that he'd create more chances playing as the 10. Yes, Eden would touch the ball more, but playing in the centre doesn't necessarily equal creating more chances. He's very good on the wing. The fact that he created so many chances playing on the wing demonstrates that he's on the right position. He just needs to be more involved and make more runs.

David Silva was even shittier in the WC. Doesn't mean he isn't a world class player. We shouldn't judge a player based on his performance for his NT. If Hazard continues to be so passive playing for the club, then we really have a reason to be worried. That being said, Eden does lack killer instinct.

Cesc and Costa aren't all that older than the rest of them. Costa may not look like it, but he's actually a bit younger than Willian and only about 2.5 years older than Hazard. Cesc is only 1 year older than Willian.

Had to check the thread's title to make sure it's Hazard's thread.

Yeah, I'm sure Oscar didn't complain; it's Parreira's words that sound comical, unless Oscar actually prefers playing as a defensive midfielder.

I've seen somewhere that our preseason training starts on July 9. Even if the date is slightly off, it will definitely start next week.

So he likes playing as a defensive midfielder, but Jose forces him to play at the 10?

Not overrated, yes, but definitely overhyped and overpriced. I mean we bought Hazard for £32million and Fabregas for £27million(all right, here we lucked out because of Barcelona's board's stupidity, but still). Monaco wants £71 million for James. Is he better than Hazard and Fabregas put together? Of course not. Frankly, we're stacked in talented AMs. We don't need James. And we won't get him. He's destined for Madrid, to shine for a few years before Madrid get rid of him like of Ozil and Di Maria and get a shiny new toy. Maybe then we'll get him--if he lives up to the hype.

James isn't overrated. He's a great footballer and I like the kid, but it's true that he's overhyped and overpriced. This hype is premature, IMO.

For some reason, all this James hype reminds me of Javier Pastore hype. He was about the same age as James when everyone started hyping him like crazy. Not saying James isn't a great footballer for his age--he's clearly more talented than Pastore--but all this insane hype and pricetag seems rather premature. He's obviously very talented, but he never played in a strong league and against truly strong teams yet. Anyway, he's destined to go to Madrid.

Who needs Pogba and Vidal when we have Oscar? 4-3-3 with Matic-Fabregas-Oscar or maybe even 4-2-3-1 with Matic and Oscar in the pivot and Fabregas as 10. Oscar and Fabregas can switch depending on the team we're against.

Yep. And considering he'll get amazing service from the likes of Hazard and Fabregas, I expect no less.

If he improves his shot accuracy, he'll be extremely dangerous.

I think knowing how many missed chances he had in those games would be helpful. These kinds of stats might not tell the full story. If he had a lot of chances and missed them all bar 1, then it might mean something. I remember only the last game in La Liga against Barcelona and he got injured within the first 15 minutes and got subbed.

Ideally it would be great if we signed a B2B midfielder to compliment Matic and Fabregas, but I'm not sure it's a priority for Jose. If Oscar isn't leaving, our midfield might be some variation of Matic-Fabregas-Oscar, with Oscar tracking back and helping out. If it proves to be too lightweight, Ramires/Tiago will step in.

No, not mutually exclusive at all. Fabregas can play as a CM in midfield and he can play as an AM a bit further up the pitch. But I don't think he's the type of CM that is most effective as part of the pivot. He was the most productive for Arsenal when he played a more advanced role. If he plays in the pivot, he will have much more responsibility when it comes to defending and tracking back. A CM in the pivot can't focus only on creating/attacking. He can't go forward too much. It's a more restricted position when it comes to creating than that of an AM. Having Fabregas in the pivot might potentially only expose his weaknesses while taking his time and productivity from what he does best: create and provide the final ball. I'm not saying he won't work in the pivot--he might; I doubt he will be shit there--but I hope Jose won't repeat Barcelona's mistake and stick him into a position that is not ideal for him. Though playing in the pivot still fits him more than some roles Cesc had to play at Barcelona. In the end, it's all just speculation. I wish we knew for certain what position Jose bought Cesc for. I'm not at all sure that he intends to play him in the pivot. Who knows, maybe Jose's going to change the formation this season.

I partly agree. I have my doubts about playing Cesc in the pivot, too. For several reasons: 1) he isn't a patient, "I'll-stay-here-in-the-midfield-while-you-guys-go-attack" kind of player. He'll want to go forward and that will potentially expose us and put more pressure on Matic; 2) it might be a waste of his talent. I do think he might work out in the pivot, because he certainly has the experience, ability and vision to be a pass distributor, a deep-lying playmaker, and he isn't completely hopeless in defence, and I think he'll be a much better CM for us than he ever was for Barcelona due to us playing a more direct football, but playing him away from the final third is counterproductive when he has an immense ability to provide the final ball. Seriously, Fabregas is one of the best players in the world when it comes to providing lethal through balls. He must be played in a more advanced position than the pivot to get the best out of him. Saddling a player that has the best vision and passing ability in the team with major defensive work--which is far from being his main strength--could be a massive waste of his talent. As for his inconsistency in the second half of the season at Barcelona, it's true, and this obviously might be a cause for some concern, but not necessarily. Different team, different league--and hopefully a much healthier work environment. From what I remember, his dip in form at Arsenal has never been as drastic as at Barcelona and had more to do with injuries than anything else. Fabregas's results at Barcelona--both positive and negative--must be taken into account, but I'm not sure how truly they reflect on what kind of player he is. He always seemed like a foreign body in the tiki-taka machine and the work environment was anything but healthy and became downright poisonous towards the end of the season. These posts from barcelona fans on Barcaforum pretty much sum up Fabregas's experience at Barcelona: Considering all of this, he's been actually amazingly consistent. Despite not suiting the team's style and being played out of position, despite the massive criticism for not being Xavi 2.0, despite the lack of continuity and the lack of a fixed role in the squad, he was consistently one of their best ball providers(in fact, every season at Barcelona he was directly involved in 17-22 goals only in La Liga), and he's consistently one of the best through-ball players in Europe for years. That's some amazing consistency, actually. So out of all the players we have been linked with, Fabregas is the one that worries me the least. We can be sure that even if he doesn't fit well in our team(unlikely) and plays like shit(very unlikely), he'll still have 15+ goals+assists a season while providing 20+ through balls--and that's realistically the worst-case scenario with him. The best-case scenario, In other barcelona fans' words: After all the shit in Barcelona, I think he'll be more motivated than ever.

Yep. He will be probably on the bench most of the time. Can't see him outperforming and benching Real's main midfielders. He isn't more creative than them and is bad at defending.

Well, Torres clearly thinks so: “I wish he could have joined us at Chelsea a couple of years earlier. He is a blessing for strikers; always looking to find that final, key pass. He's the type of player Chelsea don't have.” So obviously we can expect 30+ goals from Torres next season.

Speaking of through-balls, Cesc is still topping the Premier League through-ball chart for last 5 years despite leaving in 2011, which is frankly crazy. He made more through balls in two seasons than other PL playmakers in five. 1) Cesc Fabregas – 64 through-balls in 52 games for Arsenal 2) David Silva – Manchester City – 62 through-balls in 130 games 3) Wayne Rooney – Manchester United – 48 through-balls in 150 games 4) Samir Nasri – Manchester City – 45 through-balls in 149 games 5) Frank Lampard – Chelsea – 41 through-balls in 145 games Top 20 players who made the most accurate through balls last season in Top 5 European leagues: 1 Cesc Fabregas 0.7 (24 in total) 2 David Silva 0.6 (16) 3 Isco 0.5 (16) 4 Luis Suárez 0.5 (16) 5 Roberto Firmino 0.5 (16) 6 Henrikh Mkhita... 0.5 (14) 7 Francesco Totti 0.4 (11) 8 Jack Wilshere 0.4 (10) 9 Andrea Pirlo 0.4 (12) 10 Ander Herrera 0.4 (13) 11 Philippe Coutinho 0.4 12 Aaron Ramsey 0.4 13 Mesut Özil 0.4 14 Reyes 0.4 15 Andrés Iniesta 0.4 16 Johan Cavalli 0.4 17 Yohan Cabaye 0.4 18 Xavi 0.4 19 Lionel Messi 0.4 20 Antonio Cassano 0.4 The chart makes it obvious that, unlike City, Liverpool and Arsenal, last season we didn't have anyone in the team good at through balls and now we got the very best out there. Very excited to see Cesc-Eden-Costa in the final third.

Meh. We didn't need him, so whatever. Have a feeling he'll flop at Real.

I don't think Barcelona ruined him. I've watched quite a few of Barcelona's games over the past few years, and he's still a master at through balls, his vision and passing are still as great, and defensively he's actually not as bad as some people think. Certainly better than Mata. He does quite a bit of clearances.Barcelona's tiki-taka limited him and he somewhat stopped doing riskier passes, but it's not really surprising. At Barcelona losing possession is the worst kind of sin. For the same reason, Sanchez stopped dribbling so much at Barcelona as he did in Serie A and does for Chile. As for his lack of speed, I'm actually glad he never depended on his speed. It means that even when he gets older, his form won't change much--certainly not as drastically as the form of the players who depend on their pace. Players like Pirlo and Fabregas don't need blistering pace. Their vision and passing are their main strengths and those don't become worse with age. I'm glad we got Cesc, though I used to hate him just a few years ago. Players with world class vision are very rare. That kind of vision can't be taught, you either have it or you don't.

Unlikely to happen because of the Financial Fair Play. Anzhi and other rich Russian clubs are already in trouble as it is.

Yes, the team dynamics next season will be no doubt different, with us finally getting a proper CF(hopefully) and Cesc taking part of the creative responsibility off Eden. It's obvious that Eden will no longer be "go to" option for everyone and won't be running the show on his own. That's why I hope that rather than affect him negatively, our new signings will have a positive effect on Hazard's consistency. It should. Playing with other talented players should only improve him, now that he has Costa to benefit from his passes and Cesc to provide him passes to score. It should work.