WNDS

People are giving more weighting to his display in the second-half over that of the first-half because we won the game and he helped us to do so. He was involved in the build-up to both of our goals, created a number of openings for Hazard (two of which involved excellent switches of play), and defended well. Despite a poor showing in the opening 20-30 minutes, he managed to sort himself out for the rest of the game and his overall contribution to both the result and the performance was undoubtedly positive; a solid 7/10 in my opinion (the rating that I would give to the team as a whole). If we had lost, then there would be more focus upon the mistakes he made, as would be the case with almost every one of our players in this game.

I really don't agree with your assertion that Luis 'hasn't shown anything' to justify such a switch; he's been our best/most consistent FB (in terms of his defending) for the last two months. Weirdly though, Azpi has probably been the least impressive of the FBs over that same time-period, and so is probably more under threat of losing his place than Ivanovic currently is. As for Ivanovic, while his defending still leaves something to be desired, he has been making decisive (and positive) contributions to a lot of our more recent matches, and so should remain in the team for now. I DO maintain, however, that if he returns to performing in the way that he often did over November/December/some of January (lapses leading to opposition goals that were not offset by his attacking contributions), he SHOULD be a candidate for being dropped to the bench.

Ramires, who is not a winger, on the right wing against Man City; another example of disrupting the 'first choice' eleven to better suit whatever game-plan we were trying to implement. I just feel that if we didn't find ourselves needing to make such fundamental changes to the starting line-up when facing high-quality opposition, the team would play with a greater coherence. Look at Atletico Madrid, for example; the first-choice line-up against most opposition (Moya, Juanfran, Miranda, Godin, Siqueira/Ansaldi (the weak links), Tiago, Gabi, Koke, Arda Turan, Griezmann, Mandzukic) is also the the line-up they use most frequently against the 'big teams' they face. It's currently the same with Barcelona now that Enrique has abandoned his previous habit of changing the starting line-up pretty much every game, with Bravo, Alves, Pique, Mascherano, Alba, Busquets, Rakitic, Iniesta, Neymar, Messi, Suarez starting all the most important games, whether they are against 'big teams' or not. I don't think that it's entirely a coincidence that these two teams just 'happen' to have been obtaining some of the most impressive results in European football since the turn of the year. Other teams that have been employing their most frequently-used line-ups in the big games (player fitness permitting) are Wolfsburg, PSG, Real Madrid, Lyon etc. The domestic performances of Wolfsburg and Lyon have been particularly notable this season. Ultimately, the strategic and tactical compromises made by most of these teams to deal with specific opposition threats are often devised to work within the already-established framework of a starting 11 that is comfortable playing together. Most of their managers DO NOT tend to make changes that completely rupture the teams' usual systems of play, and so when they are in possession and attacking their moves are slick, quick, and generally effective (even when the attacking approach has been altered somewhat). In contrast with this, Mourinho DOES make such changes when faced with high-quality opposition (e.g. Ramires on the wing, moving our deep-lying playmaker away from his zone of influence etc.) and the team suffers for it. True, we haven't lost a 'big game' so far this season, but we are seeing far too many of them end in draws during which we've only managed a few shots during the entire game and many of our best chances have come from set-pieces. If we continue to put in these types of performances in such games, then we will eventually come across a 'big team' that is in genuinely good form on the day and we WILL lose (possibly quite heavily). And no, this post is not dealing directly with the topic of Willian at Downing Street (it's related to that, but also close to being genuinely off-topic), so I haven't gone back on what I wrote at the end of my last post (yet) .

For me, as I have mentioned 'ad nauseam' by this point , the main goal when selecting our starting 11 should be that they are a stable and tactically flexible unit, capable of adopting (and adapting to) a number of different playing styles. Our squad, very good though it may be, is not yet so brilliant that we can simply seek to impose our game upon any opposition that we face; almost all of us (including the manager) appear to accept this. We therefore often find ourselves forced to compromise against opposition of a certain quality, and although such pragmatism is justified, I would rather that it didn't come at the expense of almost all our attacking coherence. Part of the reason as to why we seem so clueless in attack in such matches appears to be because Mourinho does not trust Oscar against top quality opponents, and so insists upon dropping him for Ramires (or Mikel) whilst also moving Fabregas out of the area of the pitch in which he appears to be at his most effective; this simultaneously neuters our pressing AND our ability to retain possession. If this problem arises as a result of Oscar not being trusted to play the no.10 role in most of the 'big games', then surely a better course of action to take would be to try to find a solution that allows us to field the same starting 11 against opposition teams of any calibre, thereby allowing for a greater degree of inherent understanding to develop between the players selected. This would hopefully render them more capable of playing in a variety of different ways according to what the immediate situation demands. I am NOT advocating that we adopt an approach that ignores the need to rotate and use 'squad' players, I'm merely stating my view that our most frequently used starting 11 should ALSO be the one that we employ in the majority of the 'big games' that we play. I believe that Hazard-Willian-Cuadrado in front of Matic-Fabregas should form this 'genuine first-choice' midfield for the rest of the season. With Matic holding, Fabregas deep in midfield providing creativity, Costa ahead providing the goal-threat, and Hazard/Cuadrado alongside providing spark and unpredictability (as well as our secondary goal/assist threat), what we need most from our CAM is a combination of defensive work-rate, speed, and steady retention of possession that these other players can then use as a platform to work upon. Despite certain notable weaknesses to his game, Willian is the player that I suspect will best fulfill these requirements. You see, I have to disagree with your assertion that Willian is generally as average in possession as Oscar can be. He has greater upper-body strength, better balance, and better close control than Oscar, and so is not only therefore harder to ease off the ball in tight physical situations than Oscar is, but is also more capable of bringing the ball under control quickly to allow himself to make the pass. In the recent game against Everton, Willian was played centrally and was extremely reliable in possession, more so than even an in-form Oscar tends to be. His possession-game suffers when he's playing on the right because he is right-footed, and this does not allow him to play his 'natural' game as easily as he would be able to when playing on the left or through the centre. At Shakhtar he played a similar left-winger/no.10 hybrid role to the one Hazard currently plays for us, and it's much harder for a right-footed player to play in that same style from the right; how many times has Hazard made the switch to the right during one of our games and looked less dangerous than when he's playing from the left? Quite often I'd say. And.... urgh. What a disgustingly long post . Sorry . This is the last that I'm going to contribute to this current topic of discussion (Willian at no.10); I'm done now, I promise .

Very few posters who are advocating playing him at the no.10 position are actually expecting him to become some sort of creative phenomenon there (as The Skipper has already pointed out). We've observed the style of play that we appear to be trying to adopt this season and have concluded that Willian possesses the best combination of attributes for what is demanded of the player playing the AMC position in this current Chelsea side. I believe that playing Willian in the no.10 position is possibly a way to improve the general performance levels of the team as a whole, rather than simply being for the purpose of allowing Willian to improve his own displays. Willian is far more capable of leading the press than Fabregas, he is generally steadier in possession than Oscar, he is faster than both those players (which is useful both when attacking and defending), he is a better dribbler than both of them, and he is also more capable of switching across the AM positions than Oscar and Fabregas are. For these reasons, I see him as being able to offer the team a far greater measure of stability and tactical flexibility if he is deployed at the no.10 position; if we want to play a short-passing-based possession game he will be a good fit, if we take an approach based around counter-attacking his pace is extremely useful, if we decide to park the bus completely his defensive commitment and work-rate are invaluable, if we press in an aggressive manner he is one of the players most effective at doing so. Also, speaking of the AM more generally, I think that it is important for as many of the players in these positions as possible to have enough pace to compensate for the relatively slow Matic-Fabregas pairing behind them; a Hazard-Willian-Cuadrado line-up has this, and it certainly helps that both Willian and Cuadrado possess very good defensive work-rates as well.

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.

Could (and probably should) have been a penalty. It was absolutely ridiculous of Ramires to make that type of off-the-ball challenge in our own box. We were very lucky that his recklessness didn't cost us the draw.

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.

This match simply appeared to confirm a number of things that have become increasingly apparent as the season has progressed: - Our 'game management' in the 'big games' is poor this season. Every time we open the scoring, we drop back into our own half to defend, invite pressure onto ourselves, and make almost no effort to mount attacks of our own. Pretty much every time we do this we concede. Mourinho MUST attempt to find a different approach that makes better use of the players at his disposal, because the current approach just isn't working. - We need a dynamic box-to-box style player (with pace and technique) as our 'number 10' (Willian). Fabregas can't press, is too easily bypassed when we're out of possession, and is unable to dictate our play from so high up the pitch. Oscar offsets some of his dynamism with a relative lack of pace and inconsistent short passing/ball control. Willian appears to be the best fit in that position because he can press, he has pace (both to recover position when the press is bypassed and to initiate counter-attacks), and he's technically sound. - Deploying Ramires in the DM is increasingly ineffective. Mourinho is letting the 'idea of Ramires' obscure the reality. Ramires no longer seems as capable in defense as he used to be (our DM looked flimsy on a number of occasions tonight), and he causes our possession game to suffer massively. We should simply play the Matic-Fabregas pairing whenever possible, and have Willian and Cuadrado use their combination of pace/work-rate/defensive ability to ensure that they are offered sufficient protection.

Far too many posters are far too confident about our chances of winning this tie. True, PSG appear to have weakened since last season, but this is a knock-out tie and one that they will be extremely motivated for. Our own club has demonstrated that it is entirely possible to succeed in the UCL with a sub-par squad that is enduring a difficult season in the domestic league. It should also be noted that despite us having strengthened and improved our squad since last season, we have actually been less than impressive in most of the 'big' games we have played this season (at least in terms of our game-management).

I apologise for being too bluntly dismissive of your previous post, but I maintain that the POTM nomination is far too superficial an argument to be used in Oscar's defence. At least, the way in which you phrased the sentence certainly made it SEEM like you were presenting an argument in defence of the player; it reads as 'he's nominated for POTM, so he's had a far better month than most of you are willing to acknowledge'. The problem is that this POTM nomination is second-hand evidence; many who have watched the majority of our games (and not just the highlights) since the turn of the year can see that Oscar's general play is currently well below the standard required, even with his goals and assists taken into account. You can (of course) disagree with my assertion, but you WILL find yourself engaging in an argument of some kind if you do .

A lazy argument. I don't happen to think he is 'garbage', and yet I DO think that his nomination for player of the month for January is ridiculous. Awful against Spurs, poor (but pleasingly decisive despite this) against Newcastle, excellent against Swansea, poor against Man City, and awful in two of the three cup games he played in as well (Watford and Bradford). Can you really claim that that is genuinely good enough? Surely there are more deserving nominees? It simply looks like those who have put him up for nomination have seen him get a couple of goals and assists on some highlights programme, and so come to the conclusion that Oscar obviously had a great month.

You only have to look through pages and pages (and pages) of this thread to see that almost everyone acknowledges that Willian's productivity is below-par. Your past few posts have read as if you are using Willian's (undeniable) lack of productivity as proof of his supposed lack of technique; I was merely taking issue with your assertion that Willian's technique isn't good enough. I'm also unsure if I agree with your view that Fabregas should play in the CAM role for us. With the way Mourinho currently has the team set up, the 'CAM' is actually much closer to being a box-to-box player than a primary playmaker. In addition to this, the CAM is charged with leading the press, something that Fabregas is not capable of doing effectively (he's too easily bypassed). With the acquisition of Cuadrado, Willian currently appears to be a good candidate for the CAM/box-to-box role because of the tactical flexibility he could bring to the team. He is capable of pressing effectively, he has the pace both to recover position when the press is bypassed and to spring us forward on the counter-attack from deep positions, he is better in possession than Oscar is (due to his superior levels of technique), and he is also capable of switching positions with both Hazard and Cuadrado throughout the game as all three of them can play across the AM positions (unlike Oscar). Yes, it's true that if we get Pogba then the midfield situation changes, but he's going to be (extremely) expensive if we DO get him, and at this moment in time we DON'T have him. We are still in the running for three trophies this season, and there appears to be a good chance of us winning two of them; we might as well focus most of our speculation regarding line-ups/formations/player roles etc. upon the squad of players that are actually at the club's disposal (for now).

Willian is surely one of our top three players (along with Hazard and Fabregas) when it comes down to raw technical ability. I fail to see how shooting off-target indicates otherwise. Yes, shooting does involve it's own form of technique, but it's technique that is pretty much unrelated to a player's ability to keep a ball under control in difficult situations; Iniesta, Xavi, Hazard, Ribery, Arda Turan etc. are all players with tons of raw technique and all of them possess average shooting ability.

I'm sorry, but he just frustrates me so much. When the going gets tough, he can frequently turn in excellent (sometimes match-winning) performances; when he is feeling the pressure he often rises to the occasion. This is why so many fans (and Mourinho himself) hold him in such high regard. However, I maintain that a player as prone to losing concentration as he is should simply not be guaranteed starts every single game, regardless of the qualities he may possess. Many of us have noted with annoyance that the team seems particularly prone to throwing away leads this season, and that problem is going to persist if Mourinho continues to let Ivanovic get away with his lax defensive play. Yesteday's game is a case in point; the team appeared to be attempting to cruise through the game after having taken a one-goal lead, and all it took was for Ivanovic to completely lose Okore (whom he was clearly supposed to be man-marking) in the box and we had lost our lead. Of course, Ivanovic then proceeded to clean up his mess with the game-winning goal, and I DO give him credit for that, but I would rather find myself giving him credit for a game in which he defended well and contributed to a clean-sheet instead.

I'd been meaning to make a post like this for some time, but you've beaten me to it. It's great that you have though, because this is pretty much as complete, detailed, and accurate a summary of Cuadrado's qualities, strengths and weaknesses as anyone could provide. The Cuadrado-Willian comparisons are particularly spot-on; Cuadrado is faster and better at dribbling/crossing/shooting, whilst Willian is stronger and better at defending/ball control/short passing.

And this is relevant how, exactly? De Bruyne is NOT a winger. When he plays wide, he is far less effective and much less productive as well.

He's undeniably a better no.10 than Oscar is, but with the team we have now that's mostly irrelevant. Having De Bruyne, Fabregas, and Matic in the centre of the pitch would be asking for trouble against any side that is half-decent in possession and/or has fast, pacy players in their midfield; when out of possession we would be much too easy to outmaneovre on a consistent basis.

Too many people seem to be expecting him to arrive and nail down a spot in the starting 11 within a few games. I feel this is unlikely to happen, although I would of course be delighted if he IS able to settle in that quickly. I'm also not convinced that if he establishes himself in the team it will be at Willian's expense; I actually think that it could be Oscar who eventually loses out (at least against teams in the top 6-7 places of the league and against top-level CL opponents). After all, who is it out of Oscar and Willian that is dropped more regularly for the 'big games'? Oscar. Why is this so? Because of his lack of pace (no great insight ). As we have begun to see more and more frequently in recent weeks, the Matic-Fabregas pivot (for all it's many positive attributes) IS indeed vulnerable to teams that adopt a high-pressing, fast-paced, direct approach (e.g. Spurs and Liverpool). Whilst Oscar is excellent at a number of off-the-ball actions (e.g. pressing, blocking passing lanes, tackling etc.), and he DOES strike a pretty good balance with the Matic-Fabregas duo behing him, he lacks recovery speed; if our pressing fails, Oscar is often taken out of the game, leaving Fabregas out of position and Matic exposed. If we decide NOT to press, and instead drop deep looking for the counter, again Oscar's relative lack of pace doesn't quite fit the approach. Basically, what I'm trying to say is that I think that we will be seeing the Hazard-Willian-Cuadrado (or Hazard-Cuadrado-Willian) line-up deployed far more regularly than quite a few of you seem to expect. I would anticipate that the Hazard-Oscar-Cuadrado line-up is to be used mainly in the games that we will be expecting to dominate in relatively comfortable fashion, with plenty of possession being held and plenty of chances being created; in these types of games Willian is the AM least suited to our approach (again, no great insight ). Of course, all that I have just written above could be entirely pointless speculation in it's purest (and longest) form, both because I'm not the manager and because there is no guarantee that Cuadrado will work out for us in the long-term. So yeah.... .

Urgh, I hate hearing stats like those.... It always makes it feel as if the opposition are somehow 'due' another win.

I just think that he may fit in with the team's way of playing far better and more naturally than some of those players you have listed. He is more effective in defensive situations than Mata, is more technically gifted and a better passer than Moses/Schurrle/Salah, is faster than Mata and KDB, and is also more capable of handling a physical game than Mata/Salah/(maybe Schurrle) are. Add to this the fact that Lucescu is known for instilling a good degree of tactical discipline into his teams (and players), and I feel that he could be a good all-round fit with our current team as a squad-player. Does he have problems with consistency? Yes, he does, but players who find themselves on the bench almost always do anyway.

There have been no reliable sources stating that we are looking to pay over 20M for Douglas Costa. The impression I've been getting is that we are hoping to get him for around 15-20M. If we move Salah on (now or in the near future) we will be looking to get 7-13M for him; that will cover around half of the Douglas transfer fee. And I simply don't get this 'not all that good' argument that I see being trotted out again and again. Douglas Costa will likely be 5TH CHOICE. Too many people on here seem to think that we will genuinely be able to have a roster full of world-class/near-world-class AMs, and that two of these players are going to be satisfied with spending most of their time on the bench. This will never happen; even BAYERN and REAL have been unable to make such a situation work. Ideally, that 5th AM spot could be occupied by one of our youth players, but this seems unlikely to happen at the moment. This is possibly because Mourinho doesn't trust them yet, and/or possibly because Mourinho feels that the lack of meaningful game-time that they will receive as 5th choice will stall their potential development. Either way, we may soon find ourselves one AM short, and we will need to bring in a replacement (for Salah) who is actually trusted enough by Mourinho to fulfil the squad role that they have been brought in to play, and so does not spend all of their time either on the bench or out of the squad completely.

Personally, I don't see much wrong with 'the other Costa' if he's going to be acting as the 5th AM. He has the technique, passing, speed, and occasional penchant for the spectacular that should enable him to be useful to us in such a squad role. I don't think that we are going to be able to find many other wingers of his quality who are willing (at least initially) to play almost exclusively from the bench.

Whilst it is true that we need a squad player who is capable of being a genuine like-for-like replacement for Matic, I'm not convinced that Sissoko would be the right fit. He could replace either Mikel or Ramires should we end up moving one of them on in the summer, however. Edit: I quite like the look of Gonalons at Lyon; I think he could serve us well as the 'Matic back-up' in the squad.

As others have said, we may still be trying to get Douglas Costa as well. Shakhtar's CEO has apparently said that negotiations with us are ongoing, and that the situation should be resolved (one way or another) within the next 2-3 days.