The Skipper

"Oscar is young"... Oscar is 24 later this year and is still one of the most inconsistent players you'll see despite playing week in week out. Look at someone like Zouma for example, far younger than Oscar but looks a lot more mature than him, despite being 3 years younger. This "Oscar is young" excuse is getting really tiresome.

As discussed in the Fabregas thread, Fabregas actually covers the most distance in this team so the stamina and work rate issue is pretty void. My main point however is that our number 10 wouldn't even need to run around or press as much if he had Koke and Matic behind him...

If Koke was next to Matic Cesc would be allowed to play as a more natural number 10 of course...

He doesn't have KDB's creativity either tbh. He isn't a number 10.

Fabregas will usually influence a big game with an assist even if he doesn't play too well. Oscar on the other is 99% non existent in them and adds nothing.

Didn't watch the game but not surprised at all tbh.

I read it in an article recently, it's from Opta: http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/dec/31/chelsea-cesc-fabregas-premier-league-statistics-manchester-united

Very easily lol, we're still very well off financially you know, even if the club are being pragmatic with our transfer dealings.

That's weird because he consistently clocks up one of the most kilometres per game in the team.

Robben definitely does his bit defensively though. Outside the final third he is nowhere near as selfish. It's not just selfishness that makes Robben more effective though. Robben is definitely the better finisher, by quite some bit too. Eden is the better dribbler though.

Drogba retires and we bring in Zlatan for a year. Now that would be fantastic.

Whilst I have my reservations... He is a CFC player now so he'll get my full support. It's an alright signing considering Schurrle and Salah are seemingly leaving us. We've got Hazard, Oscar, Willian and Cuadrado now, that's pretty solid. If we can then promote someone like Boga as the 5th AM (which probably won't happen anyway) I'd be very happy but we'll see. Welcome to CFC, Juan.

Ideally we sell Schurrle and Salah, bring in an established winger like Cuadrado and upgrade Boga to the first team squad fully to take Salah's place and he can then work his way up from there. Won't happen though.

Wow. Fully forgot pal. I don't think I am tbh! Very busy day tomorrow, don't think I can fit in a match preview.

I'll always like Andre, he's been a bit unlucky tbh. He'll do very well at Wolfsburg, I'm sure.

He's nowhere near as important as those you've mentioned. Oscar is actually a pretty good finisher so naturally he'll get goals, he's surrounded by world class players so naturally he'll get assists, but the biggest things he brings to the team can easily be replaced IMO simply by putting someone like Ramires next to Matic in the pivot and pushing Fabregas up. He's not excellent in the build up play or the final ball either, he's very hot and cold in that matter (more often cold). I'm not having this notion that he's as important as Fabregas, Hazard, JT or Costa. When was the last time Oscar seriously influenced a big game as well please? The only game that sticks out is his CL debut against Juventus. Oscar is a definitely a good player to have around but he's not one of our star players and never will be. People might think I'm being harsh but I've honestly seen minimal progression and improvement over the last 3 seasons in Oscar, which bitterly disappoints me. Ask lionsden, I used to be one of Oscar's biggest defendants but honestly he just hasn't progressed enough and it just doesn't look like he's going to be that special player I thought he might be. My issue with Oscar isn't that he's a bad player. He's pretty good. He'll develop into a good player as well. My issue simply put is that he will never be an elite, world class number 10. We can always do better in that position if he remains the starter IMO. As I said before however... He's more than welcome to prove me wrong though.

Simply put - his general contribution to the team can easily be replaced by someone like Ramires or Willian. Never could you say the same about Hazard.

Nope. Just because Torres is a confidence player doesn't mean every striker is.

Some players like? Who in the CFC team is only flashy and elegant but doesn't get criticised? I hope you're not talking about Eden because's Eden's is streets ahead of Oscar. You can't justify this or how good Oscar is by targeting other players in the team sorry...It says a lot that if Oscar got suspended or injured for some time that we wouldn't really miss him at all.

He's not terrible but you cannot convince or tell me Cahill is a proactive defender whatsoever because he is not. We're not talking about how good he is.

I would agree with you on pace being the difference if Cahill was a proactive defender, but we all know he's not. He's not confident enough in his ability (or lack of ability) to intercept the ball proactively. He doesn't have it in his game, whereas Zouma does. There difference really is more pronounced than just pace.

It's a real shame. Feel like it's holding the team back a bit.

What you're describing is positioning and that is definitely a side to reading the game, but that is honed with experience mostly. The other part is anticipation, and Zouma is streets ahead of Cahill in that aspect already. It's also a lot harder to learn - in most cases you either have it or you don't. Anticipation is the more difficult part of reading the game and it's something Cahill isn't good at. I would hardly say making two errors is a fair few. Apart from those he had a very solid game.

When our regular back four is Luis - Terry - Zouma - Azpi, you'll see that our possession game will massively improve. Pace (apart from JT but he makes up for that with excellent positioning), anticipation and high pressing from the back.