Styles

The most overrated player in the squad by a country mile. He only ever looks comfortable when he has massive protection/we're parking the bus and camped inside our own box. He's just not good enough defensively or with the ball at his feet. I'm hoping either Ivanovic moves inside eventually or Zouma gets a chance.

He runs away from players; he backs off so much I'm surprised he hasn't ended up in the stands at some point. So average it's painful.

Cahill is terrible. There, I said it.

The mere suggestion that playing Luis would be a risk is mind-blowing to me.

Choosing to make the run that Matic did in the image above rather than cover the area where Naismith (who he was originally tracking) is in and in which McGeady eventually runs into, has absolutely nothing to do with tactics or anyone. It's just a poor decision. If he has a "pressing instinct" then the run should have been towards the ball where he would have been able to fill the gap and stop the goal, not away from it. I can forgive mistakes from being too aggressive in pressing, but more often so far this season, the mistakes from Matic has been that he has been too eager to cover and hence being too late to press. Again, I'm sounding too harsh on Matic, but that's only because we're analyzing his mistakes alone. On a lot of occasions his pressing has been excellent, but it's the mistakes we remember. I'm not trying to absolve Matic of any wrong-doing because he certainly has his faults/limitations as a player. The way I see the mistake you've highlighted there is: Ramires is pressing the ball so Matic tries to cut out McGeady's seemingly only available passing option. That obviously isn't the smartest idea considering Azpilicueta and Terry have that passing lane covered. Ivanovic also makes the same mistake that Matic does - he is distracted by Lukaku's run despite Cahill being best placed to deal with a through-ball - and that allows Naismith to ghost in and score easily. It's a bad mistake on Matic's part but the initial press is beaten easily, he has gambled* and the players behind him have made mistakes too, that was a collective breakdown and not down to Matic on his own. *Pressing isn't just about pressing the ball, it also means blocking any passing lanes and it's high risk, high reward. Matic is one of the few players in the team that is consistent at doing that. If the people alongside him and behind him were on the same wavelength we wouldn't be so exposed all the time. Fair enough, and Azpi at CB doesn't sound that crazy. Here's the Neville analysis by the way: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjP9KVWA91U

That's the kind of player Matic is: he presses relentlessly and occasionally he willbe too ambitious and get caught out. But aren't the tactics supposed to be to press as a team? How can we criticise one of the players built for the style of play and who actually does what it is asked of him? Why is the space he vacates not filled? Why don't the defenders push up and squeeze the opposition? It's certainly not a failure because we're winning but I don't see some of these problems going away.

Thing is I don't think Matic has the quality to deal with it on his own, hence the need for Ramires. We got the equaliser before half-time but Mourinho still brought Ramires on and the second half was INFINITELY better than the first. You're right, Matic's passing was off but then it was off quite a bit last season as well and people didn't criticise him then. He plays risky passes, far more than most DMs, and I don't see that changing any time soon. His biggest problem right now is that he's being asked to cover waaaaaay too much ground, not an 85% pass rate.

I wouldn't agree that Matic has been weak defensively; I think Matic and Fabregas have been poor for different reasons and that the latter has had a negative impact on the former. It's been more than 25 minutes. Matic's mistakes are because of two reasons: he presses relentlessly expecting his teammates to do the same but 1) the CBs don't push up and 2) Fabregas is weak defensively. Matic and Fabregas both need Ramires...even against the likes of Swansea at home in my honest opinion.

Barbara, I think you're too emotionally invested in Fabregas and read far too much into any criticism. They MNF crew did go on to praise Costa for his hattrick and our ability to bounce back from a bad start, but that doesn't mean there wasn't some worrying things on display. Fabregas is weak defensively -I think that much is clear for me at this point - but as long as we carry on overwhelming the weaker sides it is something everybody can live with. And Mourinho is surely too smart to ever play him in a two man midfield against decent opposition so there's nothing to worry about really. But I do think Matic's poor start to the season can also be partly attributed to an increased workload because of a partner that is significantly weaker defensively than his previous partners (Luis, Ramires, Mikel, Lampard etc) and a CB duo that are too slow and do not push up to squeeze the opposition leaving Matic with too much ground to cover.

I saw that too, pretty conclusive I thought. Hopefully the video is uploaded to youtube.

I thought he was better too personally (not much in it) but they were both excellent and a great pairing. There's this brilliant clip on youtube which shows just why Carvalho was important for JT. Look at how slow JT is on the second replay, painfully slow would be an understatement still quicker than Fabregas tho, amirite Skip / Barbara?

Change the topic

I'm going to stop speaking about these players' salaries now to be honest, I'm becoming a bit envious. To think the average annual salary in Britain right now is 26k.

Even if it isn't exactly 100k p/w I don't think it would be too far off that. I think it's safe to assume he wasn't on top dollar at Lille so his first contract at Chelsea would have been great for him personally - the most lucrative (by far) of his short career up to that point - whilst not being a mega-deal. I really think Hazard's reported salary was distorted by butthurt Man Utd/Man City representatives. There's no way he came here from France aged 21 and was given 180k p/w or whatever was reported.

I doubt Costa even cares what anybody else is earning; his current contract is almost certainly the most lucrative deal of his career and by some distance too I would have thought. Fabregas probably was on a similar deal at Barcelona and the lack of real options available to him this summer perhaps helped the club negotiate a sensible deal.

I really believe Christensen could have a similar kind of impact to Varane in a year or two. He is a quality defender and is brilliant on the ball, if he can just improve his physical condition then we have a potential world-class talent on our hands. Christensen and Zouma could potentially be our long-term pairing. They're only a year apart in age.

Varane had a more mature game that allowed him to break through almost seamlessly. Zouma is all raw potential at this point; he has some amazing physical attributes but based on pre-season he's not close to being the finished product that Varane was at a similar age. And that's fine, he's only 19 and has plenty of time ahead of him. I'm looking forward to seeing him against Bolton if things go to plan.

Fabregas' salary is reportedly 156k p/w; there's no way he's on 250k, I doubt any Chelsea player is within 60-70k of that figure (now that Torres is gone).

I know I'm not making much sense right now (and I didn't say Costa wasn't influential, to be fair) but seriously tho, Hazard was absolutely amazing.

Hazard. Costa scored a hattrick but still wasn't as influential as Hazard if that even makes sense. Hazard was that good.

Proof, if ever needed, that Hazard doesn't have to score or assist to have a monster game.

Spent so much time debating I forgot to add Costa and Hazard :worship:

I think we would have a quality player, world-class even, if Fabregas was given less defensive responsibility and allowed to play as a CM with little to no defensive responsibility.

More license to roam and less defensive duties; he is by far the most attacking of the midfield 3.

Fabregas the attacking midfielder >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Fabregas the central midfielder People think I hate the guy.