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What do you guys think on him in midfield? I still think his future is at CB but he has improved in a midfield role. However I still find it interesting people see him as a Fabregas/Jorginho player..to me he’s like a destroyer in midfield, strong, aggressive. Still good defensively. One interesting note is that a lot of people point to his Wales performances as why he should play in midfield. Although he’s had some top performances for them he has also had 1-2 weak performances for Wales that got brushed over. Might seem very harsh to bring it up against a young player but it also ties in that for me, every time I see him at CB, I think he plays very well. In midfield, sometimes he doesn’t. But keeping an open mind. He’ll probably flitter between both for the time being, especially under Sarri as he not only seems him as a DM but also as a CM on top of CB.

Interestingly he played CM tonight for Wigan in FA Cup vs West Brom. Top performance there as well apparently, Wigan fans are literally in love with him. little clip from the game:

I don’t believe he’s ever played as an 8 in his career, or at least since he’s blown up at Lyon. While I’m sure he could do it there not sure where it came from, seemed to start when he was linked with Liverpool and they assumed him as a a Coutinho replacement in midfield. He has played as RW for France.

He has had a relatively quiet month or so but appears to be back to his best last three games.

Even if they go in he’s still not good enough, but them not going in just exemplifies that he performs like this all the time, and him having a ‘good game’ is when he happens to pop up with an assist or goal.

18/19 PL LBs Crosses Andrew Robertson : 8/53 (13%) Benjamin Mendy : 11/47 (18%) Ben Davies : 7/32 (17%) Marcos Alonso : 4/58 (6%) Sead Kolasinac : 5/18 (27%) Luke Shaw : 8/34 (23%)

I’ve said before but imo..people get too fixated on him playing as a CM. Having said that I agree with above posters, I like how he has improved parts of his game that mean in long term future he could be a CM. His energy and tenacity is better, his shooting technique and willingness to shoot has improved. However his stand out skill is still his dribbling. He’s an excellent dribbler, I agree that he is the second best in our team at dribbling, after Hazard. He can do it in the middle of the pitch or at close spaces inside the box or on the wing (which for example someone like Barkley couldn’t, the latter). He’s the type of player that, wherever he plays (as in, in whichever league) he’d be top of dribbling charts and most fouled charts. These types of players are usually wingers. It is to me, no surprise Sarri uses him there. There’s not many players like RLC around but if I was to compare him to someone it would be Julian Draxler, another tall player but in essence his excellent dribbling means he’s used as a winger/AM. Draxler is probably a better passer and shooter, while RLC is stronger. Both *can* play in CM but are equally if not more adept on the wing or in advanced positions. RLC’s best ‘plays’ still usually come in advanced positions, where you’d expect an AM or winger to be. He could still develop as a CM, but he could also be a more advanced player, I’m kind of open to both.

I have to agree. He would still not be good enough at wingback and suffers from the same strengths and weaknesses we are all aware of. His performances wouldn’t change at wingback. What would change, and the reason he is more suited to wingback, is because, as I’ve said before, he does have a strength of positioning himself in the box for key moments in a match. Even if the rest of his game is horrible in a match he can do that and end up with a goal or assist. He can do this less as a normal full back. Under Conte he literally had a free role. Under Sarri if Azpi overlaps Alonso stays back outside the box. As much as I don’t rate the guy, as a wingback or full back, his record at wingback for combined g+a can’t be ignored. I personally think his goals output (his assist output tbh at wingback is poor, 2-3 assist per season under Conte) is boosted via free kicks and the fact the guy literally had no competition for two years. I do wonder if other players with a semblance of attacking threat would get similar g+a output if they played as a wingback for two years, every single game. For instance Matt Doherty is matching Alonso-as-a-wingback numbers this season. Alas I’m kind of just wittering on... tldr: imo Alonso is not good enough at wingback or full back. But being at wingback does suit what he’s good at more.

He is fantastic and despite only really coming into the fore this time last year for Liverpool, should’ve got in the PFA team of the year. Great two way full back. Having said that I don’t think anyone predicted his rise from watching him at Hull.

I don’t think I’m harsh in saying he was just average yesterday. Well, poor first half and average, bare minimum in the second. It is still not enough. The obvious weak link in the defence yesterday.

Your description is basically Reece. He is a great crosser, I’ve seen him described before as already world class at crossing and I wouldn’t argue against it. He is strong and aggressive which helps him defensively. He has a good passing range, both long and short, and is good at FKs. Comfortable on the ball. From this perspective he reminds me of TAA - TAA probably better long passing though. Pace wise some people think he is slow, I don’t think so. He’s not lightening quick but hardly a slouch. Again TAA is probably at a similar level for pace, or someone like Ryan Bertrand. Maybe not as fast as Mendy. Dribbling he is ok at, certainly capable of a nice dribble but maybe not a consistent one v one player like say Ben Chilwell or even our own Emerson. Defensively he’s good too, as I said, strong and aggressive, uses pace well, good tackler. It is a strength to his game, he is hard to dominate as a winger I feel.

I am still a bit bemused by how overrated he is/was. I’ve talked about this before but come on the amount of times he’s described as great going forward, technically brilliant, best LB in the PL/even Europe or perhaps the most cringey, when he’s compared to Marcelo. Or people claim ‘is there anyone out there even better than this guy, what’s the point in trying to improve/spend £60m on Sandro. Very little has changed about him in 2.5 years. He’s still slow, can’t cross, can’t dribble, iffy defensively. It’s not a sudden thing that’s just happened. His ‘good’ games he’s still generally average in overall performance but he’ll happen to have one of his pot shots go in, or score a free kick. I’m not exaggerating here that I don’t think I’ve ever seen a 8/10 PERFORMANCE from him. Maybe Spurs last year though I’ll be honest I didn’t see that match, I’ve only seen highlights. If you go back close enough to this time last year, maybe a bit earlier, I’d had enough of this guy. I, then, and still do now, thought and commented that this guy is one of the most overrated players in recent Chelsea history. Lot of backlash over that. Genuinely baffling. there are some things he’s good at. He’s tall. He does have good shooting technique. He can sometimes be a danger in the box. At his best he is a ‘poacher’ because while I never see any top, dynamic performance from him as a LB there can be games he is a threat in the box at key moments. But what’s wrong with calling a duck a duck. Alonso because he takes a few shots at goal suddenly became a great player going forward and one of the best LBs in Europe, for a while.

Reece James wins Wigan POTM..again

Strong match from him tonight.

Shame on us for not being more creative with his loan. While I have championed him for being a good player to supplement the squad I do get him going on loan, unless Sarri is serious about giving him minutes, which wouldn’t happen. But he really shoud’ve gone to a stronger/different league to the Champuonship. France, Bundesliga, Celtic, even a top Dutch side. If we are smart with our loans it gives youngsters a nice progression, as opposed to just going to the Championship each year. We already know Tammy can do it in the Championship and him doing well again may not raise his stock significantly at the top level to the untrained eye. If Aina stayed in the Championship (a feasible thing we would do) I think he’d be in for another average season and see his career stall, but now he’s a starting XI player in Serie A.

And although even I don’t think he should be given a run of games in the side (I think he should be rotated more, even in league games. Same with Zappa and Azpi. Competition. Really not that much between our full backs as some people like to make out). But I reckon if he did get given a run of 10-15 starts he’d be a whole lot better. Funny you say you doubt this guy was even top 10 Serie A full backs when Alonso wasn’t either. Surprise, that after 2 and a half seasons of the luxury of somehow having no competition at LB for Chelsea, he’s improved. If only we could give all our full backs that type of service.

Statistics of his good season in Serie A had him on par with Sandro and better than anything Alonso did there. You can see shades of what he’s capable of, but a lack of confidence / motivation and probably the injury too seems to have dampened his ability. Mind he provides different things to Alonso and I don’t think he’s even much worse (I don’t rate Alonso highly). Emerson in minimal appearances since January has managed 1 goal and 3 assists, a decent return.

http://www.thecelticwiki.com/page/Feruz%2C+Islam Did a bit of searching just out of interest and found this article made in summer by a Celtic fans’ site. Not really related to where on earth Feruz is now/what he’s doing but just thought it interesting to find an article that quite succinctly puts Celtic fans’ perspectives on Feruz’s career choice. It is also probably easier to cover in hindsight - at the time in 2011, 2012, 2013 most Celtic fans were quite emotionally charged and so most comments on social media were just derogative insults, was hard to get a grasp on their frustration at the time.

No, we have three players on loan at Leeds this year. There is a one player limit to other Premier League clubs.

Even with Frank there he’d be unlikely to start at Derby, who have captain Keogh and Tomori as an established CB partnership. Villa have a similar set up with their captain James Chester alongside Tuanzebe. Maybe he could he playing midfield - but I still prefer him at CB

It’s a bit of a mystery isn’t it..I assume he’s still on a contract when he probably signed an extension 2-3 years ago and he / the club can’t be bothered to force getting out of it? It is still strange he’s not on loan anywhere though/no information about him, no social media, no training photos

He appears to be doing quite well, 4 goals in 10, and did this assist on Friday (0:50)

These rumours made me think..an interesting and best proposition for Aina would be to sell to Torino with a buy back clause.

Seems to have staked his claim in the starting XI, albeit at LWB, having started this season on the bench. Well done to him. He also had a goal involvement last week, his shot coming off the post for their opener.

Thanks for the information, it is good to see Jay getting some rotation minutes in the league now. Maybe in an ideal world (for me )Kelly is at left CB and da Silva at LB. interesting you mention his height, other fans seem to notice he’s smaller than his listed height of 5”7, which is small