Marko Marin

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

Nobody is asking Marin to be Messi. I've said plenty of times Moses has been quality for us because he's a reliable squad player. If Marin could offer us what Moses has this season Mata, Hazard, Oscar wouldn't be playing 60 games a season.

We need more another Moses to replace Marin.

We definitely need a better player to replace Marin, but that has very little to do with why we've struggled. Marin is our #8 option in the attacking midfield (Behind both Benayoun and Ramires as well). Moses was actually part of the problem this season. He was quite poor in the Premier League and really didn't do much well. (Whoscored rates him as our second worst regular after Bertrand but attacking midfield is a vastly superior statistical position than LB so even that might be generous) I'm not exactly going to give up on him, I think he'll be a decent squad player for us, but he needs to improve to have a future at Chelsea. Moses and Oscar played 50 games in the Premier League as attacking midfielders and had a combined 4 goals. You don't not win because of the end of your bench, you don't win because the players who play regularly aren't good enough. As for Mata, Oscar, and Hazard playing too often? That's simply the fault of our managers. Mata, for example, has started 10 games in domestic cups, he started both games against Nordsjalland, he's played in 7 Europa League games, etc...There's absolutely no need to be playing our top players in games like that. If ManU can play Buttner and Wooten (etc..) we can play Marin. Our managers have been under so much pressure to win trophies, that we've sacrificed points in the league chasing secondary prizes. Some of our players being overplayed is simply a result of managers not being willing to rest them in any tournament.

[ja1 1,166]

Marin HAS started with Mata and Hazard in the Europa League, against Steaua? Hard to remember because once again he did nothing.

[Hutcho 8,443]

How much is he getting paid a week. If it's more than 80k, then we should move him on and free up some wage bill. If it's less we may as well loan him, hope he picks up some form to either earn his way back into the team (fairly unlikely) or increase his price tag. Right now I think we could struggle to get the 7 mil we paid for him.

[English Freak 456]

How much is he getting paid a week. If it's more than 80k, then we should move him on and free up some wage bill. If it's less we may as well loan him, hope he picks up some form to either earn his way back into the team (fairly unlikely) or increase his price tag. Right now I think we could struggle to get the 7 mil we paid for him.

Hopefully we find a club that wants him on loan...Marin is kind of like Ricardo Quaresma...has the talent & skill but he's just not consistent or effective.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

How much is he getting paid a week. If it's more than 80k, then we should move him on and free up some wage bill. If it's less we may as well loan him, hope he picks up some form to either earn his way back into the team (fairly unlikely) or increase his price tag. Right now I think we could struggle to get the 7 mil we paid for him.

I've read in several sources that he gets 35k. His contract is until June 2017!

[Mufassir08 2,400]

TBH i would accept an offer 0f 3-4m for him,No one will bid any higher then that for him.

[Styles 9,790]

No injury and still doesn't even make the bench. The guy is useless and people want to waste another year on him?

[Madmax 9,219]

No injury and still doesn't even make the bench. The guy is useless and people want to waste another year on him?

Busy watching Naruto.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

No injury and still doesn't even make the bench. The guy is useless and people want to waste another year on him?

Actually he was injured according to the official twitter account.

[Styles 9,790]

Actually he was injured according to the official twitter account.

Thanks. Thought only Mikel, Hazard and Romeu were current injury problems.

But can we really trust this guy for another year? Do people want to waste a Premier League and Champions League squad place on him?

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Thanks. Thought only Mikel, Hazard and Romeu were current injury problems.

But can we really trust this guy for another year? Do people want to waste a Premier League and Champions League squad place on him?

The thing is, no one will pay any money for him right now, but if we can get him a loan next season where he gets minutes and shows some talent, may be we can get back the 7m we paid for him after next season.

[Styles 9,790]

The thing is, no one will pay any money for him right now, but if we can get him a loan next season where he gets minutes and shows some talent, may be we can get back the 7m we paid for him after next season.

That would be the best case scenario for everybody involved. I would be amazed if he isn't loaned out next season. We wouldn't even need to replace him because he's that irrelevant. Any of our academy players could have contributed what he has this season.

[Jase 43,479]

Busy watching Naruto.

Think that was Hazard who watches Naruto..

[CHOULO19 24,332]

That would be the best case scenario for everybody involved. I would be amazed if he isn't loaned out next season. We wouldn't even need to replace him because he's that irrelevant. Any of our academy players could have contributed what he has this season.

Agreed. Even Piazon would have done more than Marko had we not loaned him out.

[Peace. 4,352]

We definitely need a better player to replace Marin, but that has very little to do with why we've struggled. Marin is our #8 option in the attacking midfield (Behind both Benayoun and Ramires as well). Moses was actually part of the problem this season. He was quite poor in the Premier League and really didn't do much well. (Whoscored rates him as our second worst regular after Bertrand but attacking midfield is a vastly superior statistical position than LB so even that might be generous) I'm not exactly going to give up on him, I think he'll be a decent squad player for us, but he needs to improve to have a future at Chelsea. Moses and Oscar played 50 games in the Premier League as attacking midfielders and had a combined 4 goals. You don't not win because of the end of your bench, you don't win because the players who play regularly aren't good enough. As for Mata, Oscar, and Hazard playing too often? That's simply the fault of our managers. Mata, for example, has started 10 games in domestic cups, he started both games against Nordsjalland, he's played in 7 Europa League games, etc...There's absolutely no need to be playing our top players in games like that. If ManU can play Buttner and Wooten (etc..) we can play Marin. Our managers have been under so much pressure to win trophies, that we've sacrificed points in the league chasing secondary prizes. Some of our players being overplayed is simply a result of managers not being willing to rest them in any tournament.

I believe that your opinion and Styles' opinion on the matter, doesn't nulify eachother.

Let me explain. I am agree with your previous post — one of our biggest problem is the fact that our starting XI lacks quality (no striker and no players suited to play in the pivot). Even tough, Styles is also right. It's not necessarily because of Marin, that's rather because we have players such as Marin on the bench. Just as our starting XI, our bench cruelly lacks quality ; sometimes it looks so poor that you want to cry. And it appears that Marin embodies this problem.

As you say, Marin is the eighth option for the attacking midfielder spot ; behin Benayoun and Ramires, but also to a lesser extend behind Bertrand. Even though, on the paper, Marin should be (with Moses) the "squad player" for this spot. However, he is so poor that a RB, a B2B and a unwanted player are getting picked-up ahead of him. This is a genuine problem - it just shows how much our bench is weak.

You are saying that it's our managers' fault if the likes of Hazard and Mata are not rested because they have pressure to win trophies. Though, is this fact the origin, or the outcome ? This season, with that poor squad, we reached the FA Cup semi, the Cup League semi, the Europa League and we will likely finish in the top four. In my honest opinion, it does mean that with a proper squad depth, we should not have such a problem regarding players playing time.

In my view, it worked this way : the manager had pressure to win trophies ; but our squad is not good enough ; so the manager was forced to overuse our key players. Had Marin been as good as Moses, then Mata probably wouldn't have had to play 10 domestical cups games and to play against poor team. Had we had a Moses2.0 instead of Marin, then Mata and Hazard would have probably played 10 less games each one.

Finally, I do not think that your example regarding ManU, Buttner and Wooten is a good one. You can play with one or two poor players in your team — as long as it's not at a key spot, then you won't suffer too much. For instance, Barcelona has an average defense, but against 90% of their opponents they don't don't suffer of it. Why ? Because they put the emphasis on their midfield and on the attacking side of the game. Therefore, because of the big possession, their defenders don't have to do that much, and even if they fail, the attacking players (I mean Messi) make up for it. That's why they can play Adriano as a CB and still win ! That's the same with United. For instance, against us they were able to play with Wooten, because they still had Giggs, Nani, Welbeck and Hernades as their forwards (= they had performing players at their key area, the attack). However, we cannot play Marin because the AMs is our key area — and playing Marin there would mean weakening this area too much. And that's also why we have been able to win with the ladyboy in the side : because the striker in our systeme is marginalized.

The bottom line is that Marin is not at fault because for what he has done, but because of what he has not done. And yes, our bench (and thus the likes of Marin) is one of our biggest problem. It's just simply not good enough. United have Cuntarito and Welbeck to replace Rooney and RvP ; we have Moses, Marin and Bena-fucking-youn to replace Mata and Hazard — that's partly where lies the 17 points gap, in my honest opinion.

[Sovieticus 743]

Does anyone know if he is like dead or something?

[Tomo 21,733]

To think we let go Kalou, froze out Malouda for this guy

Those 2 are frustrating players yes, but they would offer something in the squad and from the bench, especially the Ivorian and they would be fit and healthy most weeks.

A dozen lucky tap ins off the bench doesn't sound too bad a proposition right now, does it?

[The Mak 4,459]

another Zhirkov, too bad

C'mon now, that's a bit insulting to Zhirkov!

At least Zhirkov could do a reasonable job when called upon. He won us key penalties and even did a decent shift or two at left-back! Marin has just been an utter dissapointment to say the least.