Essien comeback edging closer

[Krypt 241]

Good News , but as Bluelion said he is past his best , i hope im proved wrong on his return this guy was world class.

[Para6iT 2]

Whatever it it im happy that he's back. Looking forward to watch his performance.

[ZanSnake 1,211]

Should be sold in the summer, for the benefit for the squad. He was once one of the best in his position, but last season he was a shadow of himself.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

I don't think he will be called for the Ghana international team for the ACoN. They have many excellent midfielders and he won't have gotten his fitness levels back. Even if he returns in december I think he will have about a month with reserves before he can play with the first team again.

[Blauw 105]

My favourite player after Lampard and Drogba.

Hes in the top 5 of the best defending midfielders.

[nadavTKL 1,787]

He was once one of the best in his position, but last season he was a shadow of himself.

You can easily see it differently. I wrote it here one-two times already.

Not many remember it may be, but If you look at Essien's start of last season, he was superb. He looked like our

best player in the squad and one of the world best MF's again. He was in that form until his red card against Fulham.

And than when he got back from his 3 games suspension we already start to suffer from "The Bad Moment" (It was

Villa away with a 0-0 draw, and than the losses came. Without Ess). And not just that he got back to that team,

Essien came back to play a different role, the DMF, because Mikel was injured.

So naturally when Ramires and Lampard playing next to him, Essien had to be more responsble with his game as

an Holder. This role didnt allowed Essien to make his trand runs, so too easily people start to think he lost it.

Like the all Chelsea team last season, Essien wasnt impressive, but people need to remember that he did played

great before this bad moment. Its absurd to think that Essien got back from this almost one year injury, played

like 20+ games and was great in alomst all of them, and then because of a weak second half of a season(in a

different role for 90% of those games) we can say he's done.

I dont know how he will be when he'll come back from this injury, we'll see, but its ridiculous to think that every player

that suffers from some weak months he's done. What about a player like Sneijder who yet cant capture his

09/10 form again?

[Wilson 358]

Michael Essien is a Chelsea legend, just a shame about his injuries. When he comes back I hope he has the best years of his career, I know he will lift our spirits even more! Legend.

[warnie_666 1,081]

I was a fan of his once. But he has not had a good season for us since 07-08. That's three seasons now and in all those seasons he has been out for 6 months more or less. That injury record should be worse than Robben's and Joe Cole's

He is a crock and should be off next season.

Regarding his comeback, it doesn't matter because as soon as we get him fit to play Ghana will take him to ACON. And I hope he doesn't get injured again.

Long story short.

Ramirez>>>Essien

Fitness, pace and overall game wise

[nadavTKL 1,787]

I was a fan of his once. But he has not had a good season for us since 07-08. That's three seasons now and in all those seasons he has been out for 6 months more or less. That injury record should be worse than Robben's and Joe Cole's

He is a crock and should be off next season.

Regarding his comeback, it doesn't matter because as soon as we get him fit to play Ghana will take him to ACON. And I hope he doesn't get injured again.

Long story short.

Ramirez>>>Essien

Fitness, pace and overall game wise

A) Essien was huge when he got back from his injury in 2008/9, you cant take it from him. And like i said he was great last season until

we got into our 'bad moment'. So he didnt had a full good season since 07/08, but its due to two injuries(way more than 6 months), and

about last season, you can read my first post up there.

B ) You need to be realy naive i would say to think that Essien will play this ACON. Nobody is stupid enough to let it happen.

Not him, not the club and not Ghana.

C) I realy like this energetic Brazilian but he got so much work to do to get to that level. Defensively and offensively, he's not

close enough to the efficiency that Essien give you in that position (The RCM spot that Ramires plays now). If Essien can give me

the same quality(or even 70%) that he gave in the start of last season, i would choose him. Thats not even a real question for me.

[bluephoenix 1,125]

A world-class midfielder on his day. I actually think he is now well past his best and injury prone, I actually remember making a case for him to be sold off over the summer before he was injured.

But presently our midfield lacks gusto and he could at least add a little more dynamism to proceedings.

for one, i think he can atleast retain possession of the ball ...

[warnie_666 1,081]

A) Essien was huge when he got back from his injury in 2008/9, you cant take it from him. And like i said he was great last season until

we got into our 'bad moment'. So he didnt had a full good season since 07/08, but its due to two injuries(way more than 6 months), and

about last season, you can read my first post up there.

B ) You need to be realy naive i would say to think that Essien will play this ACON. Nobody is stupid enough to let it happen.

Not him, not the club and not Ghana.

C) I realy like this energetic Brazilian but he got so much work to do to get to that level. Defensively and offensively, he's not

close enough to the efficiency that Essien give you in that position (The RCM spot that Ramires plays now). If Essien can give me

the same quality(or even 70%) that he gave in the start of last season, i would choose him. Thats not even a real question for me.

A) Having few good games and then be shit or crock for majority of the season doesnt work. Last season he went downhill from November. In 2008-09 he was good from February. Stupid to keep him on the payroll. I would rather have Robben cus in Ramirez we have a much fitter and better player

Tell that to the Ghana FA. Were you aware that 2 seasons back Essien was nearing full fitness (It means he wasnt fully fit yet) but the Ghana Manager called Essien to the training camp and there he got a knee injury?

C) When was the last time Essien gave that efficiency for half a season let alone an entire season? Having good performances for couple of months and then going crock or shit is not good enough for Chelsea.

[Blue Armour 4,158]

A) Having few good games and then be shit or crock for majority of the season doesnt work. Last season he went downhill from November. In 2008-09 he was good from February. Stupid to keep him on the payroll. I would rather have Robben cus in Ramirez we have a much fitter and better player

Tell that to the Ghana FA. Were you aware that 2 seasons back Essien was nearing full fitness (It means he wasnt fully fit yet) but the Ghana Manager called Essien to the training camp and there he got a knee injury?

C) When was the last time Essien gave that efficiency for half a season let alone an entire season? Having good performances for couple of months and then going crock or shit is not good enough for Chelsea.

Agree that Essien is getting crocked too often for him to retain a squad place, but to say that Ramires' overall game is better than Essien is ridiculous. It'll take more than a few goals scored from runs into the box, before he supersedes a player who can create, defend and has the tactical prowess to play in different positions on the field.

[warnie_666 1,081]

Agree that Essien is getting crocked too often for him to retain a squad place, but to say that Ramires' overall game is better than Essien is ridiculous. It'll take more than a few goals scored from runs into the box, before he supersedes a player who can create, defend and has the tactical prowess to play in different positions on the field.

Essien cannot create. He WAS a good box to box player and thats about it. Yes he can play CDM as well but Ramirez is too good of a box to box and he will be wasted at CDM.

[Blue Armour 4,158]

Essien cannot create. He WAS a good box to box player and thats about it. Yes he can play CDM as well but Ramirez is too good of a box to box and he will be wasted at CDM.

From the top of my head I can recall the two chances he created with long diagonal balls to Luiz and Drogba, in two games we played against Man Utd last season...While he's not what you call a playmaker, he does serve as creative outlet from time to time....

Besides CDM, he has also been used as an RB (under Mourinho) as well as a CB when we're short of players...

[ulsterchelsea 3,213]

Ill be interested to see how he plays when he comes back, he didnt look himself when last he returned. If he could recapture his form of old then its like a brand new signing in January but realistically how long will it take him to regain full match fitness? Sad to say i think his best is long behind him but you never know

[BlueLion. 21,491]

He became average in last season after recovery. I don't expect too much from him.

I think that's the best thing though to be honest, we can't expect anything from him because of these injuries.

I won't be surprised if he retires soon.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

I think that's the best thing though to be honest, we can't expect anything from him because of these injuries.

I won't be surprised if he retires soon.

True but very unfortunate. He was, at one point, the best in the world in his position.

[Kez 2,727]

Whether he can be the same player again is down to him to show, but just having back in the team and around the squad will be a massive lift for the rest of the season.