Gary Cahill

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

You seem to back the manager on everything and say because he is the manager he knows best but yet you are claiming he is being forced to play Cahill because he is English? Please tell me you don't believe that.

Cahill's value to the squad extends beyond his performance on the pitch. He is English and we need to meet a quota. He also wasn't Jose's buy

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

a more pressing need than a good CB? we spent 16mil on a back up left back when we had a pretty decent homegrown LB in bertrand, but you think that GC forms the base of our team just cos he is HG? how does that make any sense whatsoever?

the CBs do boss the opposition strikers, in case they dint it would look very much like the way costa played against the pool defenders. and i dont know what matches have you watched lately to feel that GC has been unsure in defence. lets take a look at our fixtures in november-

qpr, maribor, schalke, sunderland - he has been solid.

wba - untroubled

liverpool - some great tackles and defending but unlucky with goal

so i dont know what you are talking about.

GC always defends the box or the 18 yard line. this 6yd line exaggeration just proves that you are totally and completely prejudiced against him. also, lets see this objectively. u think his reading of the game is not good. he keeps backing off, even i know that his on the ball play is pretty average, so either jose has lost his mind or you are just wrong. add to that the fact that we have the best and the most stable defence in PL and probably one of the best in the world, i think i know which to believe.

Agree to disagree... Clearly what you're seeing in him is DEFINITELY in stark contrast to what I see. Without JT you'd trust Cahill to be your rock in the back? I wouldn't.

[Stats 7,056]

Cahill's value to the squad extends beyond his performance on the pitch. He is English and we need to meet a quota. He also wasn't Jose's buy

If that was the case he would have kept Bertrand then simply because he is 'English'. Cahill is rated by Mourinho. He was questioned last season and people were calling for him to be dropped however Mourinho persisted with him and he regained his form and put in some superb performances. If Mourinho wanted to go out and get a CB he would.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

If that was the case he would have kept Bertrand then simply because he is 'English'. Cahill is rated by Mourinho. He was questioned last season and people were calling for him to be dropped however Mourinho persisted with him and he regained his form and put in some superb performances. If Mourinho wanted to go out and get a CB he would.

Bertrand never played under Jose... Pretty sure Ryan wanted out. You don't just go out and get a CB! There aren't that many to go around let alone english! He's average at best, If Jose didn't have a quota to fill he'd be gone. The guy is easily the weakest link in the back 4 and has been protected from ridicule by Matic and JT

[Moustradamus 60]

Bertrand never played under Jose... Pretty sure Ryan wanted out. You don't just go out and get a CB! There aren't that many to go around let alone English! He's average at best, If Jose didn't have a quota to fill he'd be gone. The guy is easily the weakest link in the back 4 and has been protected from ridicule by Matic and JT

Amen to that.

[lionsden 4,689]

This is just a bad era for defenders. Even the supposedly world class defenders like Benatia,Silva,Hummels are struggling. In the last 4 seasons I can't point to any defender that has played at elite level for 4 straight seasons. One good/great season is usually accompanied by a terrible one for overwhelming majority of defenders and Kompany is the epitome of that. Cahill is simply following the trend.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

true. wrong words. i mean athletic.

Lukaku plays like a pussy for a beast. Zouma positioning and reading of the game is no where near his french predecessors, but his athletic ability is probably the best since thiago silva and mangala.

However, I highly doubt he will ever overtake mangala, kos, or varane in the near future.

It all depends how will he evolve.

For example, Vidic was athletic beast too. He played in russia! for quite some time before came to england. Obbiously he had decent ball control and top brains to read the game, but Zouma could reach that too in few years.

He is realy young and I think Mou is best coach to teach CBs and if those two work together, Zouma will learn alot. Maybe not as technical player, but he can be fantastic reader of game and that combined with his size would make him old school CB who I think would improve Mou Chelsea alot. And Terry will help him too. We can always buy another CB who is more of a ball player to partner Zouma eventualy (for example Laporte).

That said, Zouma has all the potential if he can keep focus in game. He wont be controling the ball like Varane but he should take advantage of his size and he could be most athletic CB in futre, could throw himself into any challange and win it. If you remember Vidic and Pique (i mention them because of their size) in their best years they were unbelievable in challanges. They played proactive or reactive, thrown whole body on the ball with perfect timing, let opponent no chance to get through. Either they won ball or commited faul (rarely) and only most physical CBs can do it. All that can be reached by Zouma if he will have mentality to learn and improve his timing on challanges, but most importantly wont be scared to go in challanges. When comes to pure ability to defend, he has more options than Terry for example ever had. Zouma is stronger, has amazing jump and top speed. But its up to his development. He might look the dumbest player when on ball, but he wont let anyone get past him and isnt that the ultimate point of CB? Sure he wouldnt fit in tiki taka shit, but we are Chelsea and we play more direct football.

Also Koscielny, Varane, Laporte might get ahead of him, but I highly doubt about Mangala. He makes terrible challenges and unconsistent as fuck.

[Gilvorak 3,734]

[chelseafc9010 224]

Always believed in David, it just wasn't meant to be at Chelsea because of our play style and defence. His best season was his first season under Carlo when JT still had a bit of speed, and he was world class in the Rafa season with Ivanovic in defence because we played with a high fluid line.

Anyway on Cahill, let's be honest he is in the team because he is English and because Jose won't trust someone like Kalas or Zouma next to JT incase they push too high. The only reason we haven't moved Iva to CB and used Azpi and Luis as two attacking fullbacks is because Terry would get destroyed on the counter. Cahill has always been covered up by others, in his first season by the fact we parked the bus, he didn't play much in the Rafa season when for me, we played the best football and the best style, with a high pressing fluid back line, and with Mouriniho he has been covered by parking the bus and Matic, JT, Iva. He is awkward on the ball, ooks like a lost sheep off the ball without Terry holding his hand, he is decent, but he's not a winner or someone that will help us become a memorable team.

[zolayes 14,489]

Always believed in David, it just wasn't meant to be at Chelsea because of our play style and defence. His best season was his first season under Carlo when JT still had a bit of speed, and he was world class in the Rafa season with Ivanovic in defence because we played with a high fluid line.

Anyway on Cahill, let's be honest he is in the team because he is English and because Jose won't trust someone like Kalas or Zouma next to JT incase they push too high. The only reason we haven't moved Iva to CB and used Azpi and Luis as two attacking fullbacks is because Terry would get destroyed on the counter. Cahill has always been covered up by others, in his first season by the fact we parked the bus, he didn't play much in the Rafa season when for me, we played the best football and the best style, with a high pressing fluid back line, and with Mouriniho he has been covered by parking the bus and Matic, JT, Iva. He is awkward on the ball, ooks like a lost sheep off the ball without Terry holding his hand, he is decent, but he's not a winner or someone that will help us become a memorable team.

I am still sorry we let Luiz go ,, I was very sorry when we let Matic go ,, so Im going to KTF

[Moustradamus 60]

He had a bad game. Not the end of the world.

One bad game can decide the outcome of a whole season.

Title contention will be extremely close and 1 point could make a huge difference. And if Cahill blunders the last game, as he's been doing lately and we lose because of him, he'll be hated and despised and all fans will turn on him and he'll be booed off the pitch. Right now we just want others to be given an opportunity. That's all.

[The Skipper 20,593]

I highly doubt zouma will be world class. ZOuma is the lukaku of the CB position....

Physical god, but not so great everywhere else.

Disagree. I think Zouma's got great natural defensive ability. He reads the game very well.

[Jase 43,479]

Disagree. I think Zouma's got great natural defensive ability. He reads the game very well.

Not sure why you have replied to that.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Disagree. I think Zouma's got great natural defensive ability. He reads the game very well.

Not sure why you have replied to that.

Yeah, it's kinda low from you Skip, to criticize a man's post without him being to ever reply...

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Yeah, it's kinda low from you Skip, to criticize a man's post without him being to ever reply...

Whaat, is he banned? What did he do?

[The Skipper 20,593]

Not sure why you have replied to that.

Didn't see he was banned tbh, doesn't show whether you are on mobile haha.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

With JT being out of the squad tomorrow, that probably means that Gary starts. I was hoping he gets a rest, tbh. He's looked like he could use a break much more than JT.

Whaat, is he banned? What did he do?

Same reason he was warned and suspended for before. Racism.

[-Kaplan- 410]

He will be back under the name Adidas.