Gary Cahill

[didierforever 7,349]

Definitely an upgrade over Alex

what the f? seriously?

[Sidzeret 2,257]

what the f? seriously?

yea man..seriously. Well, somebody plays for PSG now and someone played all 90min for us in a CL final dat we won. I'll give points for that

[didierforever 7,349]

yea man..seriously. Well, somebody plays for PSG now and someone played all 90min for us in a CL final dat we won. I'll give points for that

so by your way of thinking bosingwa is a better RB than lets say jallet and kalou a better winger than moura/lavezzi?

cahill is a decent defender. (i wanted to quote the post of the guy who called him "donkey" and give him an earful, but simply thought it would not have been worth it). cahill has his sets of problems which make him quite venerable against good players. i mean how could he not have closed marcelo down for the 1st goal. u simply cant keep backing into the goal and not expect the player to shoot. alex on the other hand was a better/complete/solid defender. i mean i seriously cant think of an aspect of cahill's defensive game that is better than alex's (remember i said defensive, so dont tell he contributes so much to the team in set pieces)

[Reddish-Blue 2,221]

yea man..seriously. Well, somebody plays for PSG now and someone played all 90min for us in a CL final dat we won. I'll give points for that

Well that somebody plays for PSG because AvB treated him badly and at his age, he wanted to be playing regularly.

I don't think you've seen enough of Alex's games at Chelsea...he was a much more solid defender than Cahill.

[Reddish-Blue 2,221]

Because we are the most unbalanced team in the world, and players can get past our defence as it has very little aid from the rest of the team. But yeah I suppose that's all Cahils fault, or maybe we should go put Salomon Kalou upfront still

So I guess the fact that Cahill keeps backing off opponents rather than close them down like an aggressive defender isn't his fault?

Any decent striker with a bit of pace and trickery would love to take on Cahill one on one cause they know they'll have time and space to shoot/pass the ball.

Cahill's lucky to be playing for a top level club...if he wasn't homegrown, he'd probably still be at a lower club like Bolton.

[Kojo 4,676]

So I guess the fact that Cahill keeps backing off opponents rather than close them down like an aggressive defender isn't his fault?

Any decent striker with a bit of pace and trickery would love to take on Cahill one on one cause they know they'll have time and space to shoot/pass the ball.

Cahill's lucky to be playing for a top level club...if he wasn't homegrown, he'd probably still be at a lower club like Bolton.

If that was the case then Cahill would of been sold a long time ago. We would also of conceded many goals.

You rate Cahill as though he's a championship player, he plays many games and is consistently good. I know he's not one of the best, but to say he should be sold and such is just stupid. People will only look at the mistakes rather than the times he's kept the opposition from scoring, and believe me there is much and i mean MUCH worse scenarios and more goals conceded if we didn't have Cahill.

Luiz for one has made much more mistakes than Cahill has. That last line, have a word with yourself please.

[Kojo 4,676]

The fact that Cahill makes so many last-ditch challenges has nothing to do with the fact that we're an unbalanced team. Actually, it has some connection because if we were better in defense then he would obviously have to make less of these challenges... Though that correlation isn't strong.

... That's because it is the way whom Cahill plays — plain and simple. He isn't an aggressive defender, he's rather (quite) passive. He doesn't jet out in order to dispossess the oppoenent or to make an interception. He neither does stay on his ground to block the opponent's path. He relies heavily upon his sharp ability to make last-ditch challenges. He constantly give up ground to the opposition's players, and drops deeper and deeper until the opponent decides to finish his action (shot/pass/cross/...).

That's the reason for which he has to resort to this kind of challenges so many times. The way he plays gives time and space to opponents to be dangerous. That's why he had a fairly good spell during his first six months stint here ; di Matteo set up the team with a deep defensive bloc/unit (especially against Barcelona and Munich), and as a matter of fact, it gave way less space and time to the opponents to work in — the flaws inherent to his game were partly nullified. But this past season, he has been found out ; the defensive bloc wasn't as deep as it was, and his style of play turned out to be quite risky — the flaws inherent to his game were stressed out.

So you're telling me those last ditch tackles where his fault in the first place?

Okay then, when ever I see a centre back make a last ditch tackle, I'm going to blame him because it was his fault in the first place. FUCK YOU NEMANJA VIDIC YOU'RE SHIT.

Cahill is a good centre back with good confidence, all you're doing in that post is looking for negatives. John Terry is also a passive defender, Cahill tactically may not be the smartest defender by instinct, but he is a good player to have in the team. We can't have the best of the best, so the others saying Cahill should be playing in the Championship and that we should sell him because he isn't good enough is just not right at all. He's done much for us but people just want to constantly pick out the flaws of his game. You can't honeslty sit there and tell me that the team wasn't unbalanced, less work rate lead to uncovered space, that leads to the defenders having more trouble. Last season we where really struggling in areas like that, especially the counter. But out of all the defenders last season, Cahill was the most consistent, Luiz had a huge dip in form at the beginning, Terry had a dip in form near Champions League group stages.

Edited August 9, 2013 by Kojo

[Vybz Kartel 1,613]

Cahill is not good enough to start for us, he seems to be the problem everytime we concede in big games, his a squad player in the long term I actually rate Tomas Kalas that kid has potential and with enough game time can improve greatly under Mourinho to even go ahead of Cahill in the squad

[Sidzeret 2,257]

so by your way of thinking bosingwa is a better RB than lets say jallet and kalou a better winger than moura/lavezzi?

cahill is a decent defender. (i wanted to quote the post of the guy who called him "donkey" and give him an earful, but simply thought it would not have been worth it). cahill has his sets of problems which make him quite venerable against good players. i mean how could he not have closed marcelo down for the 1st goal. u simply cant keep backing into the goal and not expect the player to shoot. alex on the other hand was a better/complete/solid defender. i mean i seriously cant think of an aspect of cahill's defensive game that is better than alex's (remember i said defensive, so dont tell he contributes so much to the team in set pieces)

Dude, you're insight is all messed up...From where did you arrive at Unibrow from that?

Well that somebody plays for PSG because AvB treated him badly and at his age, he wanted to be playing regularly.

I don't think you've seen enough of Alex's games at Chelsea...he was a much more solid defender than Cahill.

i wasn't saying Alex wasn't solid but at the time when he went to PSG, Cahill looked like a sure upgrade to him. Otherwise we wouldn't have bought him in the first place.

[didierforever 7,349]

Dude, you're insight is all messed up...From where did you arrive at Unibrow from that?

i wasn't saying Alex wasn't solid but at the time when he went to PSG, Cahill looked like a sure upgrade to him. Otherwise we wouldn't have bought him in the first place.

your argument for cahill being better than alex was that he played 90 mins (which was 120 actually) in a UCL final that we won while alex plays for psg now. so just by extrapolating your argument even bosingwa and kalou played in the UCL final that we won and hence they are better than jallet and moura/lavezzi.

also this was not my actual insight. this was just a counter-argument for the one u gave. my actual insight on the comparison of cahill and alex was in a big paragraph beneath that one line.

Edited August 10, 2013 by didierforever

[Phil Driver 503]

Very harsh to blame Cahill for any of those three goals . But what you do see is a goal and Cahill in the picture and a goal = Cahill's fault.

1. Benteke goal - Benteke is running at Cahill on the counter attack and Cahill is last man ,what he should not do is dive in and get beaten ,what he should do is what he did, show Benteke the outside (wide) Petr got done on his near post is the major factor here from the Benteke shot.

2. This goal is all down to Mikel he should be picking up Toure in the first instance he is caught ball watching and then his attempt to tackle Toure is weak to say the least .

3. Another counter attack against us with Adebayor running at us ,this is just a world class finish and Cahill has only left him a small space to score in and Adebayor has taken it. Defeneders especially when they are the last man with opposing players running at you should stay on their feet and show the attacker wide or make him take on difficult shots (as in the Adebayor goal) ,where he would score maybe two/three in ten times,where as if Cahill dives in and commits himself as last man ,Adebayor scores maybe 7 in ten with only Cech to beat.

[Sidzeret 2,257]

your argument for cahill being better than alex was that he played 90 mins (which was 120 actually) in a UCL final that we won while alex plays for psg now. so just by extrapolating your argument even bosingwa and kalou played in the UCL final that we won and hence they are better than jallet and moura/lavezzi.

also this was not my actual insight. this was just a counter-argument for the one u gave. my actual insight on the comparison of cahill and alex was in a big paragraph beneath that one line.

Watever bro

[Kojo 4,676]

Very harsh to blame Cahill for any of those three goals . But what you do see is a goal and Cahill in the picture and a goal = Cahill's fault.

1. Benteke goal - Benteke is running at Cahill on the counter attack and Cahill is last man ,what he should not do is dive in and get beaten ,what he should do is what he did, show Benteke the outside (wide) Petr got done on his near post is the major factor here from the Benteke shot.

2. This goal is all down to Mikel he should be picking up Toure in the first instance he is caught ball watching and then his attempt to tackle Toure is weak to say the least .

3. Another counter attack against us with Adebayor running at us ,this is just a world class finish and Cahill has only left him a small space to score in and Adebayor has taken it. Defeneders especially when they are the last man with opposing players running at you should stay on their feet and show the attacker wide or make him take on difficult shots (as in the Adebayor goal) ,where he would score maybe two/three in ten times,where as if Cahill dives in and commits himself as last man ,Adebayor scores maybe 7 in ten with only Cech to beat.

There's not so much you can do for Adebayors goal, closing him down is giving him the risk of passing or knocking the ball past Cahill, and if Cahill takes that gamble in that position and gets it wrong, then it's going to be a definite goals it's going to be two or three on one.

Even though his decision making on Yaya Toure is just terrible, yes it comes down to Mikel. Mikel has a habbit of ball watching and not marking players coming into the box.

[didierforever 7,349]

Watever bro

nice answer but it still does not explain how cahill is a better defender than alex.

[TrippingStep 336]

Very harsh to blame Cahill for any of those three goals . But what you do see is a goal and Cahill in the picture and a goal = Cahill's fault.

1. Benteke goal - Benteke is running at Cahill on the counter attack and Cahill is last man ,what he should not do is dive in and get beaten ,what he should do is what he did, show Benteke the outside (wide) Petr got done on his near post is the major factor here from the Benteke shot.

2. This goal is all down to Mikel he should be picking up Toure in the first instance he is caught ball watching and then his attempt to tackle Toure is weak to say the least .

3. Another counter attack against us with Adebayor running at us ,this is just a world class finish and Cahill has only left him a small space to score in and Adebayor has taken it. Defeneders especially when they are the last man with opposing players running at you should stay on their feet and show the attacker wide or make him take on difficult shots (as in the Adebayor goal) ,where he would score maybe two/three in ten times,where as if Cahill dives in and commits himself as last man ,Adebayor scores maybe 7 in ten with only Cech to beat.

On Benteke, he has his body angle wrong. It's ok to show the wide area but it's better tu push the opponent.

The difference between a good and an average defender is that the good one impose his will and push the forward where he wants him to be.

Cahill show maybe an area but doesn't push him there and is too flat footed. Against Benteke, it's ridiculous how he was left for dead by a simple crochet.

And on Marcelo, he is on the backfoot. He is on the backfoot for no reason. Ok you can give you some space to not be beaten by the first touch but here it was way too much and he didn't reduce the space between him and the player by moving towards him and no need to dive to do that.

Just making small steps, being quite light on the feet to change direction if needed.

[Sidzeret 2,257]

nice answer but it still does not explain how cahill is a better defender than alex.

You'd you rather have in your team right now..Cahill or Alex? Trust me, Alex is a bad choice.

Maybe Cahill needs to work his problem of backing off from charging strikers and should attack the ball more. He's pretty solid apart from that. For all i know, he's better than Terry at the moment, let alone Alex.

Agree to disagree

[didierforever 7,349]

You'd you rather have in your team right now..Cahill or Alex? Trust me, Alex is a bad choice.

Maybe Cahill needs to work his problem of backing off from charging strikers and should attack the ball more. He's pretty solid apart from that. For all i know, he's better than Terry at the moment, let alone Alex.

Agree to disagree

did u see alex against barca? he was really good and still a beast. i would definitely have alex over cahill even today. and how do i trust you when u r just putting in a statement with no reasoning.

as i said before cahill is a good defender, nothing more. if u give me a choice between cahill and iva, i ll take the latter in a heartbeat.

[TrippingStep 336]

Alex was a joke at PSG.