🇩🇰 Andreas Christensen

[Pizy 18,928]

I think the only area that Luiz is ahead of Christensen is his eye for a long pass. But actually, I can't truly tell because Andreas doesn't really attempt them so he might be just as good. He doesn't make risky passes which is one of his strengths. David on the other hand tries his luck with many of those passes per game which are spectacular when they come off but wasteful when they don't.

It's crazy how composed and easy going he is on the pitch. At only 21 he's already a Rolls Royce of a CB which is probably the hardest position to excell at as a young player in the PL. He is what the English media think John Stones is but you know, actually top class. I think Stones is being made to look far better than he actually is due to the ridiculous form his team are in. Because Andreas isn't English or Spanish he's going under the radar.

Must say that'll I'll be a bit sad if Luiz is benched for much of the season going forward, though. I think he and Christensen can play effectively together. While Luiz is really only suited to the central role in a 3 man defense, Christensen can play anywhere. We've just got so much depth at CB now (which is crazy to say after all the complaining we've been doing about the position for months) that it seems like it's one or the other.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Is it me or does Cahill look more settled and assured next to Andreas than he does next to Luiz? 

[Tomo 21,751]

43 minutes ago, CHOULO19 said:

Is it me or does Cahill look more settled and assured next to Andreas than he does next to Luiz? 

I think Azpi-Christensen-Cahill complement eachother quite well and between them compensate for each other's weaknesses. Azpi and Cahill bring the experience the Dane lacks, Azpi's lack off Ariel ability is compensated with the other 2, as is Cahill's not so great technical ability.

[OneMoSalah 8,886]

59 minutes ago, CHOULO19 said:

Is it me or does Cahill look more settled and assured next to Andreas than he does next to Luiz? 

Whole defence and team looks a lot more settled with Andreas in it. Luiz had the same effect a lot last year though but I do believe the system helps him more than Andreas. He was the last line of defence usually, if Cahill or Azpi struggled or were beaten he was there sweeping up, generally suits Luiz more than what it did seeing him play in a back 4 I feel. Right now I’d keep Andreas in the team, in fact I’d keep same back 3 at present.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

12 hours ago, OneMoSalah said:

Whole defence and team looks a lot more settled with Andreas in it. Luiz had the same effect a lot last year though but I do believe the system helps him more than Andreas. He was the last line of defence usually, if Cahill or Azpi struggled or were beaten he was there sweeping up, generally suits Luiz more than what it did seeing him play in a back 4 I feel. Right now I’d keep Andreas in the team, in fact I’d keep same back 3 at present.

Yeah, I'd never thought I'd be advocating for Cahill to continue starting matches, but the back 3 looks very good and settled at the moment, would be insane to try and change it. 

[Amblève. 4,995]

Cesar - Luiz - Christensen (from left to right) is what I want to see tried at least once this season. Cesar would be a huge help covering for Alonso's lack of pace and defensive ability while Christensen could do his best Cesar-impersonation as the RCB like he did in the last 20 minutes against Burnley. Wouldn't mind trying Luiz as RCB either, however, I'm not sure he wouldn't be too aggressive going forward.

[Leif 6,006]

There's a pure pleasure in me thinking whenever i watched him play for the youth teams, 'This guy is lost. He's the most distracted player out there.', and then him becoming what he is now. It somehow adds to his brilliance, being doubted by a bitter harsh critic & proving him wrong. I don't know how i didn't recognise his good qualities.
I love his game now. So much. He's everything a classic centre back should be. He plays like the greatest to play the game did. He is orgasmic. I get excited before games, like tonight's one, just to see him play. He's only 21, one of the best in his position in the league, and he's ours, from our youth system

[lucashm 340]

monster, absolute monster

[Beigl 1,387]

I don´t miss Luiz one bit. This guy is just amazing. 

[the wes 7,212]

Andreas Christensen became the first Chelsea academy graduate since John Terry to start three Premier League matches in a row for the Blues on Saturday

 

http://metro.co.uk/2017/11/26/andreas-christensen-first-chelsea-academy-player-to-start-and-play-90-minutes-in-three-consecutive-league-games-since-john-terry-7110274/?ito=cbshare

 

[manpe 10,861]

This is it, he is the real deal guys. If the club fuck this up and he leaves then we can officially just give up. Also crazy to think that he joined us some time around when Di Matteo took over, it wasn't that long ago was it? And during that time, in just 5 years, he's come from being a scrawny young kid to having had 2 superb debut seasons in the German premier league straight away and now he's bossing it here. Still only 21, for others this is the age where they get loaned to Championship level clubs. I believe he would walk into any other EPL team already.

[Tomo 21,751]

19 minutes ago, manpe said:

This is it, he is the real deal guys. If the club fuck this up and he leaves then we can officially just give up. Also crazy to think that he joined us some time around when Di Matteo took over, it wasn't that long ago was it? And during that time, in just 5 years, he's come from being a scrawny young kid to having had 2 superb debut seasons in the German premier league straight away and now he's bossing it here. Still only 21, for others this is the age where they get loaned to Championship level clubs. I believe he would walk into any other EPL team already.

You can only imagine the media if he was playing at United.

Funny thing is i felt he blew hot and cold at youth level, maybe he was just bored.

2 hours ago, the wes said:

Andreas Christensen became the first Chelsea academy graduate since John Terry to start three Premier League matches in a row for the Blues on Saturday

 

http://metro.co.uk/2017/11/26/andreas-christensen-first-chelsea-academy-player-to-start-and-play-90-minutes-in-three-consecutive-league-games-since-john-terry-7110274/?ito=cbshare

 

Im pretty sure Bertrand had a run of starts under Benitez, and the year before in the prem while we were keeping Ash wrapped up in cotton wool for the CL.

[Jase 43,479]

5 hours ago, Tomo said:

Im pretty sure Bertrand had a run of starts under Benitez, and the year before in the prem while we were keeping Ash wrapped up in cotton wool for the CL

Indeed.

https://www.transfermarkt.com/ryan-bertrand/leistungsdatendetails/spieler/40611/plus/0?saison=2011&verein=631&liga=&wettbewerb=GB1&pos=&trainer_id=

[Tomo 21,751]

5 minutes ago, Jason said:

Indeed.

https://www.transfermarkt.com/ryan-bertrand/leistungsdatendetails/spieler/40611/plus/0?saison=2011&verein=631&liga=&wettbewerb=GB1&pos=&trainer_id=

Never realized he was always in the 18 under RDM and Rafa, the contrast compared to the 2 Portuguese managers either side of that pair was crazy.

[OneMoSalah 8,886]

He isn’t as progressive as Luiz with the ball but he is a superior defender for me. He keeps it simple when he has to but under pressure he is more than confident enough, if he keeps playing like this Luiz won’t get back in the team imo.

 

See a lot of people asking about Luiz as LCB:

He played there vs Arsenal when Conte swapped the formation last season after that terrible first half where they were 3-0 up and he was not happy  there. I seem to remember a lot of shouting and gesturing towards the side lines... he seemed like he didnt want to go out wide to deal with players one v one from and struggled with the positioning without the ball. I get the whole he’s really good with the ball, better than Cahill but honestly based on what I’ve seen this season from Luiz and also remembering him in second half of that game I think it would be a mistake or to better word it, a big risk. I think he’s more suited to that central role anyway, he’s better sweeping up in behind the wider CBs, he isn’t necessarily having to engage opposition players as often as Azpi or Cahill are but he gets himself in the right positions to help them out or block/deal with crosses and whatever else.

[El P. 1,354]

This guy will prove 3 things:

1. Our youth system can be trusted (spent 3 years at our academy)

2. Our loan system can be trusted (spent 2 good years in Germany)

3. Integrating our young players in our first XI is possible (played 3 games from the start, played a lot of games overall)

He is all the things we wanted for years.

[!Hazard! 3,394]

Christensen is undroppable at the moment just like Azpi. The only way Luiz can get to the starting XI is by replacing Cahill (seems unlikely?) or by playing in midfield (will happen if Bakayoko continues to be garbage).

Or if Andreas plays in midfield. I wonder how he would perform as the anchor in a midfield three similar to the role in which Busquets plays. Obviously I wouldn't move him there because he isn't good enough as a CB but because our midfield is simply not good enough at the moment.

  Fabregas       -       Kante

               Christensen

Worth a try at least?

[LAM09 7,056]

This guy will prove 3 things:
1. Our youth system can be trusted (spent 3 years at our academy)
2. Our loan system can be trusted (spent 2 good years in Germany)
3. Integrating our young players in our first XI is possible (played 3 games from the start, played a lot of games overall)
He is all the things we wanted for years.

One player doesn't prove much when there are another 30-50 players that have fallen by the wayside through the same process.

[Leif 6,006]

Honestly, it's not like Man City, Bayern, Real Madrid, PSG, essentially the teams who should be our peers, do any better with their youth player integration. 

And, regardless of other teams or our youth integration, what needs to be commended is the fact that we assemble the strongest youth teams in Europe. Year in year out. Barcelona are loaded with talent, they're known for it, but who wins the competitions every year? Chelsea Chelsea Chelsea. We bring the heat. We bring the fya. We understand something about youth which other teams don't. We're not as bad at this as we seem. 

And, looking at our most successful youth team of all time (the one with RLC, Musonda, Abraham, Christensen, Chalobah, Ake etc.), a few of them have a chance of making it here (Christensen, RLC, Abraham if the board are happy to settle for a less-than-elite back-up), and the others are genuinely good additions to the teams they've now joined - mainly Premier League clubs so far. 

The only players we've fucked up with in my opinion are Jay Dasilva, Charlie Colkett so far, and somewhat Izzy Brown. Barely any truly great talents have slipped through the cracks so far. McEachran wasn't up to it, Boga has been too streaky even in the youth teams (but how can't you want such a flairy player to succeed? hence he's given the benefit of the doubt), Solanke had nothing to his game which made him qualified to play for a top team, and that's that. Everyone else isn't good enough for our senior squad, and yet they'll still end up at decent teams, no doubt being one of the best players on those teams. 
(Can't comment on Musonda so far. He was going to get chances this season, but missed out due to injury.)

Where are everyone else's youth players? Nowhere. Arsenal's bring no success to any team they play for, and hold Arsenal themselves back from investing in their positions when required; Tottenham have brought through the cream of the crop, Harry Kane, but nobody else writing headlines (I imagine a lot of people think Alli and others are youth products. Nope.) To reiterate, Arsenal have nobody from the youth team helping them progress; Man City too; and United aren't managing their youth prospects very well. 

What if, the narrative is actually completely skewed, and instead of being the worst with youth, we're actually the very best in the Premier League with the young ones?

[the wes 7,212]

36 minutes ago, LAM09 said:

3 hours ago, El P. said:

This guy will prove 3 things:
1. Our youth system can be trusted (spent 3 years at our academy)
2. Our loan system can be trusted (spent 2 good years in Germany)
3. Integrating our young players in our first XI is possible (played 3 games from the start, played a lot of games overall)
He is all the things we wanted for years.

One player doesn't prove much when there are another 30-50 players that have fallen by the wayside through the same process.

Let's be honest here Most off them are not good enough tho