Andreas Christensen

[James 5,287]

 

[King Kante 1,643]

5 hours ago, James said:

 

I have maintained all along that of the 4 CB's we had last year, his reading of the game, positional play and passing ability is by far and away the best. Problem with him is his physical and mental game, however in a three that is not so much of an issue. 

[Tomo 21,751]

On 09/02/2021 at 12:40, King Kante said:

I have maintained all along that of the 4 CB's we had last year, his reading of the game, positional play and passing ability is by far and away the best. Problem with him is his physical and mental game, however in a three that is not so much of an issue. 

Given a similar type of defender who had similar issues in John Stones has had resurgence this season with Ruben Dias and combining that with Rudi/Zouma treating the ball like a hot potato vs pressing has strengthened my belief that i want to see him given a run with Silva.

[Jase 43,479]

1 hour ago, Tomo said:

Given a similar type of defender who had similar issues in John Stones has had resurgence this season with Ruben Dias and combining that with Rudi/Zouma treating the ball like a hot potato vs pressing has strengthened my belief that i want to see him given a run with Silva.

[Tomo 21,751]

15 minutes ago, Jason said:

Exactly the reaction i would have got if i said the same about Stones this time last year!

[Jase 43,479]

2 minutes ago, Tomo said:

Exactly the reaction i would have got if i said the same about Stones this time last year!

Could care less about Stones and I don't think his issue was finding the right defensive partner for him.

Back to Christensen, partnering him with Silva is one thing but we know Silva won't be around for much longer, given his age. If your solution to making Christensen better is by partnering him with Silva, then what happens when Silva retires/leaves?

Also, partnering Christensen with Silva isn't suddenly gonna make the former better at say, dealing with physical challenges/players. And we know Christensen has looked better in a back 3, than back 4.

And if a CB needs a specific player to partner with him to look good, then that CB isn't very good to begin with. 

[King Kante 1,643]

On 14/02/2021 at 11:15, Jason said:

Could care less about Stones and I don't think his issue was finding the right defensive partner for him.

Back to Christensen, partnering him with Silva is one thing but we know Silva won't be around for much longer, given his age. If your solution to making Christensen better is by partnering him with Silva, then what happens when Silva retires/leaves?

Also, partnering Christensen with Silva isn't suddenly gonna make the former better at say, dealing with physical challenges/players. And we know Christensen has looked better in a back 3, than back 4.

And if a CB needs a specific player to partner with him to look good, then that CB isn't very good to begin with. 

I think what me and Tomo are getting at (and correct me if I am wrong Tomo) is that AC displays more high level CB qualities that either Rudi or Zouma. 

For me, I would categorise him being better at the following; 

1) Reading the game

2) Positional play

3) Playing the ball under pressure 

His main flaws are physical and mental, which are more exposed when playing with players with the skill sets Zouma and Rudi have. In my opinion, AC's flaws are both more fixable than getting 26+ defenders to start doing what he does better.

Further, Rudi and Zouma get a lot of praise from Chelsea fans for their recovery tackles/runs. However, whenever I see them I am reminded of Maldini's comment that 'if I have to make a tackle, it is because I have already done something wrong'. The Palace tackle last season is a prime example of this. Zouma made an absolute monster of a recovery/tackle but it was largely due to the position he took up initially that he had to make it. So, where one can argue that it is a great tackle, others can argue it is poor play and he has had to bail himself out in a very risky way. 

Personally, I am not sure AC has the ability to quite make the turn around Stones has because of how slight he is. However, like Tomo, I do believe if he isn't playing with someone who is getting caught out constantly from ball watching/being caught out of position he is likely to look a lot better as it will allow him to play to his strengths more and as his strengths are more highly skilled, he could end up looking a good to very good (note not elite) player. 

However, as I have always said about the Zouma/AC/Rudi/Tomori quintet, pick your poison, as all are flawed and who ever you choose is primarily down to personal preference in what they want to see from a CB. 

[Stats 7,140]

On 14/02/2021 at 11:05, Tomo said:

Exactly the reaction i would have got if i said the same about Stones this time last year!

I think if you put Christensen in that City team, he looks a lot better defender. City rarely lose the ball so their CB are less prone to making vulnerable mistakes. Their ball retention is just superb and Pep is more tactically astute now. Dias is brilliant but yhh I think Christensen is very similar player to Stones. But difference is one is at City and one is at us. Their game against Spurs last week, how much times did City even manage to get the ball in City's half let alone have a effort in open play?

[Jase 43,479]

8 hours ago, King Kante said:

I think what me and Tomo are getting at (and correct me if I am wrong Tomo) is that AC displays more high level CB qualities that either Rudi or Zouma. 

For me, I would categorise him being better at the following; 

1) Reading the game

2) Positional play

3) Playing the ball under pressure 

His main flaws are physical and mental, which are more exposed when playing with players with the skill sets Zouma and Rudi have. In my opinion, AC's flaws are both more fixable than getting 26+ defenders to start doing what he does better.

Further, Rudi and Zouma get a lot of praise from Chelsea fans for their recovery tackles/runs. However, whenever I see them I am reminded of Maldini's comment that 'if I have to make a tackle, it is because I have already done something wrong'. The Palace tackle last season is a prime example of this. Zouma made an absolute monster of a recovery/tackle but it was largely due to the position he took up initially that he had to make it. So, where one can argue that it is a great tackle, others can argue it is poor play and he has had to bail himself out in a very risky way. 

Personally, I am not sure AC has the ability to quite make the turn around Stones has because of how slight he is. However, like Tomo, I do believe if he isn't playing with someone who is getting caught out constantly from ball watching/being caught out of position he is likely to look a lot better as it will allow him to play to his strengths more and as his strengths are more highly skilled, he could end up looking a good to very good (note not elite) player. 

However, as I have always said about the Zouma/AC/Rudi/Tomori quintet, pick your poison, as all are flawed and who ever you choose is primarily down to personal preference in what they want to see from a CB. 

Still disagree with that assessment, especially when you are basically suggesting that Christensen will look better alongside Silva than the other defenders.

Silva is a great defender but he is not some sort of savior who will turn others to be great. Christensen, first and foremost, should be looking after himself and his development. If he needs another kind of defender alongside to look good, then you have got a problem. Do we say the same thing about Silva himself or Terry? Christensen has been at the club for 8 years. Can anyone really say that he has improved? He also turns 25 years old this year. At some point, either you grow up and get better or you don't. 

Another thing with Christensen, which I mentioned in the previous post, is that he has looked better in a back 3 than in a back 4. In the back 3, he has played alongside Rudiger, especially, a lot and I don't recall him getting exposed as much as he does when playing in a back 4. In the back 4 system, he just does himself no favors and get exposed a lot more, even with some of the supposed good things you listed above about him, and it doesn't even have anything to do with who he plays with. Remember the red card he got against Liverpool earlier this season? All came about because of the lack of point #1 and #2 you mentioned above. Don't remember much of last season right now but there are probably other mistakes of Christensen that one can pick out from the matches.

Also another with the Stones comparison is that, IIRC, he had off the field issues last season, which contributed to his loss of form and the poor performances. Otherwise, he played a good amount of games whenever he's fit. He didn't suddenly just play more because of Ruben Dias. 

[NikkiCFC 8,287]

I wouldn't be me if I don't bring some stats here 😅

Last season we conceded just one goal with Rudiger and Zouma pairing. 

This season this trend continues. 

Like Jason said, I don't trust him with 4 at the back even with Silva. They played that crazy game against WBA 3:3.

Yes he is better on the ball but clean sheets are essential. Plus Silva is already that ball playing CB, so why do we need two? Also he never scores unlike every other CB in the galaxy probably. He does look good in 3 at the back system so it's good now until Silva is back. 

[Strike 7,477]

59 minutes ago, NikkiCFC said:

I wouldn't be me if I don't bring some stats here 😅

Last season we conceded just one goal with Rudiger and Zouma pairing. 

This season this trend continues. 

Like Jason said, I don't trust him with 4 at the back even with Silva. They played that crazy game against WBA 3:3.

Yes he is better on the ball but clean sheets are essential. Plus Silva is already that ball playing CB, so why do we need two? Also he never scores unlike every other CB in the galaxy probably. He does look good in 3 at the back system so it's good now until Silva is back. 

Yes I think as good as he is on the ball and with his reading of the game, there is a bigger threat of Christensen challenging for the ball and not winning or simply getting beaten by the attacker. The goal Villa scored at the Bridge for example or the Liverpool game where he took out Mane.

I was in favour of Tomori over both Rudiger and Christensen. Still am but I can understand if Tomori doesn't want to come back to Chelsea.
 

[King Kante 1,643]

3 hours ago, Jason said:

Still disagree with that assessment, especially when you are basically suggesting that Christensen will look better alongside Silva than the other defenders.

Silva is a great defender but he is not some sort of savior who will turn others to be great. Christensen, first and foremost, should be looking after himself and his development. If he needs another kind of defender alongside to look good, then you have got a problem. Do we say the same thing about Silva himself or Terry? Christensen has been at the club for 8 years. Can anyone really say that he has improved? He also turns 25 years old this year. At some point, either you grow up and get better or you don't. 

Another thing with Christensen, which I mentioned in the previous post, is that he has looked better in a back 3 than in a back 4. In the back 3, he has played alongside Rudiger, especially, a lot and I don't recall him getting exposed as much as he does when playing in a back 4. In the back 4 system, he just does himself no favors and get exposed a lot more, even with some of the supposed good things you listed above about him, and it doesn't even have anything to do with who he plays with. Remember the red card he got against Liverpool earlier this season? All came about because of the lack of point #1 and #2 you mentioned above. Don't remember much of last season right now but there are probably other mistakes of Christensen that one can pick out from the matches.

Also another with the Stones comparison is that, IIRC, he had off the field issues last season, which contributed to his loss of form and the poor performances. Otherwise, he played a good amount of games whenever he's fit. He didn't suddenly just play more because of Ruben Dias. 

To be honest Jason, I appreciate why you say what you do. As I said at the end of my post, the choice of favourtie CB out of the 4 we had last year is primarily down to personal preference, as I think it largely depends on what you look for in a CB. Whereas, myself and Tomo look for more 'soft skills' shall well call them, you look for more 'hard skills'. 

Lets put it this way, if we go 

Silva Zouma 

Silva Rudi

Silva AC 

Silva Tomori

Would there really be much net difference over a course of a season? My opinion is no, there wouldn't be. So, what this all really comes down to is what an individual prefers to see and them speculating how an extended run would allow for their preferred CB to get some consistency/develop. 

[Jase 43,479]

4 minutes ago, King Kante said:

To be honest Jason, I appreciate why you say what you do. As I said at the end of my post, the choice of favourtie CB out of the 4 we had last year is primarily down to personal preference, as I think it largely depends on what you look for in a CB. Whereas, myself and Tomo look for more 'soft skills' shall well call them, you look for more 'hard skills'. 

Lets put it this way, if we go 

Silva Zouma 

Silva Rudi

Silva AC 

Silva Tomori

Would there really be much net difference over a course of a season? My opinion is no, there wouldn't be. So, what this all really comes down to is what an individual prefers to see and them speculating how an extended run would allow for their preferred CB to get some consistency/develop. 

The problem here is the flaws of Christensen - physically and mentally. He might have better skill on the ball, positioning etc than Rudiger and Zouma but there's no point in having those qualities when he's prone to getting bullied by physical players or getting caught out for his lapses in concentration. It's like David Luiz. We know he can be great on his days but we also know that he's unreliable and prone to making mistakes. I'm not Zouma's biggest fan - nor am I a hater - but he was working well with Silva pre-Tuchel. 

[NikkiCFC 8,287]

He should definitely play today in the middle. 

[MoroccanBlue 5,376]

2 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

He should definitely play today in the middle. 

Said 99% of Chelsea fans. 
 

Tuchel - Nah, Zouma.