Axel Witsel

[jernej93 569]

Stilll, I wouldnn't say Witsel is limited or one dimensional. He is quick, energetiic, he can score, his tackles are nice. Fábregas-Matic-Witsel in the middle would be amazing.

He can't pass .. all I need to know from midfield player.

[Stingray 9,441]

He can't pass .. all I need to know from midfield player.

Sorry but thats completely untrue.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

nadavTKL, on 20 Jun 2015 - 12:33 AM, said:

For the fifth time - the CMs im talking about are not players you consider "World Class" (literally said the opposite), but players like Allan, Witsel, Imbula, Schneiderlin. Not Guarin.. where did he came from.

Im "focusing on the names of these individuals" for this all discassion, you ignore it.

Mourinho preferred to play with another CM next to Matic and Cesc in a lot of games - he did it in away games vs teams like Stoke, WHU, Southempton etc, he did it in big games vs United, Liverpool, City etc, and he did it in CL ko games.

And he even did it in some 'comfortable' home and away games. Thats a big chunk of games this new CM is probably going to start, a lot of 'rotation' in my opinion.

So i'll fully understand if Jose wants a more technical CM instead of Ramires for all of those games. A better passer, a better ball handler, because imo Ramires's inability in those areas costing us every time we want to get from

defence to attack, to keep possession, or handle ball pressure from the opponent. i dont think Ramires is more than fine to start those games because of his very obvious technical flaws. but we can disagree on that.

Also for the fifth time - Ramires stays at the club for me. You dont need to tell me how helpful he can be, but idealy he's the 4th CM next season. Like Mikel this past season.

"I jumped in on this when I heard that Ramires and Mikel weren't good enough to play for a club of our stature" - i dont know if anyone said they cant play here. I know i didnt. Im talking about STARTING lots of games, specific type of games i mentioned above.

And im quoting myself - "crucial roles". Im more than fine with Ramires as a regular sub, starting cup games, starting a PL game once in a while, start in case of injurys. If Mikel also wants to stay here to be 5th or 6th CM i also wouldnt mind, if it was possible.

Schneiderlin is not going to come here and sit on the bench, he has absolutely no reason to. He is the exact same type of mid as matic and not box to box. If we went with our midfield 3 formation with matic, Schneiderlin and fab we likely would struggle in counter attack, which is primarily our tactic against big teams. I'm also pretty sure I was the first person who mentioned Allan's around here and while I agree he would be a decent addition, he's not going to be the difference between us getting knocked out in the q-finals and winning the champs league... You're basically calling for refreshers not player who will actually improve us. Imbula is a good draw! Though he is young and not exactly a counter attacking threat... I like him though.

A lot of those games you mentioned came down to injury or fatigue, our preferred shape was definitely 4-2-3-1 but yes we are a fluid squad and there will be lots of opportunities for a player to come in and play minutes for us. My point of contention is whether Witsel will come in and provide more for our midfield in big matches than a healthy Ramires. Sure he can best Mikel based on what I've seen but Ramires' ball winning, goal scoring and counter attacking prowess make it hard to leave him out of those big games you refer to. He is a ball winning box to box and in my opinion is greatly underrated.

And when you said "I can't think of a reason why Ramires should keep getting all those crucial minutes in big games" was the point in which I interjected. Real Madrid wanted Ramires TWICE under two different managers... The only managers to win the Champions League twice see him as a key figure. He has a role to play, what you're saying is you want an upgrade and I'm not sure one exists in the SQUAD player ranks and the only real upgrades will cost a mint. Witsel hasn't shown or proven he's more influential in big games and until he does you can't really slag off Ramires in favour of him, Imbula, Allan or whoever else. We have a high quality squad player who has won everything at the club level and did so play a big role...

[nadavTKL 1,787]

Schneiderlin is not going to come here and sit on the bench, he has absolutely no reason to. He is the exact same type of mid as matic and not box to box. If we went with our midfield 3 formation with matic, Schneiderlin and fab we likely would struggle in counter attack, which is primarily our tactic against big teams. I'm also pretty sure I was the first person who mentioned Allan around

So we agree on something...

Im accepting your opinion about Schneiderlin's style. Im not sure about him either (and his price).

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

So we agree on something...

Im accepting your opinion about Schneiderlin's style. Im not sure about him either (and his price).

but a footnote to what I actually wrote... My phone sucks.

[nadavTKL 1,787]

but a footnote to what I actually wrote... My phone sucks.

We are obviously disagreeing on Ramires as a footballer. And i dont think the CMs i mentioned are only "refreshers", i think every one of them will make us better in the big games.

This is going nowhere so lets leave it here.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

We are obviously disagreeing on Ramires as a footballer. And i dont think the CMs i mentioned are only "refreshers", i think every one of them will make us better in the big games.

This is going nowhere so lets leave it here.

Better in some areas not all. We will be lacking goals, pace and counter attacking awareness(although Ramires seems to always look to get forward)

Agree to disagree though, I think Jose loves Ramires and it will take some doing to supplant him in his role at the club.

[jernej93 569]

Sorry but thats completely untrue.

On the other hand, if Mourinho thinks he is the player than he is the player for us

[kellzfresh 7,229]

I like him but if i had the choice, i would pick Nainggolan before him

Exactly. And not because he is a better player, but because he is a physical, technical box to box player like vidal and that's exactly what we need.

[nyikolajevics 2,690]

Milan win Witsel race

Chelsea appear to have lost out on Axel Witsel, with the Zenit midfielder on the verge of joining AC Milan. Manchester United were also interested in the Belgian, who is set for a £21 million move to San Siro.

Source:

Gazzetta dello Sport

[lucio 5,418]

Milan win Witsel race

Chelsea appear to have lost out on Axel Witsel, with the Zenit midfielder on the verge of joining AC Milan. Manchester United were also interested in the Belgian, who is set for a £21 million move to San Siro.

Source:

Gazzetta dello Sport

We shouldn't be losing out to a pensioners club with no European football

[Jase 43,479]

https://twitter.com/HLNinEngeland/status/613637750307356672

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Milan win Witsel race

Chelsea appear to have lost out on Axel Witsel, with the Zenit midfielder on the verge of joining AC Milan. Manchester United were also interested in the Belgian, who is set for a £21 million move to San Siro.

Source:

Gazzetta dello Sport

In other words: "Chelsea never wanted to sign Witsel but their name was thrown into the mix to raise the price and get clicks for sports websites"

Source:

CHOULO19

[termninja 5,290]

In other words: "Chelsea never wanted to sign Witsel but their name was thrown into the mix to raise the price and get clicks for sports websites"

Source:

CHOULO19

Can't believe people really do that with our name! Those bastards!

[LDN Blue 7,903]

A lot of people on here rate Witsel highly, but you look at his career.. Zenit and now AC Milan? He can't be as good as what people believe on here then.