🇪🇸 César Azpilicueta

[Jase 43,479]

It's official!

 

 

[Johnnyeye 7,509]

Great news, great servant for the club since the day he signed for us, consumate professional, hardworker, plays for the badge,  one of the most vital players to our success in the past 6 years, has been a rock in our defense for many seasons now, he's the right captain to succeed Terry. Cheers and KTBFFH Azpi

[the wes 7,212]

On 02/12/2018 at 9:10 PM, manpe said:

Sweet!  Kante down, Azpi down, now Hazard and CHO are left.

Don't build your hopes on hazard signing one 🙁🙁 I think that boat sailed a long time ago 

[Special Juan 28,141]

I have no issues with this as hes a real club man, but the issue I have is based on our lack of quality down either flanks. Alonso has recently renewed and now Azpi, but neither are anywhere near the quality of WB's we need to push up a level.

I also have no faith in the club seeing this and we continue for years with these two. I'm not being detrimental to either, but looking at the big picture and actually seeing the shape of the future. I think both would be good back ups but I'm worried they see these two, even now, as a major key in the cog going forward.

Azpi has been nothing short of immense for us, that I'm not debating at all, what I am debating is we are once again putting loyalty ahead of exactly what this team needs.

 

 

[manpe 10,861]

 

[kellzfresh 7,229]

Colossal performance from him. They attacked his wing relentlessly and he held strong. My man of the match along with Luiz today.

[Magic Lamps 11,692]

13 tackles. cant recall ever having read such a high stat. and many of them crucial. Sterling beat him every time but Azpi recovered every time too and sneaked the ball from him until Sterling got fed up and only passed the ball backwards every time he faced Azpi. 

[Jase 43,479]

Can't believe people have been getting on his back this season. 

HE WAS IMMENSE AGAINST CITY!

[manpe 10,861]

My man of the match, love him to bits. Hope he shuts his doubters up sooner rather than later, I know he has it in him to play better than he has sometimes shown this season. This kind of performance should be a reminder of what we would be missing if we didn't have him on the pitch. If there's anybody who deserves time to adapt to this new style, it's him. For me he's a crucial player who needs to play every big game, wouldn't swap him for anyone.

[Jase 43,479]

Said this before the game today and certainly delivered it!

My captain. 

[BlueSunshine 672]

What a boss he was tonight, if it wasn't for David's goal, Cesar would have been my man of the match. Contrary to many guys here, i don't care a bit for his limited offensive abilities, i know it is costing us now and then but there many more things that we would miss if we didn't play him. He is the one and only true heir to Terry, i wouldn't have anyone else.

[Jase 43,479]

 

[OneMoSalah 8,886]

15 hours ago, Jason said:

Can't believe people have been getting on his back this season. 

HE WAS IMMENSE AGAINST CITY!

Because its typical for some Chelsea fans to tear their own down at any chance because these players aren't flashy players or the next up and coming star, although Azpi is arguably the best 1v1 defender in the PL and has  been for sometime. Particularly the full backs these last few seasons. Fair enough they can improve but everyone can. I am glad we have Azpi and not somebody like Walker or Trippier because the two of they would of got decimated in our team yesterday 😂 Azpi's defensive consistency is severely underrated and underappreciated too, yesterday showed that as a full back being able to defend is just as vital as anything else. He can be decisive in attack too, it is stupid to presume otherwise, he has shown this throughout his Chelsea career. Even more so the last 2 or 3 seasons.

[Magic Lamps 11,692]

3 hours ago, OneMoSalah said:

Because its typical for some Chelsea fans to tear their own down at any chance because these players aren't flashy players or the next up and coming star, although Azpi is arguably the best 1v1 defender in the PL and has  been for sometime. Particularly the full backs these last few seasons. Fair enough they can improve but everyone can. I am glad we have Azpi and not somebody like Walker or Trippier because the two of they would of got decimated in our team yesterday 😂 Azpi's defensive consistency is severely underrated and underappreciated too, yesterday showed that as a full back being able to defend is just as vital as anything else. He can be decisive in attack too, it is stupid to presume otherwise, he has shown this throughout his Chelsea career. Even more so the last 2 or 3 seasons.

Walker is prolly the only rb i would take over him player-wise but not from a character perspective. Trippier is just a midget Alonso. No idea why so many rate him. A nice freekick here and there but no pace and no positional awareness. 

[OneMoSalah 8,886]

22 minutes ago, Magic Lamps said:

Walker is prolly the only rb i would take over him player-wise but not from a character perspective. Trippier is just a midget Alonso. No idea why so many rate him. A nice freekick here and there but no pace and no positional awareness. 

Walker would of beem found out defensively yesterday though. He would of been good as a right wing back in a 343 and with Azpi on that right side center back role it would have been a good combination but as a right back he can be got at and leaves a lot of space. There are some games, like yesterday, where you have moments where your under pressure/exposed/struggling to get out (and this can be against any team of any quality) and for that reason I'd rather Azpilicueta over Walker every day of the week. Benjamin Pavard really looked the business at right back for France in the summer as well, a competitor defensively, tactically aware and can deliver in forward areas too although playing as a CB for Stuttgart, where hes been consistent for a long time and when they came back up didnt look out of his depth at all. Hes another guy I would rather over Walker and see a big future for him on the right side. Also while I've mentioned Stuttgart, there is a big future for Argentine Santiago Ascacibar if he can become a bit more disciplined in his role.

[Jase 43,479]

7 hours ago, OneMoSalah said:

Because its typical for some Chelsea fans to tear their own down at any chance because these players aren't flashy players or the next up and coming star, although Azpi is arguably the best 1v1 defender in the PL and has  been for sometime. Particularly the full backs these last few seasons. Fair enough they can improve but everyone can. I am glad we have Azpi and not somebody like Walker or Trippier because the two of they would of got decimated in our team yesterday 😂 Azpi's defensive consistency is severely underrated and underappreciated too, yesterday showed that as a full back being able to defend is just as vital as anything else. He can be decisive in attack too, it is stupid to presume otherwise, he has shown this throughout his Chelsea career. Even more so the last 2 or 3 seasons.

Fans jumping on Azpi's back since Sarri came in is like that kid who ditches the old toy when he/she gets a new one. After Sarri came in, it seems all people care about is going forward and nothing defensively. You're definitely right in saying he's underrated and underappreciated. People have gotten so used to his consistency that they have taken him for granted.

[OneMoSalah 8,886]

11 minutes ago, Jason said:

Fans jumping on Azpi's back since Sarri came in is like that kid who ditches the old toy when he/she gets a new one. After Sarri, it seems all people care about is going forward and nothing defensively. You're definitely right in saying he's underrated and underappreciated. People have gotten so used to his consistency that they have taken him for granted.

The same things happened before to other players, guys like Mikel, Ivanovic (fair enough he was shite towards the end but Mourinho not dropping him wasnt his fault), even Cahill when Conte shifted him to LCB 2 seasons ago and now it would seem Cesc too. They did/do good jobs, have/had been consistent for years but new managers and flashy or up and coming players in their positions made fans render them obscolete too early. Cahill now like Mikel and Ivanovic did, has to move on and perhaps Cesc too but they were underappreciated well before their sell by dates and it would seem some believe Azpi is in that basket. Azpi is a better player than Hysaj, who for me is definitely better going forward than at defending. Working with Sarri in the past doesnt mean it will necessarily be a smooth transition, we've seen Jorginho had a great start but now hes having issues in certain matches. There not all his but we cant just pin our hopes on dumping half our team and signing half of Napoli. Which i feel a lot of fans seem to think we can do. There is almost an arrogance now that people think we just need to be able to attack from all areas of the pitch, our success since the early 2000s has always been built on solid foundations and it seems as if people are turning there nose up at it and appreciating style over silverwear. Fair enough as a football fan you want to appreciate style but I would rather see my team be a success than play nice football and win nothing. Obviously there is an inbetween both, winning with a style like Pep but its hard to do. 

[BlueLyon 9,359]

13 minutes ago, Jason said:

Fans jumping on Azpi's back since Sarri came in is like that kid who ditches the old toy when he/she gets a new one. After Sarri, it seems all people care about is going forward and nothing defensively. You're definitely right in saying he's underrated and underappreciated. People have gotten so used to his consistency that they have taken him for granted.

People are right to criticise Azpi, he wasnt 100% this season. If he now picks from the city game, he will be back to his good old reliable self. 

But fans who called for his replacement after 4 months under completely different manager are disgrace. Have some faith man.

[Jase 43,479]

Just now, BlueLyon said:

People are right to criticise Azpi, he wasnt 100% this season. If he now picks from the city game, he will be back to his good old reliable self. 

But fans who called for his replacement after 4 months under completely different manager are disgrace. Have some faith man.

Not saying it's wrong to criticize Azpi this season because he did have a few poor games defensively earlier on in the season. But on a whole, he's been solid and reliable as always and yesterday's performance was certainly a reminder of that. Yet, those Sarri-bots want him out just because he's not an attacking fullback. It's like I said, people don't care about defending anymore ever since Sarri came in. It's all about Sarri-ball and nothing else.

[OneMoSalah 8,886]

8 minutes ago, BlueLyon said:

People are right to criticise Azpi, he wasnt 100% this season. If he now picks from the city game, he will be back to his good old reliable self. 

But fans who called for his replacement after 4 months under completely different manager are disgrace. Have some faith man.

Wasnt 100% this season? Based on what? The guys been defensively solid enough all season, what match has he really struggled in? And the game against City only back to his reliable self? That was easily one of the best performances hes put in while being here, he played better than "reliable", he won 9 out of 13 tackles, however many cruical blocks and interceptions... he played out of his skin I thought.

Hes always a 7/10 guy, always very very solid, leads by example, always puts a lot of effort in but that City game was easily a 9/10 and potential MOTM, which went to another defender, David Luiz. How many other full backs can say they have had a performance that good against Man City who have Leroy Sane at LW?

 

Second point I fully agree.