🇪🇸 César Azpilicueta

[mac.bo 48]

Yeah ivanavic gets caught out too many times at the top end of the pitch and leaves us vunrelable on the right side,dont go over half way line only for corners&free kicks!But agree we need height in our team against certain teams but we have back 4 of Luiz Terry Cahill Ivanavic at our disposal if needs be!

[Amblève. 4,995]

Cesar must have killed Jose's dog.

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

I have no problem with Ivanovic being out starter. He's a very good player. The issue here for me is that Azpilicueta showed that he deserves to get game time at least and this is our 6th game of any meaning and Azpilicueta hasn't started a single one. A CB will get hurt/suspended at some point which will give Azpilicueta minutes so he will definitely play, but it's curious.

[Gilvorak 3,734]

He better start against Fulham. Enough of Ivanovic for now.

He actually makes overlapping runs and would probably have taken advantage of Basel giving him the freedom of the pitch.

[Rubber bullets 1,183]

Feel sorry for this guy.

Last season he was one of our most consistent players and showed us the benefits of having an actual RB instead of a makeshift one. But for what ever reason (not being over 6ft, skinny, or simply being Spanish) Jose's seems to be ignoring his quality in favour for a player who is not a RB and can have some very poor performances there.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

We could have really used him for some width yesterday. Granted Iva did better than I though, but he's CB for fudge's sake!

[Sheva. 5,373]

Poor guy has to win back his place in a position he made his own last season. Problem with changing manager every 3 months.

[The_Flash 1,144]

Agreed he deserves a chance, come on Jose, give other people a shot, those ones last night were pretty weak.

[The only place to be 11,313]

Agreed he deserves a chance, come on Jose, give other people a shot, those ones last night were pretty weak.

Ivanovic wasn't.

Jose is clearly still looking for his best XI and his best system, so I doubt he'll change the things that actually are working at the moment. Once the squad is a bit more settled then I'm sure players like Azpi will get a chance.

[Mufassir08 2,400]

Gotta feel for the guy.Last season he was brilliant in defence and very important for our attack but in the summer a new manager comes in who prefers physicality and relegates azpi to the bench .

[Phil Driver 503]

Absence would seem to make the heart grow fonder here ,Azpi was not god at the end of last season vSouthampton he was given a lesson in full back play by an 18 year old kid and his display in Europa final was as bad as you could imagine. Ivan I think has been our most consistent player this season,his selection is a no brainer.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Absence would seem to make the heart grow fonder here ,Azpi was not god at the end of last season vSouthampton he was given a lesson in full back play by an 18 year old kid and his display in Europa final was as bad as you could imagine. Ivan I think has been our most consistent player this season,his selection is a no brainer.

I respect your opinion but I totally disagree with you. Granted Azpi is prone to lapses in concentration, but he was one of the stand-out performers under the Rafa Regime. He adds far more to the team in an offensive sense, and unlike Ivanovic - who, in my view, is developing a lazy streak - actually closes down attacking wide players instead of allowing the cross to come in.

[Milan 17,959]

Here's an interview with Cesar

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/news/newsid=2179035/index.html?cid=rssfeed&att=

I'm an ambitious player and I work hard to achieve my goals.

[The only place to be 11,313]

I respect your opinion but I totally disagree with you. Granted Azpi is prone to lapses in concentration, but he was one of the stand-out performers under the Rafa Regime. He adds far more to the team in an offensive sense, and unlike Ivanovic - who, in my view, is developing a lazy streak - actually closes down attacking wide players instead of allowing the cross to come in.

What the fuck?

The guy is a machine, doesn't stop running all day and gets up and down that right wing with fuck all support sometimes....and he's developing a lazy streak???

I do sometimes wonder if people watch the matches when they make comments like this.

[didierforever 7,349]

I respect your opinion but I totally disagree with you. Granted Azpi is prone to lapses in concentration, but he was one of the stand-out performers under the Rafa Regime. He adds far more to the team in an offensive sense, and unlike Ivanovic - who, in my view, is developing a lazy streak - actually closes down attacking wide players instead of allowing the cross to come in.

BOOOM!!!!

dude, seriously??? iva's workrate has been BRILLIANT. absolutely phenomenal. he is always available on the right wide providing us much-much-much needed width.

also, iva never closed down wingers. it was always one of his poor points. i mean even in 2009-10 when he got RB of the year, he still had the problem, so this is not something that has "developed" now.

as for offensively, iva so far has been a very good outlet. look at his cross to etoo at the near post. a couple of brilliant runs in the basel and fulham match.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

I don't think it;s laziness. Iva doesn't close down crosses simply because he's a CB playing at RB. It does not come instinctively for him to close down crosses.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

What the fuck?

The guy is a machine, doesn't stop running all day and gets up and down that right wing with fuck all support sometimes....and he's developing a lazy streak???

I do sometimes wonder if people watch the matches when they make comments like this.

BOOOM!!!!

dude, seriously??? iva's workrate has been BRILLIANT. absolutely phenomenal. he is always available on the right wide providing us much-much-much needed width.

also, iva never closed down wingers. it was always one of his poor points. i mean even in 2009-10 when he got RB of the year, he still had the problem, so this is not something that has "developed" now.

as for offensively, iva so far has been a very good outlet. look at his cross to etoo at the near post. a couple of brilliant runs in the basel and fulham match.

He can be exceptionally lazy at times. He refuses to close down wingers (a cardinal sin for a full-back), and on multiple occasions this season he has got forward, the team has lost the ball and he's simply walked back instead of running back to help. Happened at least four times against Basel alone.

[OneMoSalah 8,886]

Hard to think Jose has minimized 2 of our better players from last season's game time so much that they will only get 90 minutes against bloody Swindon...

[didierforever 7,349]

He can be exceptionally lazy at times. He refuses to close down wingers (a cardinal sin for a full-back), and on multiple occasions this season he has got forward, the team has lost the ball and he's simply walked back instead of running back to help. Happened at least four times against Basel alone.

i dont remember when those 4 instances happened during the basel match but i ll take your word for it.

still i would say, for me, iva was the MOTM in that match, (u can go to the basel post match thread and see my vote). i felt he was great defensively, twice he saved luiz's ass when he was out of position. one of those was when strellar would have gone one on one with cech if not for iva's timely interception.

attackingly, i felt, he seemed to be our best option on the pitch. provided with width, made some brilliant runs towards the end of the match. all throughout the match he was shouting at willian to make a run ahead of him but to no avail and i remember in the 2nd half oscar made on of those, iva put him thru on theline and it resulted in a half chance.

we are playing a different system and its pretty clear from the amount of ball iva and cole have got in the last 3 matches that jose is going to use them as attacking options. look at how cole is struggling in this new system, while i feel iva has been better than just good.

moreover, just like in the mata-case, i would trust jose for knowing what he is doing. i dont see any reason why he would say something like "do i have a doubt that iva is my first choice rb? I DONT." unless he is 100% sure.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

i dont remember when those 4 instances happened during the basel match but i ll take your word for it.

still i would say, for me, iva was the MOTM in that match, (u can go to the basel post match thread and see my vote). i felt he was great defensively, twice he saved luiz's ass when he was out of position. one of those was when strellar would have gone one on one with cech if not for iva's timely interception.

attackingly, i felt, he seemed to be our best option on the pitch. provided with width, made some brilliant runs towards the end of the match. all throughout the match he was shouting at willian to make a run ahead of him but to no avail and i remember in the 2nd half oscar made on of those, iva put him thru on theline and it resulted in a half chance.

we are playing a different system and its pretty clear from the amount of ball iva and cole have got in the last 3 matches that jose is going to use them as attacking options. look at how cole is struggling in this new system, while i feel iva has been better than just good.

moreover, just like in the mata-case, i would trust jose for knowing what he is doing. i dont see any reason why he would say something like "do i have a doubt that iva is my first choice rb? I DONT." unless he is 100% sure.

It's a case of semantics. In retrospect I'll accept that "lazy streak" was the wrong choice of words. I definitely stand by my point that he doesn't have the temperament of a full-back. It is a cardinal sin for a full-back not to close down a wide player, as far as I'm concerned. He is a centre-half though, of course. I just personally believe that in this team we need more balance at full-back, and I believe Azpi should be starting. IMO, Ivanovic is our best centre-half, so as to why he is playing where he is, only José knows.

But people need to jump of their high horses. Not aiming this bit at you, didierforever! Just a comment TOPTB made earlier: "Mourinho has forgotten more about football than you'll ever know" - maybe so, doesn't mean everything he does is right, does it? Does it mean we can't question his methods and actions? If Rafa had made some of the decisions José is making, we'd be kicking off like crazy! For me, one of the wrong decisions Mourinho is making is playing Iva at RB.