César Azpilicueta

[Vesper 28,832]

Billy Bonds: 'If I was Kepa Arrizabalaga's captain, I would have walked him off'

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2019/02/28/billy-bonds-kepa-arrizabalagas-captain-would-have-walked/

oh for a Bonds as our captain

 

[Jase 43,479]

2 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

In terms of legendary status he's nowhere near Ivanovic. 

You're right...because his status will be higher. 

[Jase 43,479]

1 hour ago, Vesper said:

it is staggering how quickly he fell off the cliff

we so need to cash in on him

plus he is part of the poison pill Spanish crew

Cesc leaving allowed the others to become unhinged

his actions in the Carabao Cup Kepa nightmare and then post game are unforgivable for a person wearing OUR CAPTAINS armband

Life is truly fucked up. It can take ages to build up trust and reputation but it only needs one bad moment for it to crumble to pieces. 

[NikkiCFC 7,953]

14 minutes ago, Jason said:

You're right...because his status will be higher. 

 

12 minutes ago, Jason said:

Life is truly fucked up. It can take ages to build up trust and reputation but it only needs one bad moment for it to crumble to pieces. 

Well then same can be said for Ivanovic in your case. Take away last season and a half he played for us.  Arguably top3 RB's in the history of PL. Just EL final goal is more than Azpi gave us. Not to mention Napoli, Liverpool in CL.. For years Iva was best right back in the world with Alves and Maicon. He was leader on the pitch, always offensive threat basically everything Azpi is not. 

[Jase 43,479]

7 minutes ago, NikkiCFC said:

 

Well then same can be said for Ivanovic in your case. Take away last season and a half he played for us.  Arguably top3 RB's in the history of PL. Just EL final goal is more than Azpi gave us. Not to mention Napoli, Liverpool in CL.. For years Iva was best right back in the world with Alves and Maicon. He was leader on the pitch, always offensive threat basically everything Azpi is not. 

Knew that was coming. It's silly to judge the standing of a player based on the number of goals he scores. I don't disagree with you that Ivanovic did give us some of the biggest moments but let's not forget, he was a CB and CB that got moved to RB. As a CB, you're more likely to score goals, especially from corners like the goals you pointed out there. You said Ivanovic was arguably one of the top 3 right backs (which might be an exaggeration)...equally Azpi got considered as one of the best defenders in Premier League by Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher, both who were among the best defenders in the league's history. As for Ivanovic being one of the best right backs in the world, let's not exaggerate things (again) and rewrite history here. He may have gotten forward a lot but his end product for a right back was horrendous. I still remember he always hit crosses into players or basically put bad crosses into the box and there were plenty of complaints about this in his thread. I guess it's a sign of how football has changed when goals, stats, numbers trump over consistent, reliable performances.

[Vesper 28,832]

18 minutes ago, Jason said:

Knew that was coming. It's silly to judge the standing of a player based on the number of goals he scores. I don't disagree with you that Ivanovic did give us some of the biggest moments but let's not forget, he was a CB and CB that got moved to RB. As a CB, you're more likely to score goals, especially from corners like the goals you pointed out there. You said Ivanovic was arguably one of the top 3 right backs (which might be an exaggeration)...equally Azpi got considered as one of the best defenders in Premier League by Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher, both who were among the best defenders in the league's history. As for Ivanovic being one of the best right backs in the world, let's not exaggerate things (again) and rewrite history here. He may have gotten forward a lot but his end product for a right back was horrendous. I still remember he always hit crosses into players or basically put bad crosses into the box and there were plenty of complaints about this in his thread. I guess it's a sign of how football has changed when goals, stats, numbers trump over consistent, reliable performances.

On a pure player level 

I would take prime Branislav over prime Azpi all day long

I dont give a rat's red arse about goals

Ivanović was just a better player

shame he was subjected by a cuntish Mo into playing out of position at the end

[Jase 43,479]

Just now, Vesper said:

On a pure player level 

I would take prime Branislav over prime Azpi all day long

I dont give a rat's red arse about goals

Ivanović was just a better player

shame he was subjected by a cuntish Mo into playing out of position at the end

[Vesper 28,832]

4 minutes ago, Jason said:

[Tomo 21,733]

3 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

In terms of legendary status he's nowhere near Ivanovic. 

I disagree, they are both category B (ie the tier behind the old guard, Zola etc).

Criticise Azpi all you want for his decline this season this season or his actions at Wembley, but lets not rewrite history, he's been a fantastic servent and from a defensive and consistentcy POV one of the best we've ever had, possibly the best bar JT.

[NikkiCFC 7,953]

33 minutes ago, Tomo said:

I disagree, they are both category B (ie the tier behind the old guard, Zola etc).

Criticise Azpi all you want for his decline this season this season or his actions at Wembley, but lets not rewrite history, he's been a fantastic servent and from a defensive and consistentcy POV one of the best we've ever had, possibly the best bar JT.

Azpi was amazing RCB but fuck me on RB Geremi Nijtap is better. 

[Tomo 21,733]

1 hour ago, NikkiCFC said:

Azpi was amazing RCB but fuck me on RB Geremi Nijtap is better. 

He was already slowing down a bit at the back end of last season while playing RCB.

I think his form this season is a decline more than anything, the excessive amount of games down the years has caught up with him.

[Jase 43,479]

9 hours ago, Tomo said:

He was already slowing down a bit at the back end of last season while playing RCB.

I think his form this season is a decline more than anything, the excessive amount of games down the years has caught up with him.

Sarri's open style has certainly contributed to Azpi's struggles this season (looked better when we defended deeper in last two games) and it certainly doesn't help that Sarri appears to have frozen Zappacosta out and is playing Azpi in every game, even the Europa League. 

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Wow, such a lot of Azpilicueta hate.

Yes - I agree, I think that, for the large part, he has been quite poor in general this season. He seems to be exposed for pace time and time again, though I don't think that the formation helps in that regard, as it's the quick opposition turnover where they exploit the same behind the full-backs that kills us time and time again. The Kepa incident also demonstrated his worrying lack of leadership skills. Let's face it, Cahill would have marched Kepa off of the pitch, he wouldn't have stood for such insubordination. Terry would have probably torn him a new arsehole. 

But I don't think one below-par season should tarnish his reputation. Let's not forget, that for the past few seasons he's been playing predominantly as a CB, and then on occasion a RWB. It's a complete positional change for him. As a full-back, he is probably a square peg in a round hole, as his offensive contribution is lacklustre. He can't cross at all well, apart from when he seems to be in a bit of space in a deeper position, floating a ball in. He can't beat a man, and his crosses from the byline are woeful. You have to give him some sympathy, as he is at least performing manfully, there's never a half-hearted contributed from Azpilicueta. He deserves a fair whack of criticism, granted, but the bloke looks exhausted and playing him every single game in a high-pressure system isn't going to be helpful. He's getting older, and the years of playing match after match look like they've caught up. Like @Jason just said, he's working better in a deeper defensive block, and if Sarri has any sense, he'll continue with that lower press for the remainder of the season, as those past two games (City and Spurs) are where we've looked as good as we have in months. 

[lucio 5,418]

is there a more uninspiring sight in world football than him running forward to join the attack?

[Vesper 28,832]

5 hours ago, lucio said:

is there a more uninspiring sight in world football than him running forward to join the attack?

Only one. 

Seeing the matchday lineup from the CFC official twitter with Alonso as a starter.

[Sir Mikel OBE 4,919]

Before that penalty his performance was worse than Alonso's....which is saying a lot.

 

29 going on 40. Get rid.

[Vybz Kartel 1,613]

I don't care what people say but his not good enough for Chelsea. I would get rid of him in the summer transfer ban or not

[Alabama 1,992]

Bring back James Reece... 

Azpi is done asap fullback....