César Azpilicueta

[Tomo 21,733]

I was relatively lenient on Jose when he played Ivan through that dark spell because as shit as he became Rahman was even worse (although you could argue it was his fault a decent alternative wasn't there in the first place).

Lampard however has no excuse if he persits with Azpi, he has one of the best young defenders on the planet ready to come in.

[killer1257 3,282]

Just now, Tomo said:

I was relatively lenient on Jose when he played Ivan through that dark spell because as shit as he became Rahman was even worse (although you could argue it was his fault a decent alternative wasn't there in the first place).

Lampard however has no excuse if he persits with Azpi, he has one of the best young defenders on the planet ready to come in.

James is injured and probably needs 1 months til he recovers. He still did not start training again with the first team

[the wes 7,212]

Ivanović mark II

[the wes 7,212]

https://www.football.london/chelsea-fc/cesar-azpilicueta-conundrum-frank-lampard-16846327

20 times azpi give the ball away to sheff utd this is not good  with Reece james out we should still drop azpi give Tomori the right back position he's played there before 

[the wes 7,212]

[Vesper 28,832]

Chelsea star to be axed by Frank Lampard once injury struggles are resolved

EXCLUSIVE: Chelsea boss Frank Lampard has plans for Reece James once he returns from injury

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/chelsea-star-axed-frank-lampard-19113818

[Dazzy_Vance 454]

Depth player only now. James has not even played a game in the PL and I know he’s already better than him. 

[OhForAGreavsie 5,892]

19 hours ago, Tomo said:

I was relatively lenient on Jose when he played Ivan through that dark spell because as shit as he became Rahman was even worse (although you could argue it was his fault a decent alternative wasn't there in the first place).

Lampard however has no excuse if he persits with Azpi, he has one of the best young defenders on the planet ready to come in.

Frank has remained calm with Rudi, and I hope he will be so with Reece too. If that's the case I doubt we'll see Reece come straight into the PL team.

I don't know of course, but I have the feeling that, physically, Reece is behind where Rudi was two or three weeks ago. Since then Rudi has not featured for the first team but is being eased back into action via a couple of development team appearances. It's not impossible that this plan is specific to Rudi's situation, but i suspect that it's a sign of the way Frank's regime is going to do things.

There is a uefa Youth League fixture with Valencia looming after the break. That might be a target game for Reece's first minutes before he steps up, if up is the right word, to some development team matches. It could be over a month before Reece is considered for first team selection.

Edit: I've just checked and it seems that UEFA have tightened the overage restrictions in the Youth League from what I understood them to be. In the past clubs were able to name players as old as 23 in the overage list but that has been reduced. The standard eligibility is players born on or after 1st January 2001, and the overage limit is 1st January 2000. That means Reece misses qualifying by a few days. His route back to match fitness will have to be via development team games only.

[OhForAGreavsie 5,892]

11 hours ago, milan.cech said:

Enough is enough. Waiting for the admin to come here to defend him like he was his father.

Azpilicueta needs to be dropped immediately.

Who would you go with at RB until Reece is ready?

[robsblubot 3,504]

Learned that Azpi's fault yesterday was allowing that one decent cross in our box. Of course that led to a goal, because well they always do. The fact wingers go 1x1 with him constantly, because our beloved youngsters cannot string two passes together to keep possession is not talked about.

The brilliant solution here is to, yes! just add another youngster to the starting XI! I mean if one of the best defenders in the league is not working momentarily, well because the rest of the team is clueless, let's replace him for someone we never seen play a PL match before. That makes total sense! I mean we play, and especially defend, like a championship team, so it makes sense to bring on yet another championship player.

Chelsea now is the place where we can watch promising youngsters before they actually learn how to play! There might be a way to monetize this.

[Jase 43,479]

11 hours ago, the wes said:

Not saying Azpi was faultless for the goals yesterday but it's getting utterly comical that people think a 19-year-old who's never played football above the Championship is gonna come in and solve our defensive problems and won't make mistakes at all. 

[SUNZ 155]

12 minutes ago, Robchels said:

Learned that Azpi's fault yesterday was allowing that one decent cross in our box. Of course that led to a goal, because well they always do. The fact wingers go 1x1 with him constantly, because our beloved youngsters cannot string two passes together to keep possession is not talked about.

The brilliant solution here is to, yes! just add another youngster to the starting XI! I mean if one of the best defenders in the league is not working momentarily, well because the rest of the team is clueless, let's replace him for someone we never seen play a PL match before. That makes total sense! I mean we play, and especially defend, like a championship team, so it makes sense to bring on yet another championship player.

Chelsea now is the place where we can watch promising youngsters before they actually learn how to play! There might be a way to monetize this.

What you're doing here is completely absolving Azpilicueta of all wrong doing and diverting the attention.

I believe Azpi has let the team down more this season than any young player. 7 or 8 goals we've conceded originated from his side, he gives away possession 20+ times per game (yesterday it was 3x more than anybody else). It is painfully clear that he is being targeted every week by the opposition - every club realise it's their best way to goal against us.

Our beloved youngsters are our own academy players and you can't name one that has let the team down more than Azpi.

If Reece James can pass the ball and tackle even fairly well he will be a HUGE upgrade on current Azpi. The good thing is he's really highly rated and could do so much more than just that and because of how Azpi has started the season James deserves the chance to be given a go at the earliest opportunity.

[killer1257 3,282]

19 minutes ago, Jason said:

Not saying Azpi was faultless for the goals yesterday but it's getting utterly comical that people think a 19-year-old who's never played football above the Championship is gonna come in and solve our defensive problems and won't make mistakes at all. 

Azpi costs us games over and over again and he is playing like Ivanovic in his worst days. Reece is better than Azpi in the offensive phase and in this fom, Azpi is not PL level, sorry.

Even if James makes mistakes here and there, it does not the end of the world. He will improve, while Azpi is on the downfall of his career. You can´t teach Azpi defending, especially when in his prime he was probably the best 1 vs 1 defender in the world. Now, he just lost it. Even if James is Azpi level at defending, he still is ten times better in the offensive phases of the game. He can cross the ball and Tammy is waiting for good crosses. We have a 1,90 cm striker and our only players that can cross the ball are CHO, Pulisic (as a right winger) and James. Two of them are injured...

[Jase 43,479]

19 minutes ago, killer1257 said:

Azpi costs us games over and over again and he is playing like Ivanovic in his worst days. Reece is better than Azpi in the offensive phase and in this fom, Azpi is not PL level, sorry.

Even if James makes mistakes here and there, it does not the end of the world. He will improve, while Azpi is on the downfall of his career. You can´t teach Azpi defending, especially when in his prime he was probably the best 1 vs 1 defender in the world. Now, he just lost it. Even if James is Azpi level at defending, he still is ten times better in the offensive phases of the game. He can cross the ball and Tammy is waiting for good crosses. We have a 1,90 cm striker and our only players that can cross the ball are CHO, Pulisic (as a right winger) and James. Two of them are injured...

Look, I agree that Azpi isn't the future and I hope James will turn out to be the right one for us but we haven't even seen him play in anything about the Championship and people are already proclaiming him to be our savior in defence. How about we see how he does first before we start expecting to do everything that Azpi can't right, aye?

On top of that, our defensive problems isn't down to just individuals but also as a team. We have no solid, compact defensive organization as a unit. We don't press well, we don't cover space, we don't track runners. We're defending as individuals rather than as one. Having better players isn't going to solve the problems. Norwich and Sheffield United had a combined total of 7 shots on target against us and we conceded 4 goals from those.  

[Special Juan 27,429]

Despite Lampard saying he felt they may equalise I actually don't think looking at his subs he actually thought they would. It's the only explanation in to those bizarre subs.

[Jase 43,479]

8 minutes ago, Special Juan said:

Despite Lampard saying he felt they may equalise I actually don't think looking at his subs he actually thought they would. It's the only explanation in to those bizarre subs.

That's just bad game management then. Sheffield may not have bombarded us with shots but given we have been leaking stupid goals, he should have tried to be pragmatic in closing out the win. Did so at Norwich but not yesterday. It's even more baffling not to put more 'security' when Sheffield targeted our right side for the entire second half. 

[killer1257 3,282]

4 minutes ago, Jason said:

Look, I agree that Azpi isn't the future and I hope James will turn out to be the right one for us but we haven't even seen him play in anything about the Championship and people are already proclaiming him to be our savior in defence. How about we see how he does first before we start expecting to do everything that Azpi can't right, aye?

On top of that, our defensive problems isn't down to just individuals but also as a team. We have no solid, compact defensive organization as a unit. We don't press well, we don't cover space, we don't track runners. We're defending as individuals rather than as one. Having better players isn't going to solve the problems. Norwich and Sheffield United had a combined total of 7 shots on target against us and we conceded 4 goals from those.  

That is what you probably also thought about Tammy and Mount.Mount never played PL and he is performing really well. He is not the reason why we concede goals. Tammy is our best striker til npw and most Chelsea fans did really not rate him ( I rated him). Azpi can´t even pass and gets dispossed too many times. James is a rock solid passer and that is why he played a lot as a midfield player. Our Youth is performing very well and it is the experienced players that mess things up. Zouma is 25 years old with some PL experience. Azpi is the former best 1 vs 1 defender of the PL. Willian and Pulisic have to improve too because they are experienced too. Pulisic used to be a starter at Dortmund and Willian was starter for Chelsea many years.

I agree that some players like Jorginho,Pulisic or Barkley could press better, but Mount and Tammy are doing a very good job at pressing. James is also a pressing machine. We are not losing because of our Youth, we are losing because our experienced players are not good enough.

[Jase 43,479]

4 minutes ago, killer1257 said:

That is what you probably also thought about Tammy and Mount.Mount never played PL and he is performing really well. He is not the reason why we concede goals. Tammy is our best striker til npw and most Chelsea fans did really not rate him ( I rated him). Azpi can´t even pass and gets dispossed too many times. James is a rock solid passer and that is why he played a lot as a midfield player. Our Youth is performing very well and it is the experienced players that mess things up. Zouma is 25 years old with some PL experience. Azpi is the former best 1 vs 1 defender of the PL. Willian and Pulisic have to improve too because they are experienced too. Pulisic used to be a starter at Dortmund and Willian was starter for Chelsea many years.

I agree that some players like Jorginho,Pulisic or Barkley could press better, but Mount and Tammy are doing a very good job at pressing. James is also a pressing machine. We are not losing because of our Youth, we are losing because our experienced players are not good enough.

I still have my doubts whether Abraham is the right striker for us in the long run but that's another debate. He and Mount have done alright so far and just because they have done so, doesn't mean James will start off well etc.

But TBH, I don't even know why you're getting all defensive here. Not even saying James is bad and will flop and I don't think there's anything wrong to say 'let's see how he fares before jumping to conclusions'. It's not wise or fair to expect a 19-year-old to come in and become our defensive savior.