César Azpilicueta

[didierforever 7,349]

  On 15/04/2013 at 20:01, CHOULO19 said:

Crossing is a dying art. Can anyone name 10 quality crossers in the whole league? The only ones that come to my mind are Larson, Young and Baines (please don't ban me Alex!).

the point is do u need quality crossers. i mean look at united. they just keep putting the ball into the box resulting in own goals, deflected goals, poor clearances resulting into goals and what not. mean while more than 50% of our intended crosses are blocked by the first man and most of the rest are over hit and there are only 1-2 that make it thru in the whole match which are not enough to hassle a defence into making a mistake.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

  On 15/04/2013 at 20:15, didierforever said:

valencia, jarvis, the whole bloody united team who keep putting arbit balls into the box to get own goals or deflection goals...

Yes, the united team is the best in the league at crossing (though Valencia has been terrible at crossing this season), but past that, the crossing abilities of teams are on the fast decline.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

  On 15/04/2013 at 19:27, BluesMaster said:

Disagree. Less emphasis or not, crossing is a basic ability that every player should at least be decent at and in the case of full backs(and wingers), they should even be better at it. The problem right now is that we can't even put in a good cross half the time as it is always underhit or overhit and misses the target completely. There is just no consistency in our crossing and it's just incredibly frustrating. How many times have Azpi get into a great attacking position on the right but then produce a horrible cross? Said this many times before, the amount of quality and consistent crosses we delivered in the 09/10 season and now is just plain embarrassing because of the massive stark contrast in them.

But I don't think we're tactically set up to approach the game like that under Rafa. There's been a lot more direct play and instead of players going wide to cross the ball in, they're now cutting inside, taking defenders onto the byline and then sending it in through those channels. Hazard demonstrated it superbly yesterday when he made a fool of Clichy. I agree that they should be working on crossing, because Azpilicueta has very good dribbling abilities that can be exploited, however I just feel that from management, there's no emphasis on it.

[BowtiesAreCool 16]

I was at the game vs Man City on Sunday and I must say, Azpi needs to start hitting those crosses. I can't remember us whipping in a cross from the right flank when I thought we should have done. Let Azpi loose with crossing in training, if he's not confident then let Moses do the work. ;P

[BlueLion. 21,491]

  On 15/04/2013 at 20:01, CHOULO19 said:

Crossing is a dying art. Can anyone name 10 quality crossers in the whole league? The only ones that come to my mind are Larson, Young and Baines (please don't ban me Alex!).

DAFUQ!

In all fairness Baines is probably the best deliverer of the ball in the English game alongside Ian Harte.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

  On 16/04/2013 at 20:51, Alex said:

DAFUQ!

In all fairness Baines is probably the best deliverer of the ball in the English game alongside Ian Harte.

Baines is actually very similar to Azpi in his playing style in how he likes to get involved in the build-up play and get on the ball. Baines's technical ability and delivery, not to mention experience, is, at the moment, better.

No idea why you don't like him..

[Jase 43,479]

  On 16/04/2013 at 21:03, CHOULO19 said:

Baines is actually very similar to Azpi in his playing style in how he likes to get involved in the build-up play and get on the ball. Baines's technical ability and delivery, not to mention experience, is, at the moment, better.

No idea why you don't like him..

Because Alex is English and he thinks English players are overrated.

[Jase 43,479]

Thanks to some appalling refereeing decisions, the record books will be stating Azpilicueta has given away 3 penalties at Chelsea when 2 of them are not even penalties!

[Mufassir08 2,400]

  On 25/04/2013 at 21:54, BluesMaster said:

Thanks to some appalling refereeing decisions, the record books will be stating Azpilicueta has given away 3 penalties at Chelsea when 2 of them are not even penalties!

Meh who cares,the fans know the truth!

[BlueLion. 21,491]

  On 16/04/2013 at 21:03, CHOULO19 said:

Baines is actually very similar to Azpi in his playing style in how he likes to get involved in the build-up play and get on the ball. Baines's technical ability and delivery, not to mention experience, is, at the moment, better.

No idea why you don't like him..

1. His hair is horrific
2. He's English, and thus over-rated.
3. His hair.
4. Very sloppy at times.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

  On 25/04/2013 at 22:07, Alex said:

1. His hair is horrific
2. He's English, and thus over-rated.
3. His hair.
4. Very sloppy at times.

Completely forgot about this conversation. I guess better late than never, though

Fair enough, can't argue with you there, but with the current lack of quality full backs, I think he's got to be up there with the best in the league.

[Jase 43,479]

  On 25/04/2013 at 21:55, Mufassir said:

Meh who cares,the fans know the truth!

Yes but it's just rather pathetic for this to be tainted like that. If those were clear cut penalties, then fine but 2 of them are not even penalties! And besides, how many apart from us fans would actually even listen to the actual facts? Many would likely just jump to conclusion and say he's a rubbish defender when they see the record especially if this situation keeps on going.

Edited April 25, 2013 by BluesMaster

[Mufassir08 2,400]

  On 25/04/2013 at 22:16, BluesMaster said:

Yes but it's just rather pathetic for this to be tainted like that. If those were clear cut penalties, then fine but 2 of them are not even penalties! And besides, how many apart from us fans would actually even listen to the actual fans? Many would likely just jump to conclusion and say he's a rubbish defenders when they see the record especially if this situation keeps on going.

Yeah that's true!Hopefully we will get some competent ref's in the future,who am i kidding that will never happen .

[Spike 12,049]

  On 25/04/2013 at 22:07, Alex said:

1. His hair is horrific
2. He's English, and thus over-rated.
3. His hair.
4. Very sloppy at times.

Leighton Baines is a relic, an icon of days forgotten. He embodies the English spirit of the 60s and 70s. Flowing hair and flowing sideburns, he remember the post war days even though he wasn't alive. He channels Lennon, Clapton, Page, Osgood, Caine, Attenborough and Moon all rolled up into one Anglo-Saxon jam tart. The man is a lion enough for three, he is the three lions, passion, integrity, stiffupperlipness are words that do no justice to the enigma that is Leighton or Lionton as he prefers. To hate Mr Baines is to hate everything intrinsically English, it's to hate beauty incarnate and love the French. Why do you love the French, Alex?

[OneMoSalah 8,837]

Why do refs hate Dave?

[Amblève. 4,995]

  On 25/04/2013 at 23:01, RyanDavidson said:

Why do refs hate Dave?

Might also ask why do refs hate Chelsea...

[Spike 12,049]

  On 25/04/2013 at 23:01, RyanDavidson said:

Why do refs hate Dave?

Why do you hate freedom?

[mediator 2,026]

  On 25/04/2013 at 23:04, Amels said:

Might also ask why do refs hate Chelsea...

I don't think so...