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[Guest FullEnglishBreakfast]

I like to think he more of a winger/forward....

Well to be honest I did describe him as a forward in my article, so I yeah I agree with ou. I only called him a #10 because he wears the number 10 on his kit....

[Joker10 946]

Completely disagree. Garry Cahill cannot be a starter even for a side challenging for the PL, especially if you're going to play a high line. And no, I don't think he'll start over Rio-Vidic, Kompany-Nastasic, Puyol-Pique (not because they are better as defenders but because they are better on the ball) or Boateng-Badstuber. And I personally don't want my defense to be like PSG or Milan.

Well i disagree with your preference, i really do not envy any of those teams CB situation and i am contempt with our CBs. The grass isn't always greener on the other side. I bet all those clubs have a part of their fanbase not happy with their CB situation either, they would also ideally like to upgrade their CB situation. I wont get into an argument over Cahill vs this CB or that CB, that would be quite idiotic on my part to get into that kinda debate.

But two things i would challenge:

Your statement that suggests Cahill wont work in highline. Where is this belief of your come from? quite strange when Cahill has the two most important quality for that, he is quite decent on the ball and has good mobility. Remember he was signed during AVB era, a manager who envisioned him that can play in his highline defense.

A second statement of yours when you say that Cahill cannot be a starter on a side that challenges for PL title. Quite ridiculous when you look at the side that is walking away with the title. United has had so much injury and inconsistency at CB, but even with that they are still the side to beat and have wrapped up the title with almost 10 games left in the season. Lets also look at Spain where Barca has also had a lot of trouble at CB and it is their weakest link. But they are also walking away with the the league title, and they are still arguably the best side in the world.

I guarantee you Cahill will not be the difference from us being a title contender.

I also brought United and Barca examples for another reason that shows why i disprove of this thread. They show that you don't need ideal situation at every position, your strength can overcome your weakness. We don't have a team we have bunch of individuals, the individuals we have on the team are better then the results we have gotten this season. I'll wait until we have a manager that can make these players a team. Untill that changes i don't see how much improvement it would make by upgrading over Cahill, especially since most of the goals we have conceded this season was becasue of two things; lack of communication and poor team defense.

Our CBs of Luiz, Ivanovic, Terry, and Cahill is good enough atm, i may revaluate that perspective later in time.

I've probably said this a hundred times before, but I'll say it again: Garry Cahill has the physical and technical attributes to be one of the best defenders in the world. He's got a lot of pace, great physical strength, good heading, excellent tackling...everything you'd look for in your world-class defender. His problem lies, however in his decision making. I've lost count of the amount of times we've conceded dangerous chances because Garry lost his man in the box, took a wrong position to defend, or stepped up too late; the latter especially. That's why he does amazing well in games when we have our backs against the wall, i.e. games when he doesn't have a lot of decisions to make, just a whole lot of tackling and heading and blocking shots. Think about it, his best games in a Chelsea shirt were probably against Barca at the bridge and against Arsenal this season when we had to defend a goal for a whole 45 mins.

Disagree, i may be defending Cahill but no way he has world class potential. His problem is not decision making, he doesn't have world beater type instinct and reading of the game that is what will prevent him from being world class. In a way an opposite of Luiz, the Brazilian problem at times is decision making but watch how well Luiz can anticipate things and proactive he is. Cahill has pretty good decision making, but he doesn't have great feel and anticipation like the elite CBs.

Decision making what may prevent Luiz from reaching world class, while Cahill doesn't have that celling.

Mata is not a n°10, though.

That is subjective though, i have had this argument many times with others and the censuses is always the same. There is many different variation of the no.10, and many football cultures defines it differently. I am guessing you don't think Mata is a classical 10 in the mould of Zidane, Laudrup, Rui Costa, etc. If that is what you define as a number 10, then you will find that those are very few.

I like to think he more of a winger/forward....

Yet you think Ozil is a 10, Mata and Ozil styles are very similar both likes to drift from center to wide and vice versa. I have also heard Madrid fans who think Ozil is not a 10 either. Mata, Ozil, Goetze, Cazorla, Silva,etc are the standard of todays no.10s.

Then you have Kroos and Oscar who resembles the classical 10s.

The players around him has dictate how Mata has played this season. Last season he was dropping much deeper and getting involved in our buildups. This season with Oscar and Hazard both wanting to get on the ball rather then making the runs Malouda, Sturridge, Kalou, and Ramires made, this has made Mata change his approach. A lack of a striker has also been another reason.

It is truly amazing how well Mata has changed his approach this season and been able to shine.