Willian

[lionsden 4,689]

Exactly. I don't know about other coaches but I hate players repeatedly making the same mistake that can be fixed. Like you said I'll tell them to their faces to fix that part of their game.

Personally, to me willian is just not intelligent, Its not his fault. But he should be able to learn how to speed play up and dribble past one marker with space like that. Unacceptable for his age and skill that he doesn't get that.

I'm sorry you don't have to be Einstein or have brilliant football mind to recognise that was a counter attacking situation. there was no need at all to slow that down and mess it up. He does it all the time too. Why can't someone instruct him to speed the game up more. slowing the game down needlessly and majority of the time has nothing to do with a lack of football iq, it's just bad habbit tbh. but I do agree he's not the most intelligent footballer.

[DH1988 1,273]

Someone showed me this aspect that he needs to improve and I agree.

Has to try to dribble the guy with that much space behind, or pass the ball quickly. Make a fast decision instead of delaying and slowing our play drastically, giving the defense time to organize.

Not a dig at Eden and Eden obviously has a ridiculously more tailor to his game than Willian but Eden often does this too.

Different players with different expecations just making a small point to a constant dig at a player that is vital to the way we play.

[Laugh1ngMan 393]

Someone showed me this aspect that he needs to improve and I agree.

Has to try to dribble the guy with that much space behind, or pass the ball quickly. Make a fast decision instead of delaying and slowing our play drastically, giving the defense time to organize.

I don't blame Willian here. When he recieves the ball he's obviously still in awe by that forward pass made by Mikel

[The Chels 2,502]

I think everyone is well aware that Willian's decision making is awful by now. It's no surprise that the best counter attacks we've scored from this season (Schurrle vs City and Hazard vs Tottenham away) have involved Cesc/Hazard playing the final ball and not Willian who would almost certainly have screwed it up.

[bababoom 4,478]

He's basically a more technical version of Antonio Valencia.

[dee25 1,044]

Not a dig at Eden and Eden obviously has a ridiculously more tailor to his game than Willian but Eden often does this too.

Different players with different expecations just making a small point to a constant dig at a player that is vital to the way we play.

Hazard often slows down counterattacks only to misplace a pass that ends up giving the opposition a counterattack of their own?

Also, when you say "a player that is vital to the way we play" I hope you're referring to Eden and not Willian. If Willian is a vital to the way we play then yeah we're in trouble.

[The Chels 2,502]

I'm sorry you don't have to be Einstein or have brilliant football mind to recognise that was a counter attacking situation. there was no need at all to slow that down and mess it up. He does it all the time too. Why can't someone instruct him to speed the game up more. slowing the game down needlessly and majority of the time has nothing to do with a lack of football iq, it's just bad habbit tbh. but I do agree he's not the most intelligent footballer.

I think it does have a lot to do with football IQ. Physically and athletically you would expect Willian to be a brilliant counter-attacking player but every pass in a counter-attack has to be fast and perfect. Our counter against City away was brilliant and unsuprisingly Willian was not involved. He just cannot think that quickly and he never knows what the right option is. I think the ability to always (or mostly) select the right pass when the attack is moving at that pace is innate to the best players (e.g. Cesc and Hazard) and not something that Willian will ever learn. That said his decision making is rubbish in normal build-up play too.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

Not a dig at Eden and Eden obviously has a ridiculously more tailor to his game than Willian but Eden often does this too.

Different players with different expecations just making a small point to a constant dig at a player that is vital to the way we play.

Hazard doesn't slow down the play nearly as much as willian and you know it. Willian does this almost every time, that's why I mentioned it.

From that pic, because willian is not a good dribbler (imo) he can't get past just one player, hazard would at least try to beat him or even ivanovic would have used his strength to power through. But willian lost his ability to beat players in Shakhtar and his poor decision making is not helping to mask that.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

He's basically a more technical version of Antonio Valencia.

Tbf, Valencia was a real game winner for Wigan. But I guess so was Willian for Shakhtar...at least against us!

[The Skipper 20,593]

Someone showed me this aspect that he needs to improve and I agree.

Has to try to dribble the guy with that much space behind, or pass the ball quickly. Make a fast decision instead of delaying and slowing our play drastically, giving the defense time to organize.

Is that a forward pass from Mikel?

[Sir Mikel OBE 4,919]

Is that a forward pass from Mikel?

Yeah. I find myself looking at it over and over not because Willian totally fucked it up, but because of Mikel

Even at the end Mikel has ran the middle of the pitch and made himself available for Willian before the end of the gif. Mikel is alright in my book

[DH1988 1,273]

Hazard doesn't slow down the play nearly as much as willian and you know it. Willian does this almost every time, that's why I mentioned it.

From that pic, because willian is not a good dribbler (imo) he can't get past just one player, hazard would at least try to beat him or even ivanovic would have used his strength to power through. But willian lost his ability to beat players in Shakhtar and his poor decision making is not helping to mask that.

Willian can get past one player, two players, three at an absolute push but I made the point a few pages back he's vital in the SETUP of our team, the WAY we play. He actually reminds me of Hazard (1-2 seasons ago when he lost possession twice that lead to goals, he went into a shell for a few games) in that he is sometimes scared to lose the ball and would rather take the safer option then the risky one, that Hazard takes now, no I am not comparing their abilities or ball retention etc. so don't call me out on that its simply an observation.

Would you risk losing the ball when possession and positional play are so key down the right side? Sod that.

Our biggest weakness believe it or not is the pocket of RB space between Iva/Gary, lump a ball into space there and we've got problems.

~edit~ Not defending that piece of play btw we all know the flick or one touch then pass should of come but just to highlight he isn't the only one and he seems to be a scapegoat. Mark my words or this post, if we invest more money into the RW, which I think we will, then we will have to a) either change our tactics or shape b ) we will concede alot more goals and lose the grip on games.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

Willian can get past one player, two players, three at an absolute push but I made the point a few pages back he's vital in the SETUP of our team, the WAY we play. He actually reminds me of Hazard (1-2 seasons ago when he lost possession twice that lead to goals, he went into a shell for a few games) in that he is sometimes scared to lose the ball and would rather take the safer option then the risky one, that Hazard takes now, no I am not comparing their abilities or ball retention etc. so don't call me out on that its simply an observation.

Would you risk losing the ball when possession and positional play are so key down the right side? Sod that.

Our biggest weakness believe it or not is the pocket of RB space between Iva/Gary, lump a ball into space there and we've got problems.

~edit~ Not defending that piece of play btw we all know the flick or one touch then pass should of come but just to highlight he isn't the only one and he seems to be a scapegoat. Mark my words or this post, if we invest more money into the RW, which I think we will, then we will have to a) either change our tactics or shape b ) we will concede alot more goals and lose the grip on games.

You made a point which is part of what I mean. He's scared to lose the ball like mikel. So 95% of the time he'll be scared of trying to dribble past one player or will try stepovers and push the ball forward but still fail to actually beat the player and then end up passing back to Matic or ivanovic.

Its not his fault sometimes, he just can't dribble as well as even ordinary navas, so he makes the right choice according to his limited abilities to be safe and pass back instead of losing the ball. Mikel too can't pass as well or dribble like Matic, so rather than losing the ball because of his limited abilities he'll pass back to terry. But like we found Matic for mikel, there are players that are better and don't have the poor dribbling weakness willian has.

We can afford to have a good dribbler but poor decision because at least something can happen out of nothing once in a while. But Having poor decision making and poor dribbling combined for a winger in an aspiring champions League winning team is unacceptable imo.

[Jase 43,479]

One could argue that if we have a more offensive RW right now, Ivanovic probably doesn't have venture forward much and thus we won't be caught out so easily down the right side. In the current system, Willian is important to the way we play yes but if we can get a different and better option, then we'll definitely tinker with things within the system and have one that will still make us function well as a team. Our setup now is not the be-all and end-all.

[Barbara 15,149]

Willian can get past one player, two players, three at an absolute push but I made the point a few pages back he's vital in the SETUP of our team, the WAY we play. He actually reminds me of Hazard (1-2 seasons ago when he lost possession twice that lead to goals, he went into a shell for a few games) in that he is sometimes scared to lose the ball and would rather take the safer option then the risky one, that Hazard takes now, no I am not comparing their abilities or ball retention etc. so don't call me out on that its simply an observation.

Would you risk losing the ball when possession and positional play are so key down the right side? Sod that.

Our biggest weakness believe it or not is the pocket of RB space between Iva/Gary, lump a ball into space there and we've got problems.

~edit~ Not defending that piece of play btw we all know the flick or one touch then pass should of come but just to highlight he isn't the only one and he seems to be a scapegoat. Mark my words or this post, if we invest more money into the RW, which I think we will, then we will have to a) either change our tactics or shape b ) we will concede alot more goals and lose the grip on games.

I personally think that excuse became a myth that conveniently covers Willian's limitations. I agree we need more work rate in our right side because Iva and Cahill are walking liabilities, but that doesn't excuse the stupid things Willian does

He doesn't have vision, his football IQ is very low and that has absolutely nothing to do with the amount of defensive work he does and fearing to lose possession near the corner flag is a ridiculous idea. Maybe in the midfield, yes, it could be dangerous, but look at our second goal against Watford. He's between the box and the sidelines, he doesn't have a clue about what to do with the ball and that's the problem, way too many times when he's in the final third he has no idea of what to do.

Sorry, mate... there are absolutely no excuse for a 27yo player to still do that. The system, they tactics, the responsibilities influence in ZERO percent in his decision making around the box. People say he doesn't attack better because he has a lot of defending to do, but has anyone ever thought maybe he defends so much because he can't influence the attack? Maybe the cause and the consequence are reversed in this equation.

[dee25 1,044]

I personally think that excuse became a myth that conveniently covers Willian's limitations. I agree we need more work rate in our right side because Iva and Cahill are walking liabilities, but that doesn't excuse the stupid things Willian does

He doesn't have vision, his football IQ is very low and that has absolutely nothing to do with the amount of defensive work he does and fearing to lose possession near the corner flag is a ridiculous idea. Maybe in the midfield, yes, it could be dangerous, but look at our second goal against Watford. He's between the box and the sidelines, he doesn't have a clue about what to do with the ball and that's the problem, way too many times when he's in the final third he has no idea of what to do.

Sorry, mate... there are absolutely no excuse for a 27yo player to still do that. The system, they tactics, the responsibilities influence in ZERO percent in his decision making around the box. People say he doesn't attack better because he has a lot of defending to do, but has anyone ever thought maybe he defends so much because he can't influence the attack? Maybe the cause and the consequence are reversed in this equation.

I think the idea that Willian (ala Mikel) doesn't contribute much in attack because he's a safe player that prefers to keep possession is such a myth. If that were the case then he wouldn't have slowed down that counterattack only to attempt a more difficult pass in the end that resulted in lost possession. You're completely right, he slowed down play because he didn't know what to do with the ball. He couldn't think quickly enough so he dawdled with the ball until he made up his mind what he was going to do with it, which unsurprisingly turned out to be the wrong decision. If he were conscious about keeping possession then he would have made a simple pass to Mikel rather than attempting a difficult cross-field pass to Hazard, and that's the thing that frustrates me most about Willian. If he's going to be a player that doesn't contribute in attack, then he needs to make damn well sure that he does his job to high standard but he doesn't imo. He has the 3rd highest turnover rate after Hazard and Costa but he creates one of the fewest number of chances (I know stats don't always tell the full story but come on! 3rd highest turnover rate when you create so little? That's ridiculous).

For all the praise he gets about his defensive work, in the match at WHL Rose scored a crucial goal when the game was in the balance because Willian wasn't tracking him. His ability to keep possession is just as overrated as his defensive contributions. But he does cute little fancy step-overs, so he must be good I guess...

[nyikolajevics 2,577]

Willian a playmaker....

Did you see him in Shakhtar/Anzhi? He is a playmaker, he has always been a playmaker. Mourinho uses him on the right wing but it's just like Azpilicueta on the left side of the defense.

Also, I firmly believe that Willian would play much much better behind the striker. I would love to see this for in a few games:

Fábregas - Matic

Schürrle Willian Hazard

[LAM09 6,750]

Did you see him in Shakhtar/Anzhi? He is a playmaker, he has always been a playmaker. Mourinho uses him on the right wing but it's just like Azpilicueta on the left side of the defense.

Also, I firmly believe that Willian would play much much better behind the striker. I would love to see this for in a few games:

Fábregas - Matic

Schürrle Willian Hazard

Yes, but I wouldn't compare the Russian/Ukrainian league to the EPL.