Willian

[coolhead23 1,146]

Have you watched Dortmund play? their whole game is based around pressing ffs.

Marco on Borussia is already accustomed to defensive pressure. There plays with very very high intense, where all help in defensive and pressing. This is not problem for him.

Have you even ever watched Reus or BvB in general? Defensive work and the high press from their wingers is a massive part of their game. Reus is excellent at it.

It's not debatable at all tbh. Reus would 200% start in every single team in the world bar Real and Barcelona, and even with those two he'd be knocking on the door.

Wow!! Easy guys ...

Fair enough .. got the message!

I dont recollect seeing a complete BVB game hence wasnt sure on his defensive quality ... So thanks for the clarification

[rantdeville 195]

You could never really truly be mad at Kalou and Malouda cuz down inside you just knew that they didn't have the technical ability or pace to run at defenders and pass them.

But for all the skill and speed Willian has, it's truly disappointing when you see his reluctance to run at defenders.

[LAM09 6,543]

I don't know what to expect from Willian. He is too inconsistent IMO, and only starts matches because of his work rate. He has the tools to be much more effective on the attacking front, but he doesn't offer enough of an attacking threat.

[WNDS 502]

Willian will probably never be a consistent attacking threat for us so long as he is being deployed on the right of midfield. At Shakhtar he was almost exclusively used on the left, and his role within that team was similar to Hazard's current role with us (an inverted winger/wide playmaker). He didn't score much, but he tended to set up loads of chances from that position. His game has never been about beating his man on the outside and then whipping in dangerous crosses, which is how most right-footed right midfielders play.

Some of you don't seem to realise the MASSIVE difference there is between being a right-footer on the left and being a right-footer on the right. When on the left side of the pitch, a right-footed player will find it much easier to dribble infield with the ball (the ball is shielded from the defending players by the dribbler's body), much easier to participate in quick passing moves (their right instep is in a better position to enable accurate forward passing when they are facing infield towards their team-mates), and much easier to take direct shots on goal.

Just watch Willian when he comes deeper or moves infield to receive the ball when on the right. If he plays a pass, he's often either trying to play it forward/infield with the outside of his right foot, or he simply passes it back to our defenders with his right instep. When he tries to dribble infield, he gets dispossessed quite frequently because his right foot (and therefore the ball) are more exposed to the opposition's defensive players.

It's a similar situation for Schurrle (another right-footer), even though he has never been anything close to a playmaker. He almost always played on the left for Leverkusen, primarily so he could cut inside and take shots, but also because it allowed him to mask his average passing ability. When he plays on the right for us, his passing is often poor, even in games where his general performance is good.

Ultimately though, Hazard is far too good to be moved from the left, and Oscar's role at CAM is too important for the overall balance of the team, so Willian and Schurrle will just have to keep up their efforts on the right. It would be cool if they could do that without game-by-game criticism from some on this forum, but I won't hold my breath.

[chelseafc9010 224]

Yeah but you would think since Shurrle sucks at dribbling he would try to develop into a more direct player who scores, like Rues

[OneMoSalah 8,613]

You could never really truly be mad at Kalou and Malouda cuz down inside you just knew that they didn't have the technical ability or pace to run at defenders and pass them.

But for all the skill and speed Willian has, it's truly disappointing when you see his reluctance to run at defenders.

Malouda was much much better than Willian in tight spaces though but Flo seemed to play a bit more centrally as opposed to what Robben and Willian do and in all honesty he didn't dribble as often as Robben did, he had a bit more of a footballing brain and seen passes that you would expect a number 10 to see like little ones round the corner or between someones legs etc.

[LAM09 6,543]

Willian will probably never be a consistent attacking threat for us so long as he is being deployed on the right of midfield. At Shakhtar he was almost exclusively used on the left, and his role within that team was similar to Hazard's current role with us (an inverted winger/wide playmaker). He didn't score much, but he tended to set up loads of chances from that position. His game has never been about beating his man on the outside and then whipping in dangerous crosses, which is how most right-footed right midfielders play.

Some of you don't seem to realise the MASSIVE difference there is between being a right-footer on the left and being a right-footer on the right. When on the left side of the pitch, a right-footed player will find it much easier to dribble infield with the ball (the ball is shielded from the defending players by the dribbler's body), much easier to participate in quick passing moves (their right instep is in a better position to enable accurate forward passing when they are facing infield towards their team-mates), and much easier to take direct shots on goal.

Just watch Willian when he comes deeper or moves infield to receive the ball when on the right. If he plays a pass, he's often either trying to play it forward/infield with the outside of his right foot, or he simply passes it back to our defenders with his right instep. When he tries to dribble infield, he gets dispossessed quite frequently because his right foot (and therefore the ball) are more exposed to the opposition's defensive players.

It's a similar situation for Schurrle (another right-footer), even though he has never been anything close to a playmaker. He almost always played on the left for Leverkusen, primarily so he could cut inside and take shots, but also because it allowed him to mask his average passing ability. When he plays on the right for us, his passing is often poor, even in games where his general performance is good.

Ultimately though, Hazard is far too good to be moved from the left, and Oscar's role at CAM is too important for the overall balance of the team, so Willian and Schurrle will just have to keep up their efforts on the right. It would be cool if they could do that without game-by-game criticism from some on this forum, but I won't hold my breath.

That might be the case, but he should still provide an attacking threat. I didn't see him do that on Saturday, but he wasn't the only one.

[WNDS 502]

That might be the case, but he should still provide an attacking threat. I didn't see him do that on Saturday, but he wasn't the only one.

Given that this is Willian we're talking about here, there will be more than a few games this season where criticism of his lack of general attacking threat is justified. On Saturday, I thought he was just about the only attacking threat we had, however; the few times we threatened he seemed to be involved. He hit the post, set Ivan up for a good chance, flashed a shot just wide, and even sent in a few decent deliveries from corners which could have led to Cahill/Terry winning us penalties. He DID fade badly from about the 60th min onward though, I'll give you that.

[LAM09 6,543]

Given that this is Willian we're talking about here, there will be more than a few games this season where criticism of his lack of general attacking threat is justified. On Saturday, I thought he was just about the only attacking threat we had, however; the few times we threatened he seemed to be involved. He hit the post, set Ivan up for a good chance, flashed a shot just wide, and even sent in a few decent deliveries from corners which could have led to Cahill/Terry winning us penalties. He DID fade badly from about the 60th min onward though, I'll give you that.

As I said, he wasn't the only one to offer little up front. Let's hope things are different against Tottenham.

[lionsden 4,689]

Some posters are ridiculous and just find it fashionable to bash Willian unjustifiably. he was our only attacking threat against sunderland and was unlucky not to be on the scoresheet. There have been numerous games this seasons where he has played reasonably well only to log in to the forum and see barrade of "He was poor again", "Bad decision making" bla bla bla.

He needs to score and assist more but majority of the post match criticism on his thread this season as been very harsh indeed and this is coming from someone who isn't easily impressed.

[iseah100 5,612]

Some posters are ridiculous and just find it fashionable to bash Willian unjustifiably. he was our only attacking threat against sunderland and was unlucky not to be on the scoresheet. There have been numerous games this seasons where he has played reasonably well only to log in to the forum and see barrade of "He was poor again", "Bad decision making" bla bla bla.

He needs to score and assist more but majority of the post match criticism on his thread this season as been very harsh indeed and this is coming from someone who isn't easily impressed.

Tbf, his decision making is very poor.

[Barbara 15,149]

Tbf, his decision making is very poor.

But still he was our most lively player against Sunderland by some distance...

[chelseafc9010 224]

What he lacks in attacking (not much, he is a good attacker) he makes up for in his ball retention, simplicity, work rate and energy.

[Rom2013 446]

Some posters are ridiculous and just find it fashionable to bash Willian unjustifiably. he was our only attacking threat against sunderland and was unlucky not to be on the scoresheet. There have been numerous games this seasons where he has played reasonably well only to log in to the forum and see barrade of "He was poor again", "Bad decision making" bla bla bla.

He needs to score and assist more but majority of the post match criticism on his thread this season as been very harsh indeed and this is coming from someone who isn't easily impressed.

For me in the last 2 games he was the best player... in others he did well, in some games he was ok.

Maybe it's not enough to be in the starting eleven every weekend but he is someone we can trust, he always will word hard, and do a cosistent game.

And we can see that he is trying to shot more, abd he is trying to do more asssits. I thing he will have a lot better numbers in the end of the season than he did in the last one.

[dUMB 189]

Now I'm sure, we dont need Reus

[iseah100 5,612]

Now I'm sure, we dont need Reus

False.

[robsblubot 3,212]

He had a good game - easy match actually - and I didn't think he was good enough.

Don't mean he cannot/shouldn't play for us, but reckon we need better from a starter.

What he does right now, including the much appreciated hard work, Oscar does better. Plus oscar is better at link up play. So. That right wing position is pretty much available. Esp considering salah hasn't really delivered thus far.

[stroey 2,525]

Willian had a very strange game. He was such a workhorse with immense stamina and improved defensively (like last season in big games). I don't think he was as strong defensively in other games this season.

At the same time in attack he wasn't as good as in the last 2 games, which was frustrating to watch.

If he can combine these two plays, he will be a super player.