Willian

[Styles 9,790]

I understand where you are coming from and we share the same sentiment. Willian is more technically gifted and keeps possession much better. In fact after hazard, no other player comes close to him as far as managing posession in tight spaces...

Technically, Willian is very good, however, he just doesn't use his talent properly. It's a shame because there's no reason why he shouldn't do better; he has all the tools to be more effective.

...but at the same time, football is a result based business and a club of our size and ambition requires productive players in the final third in order to compete with the big boys.

Yeah, productivity is a must, but equally important is a high level of technical ability. Oscar, Schurrle, Salah...come on, man, these guys would be laughed out of the elite European clubs. I've said it before and I'll say it again: for a club of our resources we can and should do better. There's no reason why we have to settle for role-players who wouldn't even be subs at some of the top European clubs. Why should we?

[Shakez 755]

had high hope from him early of the season, but clearly he isn't going to be alot better. Still a usefel squad member to have if we can get a Reus calibre player.

[drog.ba 239]

Getting to the point where we need Ramires fit, or to use Remy on the wing, such is the contribution of Willian as well as Oscar, Schrulle and Salah. It's down to Hazard and Fabregas to create everything

[DYC. 7,542]

Technically, Willian is very good, however, he just doesn't use his talent properly. It's a shame because there's no reason why he shouldn't do better; he has all the tools to be more effective.

Yeah, productivity is a must, but equally important is a high level of technical ability. Oscar, Schurrle, Salah...come on, man, these guys would be laughed out of the elite European clubs. I've said it before and I'll say it again: for a club of our resources we can and should do better. There's no reason why we have to settle for role-players who wouldn't even be subs at some of the top European clubs. Why should we?

What makes Willian's technique very good? He has a fantastic first touch and overall ball control. In every other area of technique he's either decent (decent passing, decent dribbler) or just poor (poor shooter, poor crosser, 0 finishing, poor at taking direct or indirect set-pieces).

He keeps possession well but that's mostly a mental thing, and he takes too many touches for me to rate him highly in that area.

[iseah100 5,612]

"It's okay he provides nothing on the attacking end cause he's important to balance the squad with his workrate." Fuck that. Reus works his ass off and is 100000x better than Willian. This guy wouldn't sniff the bench at RM, Bayern, or Barca. We should have let him go to Tottenham.

[sutro 1,026]

"It's okay he provides nothing on the attacking end cause he's important to balance the squad with his workrate." Fuck that. Reus works his ass off and is 100000x better than Willian. This guy wouldn't sniff the bench at RM, Bayern, or Barca. We should have let him go to Tottenham.

yeah i bet he would have scored 3 against us last night

[OhForAGreavsie 5,892]

...He keeps possession well...

No he doesn't. Very, very few of the ambitious passes Wilian attempts find their intended target. Most often they are misdirected or cut-out. Either way, possession breaks down on him an awful lot.

[Jase 43,479]

No Willian, no balance in the team in the way Jose wants to play that frees our creative players, even Ivanovic down the right side, evident when he doesn't play - whole team was not at the races yesterday.

Couldn't care if he went all season with 0 goals 0 assists as long as I see him charging down people in the 88th minute like I have done almost every time I've seen him when he hasn't been subbed.

Need those worker bees.

We get it. Willian is in the starting XI to provide balance and we aren't exactly disputing that. But let's not pretend as if Mourinho just tells Willian to stay in the defensive half and don't go forward. He's got the license to go forward but when he does, there's nothing productive and decisive coming from him in the final third. What people need to understand here is that, we get his role in the starting XI but we also want more productive return from Willian. Nobody is asking him to be a goal and assist machine, scoring and creating in every game. No. Just contribute more in attack with the goals, assists and other aspects offensively, because let's face it, 2 goals and 2 assists in 24 matches (came in just 2 games) isn't exactly a very impressive return, is it? To make a comparison, look at Oscar. He's also in the team, playing the No.10 role to provide balance and even though he's not exactly very consistent, he's still able to chip in a few goals and assists here and there. If he can do that, then why can't Willian?

[MrBlueGuy 1,552]

We get it. Willian is in the starting XI to provide balance and we aren't exactly disputing that. But let's not pretend as if Mourinho just tells Willian to stay in the defensive half and don't go forward. He's got the license to go forward but when he does, there's nothing productive and decisive coming from him in the final third. What people need to understand here is that, we get his role in the starting XI but we also want more productive return from Willian. Nobody is asking him to be a goal and assist machine, scoring and creating in every game. No. Just contribute more in attack with the goals, assists and other aspects offensively, because let's face it, 2 goals and 2 assists in 24 matches (came in just 2 games) isn't exactly a very impressive return, is it? To make a comparison, look at Oscar. He's also in the team, playing the No.10 role to provide balance and even though he's not exactly very consistent, he's still able to chip in a few goals and assists here and there. If he can do that, why can't Willian?

I think the thing with Willian is for some reason he has always been this good player that is just never good at actually producing productive statistic for some reason(goals, assists) even in his best days at Sharkta(spelling) he scored something like 30 goals in 300 matches or something ridiculous like that, that game in the CL where he scored 2 against us was an exception to the rule.

Personally I blame the board for signing him for 25-30m instead of getting someone else we know that will be a lot more productive. Rumors is that Roman personally did it because he wanted to help his pal the Russian owner of Anzhi at the time. I don't like to get into conspiracy theories but it sort of making sense looking at it.

[DYC. 7,542]

No he doesn't. Very, very few of the ambitious passes Wilian attempts find their intended target. Most often they are misdirected or cut-out. Either way, possession breaks down on him an awful lot.

I agree on that. But when he keeps it safe, playing short passes and carrying the ball in midfield, he'll rarely loose the ball because of sloppy play. High % of completing passes, low amount of turn overs and all. But yes, in the tick of it, he seems to come up short, sadly. He's capable of producing some good stuff in the attacking third, just not nearly enough.

[DH1988 1,273]

We get it. Willian is in the starting XI to provide balance and we aren't exactly disputing that. But let's not pretend as if Mourinho just tells Willian to stay in the defensive half and don't go forward. He's got the license to go forward but when he does, there's nothing productive and decisive coming from him in the final third. What people need to understand here is that, we get his role in the starting XI but we also want more productive return from Willian. Nobody is asking him to be a goal and assist machine, scoring and creating in every game. No. Just contribute more in attack with the goals, assists and other aspects offensively, because let's face it, 2 goals and 2 assists in 24 matches (came in just 2 games) isn't exactly a very impressive return, is it? To make a comparison, look at Oscar. He's also in the team, playing the No.10 role to provide balance and even though he's not exactly very consistent, he's still able to chip in a few goals and assists here and there. If he can do that, then why can't Willian?

Interesting and I agree/disagree with parts of your post, I know thats contradictory but if you/others understand why he's in the team to provide that balance then surely you understand to shy away from stats like goals/assists from someone who is essentially a workhorse for the team down the side where most of our play with the FB for the diagonal outlet comes from, he carries the ball well in the transitioning from midfield to the final third and much improved on at least taking pop shots, is there work to be done? Sure, with most of our team, he gets the rough end of the stick, as does Oscar, not his biggest fan by any stretch but I understand the role he's in and anything goal/freekick/assist wise is a bonus and again, certainly improved on last year tactically/linkup despite statistics.

The moment we stop seeing improvement or not at LEAST performing the role he's assigned to do (By Jose) then its time to post about it but he's doing his job and an improved Willian on last season. Its just a massive over reaction that comes with a loss like that, look at the Cahill thread, witch hunt.

Overpriced at £32m? For sure.

[ParNolio7 285]

Check out my latest blog article: The Three Goal Scorers Principle on what makes the difference between a decent and a briliant side.

http://pieterhontele.wordpress.com/2015/01/02/the-three-goal-scorers-principle/

[Jase 43,479]

Interesting and I agree/disagree with parts of your post, I know thats contradictory but if you/others understand why he's in the team to provide that balance then surely you understand to shy away from stats like goals/assists from someone who is essentially a workhorse for the team down the side where most of our play with the FB for the diagonal outlet comes from, he carries the ball well in the transitioning from midfield to the final third and much improved on at least taking pop shots, is there work to be done? Sure, with most of our team, he gets the rough end of the stick, as does Oscar, not his biggest fan by any stretch but I understand the role he's in and anything goal/freekick/assist wise is a bonus and again, certainly improved on last year tactically/linkup despite statistics.

Yeah but like I said, Willian does get into the penalty box (so do our other AMs) but nothing good seems to come from him in the final third, be it scoring, assisting or providing the killer passes. Oscar's role is similar to his and yet his goal/assist return is much better than Willian and mind you, not all of the former's goals/assists came from set pieces.

The moment we stop seeing improvement or not at LEAST performing the role he's assigned to do (By Jose) then its time to post about it but he's doing his job and an improved Willian on last season. Its just a massive over reaction that comes with a loss like that, look at the Cahill thread, witch hunt.

Overpriced at £32m? For sure.

Massive overreaction and witch hunt? No. If you read through carefully, people have brought up this point long before the defeat yesterday. Same goes for the Cahill debate really.

[DH1988 1,273]

Yeah but like I said, Willian does get into the penalty box (so do our other AMs) but nothing good seems to come from him in the final third, be it scoring, assisting or providing the killer passes. Oscar's role is similar to his and yet his goal/assist return is much better than Willian and mind you, not all of the former's goals/assists came from set pieces.

Massive overreaction and witch hunt? No. If you read through carefully, people have brought up this point long before the defeat yesterday. Same goes for the Cahill debate really.

Our other AMs? What good comes of those? Salah? Schurrle? Who are we talking about here? Fabregas and Hazard? Willian offers more than the first two and who are people calling for in Jan? Reus? Whoever is on the RW needs to conform to a style of play and tactical awareness to allow our RB and our formation to play like we do. Oscar has alot more freedom than Willian does, switch the two for 5 games and we can see where we are. It'll be a sad day when/if Willian is dropped, there's a reason we dominated Southampton after he came on, changes the whole dynamic of the team.

If you read through, carefully, you'll see that I'm not Cahill's biggest fan, stretches back to before Monaco. Your saying that there has not been an over reaction to the defeat? If not then perhaps its yourself who might need to read a bit more carefully.

[iseah100 5,612]

Our other AMs? What good comes of those? Salah? Schurrle? Who are we talking about here? Fabregas and Hazard? Willian offers more than the first two and who are people calling for in Jan? Reus? Whoever is on the RW needs to conform to a style of play and tactical awareness to allow our RB and our formation to play like we do. Oscar has alot more freedom than Willian does, switch the two for 5 games and we can see where we are. It'll be a sad day when/if Willian is dropped, there's a reason we dominated Southampton after he came on, changes the whole dynamic of the team.

If you read through, carefully, you'll see that I'm not Cahill's biggest fan, stretches back to before Monaco. Your saying that there has not been an over reaction to the defeat? If not then perhaps its yourself who might need to read a bit more carefully.

Salah hasn't even gotten a chance. I'm positive if Salah got a chance he would finish the season with 10 goals and 10 assists in all comps. Schurrle is in bad form, so no argument there. Willian has poor decision making, vision, and finishing. He isn't good enough to start for Chelsea.

[Styles 9,790]

What makes Willian's technique very good? He has a fantastic first touch and overall ball control. In every other area of technique he's either decent (decent passing, decent dribbler) or just poor (poor shooter, poor crosser, 0 finishing, poor at taking direct or indirect set-pieces).

He keeps possession well but that's mostly a mental thing, and he takes too many touches for me to rate him highly in that area.

I say that because I believe Willian has a good first touch; that he is able to carry the ball at pace and is a good short passer which helps retain possession/build moves. He does the basics well but unfortunately can't do much more than that. I rate Willian more than most because I believe we have 3 other attacking midfielders who can't even do the basics more often than not.

[Jase 43,479]

Our other AMs? What good comes of those? Salah? Schurrle? Who are we talking about here? Fabregas and Hazard? Willian offers more than the first two and who are people calling for in Jan? Reus? Whoever is on the RW needs to conform to a style of play and tactical awareness to allow our RB and our formation to play like we do. Oscar has alot more freedom than Willian does, switch the two for 5 games and we can see where we are. It'll be a sad day when/if Willian is dropped, there's a reason we dominated Southampton after he came on, changes the whole dynamic of the team.

Why is it that when people defend Willian, Salah and Schurrle has been mentioned more often than not? Seems a rather convenient defence.

When I said 'our other AMs' earlier, I meant Hazard and Oscar given those two are the first choices in the team. Yes, Willian is there to provide balance, he's playing because he's a workhorse, got tactical awareness etc but which ever way one spins his role, it still doesn't hide the fact his offensive contribution is almost non-existent. Like I mentioned as well, let's act as if Mourinho doesn't give Willian the license to attack. He does but Willian has been poor at it.

If you read through, carefully, you'll see that I'm not Cahill's biggest fan, stretches back to before Monaco. Your saying that there has not been an over reaction to the defeat? If not then perhaps its yourself who might need to read a bit more carefully.

Take out those abusive and 'Cahill Out' one-liner posts, some of the responses have been more than decent and justifiable especially given the performances of Cahill lately.

And by the way, I didn't mean to insult or anything like that when I said 'if you read through carefully' in the last post.

[DH1988 1,273]

Why is it that when people defend Willian, Salah and Schurrle has been mentioned more often than not? Seems a rather convenient defence.

When I said 'our other AMs' earlier, I meant Hazard and Oscar given those two are the first choices in the team. Yes, Willian is there to provide balance, he's playing because he's a workhorse, got tactical awareness etc but which ever way one spins his role, it still doesn't hide the fact his offensive contribution is almost non-existent. Like I mentioned as well, let's act as if Mourinho doesn't give Willian the license to attack. He does but Willian has been poor at it.

Take out those abusive and 'Cahill Out' one-liner posts, some of the responses have been more than decent and justifiable especially given the performances of Cahill lately.

And by the way, I didn't mean to insult or anything like that when I said 'if you read through carefully' in the last post.

Because they are Chelsea players that play in the same position, I don't compare Courtois to Harry Kane. That is the comparisons we make, we cannot play the way we want to play this season without Willian, simple as that, he's improved on last season and I hope that next season or the 2nd half of the season the pot shots he takes, which Jose encourages, actually conform to something better than a pea that slips off the plate on a Sunday roast because he has a dynamite of a shot.

Its nothing new with Cahill though, he isn't world class, doesn't need to be with the way we play, the personnel we have. He's long been prone to square on syndrome, not tracking the runner in behind, this dates back SO long, sure he's improved but its one loss, a terrible team performance etc. and it wasn't aimed specifically at anyone more a generalization and I get the frustration after a match but to say Zouma in, Ramos in blah blah is an over reaction. John Terry was culpable for years and nothing close to the posts were seen.

Would I swap Willian for Sanchez? Absolutely but that doesn't mean there is a clone of Sanchez out there ready made to buy, at the moment Willian does his job to a tee, but the others have to do theirs too, just a note on last night, we missed 3 one on one's with the keeper that went a fraction wide or Lloris had a wonderful camera save to make.

Until we go back to having Ivanovic playing defensively we cannot bring another RW in, it upsets the whole balance and tactics of the team. Almost every EPL winning team I can think of has had that utility player or the worker bee. Like I said, he can end the season with 0 goals and 0 assists if he just does his job and we focus on our clinical finishing rather than 1-0, rush the opposition for 10 minutes then sit back.