Willian

[Rekin 835]

Errr, ya. Just 1 special goal and there's nothing much else so far. Still want to see more from him especially offensively..

Disagree, he have added a lot to Chelsea's game through his offensive passing, could have had an assist against Arsenal if the shooting had been better.

There is also skill in being a the right place at the right time, and even though he missed against Cardiff he was alert enough to almost score.

I think Schurrle is a great player that will become excellent, but the question is if Willian is not already excellent and can become fantastic.

[Jase 43,479]

Disagree, he have added a lot to Chelsea's game through his offensive passing, could have had an assist against Arsenal if the shooting had been better.

There is also skill in being a the right place at the right time, and even though he missed against Cardiff he was alert enough to almost score.

Those are just bits and pieces or glimpses. Not saying he isn't great but so far, he still hasn't shown much attacking wise especially for one who was bought for 32m.

[Rekin 835]

Those are just bits and pieces or glimpses. Not saying he isn't great but so far, he still hasn't shown much attacking wise especially for one who was bought for 32m.

It is propably related to the fact that he was brought in late, have not featured as prominently as other players and last but not least does not have the central role in the team that a player such as Özil might have at Arsenal.

I was not completely sold on his transfer, but I am now glad that he is a part of the team. I do understand though that others may disagree, after all it is still early in the season and he was expensive. I guess it will be easier to judge him when he have started more than a handful of games.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

Errr, ya. Just 1 special goal and there's nothing much else so far. Still want to see more from him especially offensively..

He didnt play any football for 2 months before he joined us. He practically had his preseason with us during matches to get fully fit

[zolayes 14,489]

That Brazilian squad is stacked!!! Jesus they have some real quality

you aint seen nothing yet ,,,wait till you see the England Squad ,,,

[Stingray 9,441]

you aint seen nothing yet ,,,wait till you see the England Squad ,,,

:tophat:

[Barbara 15,149]

Errr, ya. Just 1 special goal and there's nothing much else so far. Still want to see more from him especially offensively..

did you miss this post, Jason?

2 assists and a goal with barely any minutes is quite decent, it's also worth a mention that he's been directly involved in quite a few goals besides his assists. I feel the defensive work has been talked about a lot with our players in general as it's the least Mourinho expects from his players, therefore, it you don't do it, or if you don't do it well enough, you pretty much don't play at all.

1 goal + 2 assists in a very limited play time is more than Mata or Schürrle have done (both having played way more)... Actually the only AMs with better stats than him are Hazard and Oscar who played almost all matches for us, so I'm not even sure if you do the how many minutes for each goal and assist if they're still better than Willian statistically and I'm talking about the kind of stats that are reliable, not that BS they call 'chances created' which is the biggest misleading junk in football stats.

You're being unnecessarily harsh on a player that is far from his best form both fitness and technically wise and still he's been contributing in all matches he plays more than 10 minutes, not only defensively, but also offensively.

If you can't recognize how good is his passing in the attack, how he finds players in good positions, how he moves around markers, how he makes space, then I suggest you to watch him closer next match. It's nothing exceptional, but it's way more than 'just being recognized by his defensive contributions'

I'm not saying he's done enough to justify the price-tag. But it seems nearly nonsense to want a player who spent months without playing any match and then adapting to a league completely different from his, barely having play time to simply be the guy. I think he's doing far better than I've expected given the circumstances, especially his lack of match form prior to joining to us. If there's one player that capitalized his chances so far, it's been Willian imo. I guess he should start taking turns in starts from now on, rotating with Schürrle, as Hazard won't leave the starting XI. I'd also like to watch him play in the Oscar position at least once. So I hope we have a chance to watch Schürrle - Willian - Hazard.

[remains of the day 564]

Find it funny that the praises (some OTT) for Willian so far has all been about his defensive workrate. While it does deserve credit, I don't think we pay 32m for an attacking player to just be good at defending...

I suppose you can look at it that way, but really it's not like our other attacking midfielders have showed so much more (attacking wise) than Willian. Yeah Hazard and Oscar have scored the most goals out of the six but they only have like two assists between them (in the league). Schurrle has clocked in more minutes than willian but yet only has 1 goal and zero assists. I don't think it makes sense to single out willian when our attacking midfielders in general have been contributing much more defensively than they have offensively. Obviously there are legitimate reasons why Jose has set them up like that but I do think it's interesting that our pivot gets so much criticism on here about not being able to control the tempo, not moving the ball fast enough, being bad passers etc etc yet in the game against Man City, Frank and Ramires were basically our best offensive players. Our centre midfield pretty much matched City's despite them having a one man advantage but the three behind Torres were very poor compared to Nasri and Silva who both made triple the number of key passers that Oscar, Hazard and Schurrle made and were just much better than the three.

There has actually been a couple of games like that this season in which the three behind the striker were basically anonymous and contributed nothing in attack yet rarely are they ever scrutinized. Maybe a bit offtopic, just find it interesting.

[Jase 43,479]

He didnt play any football for 2 months before he joined us. He practically had his preseason with us during matches to get fully fit

did you miss this post, Jason?

1 goal + 2 assists in a very limited play time is more than Mata or Schürrle have done (both having played way more)... Actually the only AMs with better stats than him are Hazard and Oscar who played almost all matches for us, so I'm not even sure if you do the how many minutes for each goal and assist if they're still better than Willian statistically and I'm talking about the kind of stats that are reliable, not that BS they call 'chances created' which is the biggest misleading junk in football stats.

You're being unnecessarily harsh on a player that is far from his best form both fitness and technically wise and still he's been contributing in all matches he plays more than 10 minutes, not only defensively, but also offensively.

If you can't recognize how good is his passing in the attack, how he finds players in good positions, how he moves around markers, how he makes space, then I suggest you to watch him closer next match. It's nothing exceptional, but it's way more than 'just being recognized by his defensive contributions'

I'm not saying he's done enough to justify the price-tag. But it seems nearly nonsense to want a player who spent months without playing any match and then adapting to a league completely different from his, barely having play time to simply be the guy. I think he's doing far better than I've expected given the circumstances, especially his lack of match form prior to joining to us. If there's one player that capitalized his chances so far, it's been Willian imo. I guess he should start taking turns in starts from now on, rotating with Schürrle, as Hazard won't leave the starting XI. I'd also like to watch him play in the Oscar position at least once. So I hope we have a chance to watch Schürrle - Willian - Hazard.

I suppose you can look at it that way, but really it's not like our other attacking midfielders have showed so much more (attacking wise) than Willian. Yeah Hazard and Oscar have scored the most goals out of the six but they only have like two assists between them (in the league). Schurrle has clocked in more minutes than willian but yet only has 1 goal and zero assists. I don't think it makes sense to single out willian when our attacking midfielders in general have been contributing much more defensively than they have offensively.

Honestly, I have no idea why so many got worked up because of what I said about Willian before. I'm totally aware of the reasons that have been mentioned but have I like gone out to say 'If Willian doesn't perform in the next few games, we should sell him because he's rubbish!' or things like that?! No. I don't think there's any wrong if I want to see more from Willian going forward because right now, I've not seen enough of it yet.

[Korea 734]

I kind of realized that whoever plays on the right side usually sucks...

Whether its oscar, mata, willian, kdb, hazard, or schurrle.. Did anyone play well on the right side and actually stick on the right side>

[Pacquiao 1,834]

Imagine a Belgium v Brazil WC Final!!!

Hazard, Lukaku, De Bruyne & Courtois v Oscar, Luiz, Ramires & Willian

[Barbara 15,149]

Honestly, I have no idea why so many got worked up because of what I said about Willian before. I'm totally aware of the reasons that have been mentioned but have I like gone out to say 'If Willian doesn't perform in the next few games, we should sell him because he's rubbish!' or things like that?! No. I don't think there's any wrong if I want to see more from Willian going forward because right now, I've not seen enough of it yet.

I can answer for me 1) I'm not worked up. 2) your statement sounded unfair and inaccurate

But we can agree to disagree.

[Sheva. 5,373]

Honestly, I have no idea why so many got worked up because of what I said about Willian before. I'm totally aware of the reasons that have been mentioned but have I like gone out to say 'If Willian doesn't perform in the next few games, we should sell him because he's rubbish!' or things like that?! No. I don't think there's any wrong if I want to see more from Willian going forward because right now, I've not seen enough of it yet.

People brought up fair points to counter your criticism of Willian so:

[Special Juan 27,429]

Just a clever player, and underneath has the ability to pick off a pass, beat a man, has pace and does something out of nothing.

Voila.

[Jase 43,479]

People brought up fair points to counter your criticism of Willian so:

You must have posted that on purpose! And a well timed adorable cat to improve my mood.

And I did not dismiss their views/factors, did I?

[Sheva. 5,373]

You must have posted that on purpose! And a well timed adorable cat to improve my mood.

And I did not dismiss their views/factors, did I?

Right you are

On Willian you're right he can do better in attack, but there are many factors that might be the cause of this that have been posted. But in the mean time he's not just slouching around, but working very hard and has been involved in goals when he has played, so i'm fairly happy with him.

[remains of the day 564]

Honestly, I have no idea why so many got worked up because of what I said about Willian before. I'm totally aware of the reasons that have been mentioned but have I like gone out to say 'If Willian doesn't perform in the next few games, we should sell him because he's rubbish!' or things like that?! No. I don't think there's any wrong if I want to see more from Willian going forward because right now, I've not seen enough of it yet.

Fair enough. I don't think there was anything at all problematic with what you said. I actually think you often raise interesting points and this one got me thinking. Really, what I was trying to get at is that the whole "wanting to see more of Willian going forward" should also apply to the other AMs. We all love that the trio behind the striker are working hard for the team defensively, however it seems to have completely gone under the radar that Oscar, Schurrle and Hazard have only made one assist between the three of them. But right now Oscar and Hazard are scoring goals so maybe it's not such an issue that they're not raking up assists....

[Tomo 21,733]

Is it just me or do we perform better when he is on the pitch?

Time for a run in the team me thinks.