Willian

[Jase 43,479]

4 minutes ago, DDA said:

I think the recent criticism of Willian is a little unfair. We know he isn't goid enough but at least he has been contributing with goals which is more that can be said about the likes of Tammy.

But it is from set pieces. Doesn't contribute much from open play.

[Magic Lamps 11,473]

5 hours ago, Mana said:

He’s shite and needs to go.

Yesterday doesn’t change that. One goal was a pen given by Pulisic, and another was a WC free-kick (ok) but...how many in his Chelsea career did he score from free kicks? A very rare occasion, in other words - luck played a part in it.

Yes Willian has been our best attacking player in recent games. That’s how SHIT we are going forward (except Pulisic of course).

Thank God for Werner and Ziyech next season.

Tbf William scored quite a lot of free kicks for us. 
his performance today was average apart from

his goals but at least he kept his side clean defensively. We have bigger problems than him right now.

[DDA 9,570]

10 minutes ago, Mana said:

No, not really. I can't remember a last free kick from Willian.

I agree though there are way bigger problems than Willian now since we got Ziyech and Werner. 

Didn't he score a banger in the CL or was that the Europa under Sarri. 

[DDA 9,570]

1 hour ago, Jason said:

But it is from set pieces. Doesn't contribute much from open play.

A goal is a goal. 

[Jase 43,479]

1 minute ago, DDA said:

A goal is a goal. 

Well yeah but the frustration is that he rarely scores from open play.

[DDA 9,570]

5 minutes ago, Jason said:

Well yeah but the frustration is that he rarely scores from open play.

Willian frustrates me endlessly but at this current time, there are others doing alot worse. Rudiger SMFH. 

[USATim 20]

5 hours ago, Mana said:

He’s shite and needs to go.

Yesterday doesn’t change that. One goal was a pen given by Pulisic, and another was a WC free-kick (ok) but...how many in his Chelsea career did he score from free kicks? A very rare occasion, in other words - luck played a part in it.

Yes Willian has been our best attacking player in recent games. That’s how SHIT we are going forward (except Pulisic of course).

Thank God for Werner and Ziyech next season.

Best attacking player has been Pulisic. And it's not even close.

[Sir Mikel OBE 4,770]

10 minutes ago, USATim said:

Best attacking player has been Pulisic. And it's not even close.

So are you the American version of Stingray?

 

Stay inside neighbor.

[Magic Lamps 11,473]

4 hours ago, Mana said:

No, not really. I can't remember a last free kick from Willian.

I agree though there are way bigger problems than Willian now since we got Ziyech and Werner. 

Maybe you have started following the club later then 2016 then. Willian has scored 11 free kicks for us. In the the Torrid 2015/16 He scored 6 and was the most prolific free kick taker in Europe’s top league that season. 

 

[Magic Lamps 11,473]

3 minutes ago, Mana said:

Of course I remember him taking free kicks in 2016. 

But that was fucking 2016, we are in 2020. You are asking me to think that far back? How many freekicks has he scored in the past year?

He scored one last year. You were saying he is not a good free kick taker and his goal yesterday was just luck when clearly the opposite is the case

[Superblue 6,333]

3 hours ago, USATim said:

Best attacking player has been Pulisic. And it's not even close.

Which just highlights the problems this season, expecting a young player to come from a foreign country and hit the ground running. I really like Pulisic (I mentioned months ago that he looks to have that ability and hunger to attack the back post which I think could lead to big numbers for goals as he matures like Sterling, Mane, Salah, etc) but my biggest worry with him is his durability to stay fit because it's not just this season but previous years that he's missed weeks/months of the season with muscular injuries. That obviously has a massive effect if you're key attacking outlet can't be fully relied on because of fitness concerns. If he can stay fit I think he could become a real big player and rack up some big numbers for us in assists and goals but there's always that worry that niggling injuries will hinder him.

The other issue this highlights is Pulisic, currently, is still well off Hazard's level when he was here but the likes of Willian and Pedro haven't 'upped' their numbers either to compensate. As the season has wore on, Hazard's loss has been felt more and more in my opinion when trying to break teams down. He's not going to be directly replaced but I think in Pulisic, Mount and Hudson Odoi there's three young players still developing, and the purchase of Werner and Ziyech that we can spread the load out across our front line which will make us more threatening than just a reliance on one player which we've had the last few years.

Willian in my opinion could still be a solid, dependable squad player for another season or two. He's rarely injured, hasn't shown any decline physically and offers some experience to a young group. Similar to Giroud really. But his time as a first choice should definitely be coming to an end.

[communicate 2,703]

17 hours ago, Superblue_1986 said:

Which just highlights the problems this season, expecting a young player to come from a foreign country and hit the ground running. I really like Pulisic (I mentioned months ago that he looks to have that ability and hunger to attack the back post which I think could lead to big numbers for goals as he matures like Sterling, Mane, Salah, etc) but my biggest worry with him is his durability to stay fit because it's not just this season but previous years that he's missed weeks/months of the season with muscular injuries. That obviously has a massive effect if you're key attacking outlet can't be fully relied on because of fitness concerns. If he can stay fit I think he could become a real big player and rack up some big numbers for us in assists and goals but there's always that worry that niggling injuries will hinder him.

The other issue this highlights is Pulisic, currently, is still well off Hazard's level when he was here but the likes of Willian and Pedro haven't 'upped' their numbers either to compensate. As the season has wore on, Hazard's loss has been felt more and more in my opinion when trying to break teams down. He's not going to be directly replaced but I think in Pulisic, Mount and Hudson Odoi there's three young players still developing, and the purchase of Werner and Ziyech that we can spread the load out across our front line which will make us more threatening than just a reliance on one player which we've had the last few years.

Willian in my opinion could still be a solid, dependable squad player for another season or two. He's rarely injured, hasn't shown any decline physically and offers some experience to a young group. Similar to Giroud really. But his time as a first choice should definitely be coming to an end.

Willian will not suddenly have better number, in final 3rd he is quite poor and more importantly he is right footed playing on the right. If you want your wide player to score and create , play him on the inverted side.

In term of Willian not being the 1st choice, it is up to the other player to grab his rw spot. Pedro can certainly do it but it looks like he is done with us. Pulisic was dreadful when he played on the right. CHO cannot stay healthy. I said it early in the season, i don't think we should renew Willian because we have CHO, but he need to show that he can replace him. 

 

[OneMoSalah 8,619]

10 minutes ago, communicate said:

Willian will not suddenly have better number, in final 3rd he is quite poor and more importantly he is right footed playing on the right. If you want your wide player to score and create , play him on the inverted side.

In term of Willian not being the 1st choice, it is up to the other player to grab his rw spot. Pedro can certainly do it but it looks like he is done with us. Pulisic was dreadful when he played on the right. CHO cannot stay healthy. I said it early in the season, i don't think we should renew Willian because we have CHO, but he need to show that he can replace him. 

 

For all the criticism of Willian over the years and this season too, the harsh reality is he has more goal involvements than all our other wide and attacking midfield players this season in the league. He’s currently on 8 PL Gs and 5 As. 

While they aren't fantastic numbers the closest is Pulisic with 7 Gs and 2 As. Hudson Odoi hasn’t really done much this season (1 G 4 As) although his recovery from a long term injury always meant he would need more time same with Ruben so not really taking them into account. In terms of goals or assists Mount hasnt done better than Willian (6 Gs 2 As) but again those stats of his paints a false image, he has 1 league G and 2 A in the whole of 2020 (13 or 14 games) so to be fair to Willian, who has been involved in 6 league Gs since the start of 2020, while that isn’t fantastic its a lot better than the majority of the others again. Take into consideration, Barkley hasnt got a PL goal this season either and only has got 3 assists. Pedro has 1 G and 1 A. Yes some haven't played as frequently but Mason and Willian have played a lot of games. Pulisic has started to be a regular more and the harsh reality is if we didnt have Ziyech and Werner coming in you could see why the club and coach would want Willian to stay because statistically he has more goal involvements than anybody bar Tammy this season.

Ziyech and Werners arrival cannot come soon enough. They will allow the likes of Mason and Callum to maybe grow into the team a bit more without being overly depended on to they find their consistency. Losing Willian is what it is but if he hadnt stayed to the end of this season we would be struggling a bit more imo. I mean his goals maybe were pens or dodgy FKs or whatever but they are goals and we have lacked those in those wider and central areas this season. Obviously stats dont paint the full picture but in terms of productivity it shows that he has done more than certain others we have in the squad.

[kellzfresh 7,226]

Anytime it seems like hes our best performer, the team doesnt play well overall

[communicate 2,703]

5 minutes ago, OneMoSalah said:

For all the criticism of Willian over the years and this season too, the harsh reality is he has more goal involvements than all our other wide and attacking midfield players this season in the league. He’s currently on 8 PL Gs and 5 As. 

While they aren't fantastic numbers the closest is Pulisic with 7 Gs and 2 As. Hudson Odoi hasn’t really done much this season (1 G 4 As) although his recovery from a long term injury always meant he would need more time same with Ruben so not really taking them into account. In terms of goals or assists Mount hasnt done better than Willian (6 Gs 2 As) but again those stats of his paints a false image, he has 1 league G and 2 A in the whole of 2020 (13 or 14 games) so to be fair to Willian, who has been involved in 6 league Gs since the start of 2020, while that isn’t fantastic its a lot better than the majority of the others again. Take into consideration, Barkley hasnt got a PL goal this season either and only has got 3 assists. Pedro has 1 G and 1 A. Yes some haven't played as frequently but Mason and Willian have played a lot of games. Pulisic has started to be a regular more and the harsh reality is if we didnt have Ziyech and Werner coming in you could see why the club and coach would want Willian to stay because statistically he has more goal involvements than anybody bar Tammy this season.

Ziyech and Werners arrival cannot come soon enough. They will allow the likes of Mason and Callum to maybe grow into the team a bit more without being overly depended on to they find their consistency. Losing Willian is what it is but if he hadnt stayed to the end of this season we would be struggling a bit more imo. I mean his goals maybe were pens or dodgy FKs or whatever but they are goals and we have lacked those in those wider and central areas this season. Obviously stats dont paint the full picture but in terms of productivity it shows that he has done more than certain others we have in the squad.

For me number wise with Willian is a bonus. In a perfect world, I want my winger to score and create goals but if he can't he need to provide other stuff and Willian is pretty good at that. 

[communicate 2,703]

6 minutes ago, kellzfresh said:

Anytime it seems like hes our best performer, the team doesnt play well overall

If Willian is the best performer in the game, your team is in trouble. He is a functional player. We need our attacker= LW, ST and AM to bring number for us. 

[communicate 2,703]

12 minutes ago, Mana said:

Well said. Willian shouldn't be our MotM at all unless he is so outstanding and the opposition are terrified of Willian. 

vs. West Ham he wasn't outstanding. He's not MotM, that's Pulisic. He was useless for the majority of the game!

Scoring a pen and a freekick doesn't change that.

Not useless, people love Pulisic, deservedly so, but if you watched puli playing on the right early in the season, you will never say Willian is useless. 

 

[Jase 43,479]