Koke

[cármenes 21]

Do you think Koke and Cesc would work out?

I for one think that Koke would replace Cesc since Koke is a better version of Cesc is now.

Honestly, I think Chelsea would be better off with Koke replacing Cesc. As good as Fabregas is, he never delivers in the most important period of the season and he's just not a player that can take the game on his shoulders. Go watch the recent Spain-Netherlands game where Cesc's deficencies have been horribly exposed. Believe me, I followed him closely throughout his 3 year staying in Barcelona and he kept disappearing in the business part of the season while stat-padding against lesser teams in the first 4 or so months. I'm glad Barca got rid of him (although they didn't exactly manage to get a worthy replacement, I mean Rakitic is good but we should've gotten a more suitable player for our style and requirements).

[nyikolajevics 2,690]

having an opinion is fine but repeatedly iterating that opinion without any proof or argument is bordering on....

We are discussing if Koke would fit in or not. In the future. How on earth could I prove it? This conversation is theoretical, I don't know what kind of proof you expect.

I've watched Atleti a lot recently and I just can't see that he would solve our problems. De Bruyne, Salah or Mata are all talented as hell but we failed to take advantage of it. Oscar is also underperforming here and I think Koke might have the same issue.

Koke is very much a 'powerful' CM and would fit into the team perfectly, even better than Fabregas imo (I have an opinion on this guy but it's a discussion for another day, I guess). He's got creativity, an eye for a through ball, while still working hard as a horse. With all space he'd get in the Premier Leauge, he'd just be another star player, like Alexis or Costa or most players coming from La Liga for that matter.

By powerful I mean a big, strong midfielder like Ballack or Lampard. 4-3-3 with Fábregas and Koke in the midfield would be pretty weak, but having Matic + Gomes/Pogba + one smaller creative man(Fábregas) would be awesome.

[cármenes 21]

By powerful I mean a big, strong midfielder like Ballack or Lampard. 4-3-3 with Fábregas and Koke in the midfield would be pretty weak, but having Matic + Gomes/Pogba + one smaller creative man(Fábregas) would be awesome.

Are you trying to imply that Koke is not strong? He's around 1.80m and really well-built. Also, he's a member of the Atletico rugby team. Definitely not a pushover...

[illmatic 901]

By powerful I mean a big, strong midfielder like Ballack or Lampard. 4-3-3 with Fábregas and Koke in the midfield would be pretty weak, but having Matic + Gomes/Pogba + one smaller creative man(Fábregas) would be awesome.

I don't see a great physical difference between Gomes and Koke, in fact, for me Koke has a better physic than Gomes. For me Koke is a different type of player of Cesc, he is not a pure creative player, is a mixed between Creative and Physic, and a very good intelligence to play, this makes him a good player for our style, providing game creation and force in the middle.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

If you want to strenghten our midfield, replace Oscar and Cesc with stronger, more balanced players, like Pogba, Koke etc. Midfield is as strong as its weakest link and having Cesc as key midfielder who is absolute piss under pressure is bad. Unless you have to Wanyamas around him who would be pushing opponents away from cesc. But thats not how fooball works...

[nyikolajevics 2,690]

Are you trying to imply that Koke is not strong? He's around 1.80m and really well-built. Also, he's a member of the Atletico rugby team. Definitely not a pushover...

Obviously I didn't mean that Koke is weak, but Hazard and David Silva are strong too. My point is that 4-3-3 would be more effective with two huge ass midfielders(Matic and Pogba/Andre Gomes). With Koke and Fábregas in 4-3-3 we'd have too many small(under 180) players in the team. Of course that shouldn't be necesseraly bad - Barcelona dominated world's football with many small players in their team - but it's not Chelsea-style. During Mourinho's first era we were kicking asses and dominating midfiled with power, that's what I expect now. Gomes(188) and Pogba(188) are very good at headers, which is useful by corners and free kicks. Pogba with Matic and a creative player would be perfect.

I know we had small midfielders like Essien and Makelele, but Koke is obviously not a DM. Fábregas, Koke, Hazard and Willian in the same 11 would not be stable enough.

I don't have any problem with Koke but I would only like to see him behind the striker.

[cármenes 21]

Obviously I didn't mean that Koke is weak, but Hazard and David Silva are strong too. My point is that 4-3-3 would be more effective with two huge ass midfielders(Matic and Pogba/Andre Gomes). With Koke and Fábregas in 4-3-3 we'd have too many small(under 180) players in the team. Of course that shouldn't be necesseraly bad - Barcelona dominated world's football with many small players in their team - but it's not Chelsea-style. During Mourinho's first era we were kicking asses and dominating midfiled with power, that's what I expect now. Gomes(188) and Pogba(188) are very good at headers, which is useful by corners and free kicks. Pogba with Matic and a creative player would be perfect.

I know we had small midfielders like Essien and Makelele, but Koke is obviously not a DM. Fábregas, Koke, Hazard and Willian in the same 11 would not be stable enough.

I don't have any problem with Koke but I would only like to see him behind the striker.

Ok, now I get it. You've made some good points. But honestly, after thinking about it, I'd nod the idea of kicking Cesc out in favour of Koke.

Are you content with Fabregas' performances so far? Because, in my opinion, he tends to disappear in more important games and it's not a coincidence. It's been like that during his staying 3 year staying in Barcelona as well. Year after year, he started off brilliantly but eventually ended up as a disappointment. All Barca fans were fed up with this guy and I'm curious to hear your opinion, although there's still a few months till the season ends.

[lucio 5,418]

Obviously I didn't mean that Koke is weak, but Hazard and David Silva are strong too. My point is that 4-3-3 would be more effective with two huge ass midfielders(Matic and Pogba/Andre Gomes). With Koke and Fábregas in 4-3-3 we'd have too many small(under 180) players in the team. Of course that shouldn't be necesseraly bad - Barcelona dominated world's football with many small players in their team - but it's not Chelsea-style. During Mourinho's first era we were kicking asses and dominating midfiled with power, that's what I expect now. Gomes(188) and Pogba(188) are very good at headers, which is useful by corners and free kicks. Pogba with Matic and a creative player would be perfect.

I know we had small midfielders like Essien and Makelele, but Koke is obviously not a DM. Fábregas, Koke, Hazard and Willian in the same 11 would not be stable enough.

I don't have any problem with Koke but I would only like to see him behind the striker.

Bring in koke who is 178 and also loftus cheek who is over 190

[CurlyHairLikeLuiz 1,625]

Ok, now I get it. You've made some good points. But honestly, after thinking about it, I'd nod the idea of kicking Cesc out in favour of Koke.

Are you content with Fabregas' performances so far? Because, in my opinion, he tends to disappear in more important games and it's not a coincidence. It's been like that during his staying 3 year staying in Barcelona as well. Year after year, he started off brilliantly but eventually ended up as a disappointment. All Barca fans were fed up with this guy and I'm curious to hear your opinion, although there's still a few months till the season ends.

Let's see until the end of the season, eh? His decline only began when he got that hammy injury from JT. Maybe he might recover, damn you Del Bosque for not resting him

Hazard must be rested soon. I fear he will get burned out, just look at the way Liverpool fear Sterling'll get burned out, they even manipulate Roy into resting him in the international break. Why can't we do this to Wilmots lol?

[CurlyHairLikeLuiz 1,625]

Bring in koke who is 178 and also loftus cheek who is over 190

Courtois

Azpi Zouma Terry Luis

Matic

Koke/Cesc RLC

Juan Costa Hazard ?

[cármenes 21]

Let's see until the end of the season, eh?

Yeah. That's why I wrote 'although there's still a few months till the season ends'. But the decline is already noticeable.

[nadavTKL 1,787]

Its amazing that people still think Midfield is about power. Wake up, its not 2006 anymore, Ess-Maka-Lampard is not the way to go anymore in football.

Koke-Matic-Cesc would be amazing, our chance to reduse the gap significantly from Bayern, Barcelona and Real.

PSG for example got the midfield some of you want - Motta (Matic), Verrati (Cesc), Matudi (as the storng CM you want). With that midfield, PSG would never compete with Bayern and Barca. Its all about talent, touch on the ball, keeping possession and quick passing. It will be sad if we'll try to imitate our midfield from 2005+ cause will continue to park the bus against the top teams, and probably lose.

[Shakez 755]

Its amazing that people still think Midfield is about power. Wake up, its not 2006 anymore, Ess-Maka-Lampard is not the way to go anymore in football.

Koke-Matic-Cesc would be amazing, our chance to reduse the gap significantly from Bayern, Barcelona and Real.

Not only that, i hope it will end the days of us getting bullied in midfield against lesser opposition.

[didierforever 7,349]

We are discussing if Koke would fit in or not. In the future. How on earth could I prove it? This conversation is theoretical, I don't know what kind of proof you expect.

I've watched Atleti a lot recently and I just can't see that he would solve our problems. De Bruyne, Salah or Mata are all talented as hell but we failed to take advantage of it. Oscar is also underperforming here and I think Koke might have the same issue.

.

Mata does not have half the workrate needed to be a regular in a jose team.

I am not even going to compare koke with the likes of oscar and salahahahahhahahaha.

Kdb was not given a fait chance. Its wrong to say he did not work in jose's system.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

I'm concerned about lack of rumours of Koke, I will not be surprised if it will be quiet too in the summer. I haven't seen the smokes, leave alone the fire.