Kurt Zouma

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Eh? He was fucking class. Two mistakes from a 20 year old in a semi-final; one of which he rectifies and the other his centre-half partner resolves. People must prefer Cahill backing off to Zouma's aggression.

[LAB 1,030]

You put Cahill in there instead of Zouma and here everyone would be killing him. It seems that many people saw an increadible game by Zouma, Again, the reality shows another thing.

The answer to your problem is simple: We'd all rather watch young and promising talent Zouma make those mistakes than GC who has reached his peak long before. Just as Barbara mentioned before.

Those matches are priceless learning experiences for him. So happy :blue scalf:

[Rom2013 446]

The answer to your problem is simple: We'd all rather watch young and promising talent Zouma make those mistakes than GC who has reached his peak long before. Just as Barbara mentioned before.

Those matches are priceless learning experiences for him. So happy :blue scalf:

That's really cool but we have a League to win... so...

[termninja 5,290]

Did well. Sterling feint killed him and that slight header he missed but fixed. Other than that he looked solid and on his place. Honestly, our defense was nothing worse then with Cahill. Considering the opponent, semi final, pressure and their dangerous attack, Zouma exceeded my expectations ! Keep it up mate!

I really liked his agression in comparison to Cahill's backing of. Definitely a player who should be kept and utilized.

[bababoom 4,478]

First half he was shaky IMO, especially when Countinho completely fooled him. In the 2nd half he was flawless, made many interceptions and anticipated key passes. He's not that gifted on the ball like Verane but in a year or so he could be just as good. Massive talent.

[Reddish-Blue 2,224]

Good to see Zouma doing well, he's got the potential to be captain of club/country in the future

It would be amazing to see Omerou and Zouma play together at Chelsea, even if it is only for one match

[The Skipper 20,593]

Brilliant lad. Keep proving those that doubted you to even be our 3rd choice CB wrong.

A few of us said at the start of the season that he might displace Cahill. Alas...

[robsblubot 3,224]

Pace pace and more pace! The dynamics of out defense changed completely as ours CBs were rarely in line! Terry was always sitting back in cover while Zouma was the one giving chase, being proactive. Defense looked great actually. We had trouble in midfield as they played in a very high tempo and Coutinho, Lucas, and even Can had were pretty good. Liverpool played well, which limited our CAMs tremendously.

Zouma also seemed a bit more comfortable in possession and his passing was better too - nice to see.

Liverpool's Sakho on the other showed poor technique esp passing; regardless of his physical prowess I doubt he's ever going to become a great player, despite his youth. You gotta know how to play footy and technique is the hardest skill to develop.

Now we need a sub for ZOuma! Gary can do Terry's job (sitting) albeit without the same quality, but we've got nobody else to do what Kurt does. The squad does seem pretty short.

[Stats 6,980]

Did well. Sterling feint killed him and that slight header he missed but fixed. Other than that he looked solid and on his place. Honestly, our defense was nothing worse then with Cahill. Considering the opponent, semi final, pressure and their dangerous attack, Zouma exceeded my expectations ! Keep it up mate!

I really liked his agression in comparison to Cahill's backing of. Definitely a player who should be kept and utilized.

Zouma done very well tonight. He is a bit raw and I do worry against opponents with more clinical and out and out strikers but he will learn game by game and can only improve with minutes on the field I guess. But you can see that Liverpool are crying out for Sturridge. Had he been playing, Zouma would have been much more tested imo. Will be interesting to see if Zouma is selected against City. I have a feeling he will go for Cahill. Because of his experience and he often performs in the big games tbh. Whoever is picked will need to be on the top of the game up against Aguero.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

You put Cahill in there instead of Zouma and here everyone would be killing him. It seems that many people saw an increadible game by Zouma, Again, the reality shows another thing.

He's got to get the Cahillisms out of his game for sure but how can you honestly fault him today? he was fucking fantastic! Liverpool's entire plan was to try to catch us playing a high line and Zouma snuffed that out every time they tried. He had 11 effective clearances today..11!

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

Zouma done very well tonight. He is a bit raw and I do worry against opponents with more clinical and out and out strikers but he will learn game by game and can only improve with minutes on the field I guess. But you can see that Liverpool are crying out for Sturridge. Had he been playing, Zouma would have been much more tested imo. Will be interesting to see if Zouma is selected against City. I have a feeling he will go for Cahill. Because of his experience and he often performs in the big games tbh. Whoever is picked will need to be on the top of the game up against Aguero.

It'll be Cahill for sure. City don't look to get in behind for pace, they look to play it through the defense and Cahill still reads the game better than Zouma.

[teignman 441]

He has insane raw physical abilities, but still seems to struggle judging the flight of balls in the air, which puts us in some very dangerous situations.

[mannyfreshh 164]

Easily fooled by Coutinho but overall had a good game IMO.

Definately want to see more of him.

Coutinho fools everyone easy. Not a big deal

[mannyfreshh 164]

Zouma played a good game and will only get better. Hopefully cahill doesn't lose to much confidence because he is a very important player for us.

[Special Juan 27,103]

Good to watch again last night. One mistake with the mis-timed jump but all in all he was solid.

[CFC888 219]

We all know Kurt is very raw, but there's so much potential there and that's really promising for the future.

He is an outstanding athlete - his almost supernatural leap and blistering speed can attest to this - but I am perhaps more impressed by the head he seems to have on his shoulders; he speaks extremely well for someone so young whose first language is not English.

I watched his post-match interview from last night on the Chelsea website, and he spoke really impressively about how he treated it as "just another game" instead of the cut-throat sudden death match that it was. He didn't seem at all overawed by the situation and for a 20 year old that's massively admirable and you could see the joy on his face after the final whistle, top stuff.

Couple this with his actions in defeat on the weekend also (being the only player to acknowledge our fans despite being visibly distraught at the loss), he makes for one seriously impressive character.

Keep it up Kurt!

[Azul 1,615]

Better than Cahill atm, it's as simple as that.

[Jase 43,479]

If there's one thing counting against Zouma right now, it's obviously his lack of experience. But if you do not give him the games, the challenges for him to face, then he won't improve, would he? He will make mistakes (he's only 20 after all) and we may pay the price from time to time but it can only be a good thing in the long term as Mourinho seems certain he'll be a permanent starter in the first XI in the future. Moreover, compared to Cahill, you would think Zouma is one who'll learn from his mistakes, evaluate and get better. Cahill doesn't seem to learn from his mistakes and consistently make the same errors over and over again, this despite having played over hundreds of games since 2004.