Kurt Zouma

[LondonsFinest 692]

I am going to be disappointed if Cahill starts versus City.

[Sovieticus 743]

I am going to be disappointed if Cahill starts versus City.

He probably will due to 'experience'

[bababoom 4,478]

On another day he could have quite easily made two costly mistakes. The first was a mistimed header, Sterling was through if not for Terry slowing him down giving Zouma a chance to catch up and intercept. The second was when Countinho completely sent him the wrong way, if Countinho had any end product we could have been in trouble. This was all in the first half, i'm not being too harsh mainly because he's still so young, inexperienced and tbh was excellent in the 2nd half and E/T.

As i said in the second half he was impeccable, the amount of tackles he made was impressive and i really love how athletic he is. He could work on the technical side of his game though, he's pretty raw on the ball.

[The Skipper 20,593]

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.

Highly debatable. Zouma IMO already reads the game much better than Cahill, and it shows in his confidence and ability to intercept the ball before it becomes dangerous. Cahill can't do that.

[The Mak 4,459]

The only real mistake you could point to was the massive gap the gave Coutinho. The difference between him and Cahill is simple, Zouma will learn from that experience and become a better player, Cahill will not. Here's hoping Terry stays at this level for as long as possible, because Cahill is no partner for Zouma.

[The Skipper 20,593]

When our regular back four is Luis - Terry - Zouma - Azpi, you'll see that our possession game will massively improve. Pace (apart from JT but he makes up for that with excellent positioning), anticipation and high pressing from the back.

[Barbara 15,149]

When our regular back four is Luis - Terry - Zouma - Azpi, you'll see that our possession game will massively improve. Pace (apart from JT but he makes up for that with excellent positioning), anticipation and high pressing from the back.

Not sure this day will come... Iva won't be dropped...

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

Highly debatable. Zouma IMO already reads the game much better than Cahill, and it shows in his confidence and ability to intercept the ball before it becomes dangerous. Cahill can't do that.

I don't believe that for a second. The reason he gets in ahead of cahill is because of his speed to close people down. Reading the game has to do with occupying spaces on the pitch where a threat can be and right now Cahill is still better than Zouma... When Zouma makes a mistake and he made a fair few yesterday he has the speed to make up for it, that's not the same for cahill.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

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

He settled into the match but there was still that effort when Coutinho got in on goal and Zouma turned the wrong was to let him in 1v1 with courtois.

[bluesman2610 1,341]

Can you really call being beat by a clever player a mistake.. the best defenders in the world past and present get beat by tricky players that is hardly a mistake on their part... I feel the criticism of that as an error is over the top his one true mistake yesterday was mis-timing his leap and letting the runner through which he recovered with his CB partner to mop up

[CHOULO19 24,332]

I admit to have lost my temper a bit with him yesterday amid the tension of the match, but in hind sight he did well overall and the mistakes are only normal at his age and he will only benefit and learn from them. I'd like to see him given a run of games and keep his momentum by starting against City though I fully expect Jose to bring Cahill back for taht match.

[The Chels 2,502]

When our regular back four is Luis - Terry - Zouma - Azpi, you'll see that our possession game will massively improve. Pace (apart from JT but he makes up for that with excellent positioning), anticipation and high pressing from the back.

I'd love to see that back 4 playing regularly but we all know Ivanovic will never be dropped. Didn't you hear Jose's comments yesterday? Ivanovic got singled out for praise after having yet another shocking performance from a defensive point of view. The way he exposed us by trying (and failing) to anticipate Gerrard's pass (the one to Moreno) just about sums up his football intelligence. Azpi and Luis play with great intensity and aggression unlike the lackadaisical Serb and would definitely improve our pressing game but I think this tweet confirms what everyone already suspected:

[The Skipper 20,593]

I don't believe that for a second. The reason he gets in ahead of cahill is because of his speed to close people down. Reading the game has to do with occupying spaces on the pitch where a threat can be and right now Cahill is still better than Zouma... When Zouma makes a mistake and he made a fair few yesterday he has the speed to make up for it, that's not the same for cahill.

What you're describing is positioning and that is definitely a side to reading the game, but that is honed with experience mostly. The other part is anticipation, and Zouma is streets ahead of Cahill in that aspect already. It's also a lot harder to learn - in most cases you either have it or you don't. Anticipation is the more difficult part of reading the game and it's something Cahill isn't good at.

I would hardly say making two errors is a fair few. Apart from those he had a very solid game.

[The Skipper 20,593]

Not sure this day will come... Iva won't be dropped...

It's a real shame. Feel like it's holding the team back a bit.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

What you're describing is positioning and that is definitely a side to reading the game, but that is honed with experience mostly. The other part is anticipation, and Zouma is streets ahead of Cahill in that aspect already. It's also a lot harder to learn - in most cases you either have it or you don't. Anticipation is the more difficult part of reading the game and it's something Cahill isn't good at.

I would hardly say making two errors is a fair few. Apart from those he had a very solid game.

As a defender two errors usually lead to goals. Had Liverpool been more clinical it would've been a goal...

I agree with your analysis of anticipation and that Zouma is better but that has more to do with his pace. He closes down quicker than Cahill because he's faster than Cahill.

[The Skipper 20,593]

As a defender two errors usually lead to goals. Had Liverpool been more clinical it would've been a goal...

I agree with your analysis of anticipation and that Zouma is better but that has more to do with his pace. He closes down quicker than Cahill because he's faster than Cahill.

I would agree with you on pace being the difference if Cahill was a proactive defender, but we all know he's not. He's not confident enough in his ability (or lack of ability) to intercept the ball proactively. He doesn't have it in his game, whereas Zouma does. There difference really is more pronounced than just pace.

[MrBlueGuy 1,552]

It's a real shame. Feel like it's holding the team back a bit.

He is never gonna be dropped because he is capable of doing things like yesterday.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

I would agree with you on pace being the difference if Cahill was a proactive defender, but we all know he's not. He's not confident enough in his ability (or lack of ability) to intercept the ball proactively. He doesn't have it in his game, whereas Zouma does. There difference really is more pronounced than just pace.

The numbers say otherwise. Cahill leads the team in clearances per game and has one interception per game as well which ranks him 4th behind Matic, Azpi and Brana. He's not terrible, he's played well for us he's just not the guy you can depend on every game.