Cesc Fàbregas

[Daniel1980 1,425]

You guys are overrating Kross imo. He's great at controlling play in a possession team but he's never looked good when the pace of the game increases or when he's pressed. He's been part of teams that always have 60% possession or more. Easy to ping balls around when you're always dominating and have loads of space and time.

Modric is the real beast. Him and Rakitic are probably the best complete CMs in the world on current form.

I agree on Kroos--he can be very nervous and sloppy under pressure--but disagree about Rakitic. I watch many Barcelona games, and he's a solid all-round midfielder, nothing more, with next to no creativity, and his passing isn't better than just above average.

[chelseafc9010 224]

I think Rakitic is overrated as well. Look at him in the El Classico he couldn't deal with the pressure, was poor on the ball with his passes, didn't really help Barca at all.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

Thought he got better as the game went on but we have to give credit where it is due, Van Gaal had a really good game plan and his team executed the defensive instructions well.

From what I saw they man marked Cesc with Fellaini, Matic with Mata(lol he did okay though) and Blind on Oscar. That's why Hazard and Willian were afforded so much space down the flanks.

As good as Hazard was I thought he could've done more....

Cesc needed to get on the ball but only because we didn't make proper use of the space in the midfield. Hate to admit it but a ball playing defender like Luiz would've been useful here. If they're gonna hug Cesc so closely we need someone on the ball from deep who can distribute the ball.

He's not gonna zig zag and run away from defenders to get himself in position to receive the ball, we just have to be better at utilizing the space available

just my opinion of course.

[iseah100 5,612]

EVERYONES OVERRATED!

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

EVERYONES OVERRATED!

Everyone's SHITE, you hear me! It's over! Pack it up guys, we're done!!

[Special Juan 28,100]

After the weekend and reading through this forum I actually think people enjoying moaning. I'm all for opinions but come on some of you.

Yeah I agree, Cesc is crap.

[DYC. 7,542]

EVERYONES OVERRATED!

Best post I've read in a long while.

[Styles 9,790]

Just to throw this out there. One of Fabregas' weak points is that he doesn't have the close control and balls skills of a Modric, Iniesta, Gundogan or Xavi. It's sometimes difficult for him when the opposition gets in his face and puts pressure on him. Add that to his lack of quickness, it becomes a problem for him to shake off his marker. This is usually more apparent against higher quality sides who are far superior tactically to the smaller teams.

I agree - Fabregas doesn't have the agility and close control that those players have and it's why I think he'll be easy to shut down/have minimal influence against the elite teams in Europe. However, he's a good player in his own right and will almost certainly help us win the league this season. And considering the likes of Oscar and Willian (attackers who play a lot of minutes) contribute so little in terms of creativity (virtually nothing at times) we need Fabregas' creativity and assists more than we need a Modric.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

I agree - Fabregas doesn't have the agility and close control that those players have and it's why I think he'll be easy to shut down/have minimal influence against the elite teams in Europe. However, he's a good player in his own right and will almost certainly help us win the league this season. And considering the likes of Oscar and Willian (attackers who play a lot of minutes) contribute so little in terms of creativity (virtually nothing at times) we need Fabregas' creativity and assists more than we need a Modric.

Last season, if hazard is double marked, we don't create. This season teams are now man-marking fabregas and double marking hazard to stop us from playing. The more free Ams (willian /Oscar) are not creative enough to attract any attention from opponents defending.

A pogba or fit gundogan, and reus will improve our team midfield massively because they will have the space willian and Oscar enjoy and are far more dangerous than them. But our team right now is good enough to win in Epl, but not Europe

[Supermonkey92 1,428]

At the moment we will win because cesc will kill the majority if the teams in the league.

I agree the team isn't complete when it comes to Europe though

[Daniel1980 1,425]

Last season, if hazard is double marked, we don't create. This season teams are now man-marking fabregas and double marking hazard to stop us from playing. The more free Ams (willian /Oscar) are not creative enough to attract any attention from opponents defending.

A pogba, and reus will improve our team midfield massively because they will have the space willian and Oscar enjoy and are far more dangerous than them. But our team right now is good enough to win in Epl, but not Europe

And that's the main issue. Teams just aren't scared of our other AMs besides Eden and Cesc; and that's why they get heavily marked. Teams rarely attempt to mark Modric and Kroos, because you can't leave spaces for CR7, James, Bale, Isco, etc. The lack of attacking threat from our other AMs is really hurting us tactically.

[Styles 9,790]

Last season, if hazard is double marked, we don't create. This season teams are now man-marking fabregas and double marking hazard to stop us from playing. The more free Ams (willian /Oscar) are not creative enough to attract any attention from opponents defending.

A pogba or fit gundogan, and reus will improve our team midfield massively because they will have the space willian and Oscar enjoy and are far more dangerous than them. But our team right now is good enough to win in Epl, but not Europe

That's the way I see it too. We'll be very competitive in Europe though so it's not all doom and gloom; if our key players can stay healthy and with some luck you never know.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

And that's the main issue. Teams just aren't scared of our other AMs besides Eden and Cesc; and that's why they get heavily marked. Teams rarely attempt to mark Modric and Kroos, because you can't leave spaces for CR7, James, Bale, Isco, etc. The lack of attacking threat from our other AMs is really hurting us tactically.

The point you just made about Madrid stresses it further. If oscar and Willian were creative passers like modric and isco, without goalscoring instinct it'll be ok, but they are neither creative enough or enough of a goal threat for an Am. And it is exposed each time we don't have a striker to take the attention of too many markers from hazard and fabregas.

That's the way I see it too. We'll be very competitive in Europe though so it's not all doom and gloom; if our key players can stay healthy and with some luck you never know.

I would be more confident in Europe if we still had the ability to close out games like last season or 04-06 but on evidence of manutd, palace and schalke our team is not built for that. We would need to always be 2 goals ahead to be sure of seeing out a match even if it's 10mins left in a match so that means we need costa fit more than ever.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

Also, let's not forget Diego Costa in this equation. That was a big miss there as their back-line didn't have to worry about his pace and movement and also his interactions with our midfielders.

[Barbara 15,149]

Always the same shit around here. ALWAYS.

The guys who don't like X, F, B, A, Z player shut the heck up when the player is doing well, or just come up with one or two details of what he did wrong. But when the guy has one bad match, they're in riot to sprout their BS.

Really, we already know all people who dislike Cesc, Oscar, Iva, Willian, etc... you don't need to come remind us every single time any of them has a bad match. It's tiring and annoying. When did this place become like this? the meltdowns last season were way less present and people used to be subtle.

And no matter who you beg for, Pogba, Reus, Khedira, Modric, bla bla bla bla. We don't have them, I don't see us pursuing them in the next window and José trusts those players. So you may sound like the broken record you are as much as you want, the players won't go anywhere and they're doing a hell of job if you ask me being unbeaten in the league. Some people are so spoiled and have been playing FM and FIFA so much, that they should stick strictly to video games and give up on real life football. You lost the grasp of reality when any player in the world can't have a bad day, any average player such as Fellaini can't still have a great match. Those things happen in real life football, but some of you have no idea what that is anymore. Just stick with the video games, please.