Cesc Fàbregas

[Tomo 21,733]

This lack of respect for Mata is reaching Liverpudlian proportions, and it's disgusting.

Jesus can anyone still have any form if critque of Juan without facing a firing squad, it was tedious enough when he was here.

[Amblève. 4,995]

Jesus can anyone still have any form if critque of Juan without facing a firing squad, it was tedious enough when he was here.

No sane person would consider calling Mata half the player Fabregas is "critique".

[Myself 793]

Mata is just a coward, he just didn't want to stay and fight for his spot. Why should we be respectful towards him? He was the player of the year for 2 years chosen by the FANS, and what did we get in return? He just decided to leave after playing half an year like garbage. He had the most minutes from the 6 AMs after Oscar and Hazard. He could've stayed and win his spot back but he decided to leave. Just a selfish guy with some nice words on his blog which meant nothing after all.

Sorry mate... but that post is just cringeworthy.

Mata is a coward for trying to stay and fight for a spot he was never going to win? He was the POTY for two seasons in a row, he clearly loved this club and didn't want to leave, but circumstances weren't good for Mata or Chelsea.. if we kept him, we have a class player rotting on the bench, generally being unhappy, and it hurts to see that especially with someone like Mata. He was never going to play well for a Mourinho team, he lacked the pace, the strength to really.

Calling him a coward and making statements like 'why should we be respectful to him' are very nonsensical things to say, especially after all we've done for him and vice versa.

[Barbara 15,149]

If teams are waiting for a counter, we have all the time in the world to build plays as long as we keep possession, and a partnership of Matic and Fabregas are the best we have to give us exactly that, pace would be good but not a must - stamina is a must for pretty much any pivot player though. On the other hand, teams that attack and give us counters leave more space behind, their defenses will usually sit a bit higher up for compactness or else they will leave a big gap between midfield and defense. In that kind of situation long passes and through balls are even deadlier than in the first. Pace is absolutely not needed in the pivot for counter-attacks, the players on the receiving end of passes are the ones who must be pacey, the ball can travel faster in a pass than any Ramires or Usain Bolt could do while running in possession.

For those reasons I think it works in both situations. Mourinho probably thinks that's possible as well. And he's testing Fabregas there against weak teams in the preseason, sides that are expected to give us a parked bus circumstance, which should provide a rough idea to how it may work. Of course nobody is giving these games much importance and teams who are going to park the bus in the PL are stronger than those we're facing right now, but still.

I agree with everything you said. But faster players in the pivot (or FBs) would help us make up for our CBs slowness.I don't think Matic and Cesc in the pivot would jeopardize or compromise our defense, but Terry is very slow and Cahill isn't that fast either. If we're in the receiving end of a counter-attack with through balls, we could be in a precarious position. We don't need to necessarily play Ramires in those matches - if anything those are the matches we'll play with Cesc and Matic as for a team to play counter-attack more often than not they have to be set up from defense or at least have a high pressing system and the likelihood of small teams being successful in parking their buses and surprising our defense with pacey, lethal counter-attacks isn't that high.

Now against stronger, attacking minded teams, we'll be less exposed to counter-attacks as we'll probably be the ones doing it. That's when I see Jose deploying Ramires - hopefully in the pivot instead of the wing - although the whole point of playing with Ramires in big matches is to add a defensive player in an attacking position anyway.

Luiz's absence should help us here, as Ramires only moved to the wing because there was someone like Luiz in the pivot. I don't think it'd work as good with Mikel playing the Luiz role. At the same time I don't doubt for a second that Mourinho won't deploy Iva in the RB, Azpili in the LB and Luís in the pivot. I can already see us playing like this against City, for example.

[didierforever 7,349]

Still hate him. Maybe not as much as before but its still there.

But nonetheless, its just obvious that he will be our main man this season. He will be the player whose performances would have us winning the league or simply folding.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Still hate him. Maybe not as much as before but its still there.

But nonetheless, its just obvious that he will be our main man this season. He will be the player whose performances would have us winning the league or simply folding.

I think the "hate" was superficial. It's like I "hated" Torres because I begrudged Liverpool for having such a quality striker. Now I hate him for real because of how shit he is :lol:

Everyone knows I'm joking, deep down he's still one of my favourite players, doesn't change the fact he's been shite for us besides a dozen matches!

Does anyone really "hate" Cesc? If they do, they won't as soon as they watch him tear shit up this season.

[Daniel1980 1,425]

Still hate him. Maybe not as much as before but its still there.

But nonetheless, its just obvious that he will be our main man this season. He will be the player whose performances would have us winning the league or simply folding.

That's a lot of pressure on one guy.

In all seriousness, I hope we don't come to depend on Cesc too much. I dislike when we depend on one player. Even the best players have off-days and drops in form, especially towards the end of the season, not to mention possible injuries. I love Hazard, but I disliked how we often depended on him last season. Now I hope if Cesc has an off-day, Eden will step up, and vice versa. Best-case scenario, they both perform consistently and amazingly well, but it's highly unlikely, considering that they both suffer from inconsistency.

However, I agree that a lot will depend on Cesc this season. He is an old-fashioned playmaker in the true sense of the word, and he'll be largely responsible for the flow of the team's play and creativity when he settles in.

[Jase 43,479]

Drogba on Fabregas..

http://www.espnfc.com.sg/chelsea/story/1965435/diego-costa-backed-to-succeed-in-premier-league-by-chelsea-teammate-didier-drogba

"To have Cesc with us, I think he'll understand it's better to be with us than against us.

[pHaRaOn 2,131]

Cesc sings Macarena and dancing with Eva.

[Madmax 9,219]

Didn't Mata also sing La Macarena?

[Nero 1,838]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rplOV0n5HeE

[bethos1 802]

Loving him already.

[MrBlueGuy 1,552]

With Drogba we now have 2 beast free kick takers

[Special Juan 27,429]

Player, absolute fucking player.

[Madmax 9,219]

I love, love, love finesse freekicks. Power's great but finesse is just that much more ... pleasing. Hope to see many more.

[Cech's helmet 220]

Great free kick. I think he goes missing when he plays in the no10 role. he needs to get on the ball always and he does that best when he's playing in the middle of the pitch, I hope we see him with Matic in CM next season and not behind the striker.

[DavidEU 2,023]

Love you Cesc.

[Daniel1980 1,425]

He created several chances, but he didn't touch the ball as often as he did when he played deeper, wasn't as influential as when he played a DLP.

But damn, that free kick.

Think it's pretty safe to say he'll be our main set piece taker.