Cesc Fàbregas

[Barbara 15,149]

come on barbara. u just cant say that the cesc drops in the second half of the season is a "myth".

dont exactly know if he has physically fallen off or something else, but no one can deny that he has looked like a shade of the 2014 cesc a lot of times in these previous months.

he does - but isn't there a context? Wasn't he injured? Didn't he stay some time in the sidelines and have ever since slowing walking toward his best? I'm not saying it didn't happen, I'm just questioning this is a sacred rule that rinses and repeats every new season.

People stopped bringing up the 'don't play big matches' because he's played well in some of the big matches we played this year... the same will happen if he has a healthy second half of season. The thing is many times he doesn't. I thought he'd have here this season because he said we 'fixed' his long-term injury and played without pain for the first time in years. I didn't count with one of our own players injuring him (and Remy, lol), but of course, that's a risk any player is subjected to.

I'm not denying what happened, I'm denying the rule and the fact people don't analyze the context.

[Barbara 15,149]

Find the quotes; let's provide some context. Otherwise please stop chatting shit.

Not a big fan of this transfer but good luck to him.

Much better than Paulinho, so there's that I suppose.

He's balding, he doesn't really have much choice.

Agreed. Hopefully Van Ginkel gets some minutes too.

A Matic-Fabregas midfield isn't going to work in my opinion.

Thought he looked a little bit like Mata yesterday, very slow and weak off the ball.

I know you guys are bored of me saying this already but Fabregas is ridiculously slow, I've seen fat people running for the bus move quicker than him. And while he's excellent at making through balls his general passing really isn't that good.

His general passing isn't that good?

I think you're overestimating his slowness and I don't think you've watched Cesc Fàbregas enough (and I don't mean this in a patronizing or derogative way) if you say he isn't a general good passer... I'm surprised to read that...

I agree completely with Mourinho. He's the key we were missing in our puzzle (it's easy to talk about striker, because we played with only one last season - and that's summing all three we had together, meaning we had half of one with Samuel and a quarter of one with either Torres or Ba). He takes us to a new level. People label Mourinho as defensive all the time, but a team to afford, need and want a player of Cesc's caliber isn't a team defensive oriented. It's a team willing to take risks, to want to bring it to the next level. His speed on the ball and off the ball isn't that much important when we have a high press system that proved to work really well and players that can offer him cover. We have pace-y players to make runs to receive his balls, so he isn't missed there either. We missed a brain when we had a lot of muscles and a tad of geniality with Hazard, but Cesc is definitely the brain we've missed. We lost that with Mata and Mata didn't do it the way Cesc does (not better, not worse, just differently, although Cesc is way more versatile than Mata). Hazard can have his fun moments of a genius more freely now, there's someone behind him doing all the thinking. Schurrle can hopefully run and move smartly because there's someone to catch him. Oscar can share the burden of being creative (as it isn't natural to him) with someone else. (and for God's sake, I'm not even remotely implying Eden or any of our other AMs don't think, they do, it's just Cesc is a brilliant, fast mind that sees the whole story in his head in seconds, before executing it).

So he can make excellent through balls but can't do simple passes... Hmm.

His general passing is more than fine. Some mistakes, sloppy and misplaced passes are to be expected when he expects his teammates do different things, since we play completely differently from Barcelona or even Arsenal.

He is pretty slow, you're right, but everyone has known it for ages, so I'm not sure why you bring it up. I doubt Jose failed to notice that he isn't a speed monster before signing him.

His general passing isn't that good?! Wow, just wow. I can't even...

He is slow, his general passing isn't that good and his dribbling, whilst not bad, isn't spectacular either. I'm thinking we may just have spent 30m on a slightly improved Mikel, silly board. If not his passing, what does he offer then?

OK, not another peep out of me on Fabregas. We will revist this again in a few months/end of the season. I hope he proves me wrong.

LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL

Is 8 months enough time to revisit it? btw your last answer were to mine and other posts I quoted along. Yep, definitely the context.

You were wrong even about his haircut. Just admit your own words, man. Everyone has a chance of being wrong about their opinions, even more their predictions. At least you said you hoped he proved you wrong. He did just that

[Laugh1ngMan 393]

The problem for Cesc is the lack of runners. he needs people to move when he has the ball but only our striker does this and it doesnt pose great danger anymore, hence he stopped being as influential as the first half of the season.

Early in the season we had at least Schurlle to help out and i can even remember Hazard started doing some off the ball movement, which was lacking in his game and i aplauded him for it.

But all that has come to a stop for some reason or another. Especially in games where we are being pressed since our passing is so bad our AM's have to drop so deep to help out, that in turn Cesc hardly ever has someone to pick out.

I remember him trying a couple of through passes against QPR for Drogba but that wasn't working for obvious reasons.

I was hoping Cuadrado could at least give us that, and he has shown some of that movement but his all round game has been too suspicious too give him playing time at these crucial moments.

[Styles 9,790]

LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL

Is 8 months enough time to revisit it? btw your last answer were to mine and other posts I quoted along. Yep, definitely the context.

You were wrong even about his haircut. Just admit your own words, man. Everyone has a chance of being wrong about their opinions, even more their predictions. At least you said you hoped he proved you wrong. He did just that

I've only now just realised what an incredibly sad individual you are, but let's entertain this.

First of all I don't understand what the first four or so quotes have to do with his passing, and especially the balding comment but whatever.

Now the reason I asked for quotes is because this:

I know you guys are bored of me saying this already but Fabregas is ridiculously slow, I've seen fat people running for the bus move quicker than him. And while he's excellent at making through balls his general passing really isn't that good.

Does not equal average passer.

Here's some context: in the very same quote, which I believe is supposed to be the smoking gun, I said he is excellent at making through-balls. That's clearly not the trait of an average passer.

Fabregas, however, can be incredibly sloppy in possession at times which is what I was attempting to put across in that post. Fabregas has just come off a period of form where he gave the ball away cheaply a lot in games. I still stand by that comment that his general passing, especially when pressurised, leaves a lot to be desired.

So, me trying to convince people 'over and over' again that Fabregas is an 'average passer' has amounted to one actual post taken out of context and a few others that have nothing to do with anything. Pathetic.

[Barbara 15,149]

I've only now just realised what an incredibly sad individual you are, but let's entertain this.

First of all I don't understand what the first four or so quotes have to do with his passing, and especially the balding comment but whatever.

Now the reason I asked for quotes is because this:

Does not equal average passer.

Here's some context: in the very same quote, which I believe is supposed to be the smoking gun, I said he is excellent at making through-balls. That's clearly not the trait of an average passer.

Fabregas, however, can be incredibly sloppy in possession at times which is what I was attempting to put across in that post. Fabregas has just come off a period of form where he gave the ball away cheaply a lot in games. I still stand by that comment that his general passing, especially when pressurised, leaves a lot to be desired.

So, me trying to convince people 'over and over' again that Fabregas is an 'average passer' has amounted to one actual post taken out of context and a few others that have nothing to do with anything. Pathetic.

I had fun doing it... and you gave me exactly the kind of response I expected. My biggest fun? I didn't remember in your posts you said we should revisit it in a few months or at the end of the season. PRI.CE.LESS.

You said his general passing isn't really good. If you want to say that isn't the same as saying average passer okay... It's semantics really. Average is something that isn't good or bad, just a 5 or 6. People called you on that, but back then when no one could be proved right or wrong about his career at Chelsea, you didn't try to correct anyone saying it was absurd for you to say he was good at something so difficult and not good in something so simple as passing in general. Back then you didn't try to make your post look like you weren't degrading his general pass, you stood by your own words and even challenged us to revisit the topic a few months later or at the end of the season. Now that we had, that's the kind of answer you provide. As I said, completely expected.

The first four quotes are for my amusement and to prove another part of what I said in my original post today. All things you've been right in your firm and superior views of football. You had more posts about this subject somewhere. You even concluded saying you wouldn't say anything else about it because people were picking on you. You said in other threads I won't look for. Admitting for their mistakes is a beautiful quality not many people have. Now putting the blame over other people, well, let's say this is the average reaction - but imo this average reaction isn't really very good, but that's only my opinion.

[iseah100 5,612]

I like him better with hair.

[Polo7 3,496]

I've only now just realised what an incredibly sad individual you are, but let's entertain this.

First of all I don't understand what the first four or so quotes have to do with his passing, and especially the balding comment but whatever.

Now the reason I asked for quotes is because this:

Does not equal average passer.

Here's some context: in the very same quote, which I believe is supposed to be the smoking gun, I said he is excellent at making through-balls. That's clearly not the trait of an average passer.

Fabregas, however, can be incredibly sloppy in possession at times which is what I was attempting to put across in that post. Fabregas has just come off a period of form where he gave the ball away cheaply a lot in games. I still stand by that comment that his general passing, especially when pressurised, leaves a lot to be desired.

So, me trying to convince people 'over and over' again that Fabregas is an 'average passer' has amounted to one actual post taken out of context and a few others that have nothing to do with anything. Pathetic.

You got shat on mate. How about not talking and saving yourself any more embarrassment.

[Styles 9,790]

I had fun doing it... and you gave me exactly the kind of response I expected. My biggest fun? I didn't remember in your posts you said we should revisit it in a few months or at the end of the season. PRI.CE.LESS.

You said his general passing isn't really good. If you want to say that isn't the same as saying average passer okay... It's semantics really. Average is something that isn't good or bad, just a 5 or 6. People called you on that, but back then when no one could be proved right or wrong about his career at Chelsea, you didn't try to correct anyone saying it was absurd for you to say he was good at something so difficult and not good in something so simple as passing in general. Back then you didn't try to make your post look like you weren't degrading his general pass, you stood by your own words and even challenged us to revisit the topic a few months later or at the end of the season. Now that we had, that's the kind of answer you provide. As I said, completely expected.

The first four quotes are for my amusement and to prove another part of what I said in my original post today. All things you've been right in your firm and superior views of football. You had more posts about this subject somewhere. You even concluded saying you wouldn't say anything else about it because people were picking on you. You said in other threads I won't look for. Admitting for their mistakes is a beautiful quality not many people have. Now putting the blame over other people, well, let's say this is the average reaction... I mean, not the bad or the really good, just the average.

Incomprehensible waffle like the vast majority of your posts.

If you want to me address something you just have to ask nicely; there really is no need for all the passive-aggressive posting that you do.

OK, not another peep out of me on Fabregas. We will revist this again in a few months/end of the season. I hope he proves me wrong.

Fabregas has proven me wrong for the most part just like I, er, hoped he would.

There are clearly some issues with the midfield still but Fabregas has had a largely successful season for the club.

I rarely even speak about Fabregas on here. I genuinely can't remember making a Fabregas related post recently, and I'm pretty sure I haven't posted in this thread that much either so I don't understand what the whole point of this is.

If you want to engage me in some sort of argument or whatever that's cool but please do better than this. This is pathetic, even for you.

[Styles 9,790]

You got shat on mate. How about not talking and saving yourself any more embarrassment.

Yeah man, I'm actually embarrassed for even having this silly back and forth.

Oh well, it's Sunday so that's my excuse.

[CurlyHairLikeLuiz 1,625]

And no word about his performance yesterday, especially in helping to set up the goal while being put under pressure?

Don't forget that he ran his tits off. Impressive pressing, took up the slack from the lack of striker power.

[DYC. 7,542]

Pre Jan 1: 4 goals + 17 assists

Post Jan 1: 1 goal + 4 assists

Total: 5 goals + 21 assists

Overall, Cesc is definitely not at the same level as in the first half of the season for me. Whether it's a physical or psychological issue, I have no idea but I hope it's not the case next season. We've been lucky Hazard has been performing at such a high level.

[Barbara 15,149]

Pre Jan 1: 4 goals + 17 assists

Post Jan 1: 1 goal + 3 assists (4 if you include Costa's 'goal' in the League Cup final)

Total: 5 goals + 20/21 assists.

Overall, Cesc is definitely not at the same level as in the first half of the season for me. Whether it's a physical or psychological issue, I have no idea but I hope it's not the case next season. We've been lucky Hazard has been performing at such a high level.

FA credited the goal to Costa, so you have to count. There's no denying he isn't the same, but he isn't as bad anymore as he was coming from injury. I think a healthy Cesc would have slowed down some, but not as drastically as he did after the injury.

Still he's contributed directly or indirectly to many important goals in the last couple of months in addition to those stats you provided. Yesterday was just another example of that. He isn't the same, but he is in ascending form.

[DYC. 7,542]

FA credited the goal to Costa, so you have to count. There's no denying he isn't the same, but he isn't as bad anymore as he was coming from injury. I think a healthy Cesc would have slowed down some, but not as drastically as he did after the injury.

Still he's contributed directly or indirectly to many important goals in the last couple of months in addition to those stats you provided. Yesterday was just another example of that. He isn't the same, but he is in ascending form.

We'll have to see how he does next season.

40 starts + 2 sub apps for Cesc this season btw. Just for comparison, 2013/2014: 44 starts + 11 sub apps - 13 goals + 14 assists.

[Barbara 15,149]

We'll have to see how he does next season.

40 starts + 2 sub apps for Cesc this season btw. Just for comparison, 2013/2014: 44 starts + 11 sub apps - 13 goals + 14 assists.

yes, he played 25 up to December and 15 this year.

I don't know if it's fair to expect him to keep an average of 21 goals involved in 25 matches and I feel some people (clearly not you) were expecting him to keep that up. The record of 20 assists a season (EPL only) shows it is difficult to reach, it's just above the average of 0.5 assists per match and up to December he had 0.68 which is insane. Of course, we expect him to do much better than the 0.26 he has this calendar year, but I think after Hazard (who especially picked up when everyone went down) I think the man who has the most important contributions in our potential title and dominating campaign is Cesc. It's not only about his direct contribution (the same way Hazard at first was contributing in the building up of our goals more than assisting or scoring), but how he effectively changed our style. And this has only been his first season. I have very high expectations next season about our overall play, about Cesc, Eden and others. I think we'll be a joy to watch for most part. If we're able to enter the new year playing really well and just have a mild (and acceptable imo) drop of level, I'll be more than content.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

he does - but isn't there a context? Wasn't he injured? Didn't he stay some time in the sidelines and have ever since slowing walking toward his best? I'm not saying it didn't happen, I'm just questioning this is a sacred rule that rinses and repeats every new season.

People stopped bringing up the 'don't play big matches' because he's played well in some of the big matches we played this year... the same will happen if he has a healthy second half of season. The thing is many times he doesn't. I thought he'd have here this season because he said we 'fixed' his long-term injury and played without pain for the first time in years. I didn't count with one of our own players injuring him (and Remy, lol), but of course, that's a risk any player is subjected to.

I'm not denying what happened, I'm denying the rule and the fact people don't analyze the context.

All I will say is that he is far from what you expect from a key playmaker.

He isnt mobile, he isnt quick, he isnt agressive, he doesnt hold and shield the ball well, he doesnt chase opponents, he missplaces passes, he cant set tempo under pressure - all that goes for big games. And please stop with injured excuse.

Yes he is top player in general, did as much as eden or Costa in road to title, but still, in big games he is one huge shadow of what he can be on best day. He faded bit in second half, but honestly most of the team did.

He might have moment or two in big game, but in other 88min he is anonymus.

What you expect from someone like Cesc who at 27 years age should be on top of career and with all that experience, he should be consistent, leader, and one to take responsibility in big games and push team forward. But he is far from such player, thats also reason why I hope he wont be captain in future.

Long story short, he lacks balls to replace Terry as captain or leader of this team.

[the wes 7,212]

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/572107/Arsenal-Cesc-Fabregas-banner-Chelsea-return

'He kissed the Chelsea badge when they lifted the cup last month.'

He did?

[Stats 7,046]

Despite his drop off in form in the second half of the season it is criminal he did not get in the team of the season.