Cesc Fàbregas

[Barbara 15,149]

Both. Fabregas isn't a defensive beast like Oscar or Willian so of course that's impossible. However when it comes to being a pure number 10 he's much better than both.

I can't for the life of me understand how a player can play in the pivot, lead tackles won in some of our matches and still be labeled as someone who can't do the same job Oscar or Willian do defensively.

Maybe they press better than him - as if our system was based that much on press to start with. There was a time this season that yes, we were a pressing machine, not as of late though, but I wouldn't call either a beast and I don't see how much inferior defensively Cesc is to any of them. If he is, it's slightly imo, something we can totally overcome.

[chelseafc9010 224]

Willian and Oscar aren't better at defending in the pivot. There's two types of defending, down hill or up hill. Oscar & Willian defend up hill as they are very good at pressing and winning the football. Cesc on the otherhand prefers to defend deeper, make smart tackles and smart movement. Both are good at defending but Fab is better in the pivot and Oscar & Willian better higher up.

[Gilvorak 3,734]

Oscar can defend in the pivot, WIllian can't.

[ZOS 580]

any news on the injury?

[Sheva. 5,373]

any news on the injury?

He's not injured. He was suspended for picking up his 5th yellow last game.

[ZOS 580]

He's not injured. He was suspended for picking up his 5th yellow last game.

oh that. thanks buddy

[Special Juan 28,099]

Of course he was missed, he's been nothing but brilliant since he joined.

Such a clever footballer.

[xPetrCechx 13,570]

Of course he was missed, he's been nothing but brilliant since he joined.

Such a clever footballer.

the opposite from mikel and ramires.

[The Skipper 20,609]

Missed him dearly today.

[Yeboii 1,844]

Missed him dearly today.

Still got a 2-0 win so it wasn't that bad. We have showed that we can win without Costa, Fabregas and Hazard in the team this season!

[xPetrCechx 13,570]

Still got a 2-0 win so it wasn't that bad. We have showed that we can win without Costa, Fabregas and Hazard in the team this season!

all at the same time?

[kellzfresh 7,229]

Barca are creating nothing without him, since Iniesta and xavi has lost their creative spark. To think I wanted Rakitic instead of Fabregas

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Missed him dearly today.

Especially in the first half when both Matic and Mikel were painfully sloppy.

[Stats 7,136]

any news on the injury?

He's not injured. He was suspended for picking up his 5th yellow last game.

Bloody hell, You me frightened for a second until I got reassurance

[Barbara 15,149]

For me it doesn't matter we won 2-0 (I mean, of course it's the most important, but that's irrelevant for the argument I'll have. Let's not fool ourselves, currently Hull plays the worst football in the league after Liverpool), we were awful without him.

We looked disorganized at some spells and lost throughout most of the match, our midfield terribly sloppy, but mainly, no bite at all and the transition was even worse than last season's.

We relied on Cahill to keep having long range passes to Iva in the right - and they actually worked a couple of times. Mikel not surprisingly kept passing the ball backwards. When was the last time our GK has touched the ball so much in a match? To make matters worse, Cech has the horrible habit of roofing the damn ball, instead of passing to one of the back four, which means we constantly riffled the ball.

That's why I was damn pissed and I can't believe there are people stupid enough to say he's our weakest link... He's our most important player alongside Hazard.

Hazard bailed us today - which is a joy to watch because he should be winning us matches, but let's be honest here, Hull presented no resistance. They pressed well in the first half, which made our transition look like a Championship side, but other than that, they were toothless and their defensive system wasn't even that good.

So we barely managed to score a couple of goals against the team in the league that's in the worst form, we didn't threaten enough, we didn't convince, we didn't play well, we did nothing worth mentioning, unless we decide to talk about Hazard. Can you imagine if we lose Cesc in a slightly challenging match then? We're screwed.

I don't know if Cesc makes Matic play better or if Mikel makes him play worse, but that must have been the worst match Matic had for us since he came back. Sloppy, shaky, inconsistent, even stupid at times.

When the team doesn't know what to do with the ball to get it in the attack, we have Cesc presenting himself and at least trying to get something done. Oscar did it a few times today, but then he had to pass the ball to Mikel and everything went to fuckery.

André had two good chances, but nobody, not even once, found him running in the 10+ minutes he played.

We're almost dependent on Cesc playing for us, and although that's the highest praise a player could receive, it says a lot (negatively) about a team with the squad we have. Every time we play without Cesc this season will be a nightmare, so I hope it doesn't happen much.