Cesc Fàbregas

[Pizy 18,877]

Starting to dislike Fabregas playing the No.10 role in the big games. Always ineffective both offensively and defensively and as a result of that, it makes him totally redundant. Play him alongside Matic in the pivot or in a three-man midfield.

Spot on. Trouble is, we don't have a consistently top quality player to use in a 3 man midfield seeing as José doesn't use Oscar from the start against good opposition.

[Barbara 15,149]

Spot on. Trouble is, we don't have a consistently top quality player to use in a 3 man midfield seeing as José doesn't use Oscar from the start against good opposition.

even more reason why he should give it a try, it worked well against Barcelona in the first half.

[Special Juan 28,133]

Was surprised to see Willian start wide right and not as the 10 with Cesc alongside Matic.

[didierforever 7,349]

the most disappointing thing is how many times he loses the ball under pressure. he was a barcelona player. he played with the KINGS of ball shielding and tight 1-2 passes (iniesta and xavi) for 3 years and seemed to have learned nothing.

DLP suits him but his defensive frailities makes our 2 man mid of cesc-matic in a big match look weak.

[TheIceMan 596]

Not good enough as 10, not good enough as DLP in the big matches then Where should he play, maybe a False Nine? :ph34r2:

[yuvala 2,167]

Even though it wasn't the best of him, he eventually made a key pass to Hazard which quite honestly should have ended with a goal.

I like having Cesc because even when he's bad he can change the game with one pass.

We should just figure out a better way for us to play in "big games" with him.

[OneMoSalah 8,885]

People can say he is shite in big games but he is the only player we have in that sort of profile, someone who controls the game, a deep lying playmaker. We lose him and we don't have someone who can play great accurate long passes for strikers/wingers to expose high defenses, maybe Matic but not in the same ilk in terms of long passing.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

Fabregas certainly has one of, if not the, best football brains in the team but like Terry he needs a lot of help because of his physical limitations.

On the other hand we have those with good physical abilities but with poor technical and/or decision making abilities (most notably Ramires and Ivanovic but this also applies to much of the squad).

Put either of these two groups of players under pressure and they will often fail to retain the ball, albeit for different reasons. It's disappointing that we have so few players who combine both skill sets.

This is very annoying. It feels like we can't get players like like hazard and Willian who have both the physical and technical aspects of the game. Annoying

All our defenders are good defensively but almost all can't pass or are very slow.

All our midfielders are either slow with good technique or fast with terrible football brains.

We have no vidal, no complete players except hazard and Willian.

We used to have essien, lamps, Ashley Cole, Terry(prime), calvaho, ballack in the same starting line-up

There are now so many "I can pass but can't tackle" or "I can run but can't pass" or "I can defend but no speed" type of players in our team.

[Blue Colored Sky 1,807]

Better in the second half, two fantastic balls. But you have to keep in mind that tempo dropped and Cesc has all time in the world to make those passes. The problem is his poor showing has much bigger impact on the whole team than let's say winger or no.10 because Cesc's lack of athleticism and laziness creates huge spaces between defence and midfield, sometimes it's comical to see this in Mourinho's team.

I don't know how we can get around this problem without dropping him. He is simply not suited to the games when he's pressed by opposition, he has no pressing-resistent technique and can be very sloppy in passing. Let him do flat-track bulling and try to extend his amazing ability in doing so beyond December.

[nadavTKL 1,787]

If Mourinho cant find a way to play Matic-Cesc-Oscar-Willian-Hazard in the big games, keep playing Ramires instead of Oscar, we'll continue to have a problem in those games.

Sometimes it will go well, sometimes it will go just ok, sometimes it will go bad. You cant really say what do we want to do in those line ups with Ramires... it just seems like an improvisation, a cheap solution, not like a strong team.

And Cesc is the main issue, not because of his quality, its not his fault, but because of his physics. If Cesc was strong and aggressive like Koke or Verratti, Mourinho would've played without Ramires. I am sure (Matic-X, Willian-Oscar-Hazard).

But our situation is that we cant play without Cesc, he is our creative force in central midfield, our DLP. And its also almost impossible to find a DLP in this level, we saw how much time we had to wait until we got Cesc.

So, Mourinho, who dont want to get a new CM, have to find a way with those five players, with Oscar-Matic-Cesc in the center. Our improvement as a team this season depends on that imo. Until he can solve this problem we'll be pretty much stuck in our evolution.

[iseah100 5,612]

Oscar needs to play with him.

[Stats 7,142]

He was only shit when we were playing him in a position that is not his favoured one. As soon as he dropped deep into his more favoured role he dictated play and picked out 2 quality passes. Hazard should have really buried that.

[termninja 5,290]

Pass for Hazard was quality and pass for Falcao was brilliant. If he's going to have the best season in his career, then the one coming is the perfect one for that.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

Im sure whole forum knows my opinion about Cesc but I will go step further.

He is quality player and certainly one of most deserving for Pl title.

BUT as long he is in first 11, we wont win CL. Leaders step up in key games. He doesnt. He is nowhere when we play big teams. He is basicaly what arsenal team was. Plenty to show but he is not the one to do it when teams needs him most. And with such player with such big role, you cant win CL.

Very little chance we succeed if we go 4:3:3 and bring another top CM to play next to Cesc and Matic. Maybe then those two will be enough to cover for Cesc.

And finaly I dont get why people want him as our captain. He shows nothing that would make him a captain of the team. He is all loud and cocky but when shit gets real his cock gets in the size of peanut and he acts like a pussy. I dont want such captain.

Unpopular opinion I know but the excuses need to stop. Big game player term suddenly doesnt matter? Players are rated by big games performances. No one can deliver in every big game but top players deliver in most. Problem with Cesc is that he delivers in one big game out of 10.

We won title last year and Cesc rocked against shit sides did average against big. And that was enough because rest were poor. But when manchesters and arsenal grow, derbies and big, key games will decide title. And if Cesc wont perform there, we wont win anything. Wont even go into CL options.

Funny how people want to make all kind of excuses about Cesc but thing is he was bad in 90 percent of crucial games, his form dropped after half season. Yet he has great stats, good looks and people worship him. But stats arent everything. Truth is when your key midfield playmaker gets dominated in against almost every better midfield and his performance ability drops to 1/4th of what he is capable in those games, no stat can show it.

Modric or Verratti are the players you want in midfield in a CL game against psg, bayern, real etc not Cesc.

When he makes a great run of performances in CL, drags and pushes us forward, gives others inspiration basicaly what he should be doing; even if we dont win CL in the end. Only then I will say how wrong I was. But until then, no excuse will save him.

Like I said he still did big part for Pl title and Im grateful for that, but when Pl Gets stronger, we will see true ability of Cesc.

In big games he he is liability much as Oscar or whoever else.

Yet people like him just like they liked Mata. And both are nice persons but neither was the midfielder for big games. However people are blind to admit that.

For the sake of Chelsea I hope he proves me wrong.

[Unionjack 7,531]

Cescy and Matic just need a 3rd partner thats not Rami or Mikel. He needs more time and space on the ball to make the plays. Hes got a great eye and knows where players are and going to be.

Hes just not made out for number 10 and I dont think anyone we have is.