🇨🇴 Juan Cuadrado

[1chelsea 864]

People are writing him off already and he probably hasn't even had a training session for Chelsea, let alone played a game.

He'll tear this league up. Watch.

i second you on that statement

[BlueLyon 9,359]

Good point, but Willian has been outscored by more or less all his competitors in that Shakhtar side when afforded similar game time :

Alex Teixeira

09-10 : 0 goals (3 appearances)

10-11 : 5 goals (26 appearances)

11-12 : 7 goals (26 appearances)

12-13 : 10 goals (27 appearances)

Douglas Costa

09-10 : 5 goals (13 appearances)

10-11 : 5 goals (27 appearances)

11-12 : 6 goals (27 appearances)

12-13 : 5 goals (27 appearances)

Jadson

07-08 : 7 goals (27 appearances)

08-09 : 1 goal (26 appearances)

09-10 : 9 goals (26 appearances)

10-11 : 5 goals (24 appearances)

11-12 : 3 goals (11 appearances)

Ilsinho

11-12 : 1 goal (7 appearances)

12-13 : 6 goals (19 appearances)

Mkhytaryan

10-11 : 3 goals (17 appearances)

11-12 : 10 goals (26 appearances)

12-13 : 25 goals (29 appearances)

The guy's simply not a goalscorer and never has been. Although credit to him for the assist numbers he racked up in 10-11 and 11-12, nobody comes close to it in that side during that period.

And even if he was...ukrainian league cannot be compared to pl. Look at mkhitaryan. Rippin that league with 25 goals, but was realy poor for bvb.

Sometimes player has 0 goals, but different league suits him and he scores alot there or vice versa.

The only bad thing is that we still dont have natural finisher besides Costa in 11. For example Bayern has Robben/Muller and Real has Ronaldo.

Right now we might have best dribbling duo in world (should Cuadrado succeed), but who will take those chances regulary? Costa alone wont be enough IMO. And when opponents close down, we will have to perform quick and efficient actions, while Hazard and Cuadrado might have all the flair in the world, but sometimes a penetrating shot is more efficient and we dont have a player who can score from outside, even Costa cant. Cuadrado scored some crackers, but lets see how he does here first.

That said, I cant wait to see Cuadrado play for us, and villa away is perfect match for him. Lets see how they cope against dribbler on each wing.

[Pacquiao 1,834]

Cuadrado had the joint most assists (4) at the World Cup with Toni Kroos but Cuadrado done it less games

[Drogzola 283]

Guys nothing is for certain, I for one think this guy is going to kill it. He has some of the best players in the world around him now, just wait and see what he has to offer once he has played a few games for us. He has never played with so many players that will hopefully put him into the space he likes. Jose will use him correctly.

[Special Juan 28,141]

So he's not number 74 then

[Rekin 835]

It will be interesting to see how Mou will adapt him to the team. Im certain that JC will start at the bench initially with maybe ~20 mins per game in order to make sure he knows his role well.
After that he will surely become a player for the right flank (although lets remember that Luis was brought in for big money as a La Liga champion and CL finalist and is nothing more than a squad player still) for a majority of the games.

I would actually be interested to see a front four containing:
Costa
Hazard - Willian - Cuadrado

Every single player has good dribbling skills and lightning pace, while 3/4 also do an excellent pressing game. Oscar has been productive of sort lately, but I am still in the camp of people who value him but do not see him as a world beater. There is the issue of natural finishers as well. Costa is one, otherwise I have to say the squad otherwise is filled with providers more than anything else. We might have to adress the number 10 position at some point in the near future.

[DH1988 1,348]

I would actually be interested to see a front four containing:

Costa

Hazard - Willian - Cuadrado

No joke, this is by far what I would LOVE to see us play, insane pace/workrate

Our players at the front interchange so Eden could play more centrally if required, Willian would get more shots away.

Please Jose, please.

[The Skipper 20,609]

There's a lot of posts on this thread about his dribbling, so i decided to check Chances Created so far this season, and compare to our AM's (feel free to check more reliable sources)

Schurrle 0.4 created a game.

Hazard 2.6

Willian 1.0

Oscar 1.6

Cuadrado 2.1

- We all know CC stats can be a bit misleading, but it does give you an idea. For example, no one can argue Schurrle is a player who creates many chances for others.

Irrelevant because he was Fiorentina's main creative outlet behind the striker. He won't do that for us.

[dee25 1,044]

And even if he was...ukrainian league cannot be compared to pl. Look at mkhitaryan. Rippin that league with 25 goals, but was realy poor for bvb.

Sometimes player has 0 goals, but different league suits him and he scores alot there or vice versa.

The only bad thing is that we still dont have natural finisher besides Costa in 11. For example Bayern has Robben/Muller and Real has Ronaldo.

Right now we might have best dribbling duo in world (should Cuadrado succeed), but who will take those chances regulary? Costa alone wont be enough IMO. And when opponents close down, we will have to perform quick and efficient actions, while Hazard and Cuadrado might have all the flair in the world, but sometimes a penetrating shot is more efficient and we dont have a player who can score from outside, even Costa cant. Cuadrado scored some crackers, but lets see how he does here first.

That said, I cant wait to see Cuadrado play for us, and villa away is perfect match for him. Lets see how they cope against dribbler on each wing.

Completely agree with this. We've scored the most goals in the league but compared to the other top 4 teams, we don't have enough players who offer a consistent goal threat. City have Toure, Aguero and now Bony. Even Arsenal have Sanchez along with Giroud (Walcott too has goals in him).

Hazard chips in every now and then and so does Oscar but they don't do so consistently. So our only reliable goalscorer is Costa and I think that's one of the reasons why we struggle away from home against lesser sides and one of the reasons why I think we should have kept Schurrle despite his poor performances this season, at the very least he offered something different.

Cuadrado seems like he takes a lot of shots, so hopefully he'll score goals here.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

Completely agree with this. We've scored the most goals in the league but compared to the other top 4 teams, we don't have enough players who offer a consistent goal threat. City have Toure, Aguero and now Bony. Even Arsenal have Sanchez along with Giroud (Walcott too has goals in him).

Hazard chips in every now and then and so does Oscar but they don't do so consistently. So our only reliable goalscorer is Costa and I think that's one of the reasons why we struggle away from home against lesser sides and one of the reasons why I think we should have kept Schurrle despite his poor performances this season, at the very least he offered something different.

Cuadrado seems like he takes a lot of shots, so hopefully he'll score goals here.

If you're gonna include Giroud might as well include Remy

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

We have more than enough goals in the side when you look deeper into the squad. We have the most in the league and also the most in CL.... Why do we have more goals/ Because we are a threat from set pieces and we have the ability to break down teams that sit deep.

Really wish people would stop comparing what other teams have as a way to show why we're deficient. City, with all the goals they have in the side illegally won the title last year by 4pts... We don't have similar systems to the other teams out there, we are a lot more balanced and adaptable to many situations. Its why many have tipped us for the title and will not rule us out in the champions league.

Cuadrado will help us be more successful when trying to break teams down.

[ayoub costa 19]

Cuadrado in his first training session with Chelsea

[Sheva. 5,373]

Btw, so he hasn't trained yet? Because I'm yet to see any pics of him with the squad.

Edit: Nvm lol.

[ayoub costa 19]

[LAB 1,030]

Edit: I'm late ^^

[Special Juan 28,141]

Nice dance moves.

[1chelsea 864]

our 14 guest are all enjoying the dance moves

[ayoub costa 19]

i think cuadrado can play against aston villa from the Beginning .I'm excited to see him play with Hazard and Fabregas

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

I'll give him a chance alright, despite not believing him much, but you convinced me he isn't a lost cause as much as Willian is (scoring and assisting wise).

When I meant he's worse than Schurrle I didn't mean as a player, but a fitting player in the system. In theory Schurrle was exactly the kind of player we needed, but his inconsistency and lately his illness and the aftermath of that were a big downfall, but still I think we needed a player that was goal-directed. Hazard isn't much yet, Oscar has too many off days and Willian doesn't deserve a comment on his goal scoring ability. So someone fast, with simple and direct approach, seeking the goal and making runs behind the defense is exactly what we need with one dribble already in the team, a slow #10 in pace (Cesc) and a slow #10 in outcomes (Oscar).

If we keep slowing down our attack one way (dribbles) or the other (slowness, passiveness), it will only get worse. Of course, many times dribbles don't slow down the attack but they can't compare to a player running down the channels and presenting himself in a direct way to score a goal.

A good team is a mix of different things that brings some balance, I swear I don't get why you guys want a RW that is a dribbler, a #10 that is a dribbler and a striker that is a dribbler (reading Willian's, Cesc's, Oscar's and Costa's critics that's the main idea you get about dribbles, take ons, hold up and link up play). The lack of balance today is that Hazard has to produce creatively for all the AMs, as we can't count consistently on Oscar because we never know which version of him will show up and Willian's contribution on posts is actually higher than his contribution on goals and assists - literally. So instead of finding someone that would give us the same as Schurrle, except more consistently, we have a mix of Hazard and Willian. I'm not convinced it will work, but I'm less convinced he'll be a Willian. That's as much progress I can make about him unless he makes a Costa here - or a Fabregas - and scores and/or assists in an incredible rate right from the go. Until then, I still feel that while not being as bad as I initially thought, he isn't the answer to our problems and may make our side even less balanced, slowing down the play even more.

really think Oscar gets a bad rap around here undeservedly. He is a tireless competitor who makes it hard on the opponent to play out from the back... Furthermore 6 goals in 19 games is about 1 in 3 for a guy that doesn't take penalties in the 10 role that is pretty good production especially when coupled with 7 assists. He's a good player for us because when he's not scoring he's still working for the team. But I digress...

Anyways on Schurrle and Cuadrado, I think what we have here is a case where we couldn't bring in a direct replacement for Schurrle in terms of style(Walcott, Sanchez, Reus etc.) especially for a direct swap in fee, so what we've done is added more flair to the squad. Granted you are right we will be less balanced since we lose diversity but at the same time we will add more pace and guile. I don't see the harm in attempting it either since clearly Schurrle wasn't and hasn't worked.

If Cuadrado can be the same unpredictable dribbling threat as Hazard is on the left flank it will present all sorts of problems for defenses and also open up more space in the middle for Costa, Fabregas and Oscar. Not to mention when we overload one area of the pitch with Hazard and Cuadrado working in tandem against one side of the defense. Could be deadly. Have some faith, Jose loved Schurrle he clearly went for Cuadrado because he feels it makes us better.... I trust Jose.

[manpe 10,861]

Already being conditioned to defend.