Juan Cuadrado

[Sheva. 5,373]

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.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

Great reply, people will rate him much better by the end of the season

His link up play is greatly misunderstood. Florentina's quality in the team is poor and he took the blunt.

His play in the Colombian team is a better show of his intelligence. Joint most assists in the World Cup doesn't seek to be to be a headless chicken?

We'll see! I'm neither here nor there on Cuadrado, I haven't seen enough to say with real definitiveness whether he will be a flop or a success. What I do know is that neither Salah or Schurrle have given us enough from that RW slot and that even if we are just shuffling the decks its a good thing. It wasn't working... Perhaps Cuadrado comes in and its the same as Schurrle? highly likely, does that make us better or worse? neither if you ask me. If he can't adapt then all we've done is switch out one dud in hopes that the bloke we bring in can gel with the team.

The worst thing you can do when clearly something isn't working is not try and change it.

[Blue Armour 4,278]

After a few very successful transfer windows that made opposition fans envy and us proud of our board and manager, I feel like Mourinho and Co made a mistake.

Letting go of Schurrle and Salah for this guy doesn't look like good business to me. I've said it before and the more posts I read here, the more you confirm my suspicions. This guy is a Willian signing all over again. He's slightly better than Willian all things considered. Bad direct contribution (may dribble everyone and their mother, but then a bad decision will ruin the last pass or he will hit the roof with a shot), moments of headless chicken, bad decision making.

But I'm sure there will be people salivating because he will dribble dozens of players while producing NOTHING to the team actually score.

I hope to be wrong. This isn't even about the players who left, but more about the player who came. Not Chelsea material imo, worse than Schurrle and offers exactly the same as Willian + dribbles, which honestly makes me consider slamming my head on the wall until I see blood. It's already difficult dealing with one Willian in the team, dealing with two will drive me nuts.

All that said, he's now a Chelsea player, so I hope to be wrong and I'll support him - obviously - every time he plays, but if I had to assess this transfer window I'd say we worsened our squad, not only we now have one less AM than before, but we have one with the exact same characteristics of our least producing AM - which is stupidity in my head. Schurrle offered something different. Yes, I love the guy, but I'm actually very cold analyzing what's best or not for my team, all feelings apart and I try to be as rational as possible. Schurrle >>> Cuadrado in terms of goal threat and ability to turn a scoreline around. I feel like we took two steps back. If it had been a better signing, I wouldn't mind Schurrle leaving much, but for Cuadrado? I think we just became more stuck with the current starting XI than we were before. The problem is those players - Willian included - aren't robots and they will run out of gas and some may get injured from excessive playing.

Prove me wrong, Juan, and I'll be a happy girl.

Personally, I would compare Cuadrado more to Nani than Willian. And I mean Nani on a good day, of course. More of a pure winger, and one that's also comfortable with taking a shot.

[LAM09 6,744]

I hope he starts on Saturday.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

Personally, I would like Cuadrado more to Nani than Willian. And I mean Nani on a good day, of course. More of a pure winger, and one that's also comfortable with taking a shot.

I like that comparison. Makes sense to me.

[NiclasCFC 2,582]

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.

Maybe he is not the passer and chance creator but his runs opens up alot of space for the likes of Hazard, Cesc and Oscar to create their chances.

[Pizy 18,368]

Hopefully he doesn't reign himself in and play conservatively for his first few months here. I want to see him dribbling opponents and expressing himself right away.

[Jase 43,479]

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.

They might be attacking midfielders but they are different kind of attacking midfielders, playing different roles within a system. So, that stat is definitely misleading.

[Stingray 9,441]

Regardless of all rationales and weighing of arguments, i deeply feel this guy will make our right flank work. In an exciting manner as well.

We were a bit sterile on that flank imo and Cuadrado does inject directness, taking on a man, going deep, making penetrating runs....

I'm sold :-)

[zolayes 14,489]

Regardless of all rationales and weighing of arguments, i deeply feel this guy will make our right flank work. In an exciting manner as well.

We were a bit sterile on that flank imo and Cuadrado does inject directness, taking on a man, going deep, making penetrating runs....

I'm sold :-)

we live in hope RW hasnt been sorted since we had Robben and Duff to interchange

[Supermonkey92 1,428]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02j5wws

Good listen

[Barbara 15,149]

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.

[Sheva. 5,373]

They might be attacking midfielders but they are different kind of attacking midfielders, playing different roles within a system. So, that stat is definitely misleading.

Yeah I know, but that was more to prove he's not just a player who dribbles all game. And I included our players to see how his numbers stack up, not as a straight comparison.

[robsblubot 3,502]

Willian had very different stats before joining chelsea and the Epl. Used to score too.

[Hybrid Angel 2,130]

Cuadrado's mother: "My son always liked football, since he was very small" #CFC (via @CaracaolDeportes)

Cuadrado's mother: "My son when he was small, was a forward, top scorer and then changed to another position" #CFC (via @CaracolDeportes)

Cuadrado's mother: "The first gift from my son was when he told me that he would fix my house" #CFC (via @CaracolDeportes) ...Signed a gem.

Cuadrado's mother: "God you had saved this award from Chelsea for his effort" #CFC (via @CaracolDeportes)

Juan Cuadrado was just FOUR when he hid under the bed as gunmen murdered his father. #CFC (Mirror)

Cuadrado's mother: "Perhaps the death of his dad made him grow up quicker.” #CFC (Mirror)

Cuadrado's mother on whether her son at that point would give up dream of playing: "No, he was persistent and even more. Never give up" #CFC

--

Holy shit, that third last tweet...

[LAM09 6,744]

Willian had very different stats before joining chelsea and the Epl. Used to score too.

In a much weaker league. Judge players on their EPL stats.

[robsblubot 3,502]

In a much weaker league. Judge players on their EPL stats.

That was precisely my point - cuadrado was a pacey player in a slow league.

[LAM09 6,744]

That was precisely my point - cuadrado was a pacey player in a slow league.

That might be the case, but I personally think defences are better in Italy (on the whole).

Willian's stats (whatever they were) shouldn't be taken into any consideration. The Ukraine league is a walk in the park for Shakhtar.