Juan Cuadrado

[Special Juan 27,424]

I just wish Roy Hodgson was still in club management to try and hear him pronounce "Cuadrado".

Or Harry Kane trying to say it without spitting every fucking where [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

[Madmax 9,219]

I don't even know why most people have just assumed that he will threaten Willian's place. Going by how much Mourinho seems to rate him and how Oscar puts in very nondescript performances from time to time, it's the latter who could find himself sitting out if he's not careful.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

I don't even know why most people have just assumed that he will threaten Willian's place. Going by how much Mourinho seems to rate him and how Oscar puts in very nondescript performances from time to time, it's the latter who could find himself sitting out if he's not careful.

Both could be under threat. Willian hasn't really ever played 10 for us and Cuadrado has is predominantly a right winger so its easy to see how this can play out.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

I don't even know why most people have just assumed that he will threaten Willian's place. Going by how much Mourinho seems to rate him and how Oscar puts in very nondescript performances from time to time, it's the latter who could find himself sitting out if he's not careful.

No way Oscar will be dropped for Willian or Cuadrado. We offload 2 pure wingers and buy 1. If not, we will buy another no. 10

I'm not convinced with Willian as no. 10, if it's what you mean. Maybe Cuadrado had played as no.10 once or two, but I think he is a winger.

[Dylan_91 90]

Willian has played no.10 plenty of times for us. I personally hope oscar gets dropped as he has been awful recently and breaks down so many attacks. He needs a kick up the arse.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

Willian has played no.10 plenty of times for us. I personally hope oscar gets dropped as he has been awful recently and breaks down so many attacks. He needs a kick up the arse.

really? When?

[Sheva. 5,373]

really? When?

Last season he played #10 whenever Oscar was dropped. His best game there was away at City and one home game which I forget, where he ran the show.

But this season he has barely played there because of Cesc.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

Last season he played #10 whenever Oscar was dropped. His best game there was away at City and one home game which I forget, where he ran the show.

But this season he has barely played there because of Cesc.

I call that the wing. We played 4-3-3 if you ask me.

[stroey 2,525]

Last season he played #10 whenever Oscar was dropped. His best game there was away at City and one home game which I forget, where he ran the show.

But this season he has barely played there because of Cesc.

Stoke at home

[OhForAGreavsie 5,890]

That is genuinely one of the worst articles I have ever read. It is so poorly written and structured.

His argument is Cuadrado isn't proven and Schurrle scored some goals off the bench a few times. He even goes as far as compering Cuadrado an international world cup star, with Scott Parker, Jack Rodwell and Scott Sinclair. What the fuck is this guy on?!?!

Even more so he ends off by saying that Cuadrado might be a masterstroke of a signing and will "in all likelihood be a phenomenal signing". He completely contradicted his whole article in one sentence. What a first class prick.

The real idiots are the ones who pay Parker, and so many other know-nothings like him, for uninformed and utterly inexpert opinions. If I had the power to hire or fire at ESPN.Com someone would be facing the sack in the morning, and I don't mean Parker. (He's probably not on the full time payroll anyway.)

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

So sick of hearing "he's just another Willian" We're 1st! Willian has been good in our system, he just needs more end product.

What we're looking for is for someone to come in and sustain our level of football and inject some dynamism.

If he's like Willian, which I don't think he is, its a good thing when we're looking for sustainability.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

So sick of hearing "he's just another Willian" We're 1st! Willian has been good in our system, he just needs more end product.

What we're looking for is for someone to come in and sustain our level of football and inject some dynamism.

If he's like Willian, which I don't think he is better than salah and schurlle, its a good thing when we're looking for sustainability.

Fixed

[Barbara 15,149]

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.

[LukakutoStamford 779]

It's low risk imo. It was basically a swap in terms of cost and Schurrle wasn't playing.

If it doesn't workout then he gets shipped off and sign another RW.

I've never understood the Schurrle hype. He's been great in a few games and utter tripe in others. I've never seen anything to suggest that he was anything more than a squad player at best.

We know what he can/can't do we don't know yet on Cuadrado. Doesn't mean Cuadrado's will be a success but Chelsea is in essence getting to test the goods for free.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

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.

When you are the only creative conduit on a team this happens. In a team where we have creativity in the middle and opposite flank and can't see a scenario where Cuadrado's exploits will lead to bad decisions. Having said that I can't understand why you'd prefer Schurrle whose conversion rate even before he came to Chelsea was amongst the worst in Europe and his technique is next to non-existent. He is decent once every 4 games and that's not enough for a team like Chelsea. If Cuadrado can come in, and yes dribble dozens of people, give us natural width(which we haven't had with any of Schurrle, Salah and Willian) and open up space for others as a result thenthis ends up being a fantastic signing. Many are crying out for end product, I'm not! I want a winger who can utilize the touch line and get crosses in, he is very different to Willian in that respect.

You say he's worse than Schurrle and you haven't even seen him in our set up? That to me is poor for a poster like you, Barbara. It all comes down to fit, you haven't even addressed what Schurrle brought to the team and countered that with what Cuadrado can; that's at least the bare minimum before you make a statement like that. What do we need from our RW? How do we deploy our right winger? What problems are we experiencing in the RW that make both Salah and Schurrle expendable? And if Willian actually dribbled people would he be a bad player? (I don't even think Willian is a bad player for us)

Yes Schurrle is different to both Willian and Cuadrado but that doesn't mean he's a better fit for the team. He was actually quite poor and inconsistent and often didn't look like he understood what the team was trying to achieve. Regardless of his skill set, if he can't play within the team philosophy what value does he carry? Mata was a brilliant player for us and was moved for the exact same reason as Schurrle was... They don't work in a Jose team.

We have less competitions to be involved in so the need for another winger, a la Salah, is less. Now that spot is reserved for the youth like it should be.

[das9125 50]

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.

Barbara, don't worry, he will prove you wrong.

I don't know who started with the Willian 2.0 thing, but clearly they have not seen much of Cuadrado, just Youtube clips. I am not sure whether he will succeed or not, in football there are no guarantees. Every player is a gamble.

But stats are there for a reason and Cuadrado is a player that can have 20 goals a season between assists and goals if Mourinho gets the best of him.

I want you to look at the following two links. Cuadrado's numbers should potentialy be more comparable to Hazard's, remember that in Fiorentina he had little help.

http://www.whoscored.com/Regions/108/Tournaments/5/Seasons/3978/Stages/8019/PlayerStatistics/Italy-Serie-A-2013-2014

http://www.whoscored.com/Regions/252/Tournaments/2/Seasons/3853/Stages/7794/PlayerStatistics/England-Premier-League-2013-2014

Only that in football there are no guarantees. Barcelona fans talk about Suarez being a flop, Di Maria is not doing much better, neither is Falcao.

I would have bet blind on Shevchenko, look at what happened. Zidane may have done poorly in pacey PL. Who knows.

Let's wait and see. If there's anyone out there with a keen eye, it has to be Jose Mourinho.

[Supermonkey92 1,428]

When you are the only creative conduit on a team this happens. In a team where we have creativity in the middle and opposite flank and can't see a scenario where Cuadrado's exploits will lead to bad decisions. Having said that I can't understand why you'd prefer Schurrle whose conversion rate even before he came to Chelsea was amongst the worst in Europe and his technique is next to non-existent. He is decent once every 4 games and that's not enough for a team like Chelsea. If Cuadrado can come in, and yes dribble dozens of people, give us natural width(which we haven't had with any of Schurrle, Salah and Willian) and open up space for others as a result thenthis ends up being a fantastic signing. Many are crying out for end product, I'm not! I want a winger who can utilize the touch line and get crosses in, he is very different to Willian in that respect.

You say he's worse than Schurrle and you haven't even seen him in our set up? That to me is poor for a poster like you, Barbara. It all comes down to fit, you haven't even addressed what Schurrle brought to the team and countered that with what Cuadrado can; that's at least the bare minimum before you make a statement like that. What do we need from our RW? How do we deploy our right winger? What problems are we experiencing in the RW that make both Salah and Schurrle expendable? And if Willian actually dribbled people would he be a bad player? (I don't even think Willian is a bad player for us)

Yes Schurrle is different to both Willian and Cuadrado but that doesn't mean he's a better fit for the team. He was actually quite poor and inconsistent and often didn't look like he understood what the team was trying to achieve. Regardless of his skill set, if he can't play within the team philosophy what value does he carry? Mata was a brilliant player for us and was moved for the exact same reason as Schurrle was... They don't work in a Jose team.

We have less competitions to be involved in so the need for another winger, a la Salah, is less. Now that spot is reserved for the youth like it should be.

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?

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

Barbara, don't worry, he will prove you wrong.

I don't know who started with the Willian 2.0 thing, but clearly they have not seen much of Cuadrado, just Youtube clips. I am not sure whether he will succeed or not, in football there are no guarantees. Every player is a gamble.

But stats are there for a reason and Cuadrado is a player that can have 20 goals a season between assists and goals if Mourinho gets the best of him.

I want you to look at the following two links. Cuadrado's numbers should potentialy be more comparable to Hazard's, remember that in Fiorentina he had little help.

http://www.whoscored.com/Regions/108/Tournaments/5/Seasons/3978/Stages/8019/PlayerStatistics/Italy-Serie-A-2013-2014

http://www.whoscored.com/Regions/252/Tournaments/2/Seasons/3853/Stages/7794/PlayerStatistics/England-Premier-League-2013-2014

Only that in football there are no guarantees. Barcelona fans talk about Suarez being a flop, Di Maria is not doing much better, neither is Falcao.

I would have bet blind on Shevchenko, look at what happened. Zidane may have done poorly in pacey PL. Who knows.

Let's wait and see. If there's anyone out there with a keen eye, it has to be Jose Mourinho.

So true.

People forget that Schurrle was also rarely used in his first season at Chelsea and was told he needs to get in better shape to play for Jose. I think the World Cup has robbed him of his proper fitness levels but having said that he hasn't really ever shown he has the workrate to perform at this club.