Baba Rahman

[the wes 7,212]

Yeah, normally he's on form at the beginning of the season but he's not even giving us that anymore.

I really don't see any reason for keeping him in the squad anymore.

sure he's on his last year of his contract we not see him next season

[Blue-in-me-Veins 4,067]

Yeah, normally he's on form at the beginning of the season but he's not even giving us that anymore.

I really don't see any reason for keeping him in the squad anymore.

Its ok mate, we only got 7months and 2 weeks before this nightmare ends and Ivan is no longer a CFC fullback.

Our over 30 policy has really saved us here. There's no way the board is giving him a new 1yr deal, absolutely no way.

Right?

[OhForAGreavsie 5,890]

Naturally people are going to roll out the old caveats but, bottom line, Baba simply has not looked the part. Nowhere near it.

[didierforever 7,349]

The interesting point imo isn't whether Jose was right, but the fact he at least wasn't as wrong or crazy as the Internet claimed (tc included).

Can you really blame Jose for his choices knowing he sees this kinda defending in training? His reasoning was sound: in 2-3 games ivanovic will get his shit together - and imo he has already - but baba may take a lil longer.

Bear in mind this was against the terrible Aston villa at the bridge - imagine one of the tough away games Iva struggled with.

baba had a very good second half. compared to the first half, the only reason i can come up with for the difference in performance is nervousness which is understandable. so i cant judge him on this game. and i definitely cant say that jose is right. the point is we kept a clean sheet. if iva had played, grealish would have raped him.

ps - iva has got his shit together? in the last 2 games he played, he was man-handled by brahimi and was dancing to the tune of tadic.

[Stats 7,042]

The interesting point imo isn't whether Jose was right, but the fact he at least wasn't as wrong or crazy as the Internet claimed (tc included).

Can you really blame Jose for his choices knowing he sees this kinda defending in training? His reasoning was sound: in 2-3 games ivanovic will get his shit together - and imo he has already - but baba may take a lil longer.

Bear in mind this was against the terrible Aston villa at the bridge - imagine one of the tough away games Iva struggled with.

When you don't play matches for weeks on end, of course you are going to be rusty. He has barely played and that was his first league start. The more games he plays, the more accustomed to the physical nature of the league and he will improve hopefully. As Mourinho hardly rotates the FB, coming in is always going to be difficult as you are not fully match sharp. More games, more improvement.

[CurlyHairLikeLuiz 1,625]

baba had a very good second half. compared to the first half, the only reason i can come up with for the difference in performance is nervousness which is understandable. so i cant judge him on this game. and i definitely cant say that jose is right. the point is we kept a clean sheet. if iva had played, grealish would have raped him.

ps - iva has got his shit together? in the last 2 games he played, he was man-handled by brahimi and was dancing to the tune of tadic.

I think they're both as bad as each other defending wise

You will get the joy of watching him get a new arsehole ripped for him by Payet next week.

[didierforever 7,349]

I think they're both as bad as each other defending wise

You will get the joy of watching him get a new arsehole ripped for him by Payet next week.

nothing i saw in the last 45minutes against villa showed that baba would be banged by payet.

it will be a massive struggle. but i would rather watch a 21 year old playing getting the appropriate experience than watch a 31 year old player who 99% wont be with us next year.

[Tomo 21,730]

Just what I expected. You truly are the no#1 Mou fanboy..... fascinating lol. I'm a Chelsea supporter there's a difference. I still want Mourinho to stay until the end of the season out of respect but I do not blindly support every decision that he makes. Think before you speak my friend. His trust in Ivanovic was a mistake but he still kept playing him and that cost us a lot of points, don't you agree? All this bs about Mou hate is embarrassing. I'm rightfully criticizing the mistakes he is making.

Who is your favroite person that has represented Chelsea? Can be either a player or a manager.

[Tomo 21,730]

nothing i saw in the last 45minutes against villa showed that baba would be banged by payet.

it will be a massive struggle. but i would rather watch a 21 year old playing getting the appropriate experience than watch a 31 year old player who 99% wont be with us next year.

In some ways I disagree, ultimately with Ivanovic damage is already done, he's not going to improve he's in the twilight of his career, won it all, so him getting some chastening experiences isn't THAT big a thing in the grande scheme of things.

Whereas Baba, at such a young age, getting ripped to pieces week in week out can destroy him mentally, different level but I played with a lad that is a great keeper, when we were both 18 he lost his form for a few weeks and had so much self doubt he quit, he tried to make a comeback a few months ago did ok but didn't have the mental stength to make a comeback, constantly blaming goals on himself that he could have done nothing about.

Where Mou went wrong was allowing ourselves to get in this situation, but now we are in it I can understand the need to blood Baba slowly, I mean Zouma was in a similar situation this time last yeAr, looked dead nervous when he played, now look at him.

[didierforever 7,349]

In some ways I disagree, ultimately with Ivanovic damage is already done, he's not going to improve he's in the twilight of his career, won it all, so him getting some chastening experiences isn't THAT big a thing in the grande scheme of things.

Whereas Baba, at such a young age, getting ripped to pieces week in week out can destroy him mentally, different level but I played with a lad that is a great keeper, when we were both 18 he lost his form for a few weeks and had so much self doubt he quit, he tried to make a comeback a few months ago did ok but didn't have the mental stength to make a comeback, constantly blaming goals on himself that he could have done nothing about.

Where Mou went wrong was allowing ourselves to get in this situation, but now we are in it I can understand the need to blood Baba slowly, I mean Zouma was in a similar situation this time last yeAr, looked dead nervous when he played, now look at him.

brilliant point. simple cant argue with this.

the only thing i would like to say is, baba is still a pretty unknown entity for most of us. no one can make any sort of judgement on him based on his 3 performances. his villa performance can best be explained as a jekyl and hyde performance. he was pathetic in the first half, and quite good in the second. i feel, he needs to be given more chances. if he cant prove himself, then slowly blood him in. and if he actually puts in good performances against kiev and whu, then why not continue him? the point with baba is that the only person who actually watches him week in and week out, has made some massive blunders in the window, and in the games this season. the person who actually knows baba inside out (or should know baba) also thinks that cesc should be playing 90minutes every game. so the only way to actually judge baba, is for him to get some more game time.

[CurlyHairLikeLuiz 1,625]

nothing i saw in the last 45minutes against villa showed that baba would be banged by payet.

it will be a massive struggle. but i would rather watch a 21 year old playing getting the appropriate experience than watch a 31 year old player who 99% wont be with us next year.

That's also true. If Baba bulks himself up a little I think that many of his troubles defending ie being muscled off the ball will disappear, obviously possible at his age. And he will improve match fitness. Sadly there's no quick fix so I have to accept that, if we played Cahill-Terry-Zouma we would have merely a different set of problems.

However if Zouma's next to him without Terry telling him what to do then I do worry for him.

It's why we simply can't get rid of him for probably 2 more seasons - so many young players rely on his leadership. Iva on the other hand has no such saving grace, it's a problem for us now Lamps, Cech, Drogs are gone - if it were last season he would have played Cech for sure to fill the hole when JT is awol.

Also when Courtois comes back I reckon we will concede less - it's what seperates a world class keeper like him from and very good keeper like Begovic.

[Spike 12,049]

nothing i saw in the last 45minutes against villa showed that baba would be banged by payet.

it will be a massive struggle. but i would rather watch a 21 year old playing getting the appropriate experience than watch a 31 year old player who 99% wont be with us next year.

If Payet comes up against Baba next week, I'd have my money on Payet given the ridiculous form he is in. However, if Baba just needs experience. I'm sure he will soon be much more collected and calm. Hopefully this is only the first start of very many.

Some people take a little longer than others to adjust. I remain confident he'll [baba] be fine in the coming months.

[CurlyHairLikeLuiz 1,625]

Geez, his first PL game and you rip him to shreds. You talk as if he had a complete nightmare of a game. Give the young kid more game time. He did well in the 2nd half.

Yeah I was being too harsh on him - it's just frustrating that we have no real solution to our defensive crisis - and no, I don't blame Jose. No manager can predict that so many of his stars would lose form so much.

The first thing he tried was trying to play his players into form. Obviously that has not worked.

Then he's dropped most of his stars and some have bounced back (see Terry, to a certain extent Matic) and new players have emerged such as RLC and Kenedy (where's he gone btw? he is the best candidate atm for that right wing spot, our most direct winger - if only we knew before we brought Pedro).

And now since Hazard has been so shit for so long he has decided to drop him as he might as well play his in form players who can do a job and eliminate that free role to reduce the defensive workload. I don't know whether that's the right plan but we'll see in time.

Playing Azpi-Cahill-Terry-Zouma creates whole new problems and it will probably mean that we return to playing a deep block to allow Cahill and Terry to excel. Playing Azpi-Zouma-Terry-Baba is yet to be truly tested but it gives enough pace compensation (only one slow player) to allow us to continue to play high line. And JT covered Baba and marshalled his defence wonderfully - who knows, maybe it can work.

Perhaps a formation change would benefit us better now that Hazard is out of the team. Traditional 4-4-2 is in vogue again and I think it could be the best thing to do.

Begovic

Azpi Zouma Terry Baba

Kenedy RLC Rami* Willian *rotating with Matic

Oscar Diego

Allow me to explain starting from the back. On the right side Azpi can cross and provides the width to supplement the direct winger that Kenedy is. Baba-Willian on the left means that they can overlap, and no, that does not make Willian a Brana style RB again - Baba has pace and they can both use it and switch. Zouma-Terry allows JT to lead like he does and for Zouma to cover him with pace. RLC imo is a Mourinho style CM. Powerful and bursts of pace as opposed to stationary and vulnerable to pressure. Ramires is pacey and further supplements that high line with JT in it. Plus he seems to have found himself again. Diego is a magnificent striker but he is a one touch in the box finisher and he is not cut out to dribble etc so with Oscar next to him as a second striker I think it would alleviate that problem, and Oscar can shoot too so if Diego goes out the the wing to draw players out then we still have a finisher in the box. Willian has found his shooting boots, too, he could alternate with Oscar between LW and ST.

Matic can obviously slot in there in bigger matches to shield the back line more.

Come to think of it, there's a lot of parallels in there with Jose's 2004/5/6 team. Zouma-JT = Riccy-JT (obviously with a grain of salt), Kenedy = Robben, Diego = Drogs, RLC = a Frank (pun not intended) enstein between Essien and Lamps. Willian = J Cole, etc etc

.

Obviously it's a young team. So all those comparisons take a little imagination to realise

Sorry about the random tactical ramble. Sorta got a brainwave after I started writing.

[MefiX19 1,092]

But can he do this in cold and rainy Tuesday at Stoke?

[didierforever 7,349]

But can he do this in cold and rainy Tuesday at Stoke?

so far he can!!! brilliant first half

[lucio 5,418]

What a great header vs diouf , should have an assist too.

[OhForAGreavsie 5,890]

so far he can!!! brilliant first half

Haven't really been able to concentrate on the game but he's looked OK to me. And compared to what i usually have to say about him OK is a big compliment. The one really good pass we've made in the first half came from him.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Okay, NOW he deserves a a run in the team.