Marcos Alonso

[mccg 1,528]

Him with Kennedy in front and move Hazard to behind striker nxt season seems the way forward ? 

[Mceachran 109]

I remember ferreira, bosingwa, baba... even luis had nightmarish moments.  So far I appreciate a steady left footed presence and letting the heart and soul of our defense, Dave, to be free on the right.   NOT TERRIBLE.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

Tbh Hull conceded 4 against arsenal and 5 against pool and they played poor against us too.

Lets not get over with excitement. Its good to see Iva benched and reshape of squad, but we have a long way to go.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

He played well, good crosses especially in the first half. He even ran more than kante

[BlueLyon 9,359]

Proving me wrong. He aint the type of fullback I would like to have, but at that wing role he seems to play just fine. Good crosses, lots of stamina and keeps things simple. 

 

[OhForAGreavsie 5,892]

On 16/10/2016 at 4:26 PM, BlueLyon said:

Proving me wrong. He aint the type of fullback I would like to have, but at that wing role he seems to play just fine. Good crosses, lots of stamina and keeps things simple. 

 

I've said this before so forgive me for repeating myself, but I think the crosses he makes should be right at the bottom of the list when assessing a fullback's/wingback's contribution to his team.

No matter who you are, most of your deliveries into the box will be ineffective and of those which are effective the majority will  still come to nothing. In any case, show me a good cross delivered by a fullback/wingback and, nine times out of ten, I'll show you a good passing move which put him in position to make it. Good possession and crisp passing create situations which might become great crosses.

Almost every time a team establishes good possession one, if not both, of their fullbacks will touch the ball. Frequently they will do so more than once. Minute by minute, match by match, fullbacks/wingbacks who are strong in possession, and are capable of good continuity passing, make key contributions to their team. These are exactly Marcos's strengths which is why I was enthusiastic about his signing and hopeful about what he could do for us.

To be truly outstanding such players must also be sound defenders, and this is perhaps where Marcos has something still to prove. It must be remembered however that, by improving the quality of their team's possession, good continuity players also help to solidify it defensively.

It is way, way too early to judge if our recent improvement, at both ends of the pitch, is lasting, and to be sure whether any of it can be attributed to Marcos's involvement. I feel very encouraged by what we've seen from him so far however.

[OhForAGreavsie 5,892]

On 02/10/2016 at 10:19 PM, mccg said:

Him with Kennedy in front and move Hazard to behind striker nxt season seems the way forward ? 

I don't see any reason to put that much faith in Kennedy. More to the point, I don't imagine that Antonio would.

[mccg 1,528]

8 hours ago, OhForAGreavsie said:

I don't see any reason to put that much faith in Kennedy. More to the point, I don't imagine that Antonio would.

We will see , if not Kennedy then someone else but you will see more of number 10 role for Hazard im sure.

[OhForAGreavsie 5,892]

1 hour ago, mccg said:

We will see , if not Kennedy then someone else but you will see more of number 10 role for Hazard im sure.

You may be right about that. The objection was really just about my own opinion on Kennedy's qualities, not your idea as a whole. For me Kennedy is in example of an important improvement we need to make.

I understand what the club does with recruiting young players, particularly South Americans as early as the regulations permit. If we wait until they've proved their quality than our chances of recruiting them are dramatically reduced. Neymar is an example of a player we courted for years but who we never really had a chance of getting because he was already attracting the attention of clubs higher up the food chain than ourselves. 

It's a good plan to try to  beat the rush; to try to identify and sign players early. The problem is that we don't seem to be carrying it out very well. We have youngsters around the continent who are struggling to get games with teams who play several levels below the one to which we aspire. This suggests that we are not selecting well enough.

It could be that we are signing the best players who are available to us. It could be that we do identify better players but that somewhere between those players ambitions, and their current club's demands, our hopes of recruiting them fall apart. I think we all understand that the club is working in a very competitive market with one hand tied behind its back by UK employment laws. I question though if we should be so committed to pursuing this plan that we are prepared to sign players just because they are the ones we can get.

From the first time I watched Kennedy on YouTube I felt that he did not have the required quality and posted here to say so. I love the lad's attitude and his general hassle on the football pitch. If, however, the day ever comes when he's good enough to hold down an attacking role for Chelsea, it will be because we have become a less good side then we want to be. An even less good side than we are now.

[Mufassir08 2,400]

2 hours ago, OhForAGreavsie said:

From the first time I watched Kennedy on YouTube I felt that he did not have the required quality and posted here to say so. I love the lad's attitude and his general hassle on the football pitch. If, however, the day ever comes when he's good enough to hold down an attacking role for Chelsea, it will be because we have become a less good side then we want to be. An even less good side than we are now.

But don't you think that Kenedy would really excel in the current formation we are playing in as a LWB?

[Beigl 1,387]

Hats of to this guy, I think he proved many of us, me included, completely wrong with his strong performances. He deservedly cemented his place in the starting XI. 

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

26 minutes ago, Beigl said:

Hats of to this guy, I think he proved many of us, me included, completely wrong with his strong performances. He deservedly cemented his place in the starting XI. 

I don't think many people were dumb to judge a player without playing a single game. Every reasonable CFC fan was calling for a change to the LB position and Alonso has been superb. Reminds me of Maicon. 

[Styles 9,790]

Good performance today. I've criticised his lack of pace several times but it has hardly been an issue.

[Beepu 1,714]

He may not be the quickest but he sure is a pest to anyone that run at him.

[Melanicus 5,208]

Fuck everyone who was writing him off before he even played a minute.

He's the chosen one. The one who forced Ivanovic out of the team.

[Amblève. 4,995]

20 minutes ago, Melanicus said:

Fuck everyone who was writing him off before he even played a minute.

He's the chosen one. The one who forced Ivanovic out of the team.

Sounds a bit extreme but I love it

[Milan 17,853]

Not a big name signing but certainly a real quality one. He will only get better once the team gets used to Conte's demands. I am very happy to have him in the squad.

[Hybrid Angel 2,130]

His technique on the ball is really, really good. He is very much key to our current system. Without him, it would be impossible to play using the 3-4-3. Makes me wonder why Kennedy was loaned so mindlessly. He would have been a great back up.