Branislav Ivanovic

[iseah100 5,612]

Swap with Varane will be fine for me

NO[emoji35]

[xPetrCechx 13,570]

:blue scalf: Happy Birthday Big Butt Brana! :blue scalf:

[robsblubot 3,595]

I honestly think you are all fucking crazy around here...

Ivanovic is a top player and we are lucky to have him.

He is a very good rounded player and a master with set pieces. Is there any other player in the world who is more of a threat in set piece situations?

Like it or not, set pieces win games and titles.

[The Chels 2,502]

He is a very good rounded player and a master with set pieces. Is there any other player in the world who is more of a threat in set piece situations?

Like it or not, set pieces win games and titles.

This is true. No team only scores goals from open-play so not sure why anyone would object.

[Hybrid Angel 2,130]

I honestly think you are all fucking crazy around here...

Like it or not, set pieces win games and titles.

Don't get me wrong, I go fucking mental whenever Ivanovic scores and does his funny pointing to the head celeeration. But, all of this is not his job. He shouldn't be the one saving our ass by scoring goals, if anything thats a bonus. His priority is defending, and while I'm hundred percent he has the potential to be a rock at defence but its lack of concentration that constantly lets him and the team down a lot.

[robsblubot 3,595]

Don't get me wrong, I go fucking mental whenever Ivanovic scores and does his funny pointing to the head celeeration. But, all of this is not his job. He shouldn't be the one saving our ass by scoring goals, if anything thats a bonus. His priority is defending, and while I'm hundred percent he has the potential to be a rock at defence but its lack of concentration that constantly lets him and the team down a lot.

I keep hearing of this lack of concentration which usually comes from England supporters and ironically I think the English team is awful in defense. And it has little to do with concentration but IMO characteristics - just listen to some pundits and you will understand it: hard to defend when your cbs or FBs sit in front of the gk and can/want only hit row Z, but I digress.

You and I don't know what Ivanovic is instructed to do before each match, so you are making a lot of assumptions and I suspect they are wrong based on the evidence We have. if jose were indeed telling Him to keep position and Iva would bomb forward Jose would have dropped him in a heartbeat. Is it not safe to assume that Iva has been doing what Jose instructs him to do?

[stroey 2,525]

http://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2015/02/ivanovic--ready-for-anything-and-everything-.html

Ready for anything and everything - Bane

[Belgiannutt 3,201]

I keep hearing of this lack of concentration which usually comes from England supporters and ironically I think the English team is awful in defense. And it has little to do with concentration but IMO characteristics - just listen to some pundits and you will understand it: hard to defend when your cbs or FBs sit in front of the gk and can/want only hit row Z, but I digress.

You and I don't know what Ivanovic is instructed to do before each match, so you are making a lot of assumptions and I suspect they are wrong based on the evidence We have. if jose were indeed telling Him to keep position and Iva would bomb forward Jose would have dropped him in a heartbeat. Is it not safe to assume that Iva has been doing what Jose instructs him to do?

Think you're misunderstanding the criticism Ivanovic gets. Noone is criticizing him for bombing forward and leaving space. It's clear that he's instructed to do that by Mourinho.

People criticize him because he has a tendency to switch off in defensive situations. (Lampard's goal, Okore's goal, Chadli's goal) Kind of a no-no for defenders wouldn't you agree ?

All these situations happened when Ivanovic was defending deep.

I honestly don't understand why people get so defensive when someone criticizes Ivanovic. It's valid criticism. The mistakes he made aren't little mistakes.

Failing to mark a player in his own 18 yard box. Deciding to double mark a player while his man was completely free. These are really big mistakes. Mistakes you don't expect such an experienced defender to make.

Ivanovic has been excellent in attack but defensively he really hasn't been good this season.

[robsblubot 3,595]

I do disagree.

The first part of my post addressed the fabled switching off that all non-English and usually superior defenders suffer from.

I am a firm believer that it is impossible to defend a well placed ball (cross, through etc). The defenders in the box are reacting and as good as they may be at reading the plays, the atrackers can always improvise.

So it's not that I disagree that some defenders switch off they certainly do (Iva included), but that it does not matter as much when defending as a tem is concerned.

[DYC. 7,542]

I do disagree.

The first part of my post addressed the fabled switching off that all non-English and usually superior defenders suffer from.

I am a firm believer that it is impossible to defend a well placed ball (cross, through etc). The defenders in the box are reacting and as good as they may be at reading the plays, the atrackers can always improvise.

So it's not that I disagree that some defenders switch off they certainly do (Iva included), but that it does not matter as much when defending as a tem is concerned.

I agree with this. Defenders in general receive too much stick imo. Turn it around more and give the attacking team more credit.

Of course the level of defending shown by Arsenal today does not apply to this. That was simply abysmal. Like you said, you defend as a team (the space they gave away today...).

[bababoom 4,478]

On this forum he's the most underrated player we have, he'll probably be appreciated more when he leaves/retires. He's having a wonderful season, brilliant player.

[robsblubot 3,595]

I agree with this. Defenders in general receive too much stick imo. Turn it around more and give the attacking team more credit.

Of course the level of defending shown by Arsenal today does not apply to this. That was simply abysmal. Like you said, you defend as a team (the space they gave away today...).

Heh just watched the game - as bad as their defense was (they are not very good) it was still a collective poor performance. Even when mertesacker makes the judgmental mistake (and I do understand why he made it - his teammates were not winning tackles) the guys around him did not cover for him.

I just enjoy seeing arsenal lose so much...something wrong with me.

Btw Monaco has a cm worth keeping an eye on - a guy capable o rotating Matic and start along as well.

[Belgiannutt 3,201]

I do disagree.

The first part of my post addressed the fabled switching off that all non-English and usually superior defenders suffer from.

I am a firm believer that it is impossible to defend a well placed ball (cross, through etc). The defenders in the box are reacting and as good as they may be at reading the plays, the atrackers can always improvise.

So it's not that I disagree that some defenders switch off they certainly do (Iva included), but that it does not matter as much when defending as a tem is concerned.

Well i do agree with you and DYC that there are goals that get scored where a defender can do everything right but the pass/cross and movement is so inch perfect that the defender simply can't intervene

however the examples i gave of Ivanovic his mistakes don't fall under that category. He didn't do everything right and there's plenty he could have done to stop or at the very least made it more difficult for the player to score.

Lampard's goal : He 's marking Lampard, ball gets switched to Milner, Ivanovic turns his back on Lampard and seems to completely forget about Lampard who makes a smart run into the back of Ivanovic, Milner passes to Lampard, goal.

Okore's goal : He completely forgets about Okore and turns his back on him. When the cross comes in he has absolutely no idea where Okore is. Goal

Chadli's goal : Again he seems to be completely oblivious of Chadli's run. He decides to double mark Kane leaving Chadli completely free and Chadli takes full advantage of that freedom. Goal

I don't really get what defending as a team has to do with Ivanovic failing to mark players in his own 18 yard box.

[nj17 0]

Well i do agree with you and DYC that there are goals that get scored where a defender can do everything right but the pass/cross and movement is so inch perfect that the defender simply can't intervene

however the examples i gave of Ivanovic his mistakes don't fall under that category. He didn't do everything right and there's plenty he could have done to stop or at the very least made it more difficult for the player to score.

Lampard's goal : He 's marking Lampard, ball gets switched to Milner, Ivanovic turns his back on Lampard and seems to completely forget about Lampard who makes a smart run into the back of Ivanovic, Milner passes to Lampard, goal.

Okore's goal : He completely forgets about Okore and turns his back on him. When the cross comes in he has absolutely no idea where Okore is. Goal

Chadli's goal : Again he seems to be completely oblivious of Chadli's run. He decides to double mark Kane leaving Chadli completely free and Chadli takes full advantage of that freedom. Goal

I don't really get what defending as a team has to do with Ivanovic failing to mark players in his own 18 yard box.

Yeah.sometimes he forget about marking players but his statistics are enough good to make fans forget about his wrong marking.

[The Skipper 20,609]

Heh just watched the game - as bad as their defense was (they are not very good) it was still a collective poor performance. Even when mertesacker makes the judgmental mistake (and I do understand why he made it - his teammates were not winning tackles) the guys around him did not cover for him.

I just enjoy seeing arsenal lose so much...something wrong with me.

Btw Monaco has a cm worth keeping an eye on - a guy capable o rotating Matic and start along as well.

Kondogbia correct? Brilliant talent. Would be a great squad player here, also great back up to Matic.