Branislav Ivanovic

[WNDS 502]

"Now undisputedly the best right-back in England according to the WhoScored.com ratings, Ivanovic has dispelled any thoughts of Pablo Zabaleta holding this crown this season, with sound defensive performances sprinkled with dangerous forays forward. Dribbled past only 13 times all season while making some 69 tackles, the Serb has also helped out with four goals and four assists in the league alone".

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11661/9783553/premier-league-team-of-the-season-according-to-whoscoredcom-stats

He has his flaws but was going past the last few pages and the criticism is a bit OTT. There are many non-Chelsea fans who view Ivanovic as the best RB in the league. We obviously watch him more and it is expected that we scrutinize his performances more but he has been solid every season for us. He can be exposed like in the Hull game but look at how many games he has been excellent. Sanchez did not get a sniff up against him this season. 6 goals for the season is impressive and a few assists as well and he is generally a very solid defender. There is a reason why Jose keeps playing him. Could be rotated a bit to help him with fatigue but he is the best RB at the club.

WhoScored's stats for defenders are almost entirely worthless because they fail to take into account some of the most important aspects of defending such as man-marking, closing down, general positioning, decision-making etc. You can see this quite clearly with Terry, who is frequently given one of the worst 'statistical ratings' of any Chelsea player in many matches, despite often being one of our best/most important players.

The article mentions that Ivanovic has only been dribbled past on 13 occasions this season, but that stat is at least partly due to Ivan's extremely frustrating tendency to stand-off his man in dangerous areas rather than attempting to make a block or a tackle. In addition to this, Ivanovic's man-marking abilities have shown an obvious decline this season, with opposition players finding it all too easy to make untracked off-the-ball runs around him. As I've already touched upon in the paragraph above, these are all failings that do not show up in statistical evaluations because they are not purely quantifiable measurements; as far as the statistical ratings are concerned Ivan is an excellent defender, but then again, so are Chris Smalling (7.34; decent, but not THAT good), Antonio Valencia (7.24; not even a genuine defender), Gael Clichy (7.43; massively inconsistent), Bacary Sagna (7.20; City fans don't particularly rate him), Federico Fazio (7.35; has had a large number of games in which he's been awful this season) etc. Meanwhile, Terry has a decent-but-unspectacular rating of 7.04, just behind Per Mertesacker's 7.07; Mertesacker who has been entirely sub-par for about half the season.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

He's our best proven RB at the moment, because Azpi hardly play there.

[Stats 7,009]

WhoScored's stats for defenders are almost entirely worthless because they fail to take into account some of the most important aspects of defending such as man-marking, closing down, general positioning, decision-making etc. You can see this quite clearly with Terry, who is frequently given one of the worst 'statistical ratings' of any Chelsea player in many matches, despite often being one of our best/most important players.

The article mentions that Ivanovic has only been dribbled past on 13 occasions this season, but that stat is at least partly due to Ivan's extremely frustrating tendency to stand-off his man in dangerous areas rather than attempting to make a block or a tackle. In addition to this, Ivanovic's man-marking abilities have shown an obvious decline this season, with opposition players finding it all too easy to make untracked off-the-ball runs around him. As I've already touched upon in the paragraph above, these are all failings that do not show up in statistical evaluations because they are not purely quantifiable measurements; as far as the statistical ratings are concerned Ivan is an excellent defender, but then again, so are Chris Smalling (7.34; decent, but not THAT good), Antonio Valencia (7.24; not even a genuine defender), Gael Clichy (7.43; massively inconsistent), Bacary Sagna (7.20; City fans don't particularly rate him), Federico Fazio (7.35; has had a large number of games in which he's been awful this season) etc. Meanwhile, Terry has a decent-but-unspectacular rating of 7.04, just behind Per Mertesacker's 7.07; Mertesacker who has been entirely sub-par for about half the season.

Fair enough however with Ivanovic there are games where he has looked vulnerable but there are more games than not where he is a complete rock. I have seen a lot of times, where players attempt to go past him but because of his power, he literally just shrugs them off. Seen that a few times. You look at every single RB in the prem and all of them have had their flaws bar Clyne really. Ivanovic is one of the best RB around. As I said and you pointed out, sometimes he has been caught out positionally wise for instance against Hull but there are a lot of games where he is a total beast defensively and offensively. I think there is a huge reason why when Luis comes in at LB, Azpi never plays there because Ivanovic is more times reliable than not for Mourinho. If you aksed me has he been a key player for us this season? I would look at it and say he has done a very good job however acknowledging like every other player bar Hazard he has had his moments where he has been exploited and looked shaky.

[Jase 43,479]

Ivanovic's face...

[kellzfresh 7,226]

Ivanovic's face...

Lmao.... He looks like he's feeling good

[Amblève. 4,995]

Why doesn't it surprise me that nobody has talked about Ivanovic's performance on Saturday?

[Sheva. 5,373]

Why doesn't it surprise me that nobody has talked about Ivanovic's performance on Saturday?

Stoke played with 2 strikers and 0 wingers, our defenders mostly had nothing to do lol.

[Belgiannutt 3,201]

Why doesn't it surprise me that nobody has talked about Ivanovic's performance on Saturday?

Euhm because his performance wasn't noteworthy at all ? He did what he had to do but he had very little to do.

[Hybrid Angel 2,130]

Honestly shocking how a lot of pundits are picking him in their team of the year. Seems like he has an incredible ability to convince people that he is the best right-back in the league despite being pretty much abysmal all season. I wonder if they see him apart from his goals.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Euhm because his performance wasn't noteworthy at all ? He did what he had to do but he had very little to do.

And what little he did do, he still managed to get sucked out of position half a dozen times. All hail Willian for his defensive nous.

Branna gives 110% most of the time, but I'm really not sure why he is earmarked as the league's best right-back this season ahead of Nat Clyne - although that being said, apart from Clyne and Ivanovic, there has been no single good performer from right back in any team this season, so it probably boils down to what you prefer in your right-back. I'd just be interested in seeing how well Ivan would perform if he didn't have Willian on Brainfart Duty and doubling up whenever Ivan goes AWOL.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

Honestly shocking how a lot of pundits are picking him in their team of the year. Seems like he has an incredible ability to convince people that he is the best right-back in the league despite being pretty much abysmal all season. I wonder if they see him apart from his goals.

The only possible reason is that he has threatened them all

What else could they do, they would not want the second visit.

[Milan 17,838]

He seemed to enjoy the hostile fans in the first rows

[CFC888 219]

Loved the way he rode the abuse from the QPR fans today, even leaning back further over the fence to cop more and at one stage giving some back himself. Awesome!

[DH1988 1,213]

https://vine.co/60e92f7c-abfc-4b1a-b22f-487bf6d62a4b

[OneMoSalah 8,661]

The guy is die hard Chelsea.

People like Terry, Ivanovic, Matic, Fabergas, Hazard and Costa, players with character like theirs are what successful teams are built on. Say what you want about his positioning or his general ability when it matters hes the guy you can always count on and is without a doubt the best RB in the league. Clyne, Zabaleta, not even close.

[The_Flash 1,144]

Brainslav was awesome as always, I couldn't believe the abuse that the QPR players were giving to our guys. On the sky version often game they didn't even mention him getting hit with something but they point it out on match of the day. That is totally unacceptable.

[The Chels 2,502]

Say what you want about his positioning or his general ability when it matters hes the guy you can always count on

You mean like in the semi-final of the CL last year when he switched off for Arda Turan's goal, or when he allowed Lampard to equalise for City earlier in the season or when he lost the aerial duel with David Luiz for PSG's goal?

I understand that people like Ivanovic's personality and think that the pros outweigh the cons with him (banter > football ability, apparently) but let's not pretend like he suddenly becomes reliable when it matters most.

[Bosnian Blue 2,471]

The guy is die hard Chelsea.

Precisely. A proper Chelsea man and a legend of the club. How that must hurt all the managers and football experts of TC.