Ramires

[Mouri_Matic 560]

I think I'd rather have his 50-50 qualities rather than the holding midfielder ones.

Agreed, Jose is trying to turn Ramires from Essien into Mikel. I don't like that, in these 3 matches did he even made a run at goal or just passed and stay back?

[yuvala 2,167]

Agreed, Jose is trying to turn Ramires from Essien into Mikel. I don't like that, in these 3 matches did he even made a run at goal or just passed and stay back?

Well he did a pretty good job against Hull and Villa IMO, but he can't do that against United.

[Bir_CFC 3,455]

Jose pushed him forward once Mikel came on. It's just with Lamps it's seems he becomes the holding mid. With MVG in preseason he wasn't the holder either. It's only when he's paired up with Lamps because Jose knows he'd get more defensively from Rami. Anyone other than Lamps as his partner and he wouldn't be the holding mid.

So really the mistake was playing Lamps which was compounded by in turn leaving Rami as the holder.

[Kojo 4,676]

He can't play the holding midfielder role against a team like Manchester. And we're only figuring this out now?!

You need a genuine holding midfielder if you're going to play 4-2-3-1 and challenge for the title and Ramires is not one.

Don't undermine me

I didn't say that we need a holding midfielder, I said that Ramires needed to do a lot better against United because he was very poor.

He couldn't string a pass together, and Mikel isn't going to do a lot of help either if you think that's what's going to happen. There's a reason this so called vital player to the squad has only just managed to make a 5 minute appearance.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Agreed, Jose is trying to turn Ramires from Essien into Mikel. I don't like that, in these 3 matches did he even made a run at goal or just passed and stay back?

There's a reason for that and that is that the system we are playing requires a holding midfielder. I agree though that it should not be Ramires because he offers so much more as a box-to-box midfielder.

Don't undermine me

I didn't say that we need a holding midfielder, I said that Ramires needed to do a lot better against United because he was very poor.

He couldn't string a pass together, and Mikel isn't going to do a lot of help either if you think that's what's going to happen. There's a reason this so called vital player to the squad has only just managed to make a 5 minute appearance.

No but I am saying that.

[Wiillowhobo 28]

He was very bad yesterday, really didn't help us keep the ball.

Ramires lacks a lot of composure, he's not very the on the ball, he worries me every time he's holding it, especially when there are players around him. I wish Mikel played yesterday instead of him and that's saying something. He may be good at winning the ball back and running around but his first touch and ball control in general is poor.

He had a good game against Villa but near the end he almost fucked us over with one of the doggiest back to the keeper passes I've seen in a while. Almost played it perfectly in for Benteke to equalize 2-2 with about 7 minutes to go including the 5 minutes stoppage time.

You may all think he's underrated, but for me he's not a starter, as I've always said we need a player for him to rotate with because he lacks technical ability to play in the pivot, it's that bad that it's costing us.

I fully agree. Midfield is just too weak to be a genuine contender for the league title. Sure they can win a ball back but then what happens...

[Styles 9,790]

He made a lot of of unforced errors, several times there was little to no pressure on him and he got relatively simple balls horribly wrong. This wouldn't be so bad if at least one of the pivot players was somebody who controlled and linked play, but alongside Lampard we just lack so much precision play and ingenuity in the middle of the park. That just compounds the problem with Ramires' shortcomings. I absolutely understand why he is a valuable player because the athlete that he is is very rare in football, but something has to give with the pivot/central midfield sooner rather than later.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

He made a lot of of unforced errors, several times there was little to no pressure on him and he got relatively simple balls horribly wrong. This wouldn't be so bad if at least one of the pivot players was somebody who controlled and linked play, but alongside Lampard we just lack so much precision play and ingenuity in the middle of the park. That just compounds the problem with Ramires' shortcomings. I absolutely understand why he is a valuable player because the athlete that he is is very rare in football, but something has to give with the pivot/central midfield sooner rather than later.

And his back-hand was way off as well

[The Skipper 20,593]

Ramires: Has completed the most accurate passes (197) in the Premier League this season http://t.co/KrHkOlugtP

[Phil Driver 503]

He made a lot of of unforced errors, several times there was little to no pressure on him and he got relatively simple balls horribly wrong. This wouldn't be so bad if at least one of the pivot players was somebody who controlled and linked play, but alongside Lampard we just lack so much precision play and ingenuity in the middle of the park. That just compounds the problem with Ramires' shortcomings. I absolutely understand why he is a valuable player because the athlete that he is is very rare in football, but something has to give with the pivot/central midfield sooner rather than later.

Something has ,Mikel has been sussed .

A DM pair that can keep Man Utd quiet and control the tempo of the game is doing a great job ,please do not expect Jose to do anything other than use Lampard and Rammy for all the big games,because it is happening ,partcularly like the way the rotate the holding role and both will push on when the situation demands ,where as Mikel is an immobile lump and cant recover his position ,if he ever ventured forward,due to a lack of stamina and running power.

The penny will drop with soon with fans ,that Rammy / Lampard is and will be our first choice midfield pairing and yes you are right neither are just holders,because that is not what we require under Jose. Rammy could just as easily as Mikel just stand still and roll 100% of passes backwards/sideways if we wanted that. Ramires abillity to attempt to win the ball in the opponents half and then recover his position to get goalside is not to be ignored.

[Styles 9,790]

Something has ,Mikel has been sussed .

A DM pair that can keep Man Utd quiet and control the tempo of the game is doing a great job ,please do not expect Jose to do anything other than use Lampard and Rammy for all the big games,because it is happening ,partcularly like the way the rotate the holding role and both will push on when the situation demands ,where as Mikel is an immobile lump and cant recover his position ,if he ever ventured forward,due to a lack of stamina and running power.

The penny will drop with soon with fans ,that Rammy / Lampard is and will be our first choice midfield pairing and yes you are right neither are just holders,because that is not what we require under Jose. Rammy could just as easily as Mikel just stand still and roll 100% of passes backwards/sideways if we wanted that. Ramires abillity to attempt to win the ball in the opponents half and then recover his position to get goalside is not to be ignored.

Control the tempo? I must have watched a different game. Dogged defensively and credit to them for that but they did not control or provide any telling passing whatsoever.

[Phil Driver 503]

You cant have watched any Man Utd home games. They are usually a lot faster than that and they are able to push teams back and stretch them .

You may have heard some people say the tempo of the game was slow ,that was due to us controlling the pace of the game and slowing it down.

It was an almost perfect away performance against a top European club ,one which will be well suited to big European away games,where you want to take the sting out of the home team and fans.

[Styles 9,790]

You cant have watched any Man Utd home games. They are usually a lot faster than that and they are able to push teams back and stretch them .

You may have heard some people say the tempo of the game was slow ,that was due to us controlling the pace of the game and slowing it down.

It was an almost perfect away performance against a top European club ,one which will be well suited to big European away games,where you want to take the sting out of the home team and fans.

We sat very deep and Utd had the territorial advantage. Of course the game was slow, we were playing defensive/counter-attacking football and it became a tight affair as a result. My issue is when we were in possession Ramires-Lampard do not provide the sort of precision play and ingenuity I think we need in that area. If they are going to be first choice then it doesn't inspire much confidence in that regard as I don't think either will provide that from the middle of the park.

[Phil Driver 503]

We sat very deep and Utd had the territorial advantage. Of course the game was slow, we were playing defensive/counter-attacking football and it became a tight affair as a result. My issue is when we were in possession Ramires-Lampard do not provide the sort of precision play and ingenuity I think we need in that area. If they are going to be first choice then it doesn't inspire much confidence in that regard as I don't think either will provide that from the middle of the park.

Yep thats the way we wanted it ,that is the control we had ,you think Utd want a slow tempo at home? That is what we did ,Jose wanted to slow the game down .

= we controlled the tempo. You really think Mikel will provide the ingenuity you are looking for? or the goals as I have yet to see one in seven years -well maybe one but that is it.

[hjperdeath 2,226]

3 Chelsea players. :/

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

Interesting article. A little early to draw too many conclusions but worth a read.

http://www.whoscored.com/Blog/ithfs4cnpuyu-wrqp-z60g/Show/Player-Focus-How-Jose-Mourinho-Is-Utilising-Ramires-At-Chelsea

[Bir_CFC 3,455]

I really hope Ramires as the holder is only cause Lamps was his partner. He shouldn't be the holder when paired up with any of th other mids.

[Jase 43,479]

It feels a bit tragic that we are not really exploiting the best of Ramires's abilities which is his powerful and driving run, breaking past the midfield and getting into the opposition penalty's box like we have seen him done before.