Ramires

[Yeboii 1,844]

It might do him well to let him miss out on a couple of games

[The Chels 2,502]

As awful as he is, I must admit I don't think there is anyone in our team better at 1v1s. He must only ever practise chipping the keeper in training, and in fairness he excels at it but it's not enough to make up for an absence of other majorly important qualities.

[Barbara 15,149]

I was the first to say he was our best player and essential for our good form at the start of the season. But now we have a better option in Matic (even Luiz is better than him in the pivot right imo, although they offer different things and he has some advantages over David in the position) and we can afford to go without him a few matches - something we couldn't months ago, not only because he was at his best form for us (in the pivot position, not in the RW or anything related to scoring), but because the alternatives were worse. David Luiz while not very fast, isn't slow either, and ofc whoever we play there (Lamps, Mikel especially) we'd miss Rami's pace, but how much does he pace makes up for his inability to pick a pass, to make the right decision in the final third and have bipolar finishing? Not much imo. We can live with less pace because we have Hazard and Willian who are very fast themselves. Luiz is decent if the pace is important to cover someone or recover himself when he's caught out of position.

So we have alternatives, if is going to be fit and fresh for the UCL games that Matic can't play. I'm not saying Matic just magically solved our problems, is fully adapted or is flawless. I'm just saying we can afford it. In all honesty, Matic made even more aware how weak our pivot has been in the last few years... when we used to moan and hope for a better player there I had an idea in my head, once he arrived - and is still far from his best for us - I got the real picture. It's been worse than I thought. It doesn't take away all the hard work and the very good moments Rami had for us there - which were many and the reason why I grew sympathetic of him. I used to really dislike him when he played in Brazil and even more when he joined us and was eaten alive in the league. But he won my moderate likeness with his own hard work and results. But just because he's been great for us in a period we had a terrible pivot, it doesn't make him the guy who should play every match and have his contract renewed for 10 years. I have little hope to see him off of Chelsea (I don't see clubs sending tempting bids and we won't let him go unless it's a very good bid), I don't see Mourinho diminishing his importance in the team, so I guess he's here to stay. But at least, don't play him as a RW. It KILLS me every single time. He's had very few good matches in the position...

[The Chels 2,502]

@Barbara (have to @ because quoting doesn't work on my tablet - anyone know if that's standard for tablets or is it just mine?)

Yesterday's match against City demonstrated a lot of his flaws and qualities quite well, in my opinion. His pace was an asset in that it allowed him to regain possession, but he mostly always did this after himself initially losing the ball due to i) taking too much time on the ball, ii) making a poor pass - the one to Ivanovic in our own half, where there was no one really around Ramires yet he still ended up misplacing the pass such that it went out for a throw-in comes to mind. He also never took the initiative, but rather passed the ball to everyone and their grandma (and even the opposition) to make something happen instead because, frankly, he was and is incapable of doing so. Does anyone ever remember him making a cross-field pass? We saw quite a few of those today from Willian, Hazard and even Ivanovic! It really says something when you, as a CM, have a more limited passing range than Ivanovic...

[Henrique 9,133]

I'm in this thread only for the likes. I like everyone's posts here.

Then you should join Matic fanclub and leave the topic. Its the best thing to do.

[Barbara 15,149]

@Barbara (have to @ because quoting doesn't work on my tablet - anyone know if that's standard for tablets or is it just mine?)

Yesterday's match against City demonstrated a lot of his flaws and qualities quite well, in my opinion. His pace was an asset in that it allowed him to regain possession, but he mostly always did this after himself initially losing the ball due to i) taking too much time on the ball, ii) making a poor pass - the one to Ivanovic in our own half, where there was no one really around Ramires yet he still ended up misplacing the pass such that it went out for a throw-in comes to mind. He also never took the initiative, but rather passed the ball to everyone and their grandma (and even the opposition) to make something happen instead because, frankly, he was and is incapable of doing so. Does anyone ever remember him making a cross-field pass? We saw quite a few of those today from Willian, Hazard and even Ivanovic! It really says something when you, as a CM, have a more limited passing range than Ivanovic...

He has qualities, I'm not denying them (and neither are you) and pace isn't the only one. He's played a DM many times for us (every time Mikel didn't play) and he's a little warrior and a ball stealer with his tackles. But what's the point of winning a tackle if 2 seconds later he gives it back to the opponent with a bad pass? Ofc he doesn't miss a pass for every tackle he wins, but his % isn't ideal imo - regardless of how much that is statically, I'm talking about feelings and watching the game, I won't even bother to check what's his pass accuracy stat.

I agree with you on how he misses possession too much, but another thing that really bothers me is that he doesn't think. I know it's harsh to say it, but he seems to do everything on instinct. It doesn't seem he thinks before executing. His vision is very limited and sometimes he makes some dumb/poor decisions. I'm not talking about splitting passes, but just thinking before executing and trying to figure if that's viable or maybe even the best option. He seems to do things automatically and that sometimes work and sometimes it doesn't.

His tackles aren't as much important when he plays as a B2B or as a DM (the #8 position) as they are when he plays DM (#6), so his best asset in that position is pace, but his pace really is worthless if he offers stupid turnovers, does nothing useful with the ball and wrecks our transition. The #8 is more influential in the transition than the #6 (although the latter should also be influential). In a club with ambitions as big as Chelsea will have from next season on, we can't afford such a hole in our system. He's not a liability per say, but he's annoyingly frustrating a part from his tackles and pace. There isn't one match where Ramires doesn't make me feel like hitting my head in the wall at least a few times with his passes, selfishness (around the box going for nonsense shots) and bad decisions.

have no idea about the tablet thing mate, I've used my iPad as a glass rest 80% of time since I bought it two years ago

[Kunkka 19]

rest until galatasaray match and should play at position !

great player cant judge only for today match

[Cech's helmet 220]

You really cant hate him, he's the most hard working player in the team but boy is he a fookin shite footballer. I think I'd rather play Mikel on the right wing.. at least he could keep the ball between his feet for more than 5 seconds.

[remains of the day 564]

I have a lot of appreciation for Ramires for reasons I won't go into, but he's definitely become my favourite player in this current Chelsea team. But even I will admit that if we have any ambition of challenging for the champions league in upcoming seasons and generally regaining some dominance in Europe then there's absolutely no way we can continue to persist with him as 1st choice in central midfield. There are some areas of the pitch you can get away with playing a technically limited/inconsistent player without the team's performance being dragged down but centre midfield is where the game is won and you simply can't control games (particularly against good sides) with Ramires in midfield.

@Barbara, I completely agree with every word you said. But the funny thing is, everything you've just said about Ramires, in my eyes, also very much applies to Luiz as well particularly the bit about "Ramires not using his head." It's not a coincidence that since their arrival, our midfield has been weak and our defence has been shaky. This season, we've looked a much better side without Luiz as first choice and I can only imagine how much more we can improve with a real top class centre back.

[Barbara 15,149]

I have a lot of appreciation for Ramires for reasons I won't go into, but he's definitely my favourite player in this current Chelsea team. But even I will admit that if we have any ambition of challenging for the champions league in upcoming seasons and generally regaining some dominance in Europe then there's absolutely no way we can continue to persist with him as 1st choice in central midfield. There are some areas of the pitch you can get away with playing a technically limited/inconsistent player without the team's performance being dragged down but centre of the midfield is where the game is won and you simply can't control games (particularly against good sides) with Ramires in midfield.

@Barbara, I completely agree with every word you said. But the funny thing is, everything you've just said about Ramires, in my eyes, also very much applies to Luiz as well particularly the bit about "Ramires not using his head." It's not a coincidence that since their arrival, our midfield has been weak and our defence has been shaky. This season, we've looked a much better side without Luiz as first choice and I can only imagine how much more we can improve with a real top class centre back.

pretty pic, it looks a lot like Angie (Jolie)

I do agree Luiz became like that lately, but he used to think much better and he has vision. I just think he's been uptight lately and something is wrong with him mentally. If he can't get over it, then he's better off of the club. He's much more intelligent and has better vision when playing for Brazil. He's half decent in those aspects in the midfield, but nothing impressive.

His season as a CB has been really poor, although I don't think he was as poor as people rated him today.

[remains of the day 564]

I do agree Luiz became like that lately, but he used to think much better and he has vision. I just think he's been uptight lately and something is wrong with him mentally. If he can't get over it, then he's better off of the club. He's much more intelligent and has better vision when playing for Brazil. He's half decent in those aspects in the midfield, but nothing impressive.

His season as a CB has been really poor, although I don't think he was as poor as people rated him today.

No, I thought today was one of Luiz's better performances, even though he wasn't particularly solid but he was decent.

Ramires' current form is something else. I'm at the point where I literally hold my breathe, and mutter a little prayer each time someone passes him the ball. He really shouldn't be starting matches in this form. When Terry returns, I won't be surprised to see Luiz replace Ramires in midfield. Already, he's been subbed out more times in the last couple of games than the whole of last season.

pretty pic, it looks a lot like Angie (Jolie)

Haven't gotten that comparison before, so it's probably just in that pic, but hey, I'll take the compliment!

[kellzfresh 7,229]

He's been on bad form for months now, and his bad side has been laid bare for all to see. Great athlete, but I don't know if he can ever improve his decision making. He just seems like a very technically limited and unintelligent footballer for a CM.

Desperately needs to get back to form

[Ainsley Harriott 2,732]

Haven't gotten that comparison before, so it's probably just in that pic, but hey, I'll take the compliment!

Damn you look good.

On topic: It's a shame Ramires has dropped his form when team upped as a whole. If he was on his earlier form he'd be more than enough alongside Matic.

[Sidzeret 2,257]

Matic- Ramires was going to be an interesting prospect, almost perfect for us, if only he had kept his earlier form factor.

[Barbara 15,149]

Even if he keeps form - he's never had a good passing and he has very limited vision. With Matic in the team he moves from #6 to #8. While his lack of technically to pick a pass and to make a dangerous transition already linking up to the attack bothered me before, he was the DM then and that was less required from him. But now with Matic playing as the DM and he being the #8 I think his flaws are going to be even more exposed and it's going to be very painful to watch unless he miraculously fixes it over night.

A number #8 needs to be more technical than he is. It's something we can overlook in a #6, but it's way harder to overlook it in a #8.

[The Chels 2,502]

"Rested" again today... Has Mourinho finally realised his limitations? I hope so!

[oman43 45]

Rammy took so much stick on these forums this last week. He comes on at Half time for Oscar(who was really poor) and brings not only endless amounts of energy (that's a given) but skill. He ran at the defence, fired off a cracking shot, and won us the free-kick which lead to the goal. Like I have said many times before, Ramires is a quality player who is vital for our season!

[The Skipper 20,593]

He was good today when he came on, helped us regain control of the midfield and allowed Matic and Lampard to do their thing. Good performance Rambo.