Ramires

[Barbara 15,149]

You guys do realise no player apart from Messi is perfect right? He was sloppy on the ball today at times but he still got two assists and a goal. At least he wasn't repeatedly caught on the ball like Cesc today.

He obviously needs to improve defensively though. He's usually very reliable but was woeful on that end today. Constantly out of position at crucial moments and gave away so many needless fouls.

as long as we keep outscoring our defense people won't see how risky that is.

It's one thing to be a bit less solid and stable because you have a more offensive approach than we did last year, but it's another completely different to overlook poor performances and we had that, but tbh he wasn't alone. Cesc and Matic failed in the same things he did, at least he has the athleticism the other two don't, but we completely lost the midfield today and that allowed Everton to have at some point in the second 73% of possession. We aren't playing Bayern and Barcelona at their prime, we were playing Everton... while they're a decent side, they're nothing exceptional and our midfield could have compromised our win today.

Those things should be noticed and pointed out now so people won't call it 'scapegoating' when he plays the same someday and we lose and people blame him. As I said, he's as guilty as Cesc and Matic were, but their contributions in the attack made up for the liabilities they created. If we keep outscoring our defense, I don't have a big problem with it, but the thing is we may not outscore our defense every single time.

I read some criticism towards Cahill today, but I don't remember him compromising, I remember him as well as the other three being left completely exposed. There were moments that Cesc simply didn't move, he barely walked, let alone run... that's unacceptable imo and should be corrected by Mourinho to an extension. I totally expect us to look less reliable defensively though, it's nearly mathematical, if you commit more people in the attack and expect that to be their main contribution, you can't defend as you used to, but there's a long distance between some burden that comes from attacking more and what we've watched today.

My own assessment of Ramires is that he was our best midfielder, despite of the Hyde and Jekyll performance. He was poor off the ball, but he made it up with assists and a goal. That's always going to be positive, so I can only say he had a positive match today and was decisive in us winning. Way more decisive than Cesc and Matic - who also contributed directly to goals. For Ramires' goal, the pass came from Matic, which means our two more defensive players were in the box linking up. There's a price to pay for that, there's no way to offer cover to defense playing so high and that I accept, what it's hard to accept is how soft they were all around. The good parts of Ramires' presentation definitely surpassed the bad ones, by a mile in all honesty.

[Mr_President 404]

Always been critical of Ramires but thought he had a good game and was certainly productive. Usual sloppiness in possession but he made up for that with not giving away too many silly fouls and his offensive output. He's a good option to have in the midfield, for sure.

Having said that, I still prefer starting with Oscar with Fabregas playing deeper - I think we have much more control that way and it is more defensively solid. I am one of Oscar's bigger fans on here too and still think he'll develop into a top player.

Good to have options, depth and flexibility etc.

[Henrique 9,133]

Ramires was involved in 4 of our 6 games. He is Mourinho favorite for tough games for a reason. Matic, Ramires and Costa were men of the match. But the haters (a.k.a as Barbara and only place to be) will never give up.

1 goal and 2 assists = BOSS.

[didierforever 7,349]

i just watched what happened after the 3rd goal.

costa abuses coleman, howard does not take that well and runs towards costa.

what is weird is the reactions of the players around costa when howard and costa go head to head.

azpi who is hugging costa goes right into the fray.

rambo who is atleast 5-10 meters away, sees the altercation and start running towards it. right into the fray, pushing and shoving.

fabregas who was with costa all thru this time, sees howard and costa fighting, turns around and grabs the ball that was thrown by costa.

love or hate him, but u can NEVER, NEVER doubt his passion for the club. proper chels.

[DYC. 7,542]

Ramires is such a strange guy. He's a poor shooter, a decent overall finisher but he's absolutely brilliant in 1 on 1 situations. His mind becomes crystal clear when it's just him and the GK. That ball was always going in, very good goal.

[edetarod 2,155]

don't think i've ever seen him miss a 1 on 1 with the keeper

[Namika 922]

He was excellent yesterday. I have seen people criticize him for the second goal but Matic is more at fault for me, aspired by the ball like a newbie.

[sherry33 234]

Ramires was involved in 4 of our 6 games. He is Mourinho favorite for tough games for a reason. Matic, Ramires and Costa were men of the match. But the haters (a.k.a as Barbara and only place to be) will never give up.

1 goal and 2 assists = BOSS.

Bullshit, only reason he was a starter yesterday was because Oscar couldn't play.

[Sidzeret 2,257]

Ramires is such a strange guy. He's a poor shooter, a decent overall finisher but he's absolutely brilliant in 1 on 1 situations. His mind becomes crystal clear when it's just him and the GK. That ball was always going in, very good goal.

Couldn't have put it any better. He would make a good 2nd division striker.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

This season Ramires back to his best again, like in 2012. Good to see that.

[Dion 2,476]

This season Ramires back to his best again, like in 2012. Good to see that.

To be honest he had a very good start to the last season. I remember I was thinking in one of the games he had even learned how to pass, it was looking more accurate and he was trying more long balls and difficult passes and succeeding in doing so. And then, at some point into the season his form went downhill.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Can never score an ugly goal. His was by far the best finish. Simply sublime!

[Barbara 15,149]

This season Ramires back to his best again, like in 2012. Good to see that.

to be honest playing his main role - a midfielder - he was quite poor at extensive streaks yesterday. His passing was on and off, his tackling was off, he was dispossessed and failed to press and mark on numerous occasions...

He was good in the attack, but in his main job he was average at best, but mostly poor. But you can't blame him alone, it's a three-man midfield and the other two were average as well, and Matic was even worse than Rami in the first...

[CHOULO19 24,332]

I think all of central midfielders yesterday, him, Matic and even Cesc, were rather poor off the ball. The pressing was not coordinated and organized which left massive gaps in our defense which wasn't helped at all by all 3 of them making wrong positional decisions.

It's still early days, but our pressing in this new 4-3-3 has been very dodgy so far.

[Madmax 9,219]

Can never score an ugly goal. His was by far the best finish. Simply sublime!

One of the few players who that 'Not a good scorer but a scorer of good goals' cliche applies to.

[ZOS 580]

we need oscar back, enough said

[Beigl 1,387]

Hope Mou finally accepts that we need him in midfield,because Fabregas and Matic lack pace and sometimes aggressivnes.Should swap him for Oscar at HT.Next time 4-3-3 please.

[Nike 373]

Chelsea needs to move to 4-3-3 or 4-1-4-1 .

Matic+cesc is unathletic, slow and will get overrun.