Adebayor and Soldado

Willian not a first choice pick?

Played 10 of 11 PL games
Played 4 of 4 CL games

I'd beg to differ

The point re Willian is that Mourinho has identified he needs pace and penetration in his attack, and players who will help defend once they lose the ball. They are top of the league with a forward who has directly contributed to a single goal, yet gets picked for virtually every meaningful match. Bigger picture.

The amount of times we have been caught down our right side is unbelievable. Lennon is crucified for lack of assists yet we rarely have shots at home at all. Average of less than three.

The only side we've looked decent against is one who played a back three, therefore not overloading our fullbacks

I'm not pinning my hopes on anyone in our squad.. yeah I think Walker would improve us but he can't stop Kaboul making howlers, Vert not caring, or Danny Rose being a midget.. Adebayor missing one on ones, Soldado looking lost, Lamela being wasteful, Townsend being even more wasteful..

I get your point about Willian - Mourinho likes players that run about a lot. AVB probably wanted him for similar reasons.. that doesn't mean Lennon would have the same impact for us, even at his best he often got marked out of games, and has never had a particularly decent cross or shot on him.

Besides all of that I think it's far more important that Pochettino at least gets a couple of his own players to work with so we can actually judge him properly. Seems like the new scout we've nicked off Southampton talks sense.. hopefully he can find us another Pelle

I don't see Davies ever being a good marauding fullback in a proper 4231


Ditto Naughton
Ditto Dier
Jury out on both Walker and Rose due to their delivery.
Yedlin? Who knows.

When we've used Walker and Rose in tandem this way before it hasn't looked great. So I'm not holding out much hope, although it will improve things going forward slightly. Problem is, neither are good enough at it offensively that we can protect the centre backs better without losing out elsewhere.

HRH...............suggest you read below the detailed analysis on Willian's so called contribution to Chelsea being top of the PL.



Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea are this season unbeaten in all competitions and currently sit top of the Barclays Premier League. The Blues have dropped just four points in the league and are on course to qualify for the last-16 of the Champions League as well as progressing to the quarter-finals of the Capital One Cup.

In Diego Costa they have a world class striker in the peak of his powers, the Spanish international already scoring 10 goals in the league this season. They also have Cesc Fabregas, who arrived with Costa from Spain in the summer and has forged an almost telepathic relationship with his international team-mate which has put the fear of death into the majority of Premier League sides.

Oscar: Chelsea transfer target Talisca can be the new Rivaldo

Chelsea have conceded just 11 goals in 11 matches in the league, returning 28 goals in process, and talk of playing a season unbeaten is beginning to gather pace. Still however, questions remain at Stamford Bridge, and one player who’s reliability has perhaps been questioned is that of Brazilian midfielder, Willian.

Willian has played ten times for Chelsea in the Premier League this season, though he has only completed two full games, being one of the players to suffer from Mourinho’s efficient rotation policy. He has scored just once, during Chelsea’s 3-0 win over Aston Villa back in September, and has just one assist to his name. The 26-year old has also played in every Champions League game for Chelsea, averaging an impressive 91% pass completion rate after four games.


Willian has shown some inconsistency for Chelsea this season

The Brazil international finds his game time often reduced, and when an opportunity does come for him to impress Mourinho, Willian can be found wanting in games that matter. For example, in the 1-1 draw vs Manchester United at Old Trafford, Willian had just a 77% pass completion rate, creating just one chance for his team. And against Liverpool, where again he came off the bench, he failed to have the desired impact that Mourinho’s other midfielders perhaps have, completing just nine passes in almost 40 minutes of football.

If we look at chances created in the Premier League this season, Willian has only eight, with Cesc Fabregas, Eden Hazard and Oscar racking up more. In fact, even defender Branislav Ivanovic has created three more chances than his team-mate this season with 11. If we compare this with two players who have most recently been linked with a move to Chelsea, Atletico’s Koke and Borussia Dortmunds Marco Reus, you can see how far behind the Brazilian is.

This season Reus and Koke average three chances created per game, whilst Willian manages less than one. In terms of key passes, Willian has made seven whilst Reus and Koke have made 16 and 20 respectively and both average more successful passes per game than Chelsea’s attacking midfielder. Does Mourinho have his eye on these players as a replacement for Willian?

What point are you making here?
That Willian doesn't have good stats?

I agree.

Yet he has played a part in all bar one of Chelsea's 15 CL and PL games, so obviously Jose Mourinho realises he brings something else to his side.

He has seen of the assist-master that is Juan Mata, the prolific Schurlle is being touted as a possible mover, Salah hardly gets a game and Atsu has been farmed out on loan.

The point I am making is that you have highlighted Willian as one of the reasons Chelsea are being so successful, when the truth is that he is way off the pace in terms of his contributions, CL excepted of course.

That's true - his assist and goals stats are low.

Yet he still gets picked very regularly, so he must have indirect benefits Jose sees but stats don't tell. This in a team that is too of the league and working ruthlessly as a unit

As opposed to us, who have largely been playing with Chadli who is scoring, Eriksen who was getting almost Rafa-standard games-to-goals ratios last season, and Lamela who was scoring for fun at Roma, yet look almost toothless in the final third.

Too many cooks. We've looked very good in one game so far. QPR, when they played 352.

Imagine if he starts the next game and we actually play well at home?

There will be some serious squirmage on here