Antonio Rudiger

Who has a better CB in the Big 6 than a fit Rudiger?

Manchester United? I'd take Rudiger over Maguire, at worst call it a push
Arsenal - right...
Manchester City - Laporte?
Liverpool - Van Dyk
Spurs -  Alderweireld, Vertonghen are solid, but they can't keep a clean sheet for anything

Is Rudiger World Class? No, but I'd say there's only one World Class CB in the Big 6 clubs right. Of course, they're miles ahead of everyone else and Van Dyk is a big reason why. So that goes to your point... my point is, that they're awfully damned hard to find out there...
At the moment I'd probably take Maguire over Rudiger. Neither is top class, but I feel Maguire has a more commanding presence and offers more overall as a player.

Both Vertonghen and Alderweireld in their prime were better defenders than Rudiger ever was. They're just past it, that's all, should have left that snakepit back when they were still good.

Laporte is a good shout. Given how much money City spent on defense, they should have got better other options than Otamendi and Stones, but that's just backs your point about the difficulty of acquiring a world class CB, even if you have a bottomless well of money.

 
At the moment I'd probably take Maguire over Rudiger.
At the moment... so would I, but it's close... which is pretty telling considering Rudiger is returning from a 6 month layoff and a pair of surgeries.

I've been a big fan of Rudiger the last several years, in part because of his pace, hampered by injury, his toughness and mentality. He had a magic wand of a right foot on the long switch, which has not returned. 

But I do think a lot of people under appreciate how good he's been the last three seasons for us.

 
Couldn't disagree more, Maguire would get slaughtered playing in this system due to his lack of recovery pace.
90M doesn't get you what it used to, does it?

There's so few WC CBs in the world, that I don't think Rudiger is a weak link in our back 4. 

 
Couldn't disagree more, Maguire would get slaughtered playing in this system due to his lack of recovery pace.
We weren't discussing systems, just comparing players. I just said, at this moment in time Maguire looks a bit better than Rudiger.

As far as playing in the system, yes, Rudiger has pace, but what else? Does he read the game well, I'd say OK, but not great. His passing is quite average, his long passes are for the most part of poor quality. I have to give him credit he's got self confidence to attempt those quite regularly, but how many actually reach the intended player?

So while he's got pace and athleticism necessary to play in the system, I don't think he has the intelligence and technical skill required to do it well.

 
Rudiger had a really poor game yesterday. Twice in the second half we could have conceded because of him. The first time Lacazette was offside when he was through, and the second time Zouma spared his blushes when he went to sleep and Aubameyang was clean through. His distribution was appalling also. He's big, tough, strong and fast, but a commanding top notch CB would be my priority in the summer.

 
I think the criticism he is facing on here is surreal.. the guy just returned from a 6 month layoff.. but immediately the team looks and feels more solid... for starters he can head the ball... and talk which in itself is an improvement.. he is the best CB in the team by a mile... yes he may have  over/under hit a few 60 yard passes but i dont see a lot of defenders being asked to that week in week out.. with the frequency that our CBs need to.. 

Remember none of these CBs have played much with each other... and CBs work best in partnership... The problem with chelsea is that we are not trying to integrate 1/2 new players but from front to back we have 5-6 new players we are trying to integrate and players who are learning to trust and play with each other..  also Frank loves to rotate his team a lot. its difficult for CBs to be playing with different FBs every week to and then tweaks to systems... This has also been a frenetic first half with little time between games..

People should be patient.. wait till it becomes second nature for these players to find each other.. once that happens you will see more consistency in results.. 

 
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I think the criticism he is facing on here is surreal.. the guy just returned from a 6 month layoff.. but immediately the team looks and feels more solid... for starters he can head the ball... and talk which in itself is an improvement.. he is the best CB in the team by a mile... yes he may have  over/under hit a few 60 yard passes but i dont see a lot of defenders being asked to that week in week out.. with the frequency that our CBs need to.. 

Remember none of these CBs have played much with each other... and CBs work best in partnership... The problem with chelsea is that we are not trying to integrate 1/2 new players but from front to back we have 5-6 new players we are trying to integrate and players who are learning to trust and play with each other..  also Frank loves to rotate his team a lot. its difficult for CBs to be playing with different FBs every week to and then tweaks to systems... This has also been a frenetic first half with little time between games..

People should be patient.. wait till it becomes second nature for these players to find each other.. once that happens you will see more consistency in results.. 
Totally agree. Truth is that this system (and indeed the one last year) were far more open than anything we had during JT, Gallas and Percy's era. 

Not questioning their quality but when you don't press from the front and you let teams flood through midfield as we have on occassion the last two seasons. Neither would look the World class centre backs they were. For me Rudiger is streets ahead of our other centre halves. First choice starter for me.

 
100th Chelsea appearance for Rudi.

Good time to score a double 😎

 
People are already trying to use Ivanovic’s song with him, might as well start calling him ‘Two Goal’ Antonio Rudiger too. 
 

Edit: The club already are...

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Just wish he could pass the ball, i worry when he's got the ball at feet, needs to keep the passing simple and short.

 
Had some worrying moments, but his headers were amazing.

Well done Rudi, let's hope this form will continues!

 
2 great headers got us the point - deserved man of the match for that. The 2nd header was a beaut! Question marks over him defensively though for sure.

 
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Scored more goals than Hazard this season.

Eden, you know what you need to do.

 
Great headers. Saved our bacon.

But, defensively he reminds me of David Luiz. Capable of looking both top-class and shocking. You can't entirely trust him and that's a problem.

And his passing is the worst out of all the CBs we have for me. That's a problem as well playing the way we do.

 
Great headers. Saved our bacon.

But, defensively he reminds me of David Luiz. Capable of looking both top-class and shocking. You can't entirely trust him and that's a problem.

And his passing is the worst out of all the CBs we have for me. That's a problem as well playing the way we do.
His passing has been horrendous this season. I thought Zouma's passing was bad but he actually surprised me this season, Zouma actually looks better with the ball to his feet than Rudiger does... Very strange, because I highly rated Rudiger when playing it out from the back. 

 
Great headers. Saved our bacon.

But, defensively he reminds me of David Luiz. Capable of looking both top-class and shocking. You can't entirely trust him and that's a problem.

And his passing is the worst out of all the CBs we have for me. That's a problem as well playing the way we do.
were we watching the same match? put in so many blocks and won a lot of headers. defensively.. I cant remember a single brain fade that has cost us a goal ? I think Rudi is a very solid defender... very harsh to call him Luiz!

 
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