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Baba Rahman - The heir to Ash?

I think he looked nervous in the first half, he seemed ok in the second half though. I think he needs game time and i think he should get it too, he needs time to adapt to the league. His confidence will improve he is given time to play.

 
bola said:
Maybe it's a lil bit too hasty to judge him but he didn't look promising.. defnitely not worth his pricetag.. I literally have that cuad feeling about baba..

Letting felipe go when ivan only has 1 season left seem like a daft choice.. maybe ake could be the answer.. 
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Letting Luis go, especially without securing a decent replacement, was incredibly unwise. Isn't Ake on loan for the entire season, or is it until January?

 
Do the people here feel that Baba is that much of an upgrade over Bertrand? Yes, I am being a bit harsh on Baba because he hasn't really had a chance to really prove his worth to the club. However I still believe that Bertrand could have filled a role at this club.

 
He got better in the second half, in the first he looked really nervous and got beaten easily by the likes of Alan Hutton. Hopefully he gets a good run of games now so he can get used to the league at this point he's still a better option than Ivanovic.

 
Valerie said:
Letting Luis go, especially without securing a decent replacement, was incredibly unwise. Isn't Ake on loan for the entire season, or is it until January?
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Luis should have been kept, he got the so called 'height', experience and he got pace.. I always feel he didn't get enough chances to really cement his place which is shame really.. 

Anyway, the idea of getting luis then made him 2nd choice and sold him the next very year is like ya said unwise.. If that's the plan for luis then what's the point of letting bertrand go in the 1st place? Sure, luis seems like an improvement to ryan but bertrand is english (which is important to the quota filled up) and younger and more importantly he didn't look out of place in that left back role.. Come to think of it, since azpi hardly contributing offensively  as LB then putting ryan there won't make much difference.. Unnecessary money wasting there and simply trying to be clever tactic by the manager, inverted fullback? yeah right.. 

didn't know ake was on loan till ya mentioned it, too many kids on loan nowadays at chelsea.. guess we need to call for papi maybe.. a bit desperate in that area.. next summer or perhaps as soon as this winter defender become priority in transfer window.. 

 
He was rather shaky in the first half but he gradually improved in the second.

I'm hoping to see more of him in our next few games. 

Come on, Baba!

 
bola said:
Anyway, the idea of getting luis then made him 2nd choice and sold him the next very year is like ya said unwise.. If that's the plan for luis then what's the point of letting bertrand go in the 1st place? Sure, luis seems like an improvement to ryan but bertrand is english (which is important to the quota filled up) and younger and more importantly he didn't look out of place in that left back role.. Come to think of it, since azpi hardly contributing offensively  as LB then putting ryan there won't make much difference.. Unnecessary money wasting there and simply trying to be clever tactic by the manager, inverted fullback? yeah right..
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TBF, I don't think Jose meant to put Dave @ LB, but he did look good when he played & made that his position. Plus Dave interacts good w/ Hazard on that Left Flank - so no I have to disagree w/ you about Jose trying to be clever...it was more about Dave taking an opportunity to make the position his

 
robdog said:
TBF, I don't think Jose meant to put Dave @ LB, but he did look good when he played & made that his position. Plus Dave interacts good w/ Hazard on that Left Flank - so no I have to disagree w/ you about Jose trying to be clever...it was more about Dave taking an opportunity to make the position his
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ya honestly think putting bertrand/felipe there would be less effective? and this good interaction ya're talking about is a bit far fetch because I don't see how they both tearing up that left hand side of the pitch.. not much azpi can do with his right foot when marauding forward.. 

 
Azpilacueta was not put there to maraud forward, he was put there to allow Hazard the freedom to do what he does best without having to worry too much about isolating his full back too far forward. But im sure you will now try and turn that around to be Mourinhos fault somehow, as usual.

 
dkw said:
Azpilacueta was not put there to maraud forward, he was put there to allow Hazard the freedom to do what he does best without having to worry too much about isolating his full back too far forward. But im sure you will now try and turn that around to be Mourinhos fault somehow, as usual.
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shut up..

as usual? ok here we go, so the plan is to see hazard easily nullified in that area because opposition can just gang up on him because they don't have to worry about a fullback who was specially put up there by the special one not to maraud forward... happy now?

how many top teams out there who sacrifice their fullback to stay back? barcelona, real madrid, bayern, city etc all got their fullback functioning just fine in normal way and chelsea being the top team somehow can't operate the same way?  

 
Ah, there we go. Well it worked pretty well last season when we won the league and cup double, and Hazard won player of the year. Seems that Mourinho bloke knows a thing or two about this management game.

 
robdog said:
Again, can we give Dave the credit he deserves? He won that LB position. Let's not say it was due to Jose trying reinvent the wheel, because that wasn't the case.
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Took the spot from a man who was the best LB in the world for a very long time.  That alone should tell people just how much Azpi earned that spot.

 
Room for improvement but signs of encouragement too.

I'm hoping the back four doesn't rotate in Ivanovic's absence because a settled defence is what Baba needs to adapt to the team.

 
Two starts now and he has looked poor in both. Looked more composed once we went two up (as did a few others) but his work in the first half was shaky to say the least.

Not sure I'm comfortable playing Hazard in front of him. Pedro did a great job tracking back and protecting him.

With all that in mind I very much doubt he was Jose's signing. But let's hope he continues to settle in these next few matches. If he doesn't it wouldn't surprise me to see someone else come in January either at LB or RB to mean Dave can play permanently at LB.

 
How many wing backs were already the finished product at his age? only four months ago he turned 21, take that in for a minute before criticising the lad. It's crazy how so many fans these days expect a player to come to a new club, in a new league and automatically slot in with hardly any games played...

 
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We really should have kept Bertrand. As good as Azpi is in that role I still think he's even better in his natural position.

Can't really blame Baba for not fitting straight in, we did a terrible job in letting Luis go I think. Had he stayed, Baba could have been eased in the squad and not thrown into the pitch expecting him to perform instantly.

 
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