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Moises Caicedo to Chelsea! "Official"

Fair points - we’re going on 7-8 months now following the red card vs Arsenal. He lost his rhythm / timing after that red card, with the rash and late tackles remerging. After Maresca left he seemed to lose his energy also.

Needs a break. His ceiling is higher than what he’s doing and we have to get him back there.

 
  1. Essien
  2. Kante
  3. Makelele
  4. Caicedo
  5. Matic
  6. Jorginho
  7. Diarra
  8. Obi Mikel
  9. David Luiz
  10. Bakayoko
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Pretty good list; Mikel wouldn't make the list for me. And David Luiz would be higher as a DM. Luiz was too dumb to listen to Jose and move to midfield permanently—he was young enough for that at that time too.

Bakayoko would only wish he had the few MotM David Luiz got when played in midfield under Jose. Feb 2014 at the Etihad with Luiz and Matic in the middle comes to mind.
Bakayoko was one of the worst midfielders I've ever seen play, don't think he should be making any lists. ☺️Luiz was a good player—just not a very good CB—and IMO could perhaps have become a very interesting ball-winning or b2b mid, but I guess we will never know.

Ah! and it would be Essien and Kante tied in first for me.

Fair points - we’re going on 7-8 months now following the red card vs Arsenal. He lost his rhythm / timing after that red card, with the rash and late tackles remerging. After Maresca left he seemed to lose his energy also.

Needs a break. His ceiling is higher than what he’s doing and we have to get him back there.
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Is it though? I suspect what we see is what we get with him at this point. He's 24 now—which is usually peak age for balancing physicality with tactical know-how. He's a ball-winning midfielder to his core; I just don't see him developing into a very different player at this point.

 
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Is it though? I suspect what we see is what we get with him at this point. He's 24 now—which is usually peak age for balancing physicality with tactical know-how. He's a ball-winning midfielder to his core; I just don't see him developing into a very different player at this point.
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Fair, although I think he still has room to mature and improve his positional play and reading. Maybe a better reference would have been form, and by that measure he is playing well below what we know he is capable of.

It's funny - I recall seeing him play for Brighton in Atlanta the summer he joined Chelsea during some Premier League summer series. He clearly knew he was moving on, and barely broke sweat on the pitch. Why I mention this is right at the end of the season I saw the exert same lack of effort, validated before I could even get the words out by my dad saying "that is exactly what we saw in Atlanta".

All that to say I know he is capable of better, and we need him back at that level.

 
Is it though? I suspect what we see is what we get with him at this point. He's 24 now—which is usually peak age for balancing physicality with tactical know-how. He's a ball-winning midfielder to his core; I just don't see him developing into a very different player at this point.
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Well of course it is, weve seen him play much better than the last 6 months, and he did it for around 2 seasons. He has played pretty much every single game available for nearly 3 years, and often as a single midfielder alongside a player that left him isolated constantly, he carried the team for 6 months as easily the best midfielder in the premier league.

 
Well of course it is, weve seen him play much better than the last 6 months, and he did it for around 2 seasons. He has played pretty much every single game available for nearly 3 years, and often as a single midfielder alongside a player that left him isolated constantly, he carried the team for 6 months as easily the best midfielder in the premier league.
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Sure, I agree he can return to his best form.

I wasn’t referring to form, though. The post I replied to suggested that Caicedo has a much higher ceiling as a player, which for me would require his game to develop in entirely new directions. I just don't see that specific knack in him; I don't see him becoming a Declan Rice type, for example. Yes, he'll remain a strong player within his own characteristics, but we were discussing his ceiling—his ultimate potential as a player.

BTW, "Best midfielder in the league" goes into personal preference and what one values the most in the game; for me Rice is the better player. One who values controlling tempo will say Rodri would be better as well. Gravenberch is looking pretty good lately too. I don't see Caicedo as this "best" midfielder myself—being honest here.

 
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Sure, I agree he can return to his best form.

I wasn’t referring to form, though. The post I replied to suggested that Caicedo has a much higher ceiling as a player, which for me would require his game to develop in entirely new directions. I just don't see that specific knack in him; I don't see him becoming a Declan Rice type, for example. Yes, he'll remain a strong player within his own characteristics, but we were discussing his ceiling—his ultimate potential as a player.
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The post said he has a "much higher ceiling than were CURRNETLY seeing".

 
The obvious difference between Rice and Caicedo is that they don't even play the same role. Rice is Arsenal's primary ball-carrier, set-piece taker and has a much larger role in the attack than Caicedo has ever been allowed by virtue of either instruction or tactics. And while Rice has been given more and more attacking freedom, Caicedo has been given less and less. Rice even has the luxury of operating in a genuine double-pivot alongside Zubimendi, whereas Caicedo is tactically required to operate alone.

Caicedo, when in form, has been able to do both roles but as many people have pointed out, that was a miracle. It's unfair to run him into the ground while the club and its previous managers have given no serious thought to supporting him in midfield. Meanwhile, Arsenal went out and targeted Zubimendi precisely because they wanted to give Rice a complementary platform.

But for all the bluster, Rice has twice now been completely shown up by Vitinha and Neves. Caicedo was brilliant in the CWC but also before it all unravelled against PSG in the first leg.

What we see with Rice (and Zubimendi) are two 27 year olds in their absolute prime, in a team at its prime, and a model for Caicedo to reach. But Caicedo is two full years younger, and at a crossroads, and in a team that drifts somewhere between blindly optimistic hope and sheer chaos.

 
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The obvious difference between Rice and Caicedo is that Rice is a limited centre back that has English PR while Caicedo has had to carry our midfield for two years straight due to the Argentinian prima donna sat twerking on the edge of the opposition box instead of doing a proper shift.

 
No wonder the recent links to CM and why Enzo wants out. He would have been terribly exposed

 
Xabi downplayed the injury a bit, which I guess most managers would do. Its obvious we need another body in CM - Lavia can't last 90 (yet, hopefully that day consistently comes soon in PL), James out of position, Gusto even further out of position, untrusted Barco (although seems a decent option), and no idea on Henderson yet!

 
A serious injury to Caicedo would completely derail the season.

We need to sign someone to cover for him. Can't risk it.

 
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