He was very good around 2006-2009, but after that very underwhelming. He might have had some injuries, but I never found him that talented in the first place. He is good in many areas but lacks that one great ability. It was visible in Barcelona that he was surrounded by players significantly more talented than him, and despite him being their boy, he never really was good enough for their high standards. Modric is the player Cesc wants to be.
Cesc Fàbregas
- Thread starter Someone
- Start date
The Spanish Wayne Rooney.
He's been a huge player for Spain in tournaments. Got the assist for the winners in the 2008, 2010 and 2012 finals.
I think a lot of people will disagree with you. I agree that he's probably not gone on to be the player that everyone thought he would be but to discredit him as much as you have done is very harsh IMHO.
You only have to go back to the season before last in Chelsea's winning league campaign and he created just 6 less chances over the whole season than Hazard having played 4 fewer games. At his best he's a brilliant, creative midfielder no doubt.
Rooney is England's all time scorer.
I think he is what you'd call a "normal" top player in the sense that he brings a lot to a team but the team needs to help a lot too. He is not someone like Iniesta or a Modric who I consider the best creative midfielders in the past few years in that he can do things on his own. So he is pretty much like many other top players, he functions well when the team is.
did he start for Chelsea the other day?
He's in the top 10 of assisting players in the PL, maybe even in the top 5 without looking at the numbers. That's not normal, not even for a top player.
I basically look at players as game changers (Messi, Suarez, Iniesta, Ronaldo). There are less than a dozen of those in world football for me. Then there are top players who I think most people consider world class when they are playing in a system that suits them (Özil, Kroos, Fàbregas at various times in his career) and overrated or not good enough when they are not playing in a system or a team that suits them.
In terms of creating a goal or scoring one, Fabregas absolutely is a game changer, much more so than Iniesta or Modric that you mentioned and it isn't particularly close. Both of those show much better workrate and movement, Cesc's now a luxury player as his legs have pretty much gone. Go back 5 years though and no one considered Modric close to Fabregas level.
Ozil absolutely bossed it at Real and has at Arsenal last year. Bit of an comment there.
They're nothing alike and Fabregas is far more talented. His legs have gone now though. He didn't work in Barce's system, he's meant to be the focal point of the action. Modric is the opposite in that he makes the space and play for others, while not having the same quality of end product.
He's seriously underrated by many on here and clearly by Chelsea if they're playing such a terrible player like Oscar instead of him.
In terms of creating goals or scoring, Gerrard is more prolific than Xavi but I wouldn't consider him more of a game changer. By that, I mean a player that can function in a team that is not working well. Iniesta can stand up in a team and drive it forward. Modric can do the same in the past 3 or 4 years for Real who I don't think have been more than a collection of brilliant players. When they clicked, they were brilliant and when they did not, they were average as their league campaigns suggest, I don't think they had many more standouts than Modric in that period. Fàbregas apart from a stint at Arsenal could never do that. He always had good numbers when his teams were doing well (Barcelona in certain patches, Spain, Chelsea 2015) which is why he is still one of the top players in the world but a player that will change a team, he isn't IMO.
Rooney is top 3 in goals and top 3 in assists too in the premier league I think. Doesn't mean his best days aren't behind as are cescs.
Against West Ham? No he did not.
He's a trouble making little shite. Wouldn't want him anywhere near our club. The pizza throwing little feck.
I wonder if SAF had put the kibosh on the deal that Moyes was trying to do.
He's more like a central midfield Juan Mata.
Not quite this beauty though;That is hilarious.. especially that punt at Willian near the end
He's always been an incomplete star. While he's got vission matched by very few he doesn't have the technical ability to match it. This leads to him having mediocre games in matches where the pressure is really high in midfield and also lead to him exposing himself at barca. On top of that he's on pirlo's level defensively, just absolutely useless.
Well in terms of assists Xavi is one of the most prolific of all time with 180. Way ahead of Gerrard, he got something like 30 in one season, about 180 in total at Barce. Gerrard was generally considered world class too. Xavi is a far better midfield general in that he constantly keeps possession and dictates play. Modric can do the same but isn't as creative as Xavi or Fabregas or Ozil. Fabregas is the reason Chelsea won the league in 14/15, with his 18 assists, without him they wouldn't have won it. Despite it not working at Barce he still racked up loads of goals and assists. The criticism of him was his lack of pressing, pace and the fact Barce had to play him or Iniesta out of position. At Arsenal he was great as a number 8 or number 10. 5 years ago Fabregas was considered world class, in a backet Modric's never performed at.
Cesc made 20 assists just last season.
He's in trouble. Thought Oscar would be he some to suffer but forgot Oscar's work rate is much better. At kind of thing is important to Conte.
Modric was never considered world class!? Come on mate that's stretching it. As I said before, I think Modric stands out even more for me because he plays in a team that is not set up to play through the middle like Barcelona. Real are a bit like we used to be. They play direct football which means they try to get behind the ball when they don't have it and release it as quickly as possible to their forwards. To control a midfield in that set up is more difficult if not impossible but he still manages to do it in big games. Fàbregas can't control games from the middle, he is not a dominant defensive midfielder, nor is he a particularly creative attacking one. He is a great passer and in the right setup, he can produce plenty of assists and goals which is what he had at Chelsea and Spain but I don't think that makes him a game-changer.
This so much. Five years ago I would have bitten your hand off for Fabregas, but I think he's burning out fast in the same way Rooney is. Fabregas was playing at the highest level at an extremely young age, and you can see he's no longer the devastating, attacking, goalscoring midfielder he was, even if his passing range is still very much on point. Not saying he's finished, but I don't think we'd get more than a good year or two out of him before he starts seriously dipping.