FABREGAS, CHELSEA AND THE NEW SEASON… As the Premier League kicks off today, one of the biggest discuss is Cesc Fabregas. Chelsea fans, in their loquacious manner of always talking before thinking, now believe the best signing of the EPL summer is the ex-Arsenal midfielder. I remember far back, about four years ago when I almost exchanged fisticuffs with a Chelsea fan over same Fabregas. Of course the argument then was that Frank Lampard was a better player than Fabregas. How sentiments change orientation! Jose Mourinho had set the tonic, lying his head off that Fabregas never wanted to come to Arsenal. Of course, the once ‘special one’ has shifted from perpetually cheating to now lying. But that is not the crux of this write up. Let’s see the real qualities of the player Chelsea inherited from Barcelona even when Mourinho and his fans live in the fool’s paradise that they signed him from Arsenal’s grasps. Fabregas, as an Arsenal player was exceptional. Just before he left Arsenal, only Barca’s Xavi rated higher than Cesc in the world’s greatest midfielders. Even Mesut Ozil was nowhere near Fabregas’ midfield exploits that included great vision, total peripheral command of the middle and inch-perfect passes for team mates. His team mates at Arsenal including Robin van Persie, Samir Nasri, Tomas Rosicky, Theo Walcott were so much in awe of their captain that they concluded he had extra eyes at the back of his head. In simpler words, they concluded he saw everything on the pitch. That was when he was playing for the man who saw him and took eight years to mold him. Because there were Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, it was really tough making any player better than these two but, at least, Le Prof was on the right track to making Cesc the world’s best midfielder. But at 24, Fabregas could not wait to be so crowned. He went ‘home’ too early. Ironically, he is now leaving Barca at the time he should have gone home. At Barca, it was clear that they had a perfect midfield trio of Sergio Bosquets, Xavi and Andre Iniesta. By then, Barca’s midfield was the best in the world and Fabregas couldn’t break through that classy triangulate. So, Pep Guardiola, because he went through unbelievable length to bring in Cesc, decided to play him out of position, just to accommodate the ex-Arsenal captain. Because he had goal sense, Fabregas delivered on the scoring front but started a gradual decline as a respected deep-lying or box-to-bo creative genius. After a year, Guardiola found out his grave mistake. He should have left Fabregas at Arsenal until Xavi was ready to retire. Part of this reality and how to remedy it sent Pep into a bizarre sabbatical. Tito Vilanova, God bless his soul, tried to accommodate Cesc and make him the delight the home fans all dreamed about. But the more he tried, the more Cesc lost his mojo. And Barca fans were no fools. By his second year, they were wise to the fact that the new Chelsea player was indeed a complete stranger and the odd man out in the Barca attacking philosophy. But Tito’s ill-health that led to the unfortunate death would deny Cesc any attempt to be properly fixed in. The coming of Tarta exposed the massive decline even further. As a deep-lying or box-to-box midfielder, Cesc was world class… as a support striker, he was just average. And the fans had clearly seen through the mask. Barcelona, the greatest team ever, has been reduced to an average team that failed to clutch onto any silverware at end of 2013/14 season even after purchasing Neymar, the acclaimed world third best player behind Messi and Ronaldo.\ The Barca midfield that needed no mending was destroyed because Barca wanted to rob Wenger and Arsenal of their ‘son’ - a son that knew no father besides Wenger and knew no home besides Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium. The fans responded with boos. Heartbroken, Fabregas sobbed to Wenger. ‘Forgive me father, for I have sinned and I’m back home,” son said to father. “Your sins are forgiven but you do not have a home here anymore,” father replied the excessively prodigal son. And Mourinho couldn’t believe his luck. The rest is history. But for Chelsea fans jumping over themselves, the Fabregas you got is not the one that left Arsenal. That player that left three years ago was a Wenger creation. While leaving Arsenal, he was world class. Today, he is still a good player. But to get him to that ‘Fabre pass’, Wenger is required again. But Wenger has Ozil, Aaron Ramsey and Santi Carzola. To take back Fabregas meant at least one must leave. Wenger is never such a man lacking in morals. Has Mournho the right attitude to bring back Fabregas to that player who should be best midfielder in the world? A man who sold Juan Mata because of the playmaker’s lack of defensive play…is Fabregas a player who cares about defense? How many tackles does he make a match? Is he the kind of physically endowed player to tickle Mourinho’s desires? Is Fabregas structured to play in a team molded to have defense as the first rule? Fabregas’ best is achieved when you give him a free role in the middle, get all play through him and shedding him of any defensive duties. I’m a fan of football and would be delighted to see Fabregas back to that genius that left Arsenal but if there’s any coach suited for the immaculate best of Fabregas, the name Mourinho should never be mentioned. Today, the Premiership kicks off. Man U and Swansea in early kick off gives us the opportunity to see Louis van Gaal transform his immaculate pre-season success to the real deal. Dear Gunners will try to show manager less crystal Palace at 5.30 pm that indeed there’s a new king in town called Alexis Sanchez. On Monday, we see Fabregas file out wearing that odd blue jersey! Before then Liverpool would have shown how buying seven new players just to replace Luis Suarez would pan out. Of course, Man City would equally show how well or not they’ve recovered from Arsenal’s battering. Let the show begin!
Posted on: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 10:20:18 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015