His turn away from defenders and burst toward goal was simply sublime for me. Because he was quite tall he may have tricked your eye a little because he doesn’t move like a low centre of gravity forward- Messi, Aguero etc but the way you talk is as though he was a Giroud type lampost.
Like Bergkamp he had an exquisite elegence to turn a defender and glide towards goal, not using speed or pure athleticism but technique and intelligence. The opposite of your Lukaku type CFs.
Not going to compliment him anymore cause I hate him, and he’s a rapist cunt, ah now I feel better.
RVP was often the difference between us getting a top four place or not and was also the difference to Man U winning the title, when we sold him to them.
He was a genuine top quality player.
He was my favourite player, until Wenger’s persistent lies and the clubs lack of investment, forced him to go to a rival club where he could win the trophies he deserved.
Just like all our other top players who left for the same reason, they were proved right.
Only Ozil, Sanchez and Cesc come close to his level of influence for the club.
It doesn’t? When was the dude ever a picture of elite fitness and athletic resilience in his career? If anything he’s lucky to have got the 3-4 seasons of peak fitness he did never mind playing until he’s 40.
I suspect it is also a bit of semantics… do you want to stay under these conditions? uhh, no, not really… ok, then we will let you go and not bother with useless negotiations.
It is never black and white.
CRAP i think i did it again, responding to an ancient post - please delete.
That was absolutely true - for his later, mature years. 2011 and on… Yeah couldn’t run with the ball, couldn’t beat a man facing him, running at him…
But that’s only because his body was just so affected and basically broken from the earlier injuries. Go back to 2006 or 2008 and see his dribbles, his acceleration… It’s quite harsh to just say he wasn’t able to run with the ball generally.
As for the passing part, I totally disagree. Maybe in his, again, mature years, when he trasformed to a more conventional number 9 (compared to early years playing as a second striker or winger), where he wasn’t so often on the ball, and he wasn’t too involved in the build up… But, still, even at time, every time he had the ball he knew exactly where every other player was on the pitch and what pass to make. And that was quite vital, both for us, but also for United when they won their last league. His hold up play was top notch.
Not to mention his earlier years where he was dropping deeper much more ofted, always making defense splitting, razor sharp passes, bringing other people into play… I can barely ever remember him missing a run his teammate made.
A 10 minute comp of Cesc’s passing. If you can’t be arsed to watch most of it, the one at 7.50 exemplifies his vision and pass execution. First time, sends it inside the defender and right into the path of the runner. Absolute demon. He’d have guys running all over the pitch because they knew he had the ability to find them.
My favourite part about Cesc’s passing is it didn’t involve any tiki-taka or slow posession bollocks. He did it at Premier league tempo. You can see in the video he does a quick glance and can instantly pick out the pass to make. My favourite midfielder.
I think the three years at Barca really hurt Fabregas’ rep more than anything else. When he came back to the PL and was instantly the same player he was when he’d left it just showed what a truly class act he was. I’m certain we’d have been champions again at some point if we’d added him to Ozil, Sanchez etc.
He did decline quick though in fairness but I think that was in part because if how much football he’d played before he was 21.
Really? I think what hurt his reputation was joining a racist, disgusting and awful club like Chelsea. It broke my heart. Might have been the last time I ever let myself get attached to a player.
