[wiz4231]

When are people going to wake up to what I have saying for ages - he can't defend. This is nowhere near the first time he has played the opposition onside. That sort of thing would be crucified even at Under 12's level.

No, Rafael can't defend at all, he's rubbish, a waste off space, I can remember against West Ham when we were down to 10 men, he was the worst defender, no actually he was the worst player on the pitch.
A bit of a knee-jerk reaction don't you think.
He is a very good RB, solid as that, against Leicester he didn't touch the player and had a penalty rewarded against, you should condemn the player for diving not Rafael. Against West Brom Jones should be condemned for running into no mans land and leaving the defensive line not Rafael. Rafael's positioning is a result of Jones, he stayed back hesitantly knowing Jones was going to feck up.

 

[markhrad]

I am quite happy to have Rafael as our RB but he is so skillful on the ball that I have always wondered if he would not make an excellent winger. At least he would not be as one-dimensional as Valencia.

 

[Nighteyes]

I am quite happy to have Rafael as our RB but he is so skillful on the ball that I have always wondered if he would not make an excellent winger. At least he would not be as one-dimensional as Valencia.

Nah, it will never work. Players like him are best running from deeper positions which make them more effective. If he starts high up then he doesn't really have that space to work with. He'll do a beter job than Valencia but that's nothing to shout about.

 

[IwatUwat]

Really like Rafael myself....he doesnt usually fall asleep positionally like against west brom, and some may argue that the CB's should be communicating to him better. But going forward he's great, fitness is good. And he's usually really solid defensively. At times in his career for spells I thought he's been one of the best in the prem.

 

[Successful]

It's quite strange to think he's been here for 7 years now and played his 100th match. Not bad. I still think of him as a youngster who gets to fill in eventhough he's one of most experienced players in defence at the moment!! His best years are just starting to come. He's a very different type of player with all that aggressision and technique.

 

[17 Van der Gouw]

Really like Rafael myself....he doesnt usually fall asleep positionally like against west brom, and some may argue that the CB's should be communicating to him better. But going forward he's great, fitness is good. And he's usually really solid defensively. At times in his career for spells I thought he's been one of the best in the prem.

He's been one of our most consistent post-Ferguson, but I'm still not utterly convinced. Rather than going through good and bad spells he'll play at a decent level for months on end then suddenly have an absolute shocker, but then recover from it immediately and pick up where he left off. I remember Fergie taking him off after about 30 minutes a few seasons ago, but you wouldn't know it in his next game. EDIT: It was vs Reading it 2012 (article here) and he skulked off

Agree he's great going forward, can score too, and doesn't seem to get broken much. Jury's out for me.

 

[Decotron]

idiotic for the yellow. could still cost us.

 

[Randall Flagg]

He has crazy moments. But can't fault his effort as always.

 

[DevilRed]

Very worried that he will pick up a second yellow in the next half. Needs more help on that right flank against hazard.

 

[Kraftwerker]

Real shame about that yellow. Done well otherwise.

 

[footballgirl07]

Kept Hazard out the game but got a silly yellow. Di Maria isn't backing him up at all. If Herrera was fit enough, this game would of been perfect for him to help with Hazard. Oh and that run for the FK was pretty good.

 

[kps88]

This systme offers him no help 1v1 against Hazard. Going to be some nervy times in the second half...

 

[charleysurf]

I still wish we'd had a new RB on the shopping list in the summer, someone who can really be disciplined.
Why does he always do that thing where under pressure he tries to blindly clear the ball into play? Half the time it goes straight to a Chelsea player and he's out of position. He's just too focused on attack.

 

[Rado_N]

It's his first card of the season, I'm sure he can manage another 45 minutes without picking up a second.

 

[Sam]

Who's bright idea was it to have him marking Didier fecking Drogba?!

 

[Cheesy]

As much as it was ludicrous to have him marking Drogba, his defending for that goal was still kind of terrible. No one is expecting him to beat Drogba in an aerial battle, but he was just lagging behind, not really doing anything to stop Drogba at all.

 

[saivet]

As much as it was ludicrous to have him marking Drogba, his defending for that goal was still kind of terrible. No one is expecting him to beat Drogba in an aerial battle, but he was just lagging behind, not really doing anything to stop Drogba at all.

To be fair, Drogba gave him a nudge to get all the room. Don't think there's much he could have done.

After his idiotic yellow, I thought he did fine.

 

[Cheesy]

To be fair, Drogba gave him a nudge to get all the room. Don't think there's much he could have done.

After his idiotic yellow, I thought he did fine.

True. It probably looked a lot worse in slow motion, where it looked as if he had a lot more time to recover and try to challenge Drogba.

 

[Steven Seagull]

He pissed me off with that completely idiotic yellow card but he seemed to calm down after that. He shouldn't be marking Drogba but that's the kind of thing that needs to be organised by leaders on the pitch, of which we have very few

 

[Get In Scholesy]

Thought he did well today, the yellow was soft but he can't really complain. Kept hazard quite on the flank and made some good attacking runs.

 

[wr8_utd]

Delighted with his performance today really. There's not much he could do with the Drogba goal but where he impressed me was his maturity. I think all of us expected him to get sent off the second half but he was calm and didn't do anything rash and was decent going forward.

 

[limerickcitykid]

He pissed me off with that completely idiotic yellow card but he seemed to calm down after that. He shouldn't be marking Drogba but that's the kind of thing that needs to be organised by leaders on the pitch, of which we have very few

That's the kind of thing which should be sorted in training during the week and it looks like Rafael was meant to be marking Drogba. Fellaini was being used as some sort of floater that would attack the ball. There are also Terry, Ivanovic, Matic, and Cahill to mark. These are things the manager should have plans for, the leaders on the pitch don't just figure out who is marking who when the time comes.

 

[WR10]

Sweet reward of maturity and experience. Rafael of 2+ years ago would have been sent off in the second half.

 

[sullydnl]

The yellow was stupid but at least he was able to remain calm and not get sent off afterwards. Was good today.

 

[Eugenius]

I think he gets a lot of undeserved stick. I don't think he cocks up any more than the average right back, and he has a lot more upside than most.

It's ridiculous that people don't see the tangible, and massive difference when he's not playing. He brings the ball out of defence reliably and rapidly, he makes space for whoever's playing on the same flank and he's one of the few players who actually tries to make stuff happen when we're losing.

If you look at what he's getting stick for today - a silly booking, only to play 80 minutes without much trouble defensively and then getting beaten in the air by someone who's 6 inches taller than him and built like a sh*tbrickhouse.

 

[Burrow]

I love this guy, he's just so good! Controlled Hazard very well, silly yellow though. Such an asset to the team though!

 

[FromTheBench]

Started off shakily but then good display of maturity.

And he keeps going and going till the end.

 

[justboy68]

He makes a huge difference to us in regards to bringing the ball out from the back. We instantly looked better when he came back into the team a month or so ago. Did pretty well today after a worrying early yellow. Kept Hazard reasonably well handled all things considered.

 

[Devil may care]

Lots of spirit as always but also showed real maturity today due to being on a yellow for most of the game against one of the best wide men in the world. Personally I thought the yellow he got was harsh, it was his first foul of the game and Matic did the same thing afterwards and got nothing.

 

[Eric'sCollar]

Another very good game. Up against one of the best in Hazard, dealt with him well over the 90 minutes. Some tough moments but you have to expect that against Chelsea and Hazard but overall I thought he did well.

 

[NinjaFletch]

If it wasn't Rafael would any one mention that yellow? Probably not.

It was actually a very good card to take, had feck all cover and was beaten by Hazard (for the only time over the 90 minutes) much better to have your right back on a yellow card for 80 minutes than go 1 down.

I genuinely wouldn't swap him for anyone in the world, the boys got everything and its brushed over because he's 'rash'. Nonsense.

 

[#07]

Another very good game. Up against one of the best in Hazard, dealt with him well over the 90 minutes. Some tough moments but you have to expect that against Chelsea and Hazard but overall I thought he did well.

Exactly. Full backs the length and breadth of the land have been shredded by Hazard, Rafa stands him up and some wanna have a go? Bet Wenger would've had Chambers play Hazard like Rafa did!

 

[footballgirl07]

If it wasn't Rafael would any one mention that yellow? Probably not.
I genuinely wouldn't swap him for anyone in the world, the boys got everything and its brushed over because he's 'rash'. Nonsense.

Those two things annoy me a lot! Ivanovic was doing constant niggly tackles but they never comment on him.

As for Rafael, thought he was brilliant. He doesn't get enough credit for his defending. That yellow card aside, Hazard did not get any joy down our right hand side at all. The only time he did get going, he went inside through the middle. Also, neither full back had cover from their wingers today, so Rafael was dealing with Hazard on his own for most of the game. I don't know whose idea it was to put Rafael on Drogba for set pieces and we also had Shaw on Cahill! Attacking wise, got forward not as much as he had liked but put in some great runs. Great game from Rafael.

 

[Steven Seagull]

It was a stupid booking because he sold himself. Hazard isn't going to do anything on the touch line if Rafael just stands a yard off him. He made it easy for Hazard.

 

[ivaldo]

He seems to have seemingly boundless amounts of energy, just never stops.

 

[Tarrou]

Brilliant today apart from the silly yellow. He's the one player you can't trust on a yellow because he just loses it sometimes, but tbf today he kept his cool well. I was surprised at how little Chelsea tried to exploit that card, but part of the reason for that was Rafael did so well. He anticipated and cut-out a lot of danger by marking tight and making early challenges.

Now, just stay fit please!

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Really pleased how disciplined he was after that early yellow. Very mature response. Good stuff.

 

[Crackers]

Who's bright idea was it to have him marking Didier fecking Drogba?!

I heard it was a mix up of communication between Fellaini and him.

 

[ZDwyr]

I heard it was a mix up of communication between Fellaini and him.

Fellaini was marking Cahill at that corner I think and was at the back post. Although at times (other corners) Fellaini seemed to be marking Drogba. I'm not sure what the plan was for him really. Rafael was solid. Played Hazard well at times and got into trouble a couple of times too but that happens when you play Hazard because he's quality.

 

[McMarmite]

He is weirdly the catalyst for most of our attacks. Some of the balls he played when januzaj moved to the right were exquisite.