PERFECT REPLACEMENT FOR FRANK LAMPARD?? {Cesc Fabregas thrives on the anarchy of the Premier League,not Barcelonas tiki-taka style...so is he the perfect replacement for Frank Lampard at Chelsea?}Arsene Wenger did such a good job of turning Cesc Fabregas into an all-action box-to-box Premier League midfielder that he never really fitted back in at Barcelona when he went home in 2011. The 27yrs-old is now worth far more to an English club with aspirations of winning the Premier League than he is to Barca,desperatefor a replacement for Xavi.Fabregas will replace Frank Lampard with goals&energy in midfield far moreeffectively than he could replace Xavi as the pass-master of the Catalans midfield. The Spain star spent 8yrs at Arsenal where he signed as a 16yrs-old&endedup as captain marvel in Wenger’s team. He thrived on the responsibility&the anarchy of so manytop flight English games.There was less responsibility given him at the Camp Nou&there are fewer end-to-end encounters to bring out thebest in him. A Barca midfielder needs to pick his way through a 10-man defence more than he needs to take advantage of the space that an open game naturally creates. Fabregas never shied away from admitting it was more of a culture shock to go home to Barcelona than it was to moveto London at 16.When Barcelona bought him back they did so with the intention of making himthe long-term replacement for Xavi butit was difficult to embrace that new role when Xavi’s continued presence inthe team meant Fabregas often had to find a place elsewhere with another setof responsibilities.Often in big games,especially in his 2nd season,he did not play at all.‘If you play 1game,the next,&the next but then comes the big game away to Bayern Munich&we are losing 4-0&youare not even warming up then it gets you down, he told Sportsmail at the start of the season when asked about the disappointment of missing out on Barca’s 2012-13 Champions League run.‘It’s all about continuity. It’s more mental than anything else. Everyone knows Xavi&Iniesta are very good. I know what I can do,but sometimes youthink, Come on,give me a chance Boss.Last season under Tata Martino it seemed he had become a 1st-team regular but Martino failed to land a trophy&fans were happy to blame Fabregas. He has always felt harshly judged by supporters who have perhaps never forgiven him for leaving as a teenager.‘In England,you always have that extra bit of freedom as a player. You know that,if you misplace a pass,the fans aregoing to support you,’ he said. ‘And,in my case,it was a bit different because the supporters saw in me someone who had been at the club as a kid,left&then returned for a big fee.’He has also struggled to come to terms with the demands of supporters sometimes not even happy when they win the league.‘You win the league with 100points&finish a record 15points clear of Real Madrid but some people are not happy’ he said of Barcelona’s last trophy-winning campaign.‘Barca are not just about winning leagues&liftingtrophies. When we played Rayo Vallecano last season&won 4-0 people were not happy because they had slightly more possession than us. It’s incredible,it wasn’t as if we had won 1-0; we scored 4!’Those demands have taken their toll&as much as his heart will be heavyif ultimately he has to leave his boyhood club for the 2nd time,he will know it will only help his career. There were tears from his proud father Francesc the day he was presented back at Barca but the homecoming has not gone to plan&just maybe the truth is the Premier League was where he belonged all along.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Jun 2014 15:26:47 +0000
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