Kojo

They are still a poor team, they get the points mind but that's about it. With a side like they have they could be much better. And I know I didn't mean to type Luiz, but the point still stands, obviously people will miss it over a typo.

Mikel has got something Ramires hasn't got, a good first touch, calmness on the ball and good consistent passing. He can actually connect with the likes of Mata, Oscar and Hazard. Only thing is his defensive approach still isn't as good, against Ravel Morrison what was that exactly? You can't let a player skip past you like that not that easy. He left Luiz one on one, leaving defenders one on one should always be considered a crime to your midfielders. It's the reason Spurs have conceded many goals.

Such a positive display at his half, I expected us to struggle at least, but that doesn't seem to be the problem.

I think it's a bit unfair to keep bringing international performances into it. No disrespect to the international teams in Africa but it's not something to look at if he's playing against teams like Ethiopia, Jordan and Burkina Faso. Let’s not get carried away with international performances, we need to judge him in a Chelsea shirt, I don't think him putting in good performances justifies much.

Spot on. But I say let him be his own player, he doesn't have to be another Malouda (back in 09) or another Anelka. Schurrle is different, that's a good thing to have. A lot of our attackers are very similar, we have many playmakers in the side such as Mata, Oscar, Willian and De Bruyne. It's good to have a player who works hard and can use his pace to beat players and whips in the cross. He's more of a direct way of thinking, he's the type of player that makes movement and gets into space, but also chases the ball down. It's good to have that variety, we shouldn't complain about him because he's not better than Hazard or Oscar or whatever. This type of player is exactly what we need in the side, last season the Mazacar was always overrun completely, there was no balance in the side, now that doesn't appear to be the case anymore. Of course we have lost games but not in that fashion last season, this season we've actually managed to have had a handful of chances even if we have lost or drew a game like against Everton and West Brom.

I would have said in 2010 World Cup we would have had similar players in quality but they were still a much better team. But now there players are absolutely two times as good as ours and they play much better as a team. But the England side actually has some decent technical players for once, yet we still aren't trying out Michael Carrick or Jack Wilshere together in the midfield, we want to play the average Joes like Tom Cleverly and Danny Welbeck instead. Germany now though, I wouldn't want to play them, they seem to have hit form, only problem is coming to the World Cup is that they might of hit form too early, perhaps that's a load of bull sh*t but we will see in the World Cup. But either way good on them, unlike the F.A they have allowed there manager to have transition and the freedom to play all the youngsters he wishes, and now it's finally going to pay off for them. I wish we would do the same but the F.A wants all the big names playing, because big names playing means more money.

That's only because TalkChelsea was clingy, I said two seasons ago that a more aggressive midfielder would have done than Mikel. I never once said that Tiote is the best defensive midfielder in the league. At the time Tiote was a really good ball winner, and I really wanted him in the side because we would have needed him more than Mikel. As I've always said about Mikel, I think on the ball he's good but off the ball he is very bad. At that time when we had AVB in charge I thought a more aggressive minded DM would've been better, that's why I wanted Tiote on-board. Again I know you're not taking a shot at me, but on that forum can't state an opinion without getting slammed, trolled or even 5 warning points off an admin.

I believe all of us are entitled to have our opinions on players. The other Chelsea forum couldn't have a good debate about Mikel without insulting you, I think this forum has a bit more sense and I don't think anyone is going to get ridiculed for their opinion. I wasn't a big fan of Mikel, his performances last season and the season before where not good enough. He proved to be nothing more but a passenger, in a side that only has two midfielders we can't have passengers, we need midfielders who are the backbone of the team, we already have far too many attackers as it is. But as I previously stated I think Mikel has gotten better and I am happy we didn't sell him and get some other player, because I think we need to avoid transition as much as possible, the fact that we haven't won the title in 3 seasons isn't good. Let’s make use of that, replacing all our players like Man City do every season will not help us build a team, it will only lead to making a new team every season. We need legends and characters not people who will come and go every season or two.

I don't know about the black part but yes. Mentality it's who you are, but things can change, experience it can develop. But Mikel is a mature player, it isn't the basic things, it's the way how he deals with situations. But if he can improve on what he already is, there might just be a place in him for this side. But he really does need to contribute more to attack rather than just covering all the time.

What do you guys think of him? Personally I've had my doubts for the past 2 seasons about him, when Essien was injured for 6 months I thought he would flourish and I thought he would excel under AVB. But he still didn't, and he failed to do that the season after, he couldn't get himself into the team. I'm not for the Man City way of thinking, I'm now glad we gave him the chance rather than going out and buying De Rossi like City would've done. I think its good we develop a team of players who are there for a reason and have been trusted with. I don't think Mikel lacks quality, I think he lacks mentality at times, he's composed but he isn't aggressive and can be far too passive, in a league like this you can't have that attitude no matter what type of player you are. He's looking good lately and that's crucial, it goes to show something for the long term plan.

Well managers do get blast for just about anything, so my argument wasn't exactly built on concrete to begin with I can agree with that. As for Mata I know he can perform, I have no doubts as I previously stated that he will come back into play, I just disagree that the time to play him is now. I think having Oscar in the centre is a good call, the team seem to work better and play better. One thing though, and this is just a viewpoint, why hasn't Mata been playing in other positions? It's most likely because we have a huge squad but I would have thought that Mata would have been placed as a right winger or left winger now and then when he was brought on. The best thing Mata could do is be put in an additional position so he doesn't have his work cut out. I know a winger requires work rate but what I'm saying is when scenarios happen, for instance Cardiff when we needed to get past there 5 man defence, putting Mata on the wing wouldn't have been a downfall, giving him that freedom back he would have really gotten under their skin as he used to. Whereas a CAM it's now a primary position for our formation, it's no shadow striker or playmaking position it's more attacking midfield and everything is required to play there. So what happens in the future for Mata I really don't know, but this is Chelsea and things change like every season so I wouldn't worry too much?

I think people seem to forget that most times Mata has played he has put in a poor performance. All I hear about is why Mourinho doesn't play Mata, yet he's not exactly out shining Oscar or Hazard in anyway. Then we see him on the bench and the cycle starts over. I would play Oscar over Mata right now in that centre attacking position, simply because Oscar performs better and the team do better as a whole. I do have faith that Mata will win us points later on in the season, but I don't think Mata’s time is now, not with the way he has been playing recently. I would much rather play Oscar so that we work hard as a team and try and get through this horrible month the best we can. If Mata is to play and get his game, then he has to play well when he gets the opportunity to, because whenever he gets the opportunity he has been playing bad, the 1 or 2 games he has played well but the other times he hasn’t been good at all.

Sam will try to get physical, it wouldn't surprise me if he did anyway. I don't rate him as a manager at all, in fact I don't like him because he is the most unambitious man in football, and he would be quite happy finishing 17th place every season. But the man does know how to take advantage of a team. As we have seen of Chelsea in recent Novembers we have been poor and lack the mentality of scoring enough goals and seeing out games. That flow seems to just disappear. One thing though I could be wrong, I remember us being in a situation last season coming up against West Ham, and if I remember correctly we seemed to manage and won the game.

This terrible month has been haunting us for a while now. I would say since Carlos 2nd season, it's always been this month what makes things so grim. We really need to get out of this silly phrase and start getting some points or we are going to be left too far behind to even make a comeback later on in the season. The West Brom game should have been a win, but I'm glad we managed to get a point from it. Only problem is I look at West Ham and I think everyone on this thread knows Sam Allerdyce is the one to take advantage of things, stick two 6ft 5 forwards in the box and cross from all angles, no doubt about it. We just need to hurt them more than they can hurt us, letting a silly thing like form get us down isn't going to help, I say silly thing form is what wins you titles, but it's what you make of it, it can either be a silly thing and that's good or it can be this big problem and we are going to be stuck in it for a while.

I don't mean to start any Mata vs Oscar discussion in here but I'm glad Oscar is getting his game rather than Mata as Mata is not performing to standard. Oscar runs around all day long he works hard, Mata doesn't just lack the required work rate he also lacks the stamina for it. However I do hope Mata gets more time than he has, I want him to prove a point later on in the season when we need our squad to start fighting for places and winning us points. I have a feeling Mata will end up proving a point later on in the season and show why he deserves a spot in the team and that he can fit into the system.