Van Butsen

He has played under half the minutes available to him since he has arrived and i was unaware he won those trophies single-handedly. Anyway, i don't want to sound like im crusading against Mikel, already spoke my thoughts in his goal scoring thread. He's just not up to it

How much is RLC worth to other clubs? I think he could start for a number of other teams if not ours, and surely that would be appealing to him? I love him, and don't want him to go anywhere, but is he rated by other clubs as well? At what price?

Yep I swear he takes an eternity to get it away, can read him like a book at the moment.. A colouring in book

And before the thread police come flying in, when I say never, I am exaggerating the fact. I have seen him play a forward pass, I have seen him make a tackle, I have seen him block, I have seen his assist against Everton... But these are rare, a minority, and not of Chelsea standard.

I'm not frustrated by his lack of forward thinking play. My original comment was that he is poor as a defensive midfielder. Since the start of 2009/2010 he has 11500 minutes. Les than half the 25740 minutes on offer. That's a bench warmer for mine. I'm not a big stat man, and they certainly don't lie but they don't tell the whole truth. I base my opinion on the games I have seen since he came to Chelsea, so I can't really play ball with you on that one but here are some notes. Dispossessed 1.1 times per 90 minutes: How catastrophic have these dispossessions been? Have they lead to a chance? Have they changed the tide of the game? Impossible to answer, but my feeling is when he does lose it, it is are far more crucial than when anyone does. Passing success rate 90%: So many of his passes are short, backwards, sideways, not under pressure. How many have saved us from being in a tough position? Again quite hard to answer and it's just what I've seen, they seem to be nothing passes. I never see him break up play, I never see him cut out a threatening pass, I simply never see him do anything. I was never comparing him to Matic, but for the sake of it, I've never seen Mikel play anywhere near the level Matic did last year. For what ever the stats say, can you deny that Matic was a beast last season? Interceptions, blocks, tackles, composure, strength, passing, generall football smarts, beating a man, saving us on the break, protecting the defenders, scoring a goal or two. He was a beast. Mikel does not do one of those things as good as Matic.

99% sure all the mobile vendors in the streets around the ground sell official merchandise as well.. As in, they're not trying to pull a fast one and sell you unofficial/fake stuff

I think the posts following yours essentially summed up my rebuttal. For someone to have an attribute, let's say strength, I would say they need to win at least 7 out of 10 strength battles to accurately say they are strong?. Or they have to be composed more times than not. I don't have a big time moment example, but if the only argument to support Mikel in 10 years of predominantly warming the pine at Chelsea, is that he was strong and composed in one game (all be it a big one) then I don't think he possesses those qualities. He has never nailed down a starting position for any length of time in my memory, and even if he has, has been replaced eventually. You don't go warming the bench for 10 years if you have something to offer the team. My point being, what he can do , whatever his qualities are.. A) I think there are players out there who can do that PLUS a whole lot more, B) it's just not Chelsea standard,

Zinc have you got the JT presser?

Yeap we are just desperately out of form and it makes everyone look bad.. even the reigning player of the year not to mention the reining leading assist winner. I've always thought his change of pace was too slow for that central midfield role, but from his post game interviews last season and this season I certainly don't think he's leading any sort of revolt.

Probably

What are these uses?

Well i think it's still there, but you need the players to execute it for it to be successful. As I've mentioned in other threads, things do seem a little less calculated this season and I'm not sure what that is down to. i don't think he would abandon his usual way of coaching though

Mourinho is known for having contingency plans in place on match day. He comes armed and the team prepared with a plan for what happens if the score goes 1-0, or 0-1, or 2-0 or more.. or later in the game, or if we are shown a red or if they are shown a red or any number of outcomes. I'd say he is one of, if not the only manager that generally speaking, does it so well.

I'd have to watch them all again but my vague memory was that he did get served a lot of them up. But again, you still have to put them in which too many strikers fail to do.

I think their points are that, perhaps he isn't a top top striker if he can only score when the whole teams playing well and serving them on a plate? i don't agree with that though, some strikers can't even put them in from dead in front... Costa is often clinical if he can get the shot away.

What can I say, I just love lying. Please

As a specialist defensive midfielder he is quite poor at being both defensive and also a midfielder. I don't think he brings anything at all to the team.

It's real. Bring on Sunderland away!

Pretty easy for me to say now that the Old Lady are having something of a Chelsea-like season. But I watched a few games last year, only a few, and never really saw much that I liked in Pogba. Is it because he possesses the qualities that a top manager could turn into a weapon? Short of reading the pages and pages of speculative transfer articles on him, can someone tell me why he is so good? I'm not at all devastated we didn't get him and not really bothered if we don't. I thought he grew into the game second half of champions league final, a tough arena to shine for any youngster though.

Loved it! Up the blues and up the wallabies, big day of glaaaaa tomorrow

Play him in the number 10 this week!

Wow definitely did not remember that! What a goal and what a game! i've actually seen him play a few forward for Nigeria as he always gets a game and is often the main man. I actually share a bit of a joke with my brother, if we have Mikel out there passing sideways and backwards why don't I get a game and do the same thing?

I've never seen Mikel play a forward pass.. Ramires shows intent and he can definitely get on the end of passes that others wouldn't. Glad he is sticking around

The twitter account that posts all the great "On this day in..." pictures, just posted the below http://theprideoflondon.com/2015/10/29/chelsea-fc-a-letter-to-roman-abramovich/ Twitter Acc: https://twitter.com/NTilt Edit: Sorry It was originally tweeted from https://twitter.com/carefreelee62 The picture account is awesome for those that haven't seen it

He's surely worth more to them alive?