Last weekend he played a pass which bypassed the entire midfield and led to a goal:

 

 

C'mon, you know full well thats an exception rather than the rule. I know its not his job to setup goals, but what we want in midfield is determined incisive play,  quick feet, and most of all awareness. You dont get any of that with JOM.

jose: ok obi, now remember, if we are 1-0 up in the 87th minute and we need to defend that lead, what i want you to do is completely ignore the midfielder just a yard away from you and man-mark the referee instead...got it? 

 

mikel: but boss...

 

jose: no buts obi...just do it. 

 

Yeah, selective quoting is a mark of a good debate.  No wonder most people in here think you are a twat.

 

Its a nice theory Yorkey, but lets be honest when was the last time JOM provided an outlet ? Or got in the way (people walk past him!), or re-cycled possession confidentley ?

 

Id agree there is a degree of truth in that he must have the managers faith, because so many see to pick him so often. But hell knows what it is. I dont see any aspect of his game that stands out and never have.

 

He does a limited job. But trust me, he wouldnt get anywhere near the other  top teams in Europe starting XIs a regularly as he has at Chelsea. It baffles me. The club need to move on, hes done ok and been involved in a lot of medals. Good on him.

 

But he isn't a top drawer player in a position where we need a top draw player. And ive said that so many times since 2006. Enough is enough.

 

I agree that he isn't a world-class Makalele , but what I meant was that he is very nearly always in space when someone else is being pressurised, despite some high-profile incidents that lots of posters love to remember, he is actually quite a good tackler, and good with the ball at his feet in tight situations.  I admit he does appear to doze off on occasion but the speed with which some arses in here (not you BJD) try to blame Mikel for everything that goes wrong just irritates the f**k out of me.  FFS, the other day we even had one tit saying that it was Mikel's fault that Luiz got booked. Now that is one blinkered arsehole.

 

Any road up, whilst we probably will never agree fully, I think Mikel is somewhere in between "Nowhere near as bad as some think" and "Not really good enough if we want to be world beaters but the best we have for that position at the moment "  And, having said that, I think the constant and instant slagging off of a Chelsea player by so-called fans is just a bit classless (Again, not you BJD)

 

Cheers

Kev

Spot on, yorkley.

Yeah, selective quoting is a mark of a good debate.  No wonder most people in here think you are a twat.

 

 

actually, if your point was that everything mikel gets criticised for is merely what the manager tells him to do, then that is a fair response. 

 

however, if you would like a different response: how come all of our managers give mikel this "job", and they don't give it to anyone else who is ever in our team, or anyone else who has ever been in any of their teams? i don't recall any player in carlo's milan side whose sole job was to stand still in the midfield and knock the ball to whichever player was nearest to him over and over again. or jose's real. or *insert massive list of all our managers previous and subsequent teams here*. so either they are giving mikel different instructions to every other player they have ever managed, or you are full of sh*t and a massive twat (fyi it's option two, you twat).  

JOM appears to be an easy scapegoat, all players have bad days, especially recently.

Hes been a great servant to the club, and on the winning CL campaign under RDM he was superb.

The team's current problems are bigger than any 1 player. The manager needs the opportunity

to bring in a few and move a few on. If JOM stays or goes I trust the manager to decdide whats best

for CFC.

Mikel has never been 'superb' under any manager,just about competent and that was 2 years ago.Ask yourself how many times has he ever been in the runing for motm let alone win it.Whenever to talk opposition fans ,the last player to worry any of them is Mikel.I know that doesnt mean a lot but a handfull of decent performances a season just wont cut the mustard.He has a lot of years left on his conntract(4 years) so will be difficult to move on.

Edited December 18, 201312 yr by haifarul

With all of the various degrees of Mikel-love in here, have any of you ever stopped to consider that maybe, just maybe, Mikel is doing exactly what each of his very many managers have told him to?  Keep it simple, stupid, play it short and re-cycle possession whenever possible and don't take any risks at all, get in the way, and accept a card if necessary, and provide an outlet for whoever is on the ball if they are getting harried by agricultural hoofers.

 

Not saying that is the case, but at least I have a sufficiently open mind about the player to accept that it could be possible.

 

That old "recycling possession" yarn, yorkley. We're going to have to invent a new term for it. How's about "passing the ball" .. ?

 

No, it'll never catch on.

 

You may be right with your hypothesis. However, it's clear that Mikel isn't really pleasing Jose, because he's been demoted to a LC player.

 

That's right, Mikel was "rested" against Palace in favour of Essien, so he could be saved for the LC. Essien also played against Southampton. That's 2 league games where Jose felt Lampard needed resting and he resisted playing Mikel.

 

It's bad enough Lampard's playing ahead of him, as he's 35, a shadow of his former self, and a far-from-ideal partner for Rambo, but Essien? The guy's had about 649 knee operations.

 

In short, there's hardly any competition, we're woefully short in midfield, and Mikel is being saved for the LC?

 

Those games that Mikel does get are purely down to lack of numbers but Jose's going to rectify that this window.

 

Sure, maybe Mikel's doing what Jose's telling him to, but let's face it, Jose's not telling him it very often, and he's about to start telling him it even less.

Ask yourself how many times has he ever been in the runing for motm let alone win it.Whenever to talk opposition fans ,the last player to worry any of them is Mikel.

 

One of the 2 most irrelevant criticisms yet.

 

Just stick to repeating he only passes sideways or backwards.

That old "recycling possession" yarn, yorkley. We're going to have to invent a new term for it. How's about "passing the ball" .. ?

 

Different sh*t and you know it.  Don't be disingenuous, David, it's beneath you.

 

................................., because he's been demoted to a LC player.

 

That's right, Mikel was "rested" against Palace in favour of Essien, so he could be saved for the LC. Essien also played against Southampton. That's 2 league games where Jose felt Lampard needed resting and he resisted playing Mikel.

 

............................................some other stuff

 

 

 

Go back through this thread and many many others, and see how many times this forumful of  wonderful armchair managers possibly including you, yourself) have stated quite categorically that there was never any need for Mikel at home to the "Park the bus" rabble such as Palace.  Perhaps Jose read this forum and takes in all the wonderful insight posted by you and others, and then takes that into account with his squad rotation.  For what it's worth, my opinion is that it's possible that Jose decided that we didn't need Mikel to beat oe even control Palace, and that a (sadly) damaged Essien would be sufficient.

I wonder what would upset the forum more, if Mikel started against Arsenal or Torres?

I think Mikel would be good to bring on if we are a couple of goals up, as he should be able to slow the overall tempo down.

If we have Ramires and Lamps in front of the defenders it would probably be a hectic 90 minutes.

I wonder what would upset the forum more, if Mikel started against Arsenal or Torres?

 

 

Well judging the way our other two strikers played on Tuesday night, Torres HAS to start.

 

Mikel surely won't.

Edited December 19, 201312 yr by Nibs

Harsh on Ba, I think he's the best of the three at the minute. He only had 10 minutes the other night and at least got an ambitious shot away, which narrowly missed the goal...a lot less can be said for what Eto'o did in the whole match.

Its a big game though and Torres will likely be given the nod. I wonder if they can both work up top together...maybe Jose will change it up?

Who knows

Well judging the way our other two strikers played on Tuesday night, Torres HAS to start.

 

Mikel surely won't.

 

I'd definitely go with Torres as well because frankly, he's the best of a bad bunch right now. 

 

Harsh on Ba, I think he's the best of the three at the minute. He only had 10 minutes the other night and at least got an ambitious shot away, which narrowly missed the goal...a lot less can be said for what Eto'o did in the whole match.

Its a big game though and Torres will likely be given the nod. I wonder if they can both work up top together...maybe Jose will change it up?

Who knows

 

He didn't only have 10 minutes though did he, he had about 45 minutes of football and spent about 40 of that on the floor with his hands in the air appealing to ref.

 

When Ba does things right, he can look lethal... When he's bad, which he very much was the other night, he looks Sunday league bad. 

Mikel surely won't.

 

He might. He was part of the team that made arsenal look like amateurs in the COC.

Harsh on Ba, I think he's the best of the three at the minute. He only had 10 minutes the other night and at least got an ambitious shot away, which narrowly missed the goal...a lot less can be said for what Eto'o did in the whole match.

Its a big game though and Torres will likely be given the nod. I wonder if they can both work up top together...maybe Jose will change it up?

Who knows

 

Not at all harsh. He got more than 20 minutes on Tuesday (+ ET) and spent probably 19 of those on his backside!

Edited December 19, 201312 yr by Nibs

I'd definitely go with Torres as well because frankly, he's the best of a bad bunch right now.

He didn't only have 10 minutes though did he, he had about 45 minutes of football and spent about 40 of that on the floor with his hands in the air appealing to ref.

When Ba does things right, he can look lethal... When he's bad, which he very much was the other night, he looks Sunday league bad.

Ah sh*t yeah, forgot about extra time. I tried to wipe that from my memory.. was almost gone

He might. He was part of the team that made arsenal look like amateurs in the COC.

 

Both clubs put out weakened sides that night.

 

This match is Down to Business.

Go back through this thread and many many others, and see how many times this forumful of  wonderful armchair managers possibly including you, yourself) have stated quite categorically that there was never any need for Mikel at home to the "Park the bus" rabble such as Palace.  Perhaps Jose read this forum and takes in all the wonderful insight posted by you and others, and then takes that into account with his squad rotation.  For what it's worth, my opinion is that it's possible that Jose decided that we didn't need Mikel to beat oe even control Palace, and that a (sadly) damaged Essien would be sufficient.

 

so who does jose think we need mikel to beat? 

 

he's started him only 10 times in the 28 games we have had this season (2 of those are league cup ties where we put out reserve teams) and he has lasted the full 90 only 7 times. that's 5 times he has played the full 90 in meaningful games: basel, west ham, schalke, fulham and everton. the rest of his starts are steaua, stoke and spurs as well as the two league cup games. it is clear that jose is not keeping him in reserve, ready to face the fearsome opposition that some claim he excels against. he's just not picking him. he's a back-up player in our weakest area. 

 

if he perfectly executed the manager's gameplan every time he stepped out in the pitch, maybe the manager would pick him more regularly? especially as our other midfielders haven't exactly set the world alight (although it seems that is more than enough to stay in front of mikel in the pecking order) and the other options are not exactly numerous in number either. 

Its difficult with our strikers (I use that word loosely ) as a few games ago Torres had done enough for me to believe he was our best option, hardest to knock off the ball and most up for a challenge, then Eto'o found a bit of form and linked up well with the attack and I thought blimey now there's options, not great but options...then Ba had a couple of run outs and ran into spaces where I'd want a striker to run, looked a bit better at muscling his way through a packed defense and getting on the end of things and I thought...Ba must get a start soon.

 

Now I really don't know what to say, I've never seen three strikers that can be so completely different game to game, gut instinct tells me Torres in the game at the Emirates but I wouldn't like to have to make the decision.

 

 

Edit:

 

Sorry, read a couple of posts here about the strikers and never noticed it was a Mikel thread.

 

I'd start him to be honest, and I'd have Ramires and Lampard in front of him, just think it might keep us a bit more solid until a change mid way second half gets us

in front.

Edited December 19, 201312 yr by Chippy

Go back through this thread and many many others, and see how many times this forumful of  wonderful armchair managers possibly including you, yourself) have stated quite categorically that there was never any need for Mikel at home to the "Park the bus" rabble such as Palace.  Perhaps Jose read this forum and takes in all the wonderful insight posted by you and others, and then takes that into account with his squad rotation.  For what it's worth, my opinion is that it's possible that Jose decided that we didn't need Mikel to beat oe even control Palace, and that a (sadly) damaged Essien would be sufficient.

 

Sorry yorkley, I'm not buying that, nor have I ever stated that Mikel should be selected according to the opposition, though I'm sure others have suggested it.

 

For me, your best players play, and clearly Jose doesn't regard Mikel as one of his best. Lots of other teams have DMs and they play them if they're considered one of their better players. Barcelona steamroll most teams they face and Busquets is a fixture in their team, as Maka was in ours under Jose, no matter the opposition. 

 

Mikel hasn't impressed Jose sufficiently this time around, that's my opinion, and for me it's clear to see why.

BOOM

Once again our goal machine!

second highest scorer in 2014 now? cant see our current strikers putting too much pressure on him. What does Jose feed him to make him score. never done it for any other chelsea manager, but 4 for jose!