Naked Mole Rat

I thought Mikel was solid today. A couple misplaced passes, but overall, he looked very tidy, and his first touch was exceptional, I think, which was important when playing against high-pressing teams. Also, it was nice to see him push forward when he needed to.

I thought Mikel was solid today. A couple misplaced passes, but overall, he looked very tidy, and his first touch was exceptional, I think, which was important when playing against high-pressing teams. Also, it was nice to see him push forward when he needed to.

To quote the famous add : "Well, what did you expect ?"
He's 21, twice best Ligue youngster, followed by two best player awards, he equalized the record of Ligue 1 assist last season while scoring 20 goals on top of that.
What you saw today was a good Hazard, but who's only discovering a new league, a new team, and not at the top of his physical form yet.
I'd say that on the 55-60 games he plays each season since 2008 at Lille, 10 to 15% are bad/useless, 40% are at the level he had tonight, 40% are a bit better ... And well, the last 10% .. It's those 5-6 games per year where he's touched by god. And then, it's just magical to watch.You will see very soon
You can even hope he becomes more and more constant as he grows up.
Added to that all the decisive fouls (and penaltys) he will provoke this season, you now understand why most of LOSC fans think we've been fucked by this 40m bid...

What a performance from him. He was only selfish once, then after that he started cutting in and passing, his dribbling is so underrated, better than a lot of world class wingers. It's a shame he doesn't want to be a winger, i think he could mold into a perfect one, if he gained his maturity over the years he could develop into a fine winger. But he wants to be a striker and that's that, so lets see how he does there.
He also tracked back a lot which was good to see, had a bit of trouble near the end but he's not a defender he's going to get beat a lot of the time.

By the way, I don't understand some of the criticism he gets like how he's a washup and a liability and whatnot. I've been hearing that for years now it seems, but he's always been this good. Sure, he has a bad game every now and then, but in my opinion, he's been fairly consistent over the years, and he rarely disappoints in big games.

Goodbye, Florent.

By the way, I don't understand some of the criticism he gets like how he's a washup and a liability and whatnot. I've been hearing that for years now it seems, but he's always been this good. Sure, he has a bad game every now and then, but in my opinion, he's been fairly consistent over the years, and he rarely disappoints in big games.

Goodbye, Florent.

Goodbye, Florent.

I don't know what you've done different today but great work in keeping the site up during the game!

Great performance by him today, he missed absolutely nothing, especially in the air. Man of the match for me.

Apparently Villas-Boas has now exiled Modric from even training with the rest of the first team, sound familiar? What a knobhead.

I'm surprised people are reading so much into that interview. To me, it seems like his words were deliberately interpreted in a way that would present him as a bitter character. I haven't seen the original interview, but I can imagine how if it were translated differently, it could make people sympathize with him rather than hate on him for being so selfish. Like say,
This bit here. "Sacrificed"? "Didn't want to put up with it"? It seems a bit fishy to me. Unless this guy is the new Balotelli or he REALLY wants to leave the club, there's no way he would have used such words. And you should all know how the media like to make footballers look as one-dimensional as possible. You know, like Hazard is a narcissist who knows about nothing but himself, Cole and Sturridge are all about money, and Terry is a no-good scumbag, and all he ever does is fuck other people's wives. Haters can do anything pretty much. They can make Lukaku look like an arrogant and bitter son of a bitch just by twisting words around a little when what he probably meant to say was he was disappointed with having played no part in our campaign last season despite having high hopes when he joined us.

I'm surprised people are reading so much into that interview. To me, it seems like his words were deliberately interpreted in a way that would present him as a bitter character. I haven't seen the original interview, but I can imagine how if it were translated differently, it could make people sympathize with him rather than hate on him for being so selfish. Like say,
This bit here. "Sacrificed"? "Didn't want to put up with it"? It seems a bit fishy to me. Unless this guy is the new Balotelli or he REALLY wants to leave the club, there's no way he would have used such words. And you should all know how the media like to make footballers look as one-dimensional as possible. You know, like Hazard is a narcissist who knows about nothing but himself, Cole and Sturridge are all about money, and Terry is a no-good scumbag, and all he ever does is fuck other people's wives. Haters can do anything pretty much. They can make Lukaku look like an arrogant and bitter son of a bitch just by twisting words around a little when what he probably meant to say was he was disappointed with having played no part in our campaign last season despite having high hopes when he joined us.

This constitutes as journalism?..
Smh.

Watched the game again. I really fail to see how Mikel was supposedly the cancer in the team. The double pivot as a whole is a problem, it just doesn't work without our forward players dropping a little deeper - it forces Lampard to go up to try and link up play which leaves Mikel exposed.
Whenever Mikel got the ball he was swarmed by City players. That was the problem. Lampard, instead of running all over the pitch to close down, should've been an outlet for Mikel. We would've kept possession a lot better in that way.
The double pivot failed, not just Mikel. If you didn't watch the game and came on here for some reviews you would've thought Mikel lost us the game, but it was a collective thing.
What I don't understand is how people can question his whole CFC career after one bad game. Mikel can go on a run of 5 good games and he'd perhaps be below average in one and he'll get slated. It isn't fair IMO.
If Mikel turned in bad performances week in week out then yeah, we need a new DM. BUT he doesn't.

My word, so it IS true. Prolonged exposure to Liverpool is extremely stressful and can cause your brain to give up.

It's actually the complete opposite. Sturridge has that unpredictability, that if trained correctly, can make him a very very dangerous player. Not many players like that out there at the moment.

I like your reasoning.

I think it would be a mistake to play him in the double pivot.
First of all, the fact he drops deep with Brazil, when they have the ball passession, doesn't mean he could play in the double pivot. Just as the fact he sometimes drops deep to help the defense, neither does mean he has what it takes to play in a midfield-two. To my eyes, to say he will be good in the double pivot role, because of the facts mentionned above, amounts to say that David Luiz should be playing as a Defensive Midfielder ! This is a misconception. To be good in some area of the pitch, while playing there momentarily during a game, and, to play continuously in this same position while being good... Are two different things ! Indeed, when you leave your position during a game to play at another place, you do not have the same restraints. For instance, when you are a defender and make runs forward, he will look good because you will go unmarked, you will have space, etc...
Furthermore, to play Oscar that deep, would be to cast pearls before swine. The double-pivot role, whether you're the "defensive" player or the "offensive", is a role which is very restrictive for players (on a tactical level, i.e. they can't leave their position). And this role implies a significant amount of defensive duties. To my mind, it would be just wrong to restrain him with these defensive duties and to limit his playing area. When you have a player with a genuine and natural flair to build the game, why play him in an area and a position which will mute his main assets ?
And finally, I can't see him succeed in this position. In my opinion this is way to deep for him. I cannot see how you can convert an offensive midfielder, coming from the brazilian league, to a midfielder playing before the defenders in the Premier League. I neither don't think he has the physical, tactical and technical attributes to succeed in a role implying defensive tasks (the defensive tasks given to a man of the midfield two, of course).
I really don't see where this idea to play him this way comes. To my honest opinion, the position which would suit him the most - considering the other players we have and his own traits - would be in the middle of the park, sitting in front of two defensive-minded midfielders, and with the licence to roam all over the pitch.

Well. I wanted to say this for a while now, but I always naively thought it would stop. But right now it's over the top :
Whenever someone tells his point of view on a player, and says the said player isn't that good or such, some people jump on his back and counter-argument him by saying : "he is a hater" and "his opinion is invalid because he bases his judgement on a pre-season game". Whenever someone criticizes the performance of the team, some members who aren't agree with him, tell him : "you aren't a true fan" ; "you are a glory hunter" ; "you are a plastic fan" ; "you cannot know because you don't attend to games" ; etc... In general, whenever a member isn't agree with someone's else opinion, he doesn't try to say why he isn't agree, but tries to make him look like a fool, brings up something which isn't relative to the debate. Even the nationality of the members is used as a counter argument. How many times members have used Henrique's nationality in order to attack his opinion (or him) (genuine quote "you must know, you are brazilian") ?
I even saw, few months ago, the most unbelievable dig.... Some people trying to mock someone's opinion by saying (genuine quote again) "why don't you donate money to the forum ?"
I am not saying by any means that everyone is like this. But there's too much of this, in my opinion.
Sorry for the rant, but I am tired of seeing petty personal abuse, such as "you're a glory hunter" (look at today match thread...), when people aren't agree with some other people. We are here to expose and exchange our opinions. We aren't supposed to be here to say "I know all and you, you know fuck all". All in all, it really doesn't matter if it's wrong or on point, as long as you can explain why. I know I am the rebirth of Candid, but I'd like to participate to fruitful debates, with respect. And remember this "Perception requires duality". Peace.

Nothing wrong with what he said. He's been with us for many years, and it's perfectly understandable if he doesn't want to leave. And he said he would fight for his place, and you can bet he will. Plus, he's shown that he can still be a pretty useful player.

http://www.eplindex.com/16829/chelsea-forget-john-obi-mikel.html
An article with stats on Mikel.

Lamps says all that I'm saying of him, he has brilliant feet, brilliant shielding, superb tackling, great tactical awareness...
he for me lacks sometimes commitment, he just has to raise this, track back more and fight more... these two points ar vital for me to give him the attribute, outstanding Worldclass DM...

I fail to see why people are concerned about him. His only two noticeable flaws are lack of experience and heavy touch. He will eventually learn how to get underneath the ball and when to hold the defender off and when to make a run. And his first touch may be awful now, but players often see a significant improvement in certain aspects of their game through focused training. I remember Sturridge couldn't use his right foot at all a couple seasons ago, but he's now pretty comfortable with it. Rooney also expressed in 2010 that he had improved greatly on his aerial ability through continuous, focused training.