The Skipper

How's that for a goal out of nothing?

But I swear Fabregas isn't a Mourinho signing?

We are seriously going to fight.

He was coasting and played okay because he had two shields in front of him. Nothing new.

Remember at the start of the season when he was the supposed weak link in our defence? Ha. Wrong then, more than wrong now.

King in the air and the way he commands his area to deal with crosses.

This will be tougher than Stoke, West Ham have been outstanding this season so far. Some real talent in their team.

He was actually decent today again. Broke up play well and did his job. Okay, playing him sacrifices our ability going forward but we were very solid defensively today and Mikel alongside Matic was a very important part of that.

Matic

Well, Zouma at #10. Problem solved.

I agree we could do with another midfield regulator if we are going to play Cesc there (who has been very uninfluential at #10 today despite his goal just now (brilliant first touch!)) - but you shouldn't blame Mikel for that. Mikel is in there for physicality and a presence in midfield which should in turn release Matic to take up the Fabregas role - but obviously it hasn't worked that well today. It's more on Jose than Mikel. We know what Mikel brings us as a player, so let's judge him on that.

Mourinho needs to react, we've clearly lost control of the game... Bring on Oscar and Schurrle I say. Why are we trying to hold on to a 1-0 lead...

You should've never expected Mikel to replace Cesc's role from deep to begin with. He's in there to do something different.

Please bring on Andre Jose!

Mikel has done fine IMO. He's broken up play very well in the middle of the park. The movement going forward is just poor though and he's not a player that consistently picks out the passes.

How wasteful has Willian been in the final third. Gosh.

Mikel IMO is pretty important and useful, unlike someone like Salah for example, and I don't see any youth players that have the same skill set as him as I mentioned before.

Doesn't really matter given that Stoke's team isn't about pace anyway. Especially their midfield. It'll come down to our flair players (Fabregas, Hazard) on how well we'll play today.

Disagree. Mikel is a very useful player because of his experience and his specialist role. I'm all for youth integration as you know but Mikel is not blocking anyone's path. None of our youngsters have anywhere near Mikel's skill set either (maybe apart from Ake but he's just come back from injury). It's Mourinho's decision at the end of the day anyway.

Callejon and Menez. Lol.

I am not disagreeing with that no, but when judging full backs their attacking impetus can't be disregarded. Defensively, Azpi is definitely number 1 and he's not bad going forward so it's definitely not wrong to say he's the best in the league - was just disputing your disregard of their offensive contribution.

Fullbacks aren't defenders first anymore. It's the norm for them to contribute to going forward now. A modern fullback is judged on his defensive ability and his ability to contribute in attack.

Why would Jose go out of his way to say something like that though? Mikel was easily one of our best players against Newcastke...

Well our future is looking disastrous then right? He can't even get a game at Koln.

Cech Ivanovic - Carvalho - JT - Cole Robben - Ballack (or Claude) - Lampard - Hazard Zola Drogba