CHOULO19

Think he means Luke Shaw. Who would be the most likely future addition from the players he mentioned. On Wilshere, fantastic player, but he's won't leave Arsenal and definitely not for us.

Welcome to TC Yiannis. Your English is fine, mate. Looking forward to seeing you join the discussion. Stick around

That will win you some serious games...on FIFA. Too bad it will never materialize in reality. PS: Did you really just include QPR's 33yo Luke Young as your LB?!!

How so? All my comments have been about Mikel. I never called anyone delusional, short-sighted, or any of the usual "arguments" used in here. Sounds convincing except it's factually incorrect. I must have made over 50 posts in this thread debating with members who criticize Mikel and I always come up with arguments. Whether you wish to agree with them or not is your right. Excuse me, you are trying to discredit him even when everyone else, even his critics, could see how he changed the game. That looks like hate to me. Even The Only Place To Be, who doesn't like Mikel said on the previous page that you are blinded by your hate. You should really have read my post if you want to debate it with me. I never praised Mikel for his performance yesterday, in fact I said it was below his standard level of performance! My argument does not depend on one performance because yesterday was not a one-off game for Mikel, but since he came off the bench in the middle of the game, you could very clearly see how much better the team is when Mikel is there to provide balance and give people license to go forward like I've been saying he does in this thread. It's not because his performance yesterday was outstanding, but because yesterday you got a chance to see the team with and without Mikel. In reality, it was just a typical Mikel performance. I never called you stubborn. I've never called you anything for that matter. I just said that your last post did not make sense because it's content was disjoint which is why I couldn't reply to it. This post of yours does make sense (mostly ) which is why I replied to it. Am I delusional? Maybe. It is possible, but at the time anyone is yet to convince me that Mikel is not good a player. You keep saying that, but it seems that it's only evident to you (which consequently makes it not evident by the definition of the word "evident") because most of the people in this thread, even half of Mikel's critics don't think that we need to replace him. If I have avoided this question it's because it will inevitably lead to a pointless discussion and shallow comparison of players with different assets. But I've said this in the past, and I'll say it again: I think Mikel and Carrick are the best holding midfielders in the league. I admit that is not saying much since the league is lacking quality DMs, but I've never said that Mikel is world-class (although he could be in a few years) but just that he's very good. I know you will probably reply outrageously how Toure is better (he is a box-to-box midfielder who could not do Mikel's job) or that Tiote is a beast but then I'd have to use stats to prove my point and you'd just get mad...

I agree that he maybe should have been more dominant in the air (which has been a problem since his injury, really) but the reason I blamed Luiz is that you can see from one of the replay angle that he clearly ducked under the ball in the last second which threw Petr off. Though it could be that the reason he ducked was that he got a shout a from Cech which would make it 100% Cech's fault.

I would reply, but there's really nothing in there to reply to. I read that post 3 times in order to find some sort of logical connection between two sentences, some sense in a point you're trying to make...nothing! I mean, did you even read my post? If this is an attempt to get me into a personal argument by insisting on calling me delusional and saying I got roasted ( ), then I'm going to have to disappoint you. I have no idea why you hate the man so much and it's even more puzzling why you take opinions about him so personally. I very much enjoy the debates about Mikel when the arguments are logical. No one is 100% right, and I accept that.

It's just an article to get the attention but there is not the smallest of hints yet form the FA that they are looking into the matter. The twats are childishly acting like they never saw anything.

It depends on your defense, really. Jose played on the counter all his time here, but we had the best defense in the world back then. But I don't think Rami should be a starter in 4-2-3-1 if we had a proper central midfielder.

Except he's a united player. If it were JT, it would probably have gone to court! I'm actually still upset we didn't win. We had 25mins after equalizing and had the momentum. We got 3-4 clear cut chances in the last 5mins + added time alone. Our players should have really been more clinical. We did not need to add another game to our schedule. Just hope we don't pay for not being clinical in the replay.

I had no idea he could finish with his left foot! Another excellent finish at the end of a spectacular run. He actually started that sprint inside our box and still had the feet to get past Ferdinand and provide a decent finish a decent finish full speed. That, for me, is his best asset.

It is. I was actually whining about it when I saw the lineup before the match. It's no coincidence that our best results, even the run of excellent results under RDM that put us 7 clear at the top, were most, if not all, when we played a pivot of Rami-Mikel and had Mata and Hazard behind the striker (or Torres).

You're delusional if you think we did not miss Mikel. During Jan, we lost 3 games, drew 4 and only won 3. We let a lead slip 3 times in those games. I wonder what we needed to win instead? If only we had a player who player who would keep his discipline and stick to his defensive duties and allow us to keep the ball so we don't give the opponents chances to score..But where can find a player like that? Mikel changed the game. Before he came on, utd were battering us for possession and we didn't get a single chance in the 10mins in the second half. Magically, after Mikel came on, we started to keep possession and build pressure on the utd defense and actually score goals. Not bad for a player who "contributes nothing to our attacks", right? Mikel was key to keeping us in the FA cup, don't know why you're so upset about?! And in reply to some of the comments above, Mikel had an average game yesterday, in fact it was probably below his standards since some of his passing was uncharacteristically sloppy as mentioned above. But for once, everyone got to see the difference that Mikel makes in the team and how much the team plays better when he's in the lineup because he strengthens our midfield and allows players to go forward. How did yesterday differ from any of Mikel's performances? Can you point out one instance where Mikel was brilliant in yesterday? People tend to judge footballers on certain instants and plays in matches and not their overall play; that is why Mikel is so underrated. But yesterday everyone got to see the difference that Mikel makes in the side and they're finally praising him for it (except for some sour grapes around here) but in reality, it was just a typical performance by Mikel.

lol you need to come to this thread more often then . He's been called shit, below average, not good enough for Chelsea, he's been slagged off for going to the AFCONs with Nigeria, it's been said that we can't win trophies while he's in the team, he's even been called a weak human being!

I hate to be the cu*t who says "I told you so" (who am I kidding, I love it! ) but Mikel demonstrated perfectly today how the team differs with a proper DM. Keeping possession might not be as glamorous as scoring or assisting, but it is just as important to scoring.

Rafa is a genius!

I think we jinxed him!

Quite positive he is since he was saying how sensational Mikel was in the match thread

If we go through in the EL, we will have to reschedule a league game (probably Southampton or Sunderland) to play this replay. I don't think any team has ever had the hectic schedule we've had this season!

The we'll probably have to reschedule a league game because our schedule is packed.

Logically should be Wednseday March 20th (if there is no international break).

He is obviously to blame for the first goal, but so are Cahil for losing Chicharito and Mata for not putting pressure on Carick and allowing him time and space to play that ball. He can't be blamed for the second. Luiz went for the header and completely missed it.

Credit where it's due, Rafa changed the game with his subs, but you could argue that Hazard and Mikel should have started. Both were fantastic. But we really should have finished it today. We had the momentum and chances. We shouldn't have added yet another game to our hectic schedule. De Gea was of course world class yet again against us. But the question is, will Ferdinand face retrospective action over this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Y1M6oWUsRXI Really doubt that..

I expect this thread to be very quite for a while

Oh quit whining. If we didn't make those two defensive mistakes, it'd still be 0-0 and everybody would be happy with the performance..

Lol no, of course not, I was joking. Just looking forward to having discussions with you about Chelsea