CHOULO19

Just saying that there is nothing, from past experiences with managers, to suggest that the next manager will not put his trust in Mikel. To replace a finished Essien which we eventually did by buying Oriol. And they have every right to do so. I was not in any way disregarding the opinions of those fans; was just saying that at the end of the day the club and manager are the ones who make the transfer decisions. And what does the level of education or how many years they have supported the club have to do with anything? They have a right to form and voice an opinion regardless. Surely you're not insinuating that Mikel fans are uneducated or know nothing about the club?

Could've been 2-0 to Bradford; off the line. Arsenal are hilarious

You say this based on what exactly? Managers like Carlo, Hidink...etc showed complete confidence in him. Even Mourinho himself was the one who bought him and moved him to DM. Not once during his time here did we hear even murmurs that the club or manager are looking to sign any DM to take Mikel's place.

He is a football player but he is human being at first and he is entitled to his opinions and beliefs.

That's why I said "if we buy a new DM". Our best option will be a loan till the end of the season but I can think of no DM that would be available for loan. Our next best option would be recalling either Chalobah or Josh (it would actually be not extending the loan in the case of Nathanial), but that might be damaging to their development since both are doing excellent at their loan and will probably only manage to play 8-10 games with us that is if they make it into the team. As much as I hate the idea and find it disastrous, I think moving Luiz up is probably the most probable option. The only other option I could think of is buying a CM (since we are lacking in that area) who is capable of covering at DM. Well those supporters should be aware that the club will not be looking to replace Mikel anytime soon. The club and every manager that has come in has been happy with him, so he is not going anywhere. And although, unfortunately, Oriol might not make a full recovery, it would not make sense to buy a DM who will replace him without seeing whether or he does return as good as new.

Ouch! Yeah, you're probably right.

I was referring to Mikel. It's hard to remember that he is still 25 and is yet to reach his peak.

If we do sign a DM in Jan, he will not be Mikel's replacement but rather his cover. We will not pay more than 10-15m when we already have 2 young great DMs.

At the risk of getting crucified, I would like to suggest Huddlestone. He's young, can play both positions of the pivot and probably wants to leave spurs. Only problem is that we will have to do business with that cunt.

^^ Bet that suit still fits

A great goal from Switzerland (bad camera angle):

Agree. Muller and Pele are definitely better goal scorers than Messi.

Guys, it's okay. We'll be fine as long as we 'aclematize'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaN_9VPz0BM&feature=g-subs-u http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYzqS7Ktakc&feature=g-subs-u Don't you just love Gigi?

It's a year long loan but I think we can recall him if we wish to. On any account, in Jan, he will be at ACON with the Ghana NT so he is not the solution.

Yep. Hopefully it won't be so devastating to Oriol because he is younger.

Can we please keep the debate about Mikel and not members' opinions? Again statistically incorrect. Mikel averages 0.4 Dribbles per match, the same as Juan Mata.

I thought by outlet you meant a player they can always pass to and trust to keep possession under pressure which btw Mikel is the best in the league, along with Toure, at. Mikel should pass to the top for but with out risking loosing possession. A pass is played by two player: the passer needs to spot the pass and the receiver needs to create the space for the pass. When the front four are between 7-8 players Mikel can't find them without a huge chance of wasting possession so he gives the ball back. Fine scrap that. Tiote who is apparently "BOSS" and the popular choice for replacement of Mikel and has 0.3 key passes per game in the PL. Not necessarily. If he attracts a defender or two with him he can create space for others. And even if it does reduce our attacking threat, by keeping possession it reduces the opponents' attacking threat much more.

Where did I say you said that? I was making a comparison between Mikel not playing key passes and Cole not scoring, the common aspect of the two phrases being "it's not their job". Agree, but what does that have to do with his lack of key passes that we were discussing? Again that is besides our discussion. I really don't want to get into why at least one of the forwards should drop deep to get the ball right now. You complained about Mikel not playing enough key passes. My reply was that a) it is not his job and b ) the passes Mikel plays are just important as key passes because without them we would not have possession for the front four to play key passes. Just to illustrate on whose job it is to play key passes, Oriol who is supposedly better than Mikel and more 'creative' has an average of 0.2 key passes per game. So he only plays one "decent" pass every 5 matches?! http://www.whoscored.com/Players/90780/Show/Oriol-Romeu

Are you saying that only key passes are decent? You are skipping the game and watching the 5 min highlights. Sure they are more 'exciting' but there are 85 mins of hard work that made those 5 mins possible. It is not Mikel's job to play key passes. His job, offensively, is to keep possession and move the ball to the players whose job is to make key passes. If he makes a key pass every other game, while not risking loosing possession cheaply, then that's a plus he brings. Criticizing Mikel for not making enough key passes is about as logical as saying Ashley is terrible offensively because he never scores.

0.5 per game according to whoscored: http://www.whoscored.com/Players/15464

You are, you dictator! You're such a totalitarian

I did not understand most of that. And I think you completely missed his point about the keeper. He was saying that Wolves chances came from Oriol's misplaced passes when he attempted to be 'creative' (god I hate that word!)

Whatever you say Jay..