robsblubot

Heh fair enough Though I am actually satisfied that he hardly plays. My dumbfoundedness relates to why we have him in the roster - Mikel is a solution in search of a problem that Chelsea fc don't have. See if I buy into the burned out idea caused by little to no rotation, then I look at the roster and understand why we do not rotate. I recur because it is a recurring problem - not Mikel himself but him not being the type of player we need (to rotate).

@didier we shouldn't have to pick one though - top clubs have players with high work rate who can pick a pass. ^^ I wouldn't go that far as I think he can play well enough as a disruptive midfielder with a more defensive role - no B2B or wing. I do agree that he is too limited as a player - similar to what I think of Mikel. Watching Rambo and Mikel as CMs against WHU depressed me. These players belong in a smaller club where the team can play to their strengths, which aren't many.

Poor defending on Andys goal - he was marking the ball not the player and ended up leaving azpi on Andy ... An obvious mismatch Disappointing

Not at all - nothing personal. Just think he is a lousy footballer. And these days I even question whether a playyer such as mikel is even needed as all top clubs don't employ them any more.And to be honest it's not like I say 'mikel sucks!' But rather give very specific reasons why I believe he is insufficient - thought his 600 odd minutes in epl in our winning season was reason enough (that he isn't good enough to play). Also I did Not say he was the reason we lost today - no single player is. And ivanovic did not play against WHU.

Dreadful game against Arsenal. Poor on the ball and poor at finishing. A couple of decent crosses, but nowhere near good enough.

Against WHU, one of the better games (as a sub) I've seen of him lately and still far from good enough IMO. He had one good pass to Eden on the left and everything else was the same bureaucratic drivel I expect from him. We were a man down and he - rightfully so - moved up the pitch (prob instructed to do so), but then as always he was completely ineffective going forward. No I do not expect him to dribble past 2 players and score, but I do expect him to try to assist, try to shoot from outside the box, or make a run just to confuse the markers. He doesn't do any of that though; no shots attempted for a guy who had so much of the football and was under no pressure - opponents know about his attacking numbers. Mikel and Ramires as CMs is just sad... They just don't produce anything going forward and the attacking players suffer.

First, correlation does not imply causation... Second, esp when you are ignoring (literally) thousands of variables to make a one-to-one correlation. Hope it was just for fun and not making a serious point. What I saw in last game though was that we are just as open as the first games. A better opponent would have scored at least a pair.

Their wages are hardly their only income... The most prestigious and famous players make a lot of money off of their naming rights. Their contracts are nuanced. Esp nowadays with social media and advertisers paying for clicks. Professional players care about one thing: money Yes other factors may also influence their decision, but the key factor is making money and I happen to find that most football fans' passion makes them a bit naive. Used to be one of them, but now I know better. Look at this thread - people are looking for any reason but the one that matters... should go without saying in capitalism.

Prestige IS money! Look beyond wages... please.

People are so naive in football. Hazard wants to go play for Real like every player does - and the reason is money. Real is the highest paying football club in the world, which makes them very attractive to any professional player. however, whether he stays... goes... that involves other variables. Most likely related on how much Real wants him.

I can certainly buy that that's the reason, but why?! He hasn't been playing much lately. Had a much needed break... yes picked up a injury after a good first showing, but it's been a while and he shows no signs of improvement. He's also fairly young to be suffering so much with fitness.

Forget about his contribution in attack where's the fucking work rate?! Where's the non-stop chasing and pressing high?! Tackling hard... nothing! He's been this slow pedestrian for both Chelsea and Brazil lately - rightfully so sitting on the bench for both. What's going on?!

Just a quick note about the comments on hazards defending and criticism of Jose. The argument made in previous pages that we hardly concede from his side does not hold water imo: 1st this is football and far too dynamic for this kind of assessment 2nd hazard enjoys a free role - as Shirley said some time ago - which means the whole team shifts to accommodate hazard. Jose is trying to get the team working first and will slowly reintroduce hazard, which might be made easier if hazard gets his shit together.

The interesting point imo isn't whether Jose was right, but the fact he at least wasn't as wrong or crazy as the Internet claimed (tc included). Can you really blame Jose for his choices knowing he sees this kinda defending in training? His reasoning was sound: in 2-3 games ivanovic will get his shit together - and imo he has already - but baba may take a lil longer. Bear in mind this was against the terrible Aston villa at the bridge - imagine one of the tough away games Iva struggled with.

His style of play is not appreciated in Brazil - reckon it's a bit too inconsequential, esp from open play. Personally I thought Oscar wasn't far behind Willian against Chile with both players producing very little up front, but I'd say that Oscar must be hated in TC. JK Oscar was also poor against Venezuela.

If Jose is a 'manager' then he has some, if not all, responsibility concerning transfers. a. so he either let go of certain players who he deemed not a good fit for his system and picked the wrong replacements or b. he let them go without picking any replacements either way leaving us too thin Then we have Mikel: (my opinion of him matters not) either he is good enough, as Jose claims publicly, or he isn't, which explains his 600 odd minutes of PL time last season. If he isn't good enough to replace Matic, to keep him fresh, then why is he on the squad?! I actually totally buy the physical exhaustion - been saying that was visible from day one. They've started the season completely unfit with many players carrying extra weight. The idea that it stems not only from the celebrations but also from exhaustion makes sense indeed. Incidentally, don't really agree with the reasons from the article. Don't believe they are the main reasons - not even the defense one... always find it weird when people talk about defense and offense as if they were different teams like in Am. Football.

Just take it with a grain of salt. Venezuela are just so poor... it'd be like picking the starting XI based on the Maccabi match. Willian was the top performer, so not taking anything from him. Much better than Oscar who was once again mediocre. I'm just not convinced because he was very poor against Chile, and against top opposition (being nice to Chile here) is when I personally rate players.

Also true. But then again, club as well as supporters already knew who Mourinho really was before hiring him - so we can't really claim to have been surprised by how he acts. With that out of the way, I wish he'd just STFU, but I guess that'd be asking too much of him.

more than that... one or two guys performing at the highest level might lift the team bringing the others out of the slumber they are in right now.

Agreed, but I wasn't referring to that though - the role is the same: b2b Because of Fernandinho's mobility and work rate that you've just referred to, he rarely sits like Matic does. Role wise, Matic is a very different player than both Fernandos (my original point) while Toure is also a B2B unlike Matic, even though they are similar build wise. just different angles and POVs. It's debatable whether a team actually needs a Matic type of player these days. Like some say no top team has a mikel type of player these days. I still think Matic is versatile enough to be an important player when fit and in a working unit and is a lot better than both Fernandos especially Fernandinho - highly overrated player (myself included in the overrating initially).

Fabregas isn't a quack and neither is he a world beater. There is a reason Barcelona let him (and Pedro) go. The same reason both players failed to claim a spot in the starting XI. They are good players who have certain limitations. Fabregas lacks pace and power while Pedro lacks power and technique (not so much skill but technique). Fabregas sill manages to be a good player because of his superb technique, but he struggles in physical leagues and games - tight markers can stop him from shining ... when he's needed most. Although he does seem to be on the cold side, Fabregas might not have the tools to be more aggressive, especially pace - difficult to challenge for the ball when you are always late and you move about the pitch. I've never been a fan of either, but they are certainly not terrible players. The problem with the squad is the lack of options and the fact these good players might have been promised a starting XI spot, or very close to it, in order to lure them. At this moment we are not able to compete with the top spenders. There is only so much cleverness you can pull off, especially on a consistent basis. When they are wrong they just buy another one - we need to move ours flops. Not saying Fabregas is one btw, just that it all adds up to the grand picture.

fernandinho is a toure - just not as good

well that's why we need a a larger squad than we have now - so that the manager can make a couple of tweaks depending on opponent and venue. Right now we have a a starting XI and perhaps one additional AM and one aging CB - not good enough. Yes, the lack of options is Jose's own fault.

Agreed, however Matic would be a huge improvement over the fernandos

Agreed, but we drastically diverge in how useful mikel is. Along with Ashley Young, he is in the "how the hell does he get paid by a top club!?' category for me. Mikel has one thing over Ashley Young though: Mikel doesn't play often under Jose - least minutes of his career last season - which makes me particularly happy as I don't have to watch Mikel's complete ineptitude in handling the football. Let me make this very clear: Victor Wanyamma is twice the player Mikel is - he can play football and Mikel can't (pass forward, score goals, assist, etc). Romeo is a lot better than Mikel too. I mean I could go ahead and list 10 EPL CMs better than him, but I stuck with DMs above just for correctness sake.