The only place to be

Ramires, surely? I'm saying that the people on here who think Mikel is the answer at DM obviously see something that most of the people I see at matches don't. Take that as you will. Like I've commented in other threads, I've not seen a player divide opinion like him. All those matches, all those managers and still he's yet to convince a lot of people who understand the DM role and don't think he's up to it.

I like all these coaches who favoured him were sacked - not saying that was his fault but let's not pretend their judgment is infallible. Actually we were linked to Fellaini in 2010 when he was playing in the DM position at Everton. I agree and I hope that comes to pass. Busquets is younger than Mikel but so much better in almost ever regard.

Those supporters will just have to live in hope that the club does move on from a player that many educated supporters who have watched the club for many years simply don't trust.

I'm sure you're well aware that a lot of supporters think the new DM should replace Mikel. To use a term you like, there are questions over his ability to help us be an 'elite' team. Romeu will have a fairly long road back - this was a great opportunity for him to try and establish himself, but football history is littered with players who miss those opportunities through no fault of their own and never get back.

I don't happen to think he is a 'great dm' but that argument is going on elsewhere.

Who are these '2 young great DMs' you refer to? The one who has no Premier League experience and the one who is out for at least 6 months? As much as I'm all for giving Chalobah a chance there's absolutely no guarantees he'll be good enough. Sadly I think that the club won't look for a replacement for Mikel though despite the question marks over him.

Same problems Mikel has - application, workrate, defensive intelligence. Plus he's a fat cunt. Just remembered that De Jong left City for £3.5 million in the summer (but he's just done his achilles). Maybe it's worth giving Chalobah a go. It's a massive punt but he's stepped up to whatever's been asked of him. If we're honest our softly, softly approach to youth progression hasn't done much - maybe it's time we started throwing youngsters in to sink or swim.

I know a lot of your stuff is based on stats, but I'd be intrigued to know which games you're talking about in particular where you've seen Fellaini exhibit poor defensive skills. Positionally I've never seen a problem with his defensive game. Yes he can be over-aggressive at times but I tend to like that in a player. You point to the number of fouls he makes but a DM is supposed to break up the rhythm of the opposition - you became a fan in 2006 apparently so you would have seen Makelele who was a master at this. I'm not putting Fellaini in that class but players in that position will give away more fouls than almost any other player.

Could not disagree more. Having the right manager at the right time is invaluable.

The media is the sneaky little cunt in the playground who goes up to the big kid and says 'that guy over there said you smell', and then watches in glee as he goes and gives him a dead arm. The first few questions in his press conference were about comments he apparently made, and then the focus at the first match was on a few pretty shitty looking banners and print-outs that were anti-Rafa. Yes he got booed, but a lot of fans needed to get it out of their system. The few fans still chanting against him at Sunderland when we were 3-0 up really have to have a look in the mirror.

Totally agree with the first point. We do need someone who does the boring stuff and is basically, for want of a better term, a water carrier. He doesn't need to make a single assist or key pass, he just needs to keep the ball moving when we're in possession (to create spaces in the opposition) and do the right thing defensively. My contention throughout is that he doesn't do either of those well enough, especially in high pressure situations. As for the second point about us being elite with him in the team, we won the Champions League with Bertrand and Kalou on the wings and Bosingwa at right-back. There's a difference between being able to win with someone in the team, and being in the best position possible to win with someone in the team. He won't usually cause us to lose (although he certainly has in a couple of games), but he won't contribute to many tough wins in my opinion. If you're referring to our 2010 team, we were offensively strong and he had big personalities to cover for him (Ballack, Carvalho, Lamps) whilst he played a slightly different role. Now, he should be one of the big personalities helping some of the youngsters (people might forget that when this season ends, he'll be 26 and probably have almost 300 appearances in the first-term) but he isn't. I don't have the stats to back this up, but he also appears to be getting more bookings for dissent than ever when he should be getting to the stage where he can 'manage' referees. It is a tough position to get right and there are a dearth of them right now. A few years ago we had the likes of Petit, Makelele, Deschamps and arguably Vieira, Keane and Butt (more box-to-box than DMs). I would honestly swap Mikel for any one of those, or even a De Jong or Barry. What I would say about that position is that it requires intelligence, and as much as I like Mikel he ain't the sharpest tool in the box. It's fair enough saying he's one of the best around now but that isn't saying much if we're honest. We still need someone better.

Again, I disagree. The majority of the boos that I've heard have been directed at Rafa and are related to him specifically. When you say it's the board that advises him that's the problem, who specifically are you pointing the finger at? See I've heard this in the past and maybe we should start naming names - rather than blaming everyone on the board let's get specific. Who do you blame and why?

I wouldn't be surprised if Luiz gets at least one game in that position before the Villa game.

I don't think he's shit or useless. I think he's actually done well considering it's not a position he came to until his 20s, but it's one of the toughest positions on a pitch to master and players will often revert to what is natural and not what they've learnt, especially in pressure situations. He may become better over time, but we are talking about a player with well over 200 first-team appearances now. Say we had a Busquets who could play in a DM role similar to the one he plays at Barca. I think Mikel would be a decent player alongside him but with less of the defensive responsibilities, kinda like the role Ramires plays. In fact I think he could be something special there as he could indulge his natural attacking instincts a bit more. But I simply think that the more defensive role we ask him to play is too much for him. He certainly has his good moments but that position is all about consistency, reliability and alertness and they are not the words I think of when I think of Mikel.

Weird that he felt compelled to apologise for it - you should've told him it was a mistake at all. Clearly you knew more about it than he did (that isn't sarcasm either - I genuinely think that most posters on this forum have better tactical sense than Mikel). The funny thing is that I think you and I agree on what Mikel should do in the team - we just differ on his effectiveness at it and I have strong reservations about his character to play in such a demanding role on the pitch.

Don't agree with that at all. If Guardiola came in, people would have still supported Robbie but none of the vitriol that has been aimed at Rafa (because it has) or the board would be there or at least not close to the same amount. It's because it's Benitez and we all felt the same at the start but people are getting over it at their own speed. This cheers on 16 minutes will continue and that's fine - praising Robbie is different from criticising Benitez. But I will point out one thing about the way this club treated Robbie Di Matteo. They gave him a job at a top European club when his last run as a manager ended in him getting sacked by West Brom and he couldn't even get the job at Birmingham City. They then entrusted the club to him, and he paid us back many times over. But let's not pretend that this club is disrespectful of our history. Roman is a fan first and foremost. Remember who the first player he tried to sign was and then tell me he doesn't treat the fans well.

DM for sure now with Romeu's injury. Might possibly impact on Chalobah's loan to Watford being extended which will be harsh on the kid.

Poor kid. Wish him the best for a recovery, speedy preferably.

I can kinda forgive the loose pass, although not really. The standing still afterwards (which I'm pretty sure I've mentioned to you before and you've brought up Hazard asking for it then too) is unforgivable.

*cough* Juventus *cough*.

I can't think of a more divisive player in Chelsea's recent history. Torres might come close but that argument could be settled by goals scored. Luiz maybe, but most people agree he has the talent but needs to cut out the brain farts and could be world class. Mikel is really the marmite man (or so Clattenburg allegedly called him ). You either love him or hate him.

That's what's funny - no he isn't His positional sense is iffy, his work-rate is occasionally embarrassing and because he's slow to move the ball on sometimes, he can get caught in possession or isolated which puts pressure on the player he passes to.

I agree 100%. I don't want Mikel making incisive passes or even getting forward much. I simply want him to do his job which is to effectively move the ball to create spaces (as seb says), whilst also doing his job defensively. I'm not bothered about him making 'key passes' because that's really not his job in my opinion. The problem is that we have to mask his deficiencies by playing Ramires alongside him, in my opinion.

Fantastic point and one that always sticks out to me. Messi just exploited the space in between defence and midfield which kept making Vidic jump out of position. Happened time and time again but Fergie didn't change anything.

What amuses me is the ones who constantly boo him can't think up a half-decent chant to abuse him with. Even their banners are shit. Trust me, it's not the Chelsea brain trust booing him.