Closed West Ham v Chelsea

[Backstreet09 499]

No. Mikel has specific responsibilities and his job is to take care of those. Some of those responsibilities include covering for defenders but Mikel is not responsible for defenders having bad games. If Cahill doesn't close down a defender and if Luiz falls asleep, that's their problem.

Totally agree , but the problem is Mikel doesn't provide cover to them , If he would do , most of our CB mistakes will not cost us

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

Totally agree , but the problem is Mikel doesn't provide cover to them , If he would do , most of our CB mistakes will not cost us

He does provide cover, but a defensive midfielder can't be behind the defenders all the time trying to make sure they don't make any mistakes. He has a position to play. He's not a babysitter. You're basically blaming Mikel for others' mistakes and not crediting him at all when we play good defence.

[Corner 456]

No , what i meant by that is , for a DM Mikel is always in our own half , passing sideways and all . I mean he doesnt contribute a shit in our attacks so if any of our CB is having a bad day , we all know Mikel wont contribute offensively , why dont he just drop further back with the CB ?

Makelele didn't contribute much to attacks either but he was the best DM we've ever had. Mikel's job is not to play through balls and take on players, let's be realistic. His job is to break up attacks and get the ball into more creative players, and he does is extremely well.

If Mikel dropped as far back as the centre-backs, then we have three. And who protects the defence then? Mata, Oscar, Hazard?

[Backstreet09 499]

He does provide cover, but a defensive midfielder can't be behind the defenders all the time trying to make sure they don't make any mistakes. He has a position to play. He's not a babysitter. You're basically blaming Mikel for others' mistakes and not crediting him at all when we play good defence.

Well i'm blaming him cause he is shit offensively , he hasnt passed a single through ball , doesnt make runs towards the box , always passes sideways . So he basically plays as a Central Defender but a bit high on the pitch =P. Ohkay so my point is if he is not supporting our play makers , why don't he just babysit our defense ?

[Corner 456]

Well i'm blaming him cause he is shit offensively , he hasnt passed a single through ball , doesnt make runs towards the box , always passes sideways . So he basically plays as a Central Defender but a bit high on the pitch =P. Ohkay so my point is if he is not supporting our play makers , why don't he just babysit our defense ?

That is not Mikel's job. If he did that, and the full-backs get forward too and we lose the ball... the we're fucked. The only people we have back for cover are two centre-backs.

[Backstreet09 499]

Makelele didn't contribute much to attacks either but he was the best DM we've ever had. Mikel's job is not to play through balls and take on players, let's be realistic. His job is to break up attacks and get the ball into more creative players, and he does is extremely well.

Are you actually comparing Makelele to Mikel lol ? and it would nice if our attacking players dont have to come deep everytime to get the ball from Mikel

[Corner 456]

Are you actually comparing Makelele to Mikel lol ? and it would nice if our attacking players dont have to come deep everytime to get the ball from Mikel

What I'm doing is explaining to you the role of a defensive midfielder, which you clearly don't seem to understand.

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

Well i'm blaming him cause he is shit offensively , he hasnt passed a single through ball , doesnt make runs towards the box , always passes sideways . So he basically plays as a Central Defender but a bit high on the pitch =P. Ohkay so my point is if he is not supporting our play makers , why don't he just babysit our defense ?

I agree. It's clearly the responsibility of the defensive midfielder to play through balls and to dissect the other teams' defence. I always said Makalele was crap. He barely ever scored.

[Backstreet09 499]

That is not Mikel's job. If he did that, and the full-backs get forward too and we lose the ball... the we're fucked. The only people we have back for cover are two centre-backs.

Oh well i've seen Xabi Alonso do that so often , I've seen Fernandinho doing that everytime , every decent DM contributes offensively and their teams never suffer from that =P

[Corner 456]

Oh well i've seen Xabi Alonso do that so often , I've seen Fernandinho doing that everytime , every decent DM contributes offensively and their teams never suffer from that =P

Xabi Alonso is a deep-lying playmaker, as is Fernandinho.

[The only place to be 11,313]

See , you guys are PHD on blaming everything on TORRES , when the problem is in our Defensive Midfield , that is why we never got that balance right under RDM #FACT

I'm not blaming everything on Torres. But he does put more pressure on the defensive side of our team by his inability to hold up the ball, which means we turn it over to the other team.

Whichever way you dress it up, opposing teams really don't have to be that cautious with Torres. He simply doesn't pose a big enough threat to worry them which means opposing teams aren't stretched.

We're essentially playing with 10 and a half players when we play with Torres. The sooner he is gone, the better for the club.

[Corner 456]

I'm not blaming everything on Torres. But he does put more pressure on the defensive side of our team by his inability to hold up the ball, which means we turn it over to the other team.

Whichever way you dress it up, opposing teams really don't have to be that cautious with Torres. He simply doesn't pose a big enough threat to worry them which means opposing teams aren't stretched.

We're essentially playing with 10 and a half players when we play with Torres. The sooner he is gone, the better for the club.

Exactly.

When we do sign another striker who teams fear... then just imagine how much space that will leave for 'Mazacar'. The will rip so many teams to shreds. Most teams don't even mark Torres and mark our three attacking midfielders instead, which is a big reason as to why we've been finding it increasingly difficult to break down teams as of late.

[Backstreet09 499]

Xabi Alonso is a deep-lying playmaker, as is Fernandinho.

That's their role , why cant mikel adopt it ? Cause he cant pass and barely cant defend on his own =P even Arteta is far far better than Mikel =P

[Backstreet09 499]

I'm not blaming everything on Torres. But he does put more pressure on the defensive side of our team by his inability to hold up the ball, which means we turn it over to the other team.

Whichever way you dress it up, opposing teams really don't have to be that cautious with Torres. He simply doesn't pose a big enough threat to worry them which means opposing teams aren't stretched.

We're essentially playing with 10 and a half players when we play with Torres. The sooner he is gone, the better for the club.

If he so shit and doing nothing for us ? why is he always crowded with defenders ?

[The only place to be 11,313]

Oh well i've seen Xabi Alonso do that so often , I've seen Fernandinho doing that everytime , every decent DM contributes offensively and their teams never suffer from that =P

Busquets?

1 assist all season, about half a dozen goals in the last 5 years. Barely any better than Mikel yet he's probably the closest player to him in terms of what they're asked to do.

His job is to sit in front of the defence, slide back into defence when the full-backs advance and the centre-halfs spread out and lay the ball off to either an attacking player, or an available player. He has one of the most important jobs on the team and he's done it pretty well in most games.

[Corner 456]

That's their role , why cant mikel adopt it ? Cause he cant pass and barely cant defend on his own =P even Arteta is far far better than Mikel =P

Once again, Mikel is not a deep-lying playmaker and Arteta is. Also, Arteta is certainly not 'far better' at defending than Mikel, if that's what you're implying. Just because a player may play in the same position as another player, it does not mean they have the same role to play.

Mikel is an anchor man/defensive midfielder. His job is to break up attacks and find more creative players and to hold up play, like I said. And he's fantastic at doing that.

[The only place to be 11,313]

If he so shit and doing nothing for us ? why is he always crowded with defenders ?

Because when he actually manages to control the ball, he holds onto it for too long and defenders converge on him knowing that he's unlikely to knock it past them (because he isn't quick enough). That makes him very easy to defend because there's nothing to worry about with him.

[Backstreet09 499]

Busquets?

1 assist all season, about half a dozen goals in the last 5 years. Barely any better than Mikel yet he's probably the closest player to him in terms of what they're asked to do.

His job is to sit in front of the defence, slide back into defence when the full-backs advance and the centre-halfs spread out and lay the ball off to either an attacking player, or an available player. He has one of the most important jobs on the team and he's done it pretty well in most games.

OMG Busquets is World Class , he has played so many key passes , He's far better in defending and he's a graduate from Barca diving school and he has also scored against us remember ?

Once again, Mikel is not a deep-lying playmaker and Arteta is. Also, Arteta is certainly not 'far better' at defending than Mikel, if that's what you're implying. Just because a player may play in the same position as another player, it does not mean they have the same role to play.

Mikel is an anchor man/defensive midfielder. His job is to break up attacks and find more creative players and to hold up play, like I said. And he's fantastic at doing that.

he certainly has breaked some attacks lol but have you ever seen him passing the ball to Hazard,Mata,Oscar without them coming deep to get it?