Mikel John Obi

[Manuf 1,448]

Tiote,Sandro,Lucas,Arteta off the top of my head ,probably more .

[DDA 9,937]

Sell Mikel this summer and use the money to install a new vending machine and state of the art sound system with a ps4 rigged up for the players lounge. That's money better spent imo.

[Joe Cool 388]

Of course Mikel is no where near Makalele, who is? Carrcik aside, name one better DM in the league (and do NOT say Toure, he is not a DM).

Tiote,Sandro,Lucas,Arteta off the top of my head ,probably more .

[CHOULO19 24,332]

You have to be kidding. Those players don't even come close! I won't derail this thread with a comparison with each of those players, so here, just read this instead: http://forum.talkchelsea.net/topic/13977-john-mikel-obi-the-keystone/

WARNING: That link is NOT safe if you have stats-o-phobia!

[Joe Cool 388]

Of course Mikel is no where near Makalele, who is? Carrcik aside, name one better DM in the league (and do NOT say Toure, he is not a DM).

Okay, he's not as good as Makelele and probably never will be. Fine. But that does not excuse the shambolic displays that we've seen from him over and over again. I hate to beat a dead horse with a stick because I've repeatedly explained why he does not deserve a spot on the team, so I'm just going to leave it at: A. He's shit and B. his "commitment" is appalling.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Okay, he's not as good as Makelele and probably never will be. Fine. But that does not excuse the shambolic displays that we've seen from him over and over again. I hate to beat a dead horse with a stick because I've repeatedly explained why he does not deserve a spot on the team, so I'm just going to leave it at: A. He's shit and B. his "commitment" is appalling.

Well I completely disagree and it seems that our managers for the past 4-5 seasons agree with me because, like it or not, Mikel has been an integral part of the Chelsea team and was vital to all of our success in that period and will likely be for a few more seasons to come as well.

[Leif 6,006]

Let's make things interesting.

Who here believes Mikel is better than Schneiderlin?

If you say you do believe that, I have to question whether you're just sticking to your guns and putting Mikel and your opinion before the club and reality.

This should also lead to a beheading.

(Just to add my opinion to the mix - We're talking about defensive-midfielders as in the position, not the role, otherwise there wouldn't even be a Mikel-Luiz comparison constantly going on. So Yaya Toure is actually someone who can be compared as he starts in the exact same position as Mikel, as do Wilshere, Arteta, Ramires, Guzman, Sandro, Garcia and so-on, all of whom perform leaps and bounds ahead of Mikel. If we're talking which 'role' they perform and not just their position, we can't compare Mikel with anyone, because no one else in the league just stands there like a branch, only moving when the wind sways them a bit.)

Toure, Tiote, Diame, Luiz, Ramires - They all play in the same position as Mikel and run more, do more, give more and try harder. They are the players who hassle the opposition and press them into making a mistake. They also have quite lanky legs so win the ball back with ease.

Luiz, Wilshere, Arteta, Dembele - They all play in the same position as Mikel and act as playmakers yet still get in tackles and cover decent ground.

Sandro, Lucas, Garcia, Schneiderlin - They all play in the same position as Mikel and act as proper defensive midfielders; Covering ground, tackling, laying off simple passes forward for the attacking players to make use out of, protecting the back four, running back after making mistakes to try and make amends.

So... where does Mikel excel?

It's just sad. Makelele to Mikel is like going from C. Ronaldo to Quaresma. Sure, they play the same position and look a bit similar, but they are so far away from eachother in terms of quality.

Now that's just comparing skill-level (if you could call that a comparison... which admittedly, it probably wasn't.)

Will we even get started on attitude? Even Torres has a better attitude than him. Don't ask for an example; I have too many and my fingers will bleed typing them out.

[Rmpr 8,977]

You have to be kidding. Those players don't even come close! I won't derail this thread with a comparison with each of those players, so here, just read this instead: http://forum.talkchelsea.net/topic/13977-john-mikel-obi-the-keystone/

WARNING: That link is NOT safe if you have stats-o-phobia!

SeB is a funny guy, some of the things he says are absolutely genius and incredibly intelligent. While others are super deluded, like Torres's movement, Ramires' passing and Mikel as the keystone!

Mikel is not good enough to be Chelsea's first choice DM...

[Joe Cool 388]

You have to be kidding. Those players don't even come close! I won't derail this thread with a comparison with each of those players, so here, just read this instead: http://forum.talkchelsea.net/topic/13977-john-mikel-obi-the-keystone/

WARNING: That link is NOT safe if you have stats-o-phobia!

I never said that there was a problem with him losing the ball. That's one of his better attributes. With the thing of pass accuracy, you're going to have a high pass completion rate when none of your passes are adventurous and either go sideways/back. However I'll give it to him. He's good at retaining possession. The biggest problem is that he gets bypassed so easily in midfield unless we are parking the bus and all our other midfielders around him are also staying back (which is why he did so well vs Barca and Bayern). He never bothers to track back and gets caught out countless times, especially by quick counter attacking sides. You can try to throw out as many statistics that you want, but no amount of statistics will change the fact that defensively, he's poo. I remember in the Southampton game, he was up front pressing their centre backs countless times for whatever reason. Then they manage to play the ball into midfielder and guess what?? They have countless time/space on the ball! On top of it all, he never ever seems arsed to track back and try to get back into position. His mentality and lack of defensive awareness is too piss poor for him to be a reliable holding player for us.

Well I completely disagree and it seems that our managers for the past 4-5 seasons agree with me because, like it or not, Mikel has been an integral part of the Chelsea team and was vital to all of our success in that period and will likely be for a few more seasons to come as well.

Yeah... Kalou managed a good 40/50 games almost every season before he finally fucked off... does that mean that he was good enough? lol

[The only place to be 11,313]

Well I completely disagree and it seems that our managers for the past 4-5 seasons agree with me because, like it or not, Mikel has been an integral part of the Chelsea team and was vital to all of our success in that period and will likely be for a few more seasons to come as well.

Would you want Mikel to be captain of Chelsea Football Club when JT leaves?

If not, how is it possible that a person who has played 300 games in a position that requires more responsibility than almost any other on the pitch isn't one of the first names that pops up?

[CHOULO19 24,332]

SeB is a funny guy, some of the things he says are absolutely genius and incredibly intelligent. While others are super deluded, like Torres's movement, Ramires' passing and Mikel as the keystone!

Mikel is not good enough to be Chelsea's first choice DM...

And yet we've won the double in 09-10, and the cup double last season with him, not only as first choice DM, but one of our key players.

I never said that there was a problem with him losing the ball. That's one of his better attributes. With the thing of pass accuracy, you're going to have a high pass completion rate when none of your passes are adventurous and either go sideways/back. However I'll give it to him. He's good at retaining possession. The biggest problem is that he gets bypassed so easily in midfield unless we are parking the bus and all our other midfielders around him are also staying back (which is why he did so well vs Barca and Bayern). He never bothers to track back and gets caught out countless times, especially by quick counter attacking sides. You can try to throw out as many statistics that you want, but no amount of statistics will change the fact that defensively, he's poo. I remember in the Southampton game, he was up front pressing their centre backs countless times for whatever reason. Then they manage to play the ball into midfielder and guess what?? They have countless time/space on the ball! On top of it all, he never ever seems arsed to track back and try to get back into position. His mentality and lack of defensive awareness is too piss poor for him to be a reliable holding player for us.

Yeah... Kalou managed a good 40/50 games almost every season before he finally fucked off... does that mean that he was good enough? lol

I can give you stats about the myth of him only playing side-way passes, but of course stats don't matter, if you say he only plays side-ways then he only plays side-ways

And your entire argument about Mikel being bad defensively is based on the Southampton game, which I said he was bad in. What about the hundreds of times he was very disciplined and good defensively? You can't criticize Mikel's positioning based on one game and then say we should play Luiz who has NEVER played a good game in midfield where he was disciplined.

Kalou, unlike Mikel, was never a key player for us. He was a squad player, and very good one at that. In fact, if we had had a few squad players like him this season, we would have been in much better position now.

Would you want Mikel to be captain of Chelsea Football Club when JT leaves?

If not, how is it possible that a person who has played 300 games in a position that requires more responsibility than almost any other on the pitch isn't one of the first names that pops up?

I very much would, actually. I suggested it once in the "Future Chelsea Captain" thread..

[Leif 6,006]

Bosingwa had well over 100 appearances for us being our starting right back for a decent amount of seasons under many managers.

Clearly wouldn't have won the trophies we have without him...

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Bosingwa had well over 100 appearances for us being our starting right back for a decent amount of seasons under many managers.

Clearly wouldn't have won the trophies we have without him...

Again, Bosingwa was never a key player for us nor was he ever one of our best players. In fact, Iva was our main RB when we won those trophies.

[Rmpr 8,977]

And yet we've won the double in 09-10, and the cup double last season with him, not only as first choice DM, but one of our key players.

Teams win games and tournaments with all sorts of shit players. Bayern almost win UCL with Gomez as their key player, Chelsea won UCL with Bosingwa and Cahill, Barcelona made history with Pique, Manure has Rafael, etc...

This means absolutely nothing, Mikel is not a good player to be our starter and you only have to watch him play to see it!

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Teams win games and tournaments with all sorts of shit players. Bayern almost win UCL with Gomez as their key player, Chelsea won UCL with Bosingwa and Cahill, Barcelona made history with Pique, Manure has Rafael, etc...

This means absolutely nothing, Mikel is not a good player to be our starter and you only have to watch him play to see it!

Again, none of those are key players for their team except Gomez who is a very good player. And you ignored the part about Mikel being undoubtedly one of our best players in both doubles.

[Leif 6,006]

Gomez who is a very good player.

[Amblève. 4,995]

The trick is to not actually watch games involving Mikel. That's just madness.

What you want to do is wait for the match to be over and then look at his stats for the game. Marvel at his pass completion stats and ignore things like heart, performance and effort.

I could maybe forgive his poor performances if he didn't show such disdain and lack of effort whilst wearing our shirt. People pay hard-earned money every week to see the team play and to have cunts like him put in the bare minimum really does irritate supporters.

Disgraceful. You're being the cunt here, to say the least, talking in such a way about a player you know nothing about.

[Rmpr 8,977]

Again, none of those are key players for their team except Gomez who is a very good player. And you ignored the part about Mikel being undoubtedly one of our best players in both doubles.

Gomez is not a good player to start for Bayern and nor is Pique for Barcelona, however, those two teams won a lot with them being constant starters!

I can't stand the lack of passion, effort and quality Mikel shows when he plays. He is not a kid anymore, I doubt we will see him any better. Because of that, we should bench him and buy a new DM or recall Chalobah!

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Yes because 158 goals in in 266 career games is just plain shit!

[Amblève. 4,995]

It's funny to see that you people have been raging against Mikel for years, and you know what? The club and every manager we've had haven't given a single fuck about your opinions.

Mikel's gonna retire a legend here at Chelsea and y'all can't do anything about it.