Mikel John Obi

[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.

[Joe Cool 388]

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.

Not just the Southampton game. The last two times against City he's shown that against clubs that pass and move sharply, he is easily exploited. The fact that Luiz offers 100 times more than Mikel has ever done offensively plus the fact that it's not even Luiz's natural position makes it quite excusable for him to be caught out of position. But when Mikel's role offensively is quite limited and his main job is to be shielding the back 4, it's really a slap in the face for him to be caught out as much as he is. At least Luiz looks arsed when he's playing and doesn't make disparaging comments about the Europa League and then proceeds to play like utter wank (the Kazan game). As The only place to be stated, maybe Mikel's poor performances could be excusable if he actually looked like he gave it everything he had week in and week out, but we all know very well that that has not been happening.

[Leif 6,006]

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

Torres has near 200 career goals. Doesn't mean he's good.

[Joe Cool 388]

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.

To be honest, I haven't really had a problem with Mikel until this season, mainly due to his bad performances and piss poor attitude. And yes, this club doesn't give a fuck about our opinions. This is the same club that sacked Mourinho, Carlo, RDM, and appointed Benitez, so what's your point?

[Rmpr 8,977]

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.

Mikel is a sub under Benitez and will continue to be a sub when Mourinho comes, y'all can't do anything about it.

[The only place to be 11,313]

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

You're literally the only person I've ever heard suggest that. You say some interesting things elsewhere but when it comes to Mikel, you're so far out on your own that it's amazing.

You would like this guy captaining this club....following in the footsteps of so many greats, so many legends, so many men.

Wow.

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.

Every manager who picked him consistently has been sacked haven't they?

It'd be great if he did go down a legend, but for that to happen he's really going to have to up his performances and become a leader in that position because players like Chalobah are coming up and they have all his talent, plus heart.

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

I know plenty of him. I've watched him since he came to this club and I've heard plenty of things about him.

I grew up watching players in his position act like men and lift this team - he's a fucking passenger at best.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Torres has near 200 career goals. Doesn't mean he's good.

Yes it does. He was one of the best strikers in the world when he scored the vast majority of those goals.

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!

Lack of effort? He's usually in the top 5 players in terms of distance covered. Lack of passion? How exactly do you measure that? From what I see he's usually the first player in the ref's face whenever something happens, especially when JT is not on the field. But of course Mikel is just a "weak human being"

I don't understand why some of our fans insist on hating Mikel; anyway, luckily our managers don't.

I've discussed this with many users on here and neither side is likely to change their mind, so I'm sorry but I won't reply anymore because I have studying to do..