AVB rates Mikel HIGHLY

The stats don't back you up Don about giving the ball away and he had to alter his position 3 times during the game to accomodate the formation changes.
I do not recall swp beating him but if he did do you recall whether he was dragged out to cover as full back is not really what he's about.
Thought he did very well myself.
And again,stats don't show he gave the ball away.

I can't remember any of our players stopping SWP in that match, he had a filled day, why spot out Mikel only when Bosingwa or Liuz can't even stop him.

Which stats are you talking about? Haven't seen any, but still i recall him getting him caught out quite a few times. And this article is about Mikel which is why im only talking about him. If Romeu was to have a good game tomorrow i'd give him the game at Arsenal. He keeps up the tempo we're trying to playing and a player like him would be better suited to that game, rather than Mikel who slows it down a lot more

Don
Firstly the stats I use are the official OPTA stats which show every touch for every player in the game.Mikel gave the ball away LESS than any other player we had bar Cech and Anelka.
Secondly I think it is somewhat chirlish to moan about any of the players that played when we went down to 9.They ALL did a magnificent job.
Thirdly I am not aware of the instructions AVB has given to Mikel to know whether he is doing as he wants him to do for the team but from the link it would seem he is doing as he asks him.
Fourth Romeu has played against extremely weak opposition thus far.If you think that entitles him to go straight in against Arsenal then I am glad you're not manager.And anyway,as you say the article is about Mikel not Romeu.

I wouldn't believe a word he says.

Link me to them? Would be interesting to see as i don't think he was good at all. No doubt we did well when down to 9 men, but doesn't mean a player can't be criticised if his game wasn't great. Luiz has come in for lots of criticism on here. Why can't he? A player has to be given a go at some point. If he's had good games consecutively, then he should be up for consideration and he's played well, especially if he suits the game plan more.

He was excellent against Everton. I don´t want to judge him on the QPR game really because it was such a strange affair.

Regular Chelsea posters know my view on Mikel and what I don´t like about him and Romeu is more my type of player at DM but I still think Mikel is an important player at Chelsea

Apparently everyone agrees with AVB that Mikel is one of the best central midfielders in the world apart from me.

he was good against everton this season but lets not go over the top, The reason he will have the best pass ratio(even though no1 has provided proof) is because his passing is usually short, or backwards.

Mikel is not in the best 20 midfielders. I think he should have been replaced, as should drogba rather than sturridge. All in the past now. He also ball watches a lot and gets caught out of position.
QPR game is nothing to go by however and was 9 men against 12.

comment by Don mata (U10332)


posted 15 hours, 47 minutes ago

Link me to them?
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You have to subscibe to them.I get them through my employer.
http://www.optasports.com/sports/football.html

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The reason he will have the best pass ratio
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No one has mentioned his pass ratio but you.We were talking about the number of times he gave the ball away.Different things.