thegoodjoehunt: [b]As for Mineiro, there was a mix up, what we are talking about is not today. If you read the wiki page, the announcement was posted after Minero had played for Chelsea. So Mineiro being a back up wasn't clear.

Essein had picked up a serious injury, Scolari bought Mineiro a Brazilian then. He played him and he wasn't good enough and then made a press announcement that he was bought for cover. I think Minero picked an injury after that. Then Mikel became stable. As I said before this is way back. If I was not following Chelsea, how will I remember a player who had a brief spell at Chelsea?

As I pointed out before, it is the same scenario with Romeu and Ginkel who came in and picked up injuries and Mikel still remains the rock.

Back to Pedro Leon, you said, Mou has played Lass as a right back. Also Sergio Ramos can play as a central defender, Pepe can play as a defensive midfielder.

Why is it impossible for Mou to try a tactical switch and play Pedro Leon as a Right back?

You are yet to answer.[/b]

thegoodjoehunt: Let us leave long story. There was no reason for Scolari to sign Mineiro. He had Mikel, Beletti could play that role as a back up. Mineiro was brought to drop Mikel.

thegoodjoehunt: If Forlan is was converted to a defensive midfielder early in his career and never given a chance to play forward, he would never have been known as one of the best attacking players of a generation. Mikel has never, not even once been given a chance at Chelsea to play there because of the amount of attacking players that have been at Chelsea. Like Deco, Joe Cole, Ballack, Tiago, Lampard, Raul Meireiles etc. Even now you have Oscar, Hazard, Willian, Mata, Van Ginkel, De Bruyne, Schurlle, Josh McEachran. On loan are Marin, Lucas Paizon, Oriol Romeu.

So Mikel hasn't even gotten the opportunity. Only Coach Keshi gave him the chance and he did well.

Ooh Mpa™:
See this clown..
So who should win? Mikel?
because he won nations cup?
because he won Europa league with little or no impact?

Then Ooh Mpa guess that Canaavaro deserves his world best cos he won the world cup?
Or messi didn't because he didn't win la liga after breaking records?

Mention one midfielder in the EPL that's better than Yaya Toure last year and I'll give you 10 that were better than Mikel

You don't play less than half of the games in a full calendar year and expect to get accolades just because you entered the CAF Xi..
Which games will they judge you with? The cup that ended 11 months ago? What happened in the remaining year?
If it's only national achievements, then I woulda given it to Zambia's captain that year na..

The last time I checked, It's not African player with trophy of the year award. The award collates everything and Mikel's trophies just aren't enough to eclipse Yaya's amazing year

harlos:
Now tell me how many trophies has Mikel won with chelsea even without his scoring ability ?

thegoodjoehunt: Nope Mineiro wasn't a back up but a quick fix. He was more experienced than Mikel. He even started playing more games than Mikel before he flopped and Mikel took the position.

thegoodjoehunt: So what did you mean by the statement if not to belittle Mikel's exploit in the game.

Mourinho wanted Mikel to play deep because most top players would not want to play there. While the likes of Thiago, Ballack fight for the CAM role, no one will battle for the deep role.

Same way Mourinho wanted Pedro Leon to play as a right back at Real Madrid but Pedro Leon refused and left Madrid back to Getafe.

thegoodjoehunt: I actually wanted to point out that actually the fact is that most Chelsea coaches when brought in feel to transform Chelsea, they need Mikel out. Including Scolari bringing Mineiro. As time goes on, they realise that Mikel is critical to Chelsea's success. Only Di Matteo stuck with Mikel from the start and he repayed Di Matteo with a memorable performance against Bayern and Barca.

xtervaganza: man, even as I do not agree with your constant bashing of Mikel, I think you're a good football fan, you always come up with good points.


I like people who detail points in arguments not just noisemakers

thegoodjoehunt: You clearly didn't watch the match against Derby. If you did, you would know that Chelsea put out a strong squad and found the game difficult. By the way we are talking about long range passing ability. Mikel showed he could do it at the AFCON, Confeds and you can notice it in the Derby match.

IF YOU DON'T LOOK, YOU CAN'T SEE.

thegoodjoehunt: Did you see the passes Mikel was feeding Hazard and Willian in the match against Derby? Did you see the passes Mikel gave Moses and Musa during the AFCON? Nawa.

sleekymag: Truth is Mikel has always been underrated because he doesn't score much goals but I tell you that guy is a big big asset to any title winning team. He deserves the AFOTY 2013 award. Head to head he outshone Yaya andDrogba at the nations cup. With Mourinho he also beat Man City at the Stamford Bridge 2-1 by frustrating Yaya this season. Mourinho initially overlooked him when he just came in as he was trying to find Chelsea's best eleven. Overtime he realized Mikel is actually Chelsea's best holding midfielder better than Ramires,Lamparrd and others for that position. Mikel I tell u is underrated and unappreciated by the untrained eyes.. There's a reason he always makes it despite the plethora of chelsea's coaches, [b]Mourinho,Avram Grant, Scolari, Hiddink, Ancelotti, AVB, Di Matteo, Benitez and Mouringo again[/b].

thegoodjoehunt: Please everyone in the Supersport studio including Oliseh, Kuffour and Ruud Gull it said Mikel was clearly the best player at the AFCON. Do you think they are also not your type?

striker9: www.goal.com/en-ng/news/4110/nigerians-abroad/2013/12/20/4492355/enyeama-wins-ligue-1-player-of-the-month-award-for-november

thegoodjoehunt: We are talking achievements. What is Yaya's achiement in 2013. Will you say goal scoring run?

Ronaldo has goal scoring records that are record breaking. What was record breaking about Yaya's performance.

Mikel had 3 Man of the match performance in the AFCON last year. Part of the successful Super Eagles who last won the nations cup in '94. He was part of the Chelsea team who became the first team to hold the Champions league and the Europa league in the same year before Bayern won it.

As I listed CR7 and Mikel's achievements, list Yaya's own. Just as Striker9 listed Enyeama's achievements, list Yaya's own.

safarigirl: ok, and how many did Makalele score for Chelsea in the same role in ten years?

thegoodjoehunt: Ronaldo has scored 62 goals for club and country in his “goal-drenched” year, currently 17 goals more than any other player (Lionel Messi has scored 45).
Ronaldo’s “hatful” in Europe is 14 Champions League goals in 2013, five more than any other player as well.

Ronaldo's individual accomplishments is record breaking. Yaya's accomplishments isn't record breaking to topple the accomplishments of Mikel for club or country.

Ronaldo vs Ribery is Ground breaking individual performance against a player who was part of a ground breaking team. A tough decision. It isn't the same with Yaya and Mikel.

rahazaqa: it is based on individual performance,that is also the reason why I tip CR7 for ballon d'or...he won notin but he is better than injured messi last year!!..yaya deserve the award!!..yaya Is not in the same class wit mikel,yaya is a world class midfielder!!...

striker9: Its a shame that Yaya's fan can't even mention a single achievement of his in 2013,Aubameyang had 19goals for Saint Etienne last season,nobody raised an eyebrow,now that Yaya's gotten 12goals without any achievement we no go hear word.

safarigirl: okay, so how come Drogba that plays for Gala and La Casera in a Looney Tunes league got nominated for top 3 over Enyeama that plays in the Ligue 1? Prior to Galatsaray, let's remember that Drogba was in the Chinese league, is that better than the Israeli league? Your argument is baseless.

striker9: Enyeama has got 2 trophies too,please what has Yaya gotten?INDOMIE!

safarigirl: you already proved in previous posts that your IQ is fairly low, so I don't expect you to understand my logic. Even your username says a lot, why is a baby boy arguing with adults?

safarigirl: list Yaya's achievements IN 2013. Why tell us how many appearances? We're talking about just ONE year- 2013. In the year under review, Mikel was better. When they ask the best OVER-ALL, we can say Yaya. It's like a student who comes first every term, everyone knows he's the best in the class, but if someone else comes first in one term, whoever takes that position is adjudgjed the best student IN THAT TERM, does that mean the guy who comes first every other year isn't the best? No. Ask Skysports, ESPN, BBC and FOX and they'll tell you Mikel was the BEST IN 2013.

xtervaganza: And for Nigerians trumpeting yaya toure.......


1...yaya is a better player than Mikel, far better than Mikel


2....most coaches in the world would prefer to have a yaya toure over a Mikel



But we're talking about 2013 and achievements, yaya won nothing!


Mikel wiped the floor with yaya at the afcon and he won Europa league too



2013: yaya 0 trophy.....Mikel 2 trophies. Case closed


Mikel must win it

safarigirl: lol, just 9 consecutive clean sheets? Enyeama has kept 11 CONSECUTIVE CLEAN SHEETS in just HALF a season, beat that? It has already been beaten to a pulp.

safarigirl: mumu, na only you no know say Enyeama don sign contract till 2017 with Lille i.e HE'S NOT FOR SALE. Lol, Guardiola didn't fancy him, Mikel played under up to 6 different coaches with different tactics and he was never sold, because Mikel can ADAPT to any style, he's VERSATILE, your Toure is stagnant. Who is better then? A stagnant Toure or a versatile Mikel? Jeez! All these JJC's are just making my football IQ reduce with their lame arguments. Imagine this one doesn't even know Enyeama's contract has been renewed. Chai!

safarigirl: my friend answer my question instead of dodging. Why didn't Enyeama break the European clean sheet record in a weak Israeli league? League is league, how many clean sheets did Neuer make last season? You wanted to belittle the fact that Enyeama was better than Toure in 2013, now you're dodging my question? Can you not support your argument with valid points? I dey wait you, you must tell me how many consecutive clean sheets Neuer had in 2012/2013

striker9: Where were you when Enyeama was giving his best for naija,it was easy for u to mention his bad outing,even Casillas shipped in 3 goals against Brazil,abeg fade.

safarigirl: so he's great in EPL,tell me, why hasn't the great Toure won Champions League with City? He's great, why couldn't he survive in La Liga? You think it's easy to be in Chelsea for 7 years? Why was Toure outclassed in Barcelona if he's world class? Enyeama has the highest average saves in EUROPE, beating GK's like Valdes, Buffon, Neuer, Lloris. He's not just the best African goalie you oaf, your Toure has the best record by an AFRICAN in Europe, but there are better non-African mid-fielders than him, Enyeama was the BEST GK, NOBODY was better than him, and you have the guts to come here and belittle his achievements? You think it's easy for a GK to win Player of the Month in ANY League over strikers? Please if the alomo you drank is affecting your system, keep your thoughts to yourself instead of sounding like a brainless 1d10t.