₦airaland Forum

Bunch of useless cuunts.

Yes Mikel was involved, along with the others.

Kenedy don dey really learn that leftback position well.

It hasn't taken Guus Hiddink long to suss out the uselessness of Oscar.

Every manager eventually sends him to the bench.

Nihilist:
I gave 3 reasons we lost yesterday. This was just one.

Can you genuinely state without prejudice that we didn't have chances in that game?
Can you honestly say that Chelsea were out of the game pre-Costa's injury?

Like I stated yesterday, we had more shots, more shots on target, and more shots from inside the penalty box than PSG.

It's not like we were just shooting useless shots, we were actually making the keeper work...and there were at least 3 opportunities to release a killer ball to a teammate in space in the 18 that Hazard and Costa squandered between them.

Even with the relative lack of defensive protection, we could have still won that game if our attack was a bit more incisive.

PSG just took the chances that were practically gifted to them, it's not as if we were even carved open.

160 passes in their final third to 111 in ours tell a story...you're just not interested in listening

We couldn't have won any game if our attack did anything.

Not once did we penetrate behind, while they were having tapins. All our shots were potshots with their players behind the ball.

It is normal for Chelsea to have more passes in the final third. Those aren't penetrating passes. That's just where Willian, Hazard and Pedro like to play their football. Back and forth in the opponents third with no penetration. It is a defining feature of 4-2-3-1.

Anyway my point is made. The Emenalo policy of stocking excess AMs with no hardworking midfielders brings nothing but destruction to Chelsea. I'm sick of singing the same hymn every year.

Nihilist:
If there's anybody who has shown himself to be very ignorant about football over the last couple of days, it's you sir.

Fabregas 'retains possession' better than Oscar, and is definitely 'more of a midfielder' than Oscar...yet Fabregas is a defensive liability.

Oscar is clearly a more defensive minded AM than Willian and even Fab sef.

In your rush to affirm your jaundiced view of Mikel, you clearly can't see the folly of playing a combination of 2 offensive players and 1 defensive player against 3 specialist defensive midfielders.

Even worse, PSG's defensive trio occupied the central midfield strata to compete with Mikel and Fabregas, while William was left to play further forward in the AM strata.

Even when you could see the result of that folly with Willian failing to track Rabiot, you are still trying to blame Mikel.

Guus should have either dropped Hazard for Oscar, or Paired Matic with Mikel and played Fab in the hole.

I thought you said we lost because our attackers couldn't finish and it was nothing to do with midfield? Now you are saying Guus should have bolstered the midfield.

Oscar is not more defensive or more hardworking than Willian, and more importantly he will lose the ball and invite more pressure. In no world does Oscar bring more stability to a midfield than Willian.

I agree with the last point. Matic was the best bet to add more solidity to the midfield, and hope to nick a goal.

When someone doesn't know football, they just don't know football.

Oscar for Willian makes the midfield more stable?

Willian who is more of a midfielder, more hardworking and keeps possession better than Oscar.

Navas, thanks for the opportunity to feature.

Ill be bumping the full joint over the weekend.

sleekdot:
Mikel was the one on Verratti, he is also supposed to be the one on DiMaria 7 seconds later. What exactly is the job of the other 9 teammates?

Watching the 2nd goal yesterday sef. A pass came from the left, towards Rabiot, Mikel went towards Rabiot but Rabiot missed so the ball went to Motta. Mikel had to change direction from chasing Rabiot to chasing Motta and before he could get to Motta the pass had already een released

Thats why I asked what is the job of the other players on the field if Mikel is responsible for chasing everyone and the other players are just expected to hang out on the field

You started this conversation telling us there was no overload in midfield and we lost solely because our sttrikers fluffed chances.

Now you've spent your last few posts telling us that we were overloaded all over the park and Mikel is having to cover too much.

Which is it?

BTW, is 7 seconds too much to ask for a central midfielder to cover a 5 metre space? Mikel knew Di Maria was his man and accepted the responsibility. 7 seconds later he is still 5 metres away. Was Di Maria sprinting?

In 7 seconds most players can run from box to box, but Mikel the escorter cannot cover 5 metre space to a player who isnt even running.

sleekdot:
This is the extended highlights go to 6:25 and start from there

Now explain How Mikel is supposed to fly from marking Verrati on the left to the DM position


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56eqNi69nhU

Mikel left Veratti and started tracking Di Maria from 6:33.

Di Maria played his pass at 6:40.

7 second recovery run and he jogged 15 yards.

He is still recovering now. Infact he needs 1 full minute to transition from one phase of play to another.

They don't call him Mikel Slowbi for nothing.

sleekdot:
In that move leading to the second goal Di maria and Verati were on the left side with Mikel marking them

Di maria dropped towards Baba Rahman while Mikel stayed with Verrati.

Verrati passed to Zlatan

So how do you expect Mikel to mark Verrati and in a split second leave Verrati and already be in front of the back 4

Is Mikel the only person on the field or the rest are just there to watch

1. Mikel was recovering when Lucas breezed past him for PSGs first goal

2. Mikel was recovering when Di Maria got 5 yards to light his cigar and play in Cavani.

3. Mikel was recovering when Rabiot ran from midfield to score while Mikel was still outside the box.

4. Mikel was recovering when he failed to reach a loose ball which another midfielder could have taken off Rabiot for PSGs 4th goal.

They do not call him Mikel Slowbi for nothing.

I am not picking on his effort. I am picking on what he is not - a Chelsea calibre midfielder. I am highlighting the danger and destructiveness of a team of Chelsea calibre relying on a midfielder like Mikel.

So one clown should not come here and tell me that it is not Mikels fault that PSG had 3 solid midfielders or that Mikel is overworked, yet open his loud mouth to yarn nonsense when I say Emenalo has killed our midfield. If Mikels defence is "lack of solid midfielders alongside him", then that clown should take it up with Emenalo.

sleekdot:
Mikel was recovering from the left

Mikel is always "recovering".

Even if 3 seconds has passed, Mikel would still be recovering.

He runs like recovering patient.

NGolo Kante or Javi Martinez would have made that ball easily.

All 4 goals PSG scored, Mikels sluggishness was the initial catalyst.

sleekdot:
This is a screen grab of the time the pass was released and you honestly think theres no one who deserve the blame other than Mikel

Your 4 defenders couldnt track the run of Cavani yet na Mikel you go blame

Thanks for the screen grab which highlights the highway that Mikel gave Di Maria to turn, lift his head and pick his man under zero pressure.

Now Focus. I'm talking about Mikels incompetence here, not Ivanovic. Ivas incompetence does not excuse Mikels.

If that is Javi Martinez or Ngolo Kante, does Di Maria even get opportunity to trap that ball? Therein lies ypur answer

sleekdot:
Mikel was just coming from the left wing. Di maria was on the right and drifted to the middle

What were Ivanovic and Cahill looking at that Cavani made a run beside them and they were caught flat footed

Focus. I'm talking about Mikels incompetence here, not Iva and Cahill.

3 seconds before that ball reached Di Maria, he became Mikels man.

If that is Javi Martinez or Ngolo Kante, does Di Maria even get opportunity to trap that ball?

sleekdot:
2nd goal that you posted here

Mikel was just coming back from the left side of the field while Fabregas that was supposed to stay on Zlatan was easily dispatched

Baba rahman was tracking Dimaria but also dropped off

Is it that other 9 players have no responsibility on the field and everything revolves round Mikel?

When Mikel was not playing earlier in the season how many games were you winning

Fabregas was on Ibra. That is the difference. Ibra had to do a skill to buy 3 yards from Fabregas.

What did Di Maria have to do to get 5 yards from Mikel? Nothing. Mikel was busy running in treacle.

If that is Javi Martinez or Ngolo Kante, does Di Maria even get opportunity to trap that ball? Nonsense!

Thank God you noticed Baba passed Di Maria on to Mikel. He did the right thing. It is not Babas job to follow Di Maria into central midfield anymore than it is Mikels job to follow Blaise Matuidi into his own half.

In Paris:

1st goal - Lucas breezes past Mikel leading him to foul. Ibra scores


Now watch the 2nd goal. See how Di Maria drops 2 yards from the snail Mikel, and the snail gives him 3 seconds to chill, lift his head and play in Cavani for the 2nd goal.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLhNrGapXWg

All 4 goals in this tie has his incompetence involved in it.

Can you imagine Di Maria having such leisure on the edge of our box with any decent DM marking him?

Here are the 1st leg chances incase anyone forgot what happened and claim another thing. PSG all over Chelsea like a rash.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-PXNCktCqg

sleekdot:
Ibime both legs when the scores was level, Chelsea had better chances to score but didnt take them

Trapp made a double save just before Zlatan scored

and in the 1st leg several of your attackers fluffed their lines when through on goal

Did you watch the first leg?

Especially the 2nd half when Chelsea were overran and Courtois saved the day.

Diego Costa taking pot shots from the edge of the box does not equate to PSG scoring tapins and spurning several one on ones with the goalie and creating overloads all over pitch that led to clean chances.

Even yesterday, Di Maria was clean through. The only one on one shot Chelsea had yesterday was Hazards rebound when Willian had squeezed a shot through 4 men.

Meanwhile from 1st leg till now, PSG have been breaking through lines and seeing Courtois face to face. 2 tap ins yesterday, Several 1-on-1s in Paris and you are talking about chances?

At no stage was Chelsea in this tie. We have been well and truly beaten. Save the yarns. This has been a show of utter dominance, starting with overloading the midfield and creating overloads with runners that led to several tap in opportunities.

sleekdot:
Ibime could it be that Mikel was paying attention to the black DM in PSG

His name skipped me

WHile expecting Willian to track Rabiot

PSG played 3 DM yesterday you cant expect Mikel alone to track all of them

Thats why I said I wish the clip started 2 seconds earlier.

Matuidi is the attacking midfielder. No such thing was happening.

If that is the case and Matuidi started a run from his own half, do you expect Mikel to be within 20 yards of him by the time Matuidi enters Chelsea box? He no get sense?

How can you claim to be playing 4-2-3-1 and the DM expects the No10 to be the last man in midfield chasing someone from behind?

DM is a position on the pitch, not a detail to follow the opposing attacking midfielder into his own half.

I don't know of Makelele finding himself in such a position. Have you seen Maka following Iniesta into his own half before?

You should always run into the DM if you run in a straight line from the halfway line, unless it's a counterattack.

I wish I could start this frame 2 seconds earlier to show what I meant.

You would see how Rabiot started his move on halfway line. Mikel was not goal side of him, doing God-knows what.

Although this picture is taken 2 seconds into the move, you can still see where Mikel is, and the gaping hole where a DM should be.

Willian sort of passes Rabiot on thinking he is about to run into Mikel's zone. Mikel had no reason not to be in position. It was not a counterattack.

Even at this stage a faster DM would have recovered the position.

However, when Rabiot scored the goal, Mikel was still outside the box jogging.

If Mikel was halfway competent the first goal would not have happened.

How does an opposing DM run from halfway line into our 6 yard box without seeing a blue shirt. . . .and no be counterattack?

I have been seeing this kind of thing happen for 4 years and someone expects me to be satisfied with Mikel in my team?

Possession stats at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea 37 : PSG 63

We wont even talk about the rape of our midfield in Paris which was worse.

And one clown who is obsessed with me is busy writing epistle to tell us it's not about the midfield.

Same clown who was getting giddy with excitement yesterday thinking Chelsea was bossing the game meanwhile those who know what they are watching were just waiting for inevitable defeat seeing the utter balance, control and dominance PSG were having whilst Chelsea looked as porous as a basket.

I think someone is just obsessed with me. Regardless of the issue, he must always feels the need to take opposite side to Ibime. Meanwhile, I never put my head in his debates or assertions cos it no concern me.

If opposing Ibime means you must take position that Chelsea midfield is fit for purpose, then you must be very stewpid and an enemy of Chelsea.

Greatihex:
i am totally with you on this one. Mikel should have stretched to get that ball. I can't blame azpi cus he was already moving forward thinking that mikel has gotten the ball.

If has pace of a normal midfielder, he won't even have to stretch too much. He would have arrived at the ball in time to block it or even get to the ball first.

afrodoc2:

Lmao I don hear, don't get yourself worked up.
Who is on your case? Ok, Mikel was at fault for both goals

Na true now. I no know why you dey on my case.

The other week Man Utd conceded last minute equaliser "because Depay gave the ball away in opponents 18 yard box".

The opponents still had to run through midfield and defence to score. Nobody claimed its because Smalling lost his man, Herrera was dribbled, Borthwick-Jackson didn't anticipate etc etc etc.

No, 5 pages were spent excoriating Depay.

Well, Mikel is one of the no1 Depays in Chelsea team.

A player so useless, I have to vent on him each time he mess up, even if others mess up too.

Someone once accused me of witchhunting Torres. I said, if there's no witch, there would be no witchhunt. Mikel is a witch and I will hunt him because he is a cancer at Chelsea.

sleekdot:
The sequence for the first goal

Rabiot was with Willian when Di maria made the pass to Zlatan

Where was Mikel? Post the pic.

Show the space Rabiot ran into and who he supposed to run into there.

After getting past Willian on the halfway line, Rabiot saw no other blue shirt until he met Azpi in the 6 yard box.

From halfway line to 6 yard box unopposed and no be counterattack.

Meanwhile Mikel is jogging behind somewhere.

afrodoc2:
You have not blamed anybody else either.
Most goals are conceded by a sequence of errors by multiple players but if push comes to shove Cahill was at fault for the first goal and azpi for the second goal.
Calling out Mikel when you were silent on the major culprits is just witch hunting.

Dude get off ma case.

I'm not here to analyse the game. I came into this tie expecting to lose easily, before the first leg and before tonight.

Therefore I am not here to analyse what went wrong.

I'm here to continue to highlight a major structural problem at Chelsea.

The first goal contained mistakes from Mikel, Willian, Kenedy and Cahill.

The 2nd goal contained mistakes from Mikel and Azpi.

None of those goals happen if in the first instance Mikel did his basic job.

I do not look at Chelsea and say that for this club to progress we REALLY need to get rid of Cahill, Willian, Kenedy and Azpi.

But I do look at this club and say that this club will continue to die if we dont get rid of Mikel.

So you are right, I am witchhunting those who are the major causes of our uselessness by highlighting their every error and uselessness. I did the same for Ramires, Cuadrado, Torres and do the same for Oscar. This is not a match report. This is me highlighting the uselessness of certain players.

afrodoc2:
Where did you read that defenders do not track runners too.
For that 1st goal everything opened up because Cahill went and then stopped tracking zlatan , opening up the entire left side of your defence. Was he waiting for Mikel to come and do that tracking for him?
For the 2nd goal azpilicueta was caught ball watching and did not track Di Maria's run , simple!

Quit reducing football into defence and attack.

Tell me Mikels position when Rabiot started his run.

Does he have culpability in the goal? Massively. The goal doesn't happen without him. If he does his simple job, no goal.

I'm not interested in what you are saying about anybody else. I have not excused anybody else.

afrodoc2:
I am not actually disagreeing with your observation, just maybe your conclusion.

1) Mikel is slow, has always been slow and will always be slow. He is a poor excuse of a defensive midfielder who has little pace and can't track runners. That will never change because he can't just develop new physical attributes at this stage.

However those goals could have been avoided by others doing the basic things which their physical attributes would have allowed them do easily, namely tracking runs. Cahill for goal 1 and Azpi for goal 2 did not track basic runs...... That is where the major portion of the blame lies.

When an opposing defensive midfielder saunters into a defence unchallenged, it is called an overload. The midfield is culpable. There is little a defence can do about it.

Defenders meet attacks face on and mostly position themselves in space. Defenders do not do one-on-one tracking. Midfielders do that.

I have no problem with Mikel. I have problem with those who force him on us and keep such incompetence taking space at Chelsea year in, year out.

No Man Utd fan has cause to hate Kleberson. If he is not good enough, he is not good enough. But they will get irate if they have to stomach his presence every season.

afrodoc2:
What is instructive about your reaction was that Chelsea conceded a goal with Azpi as the major culprit but you singled out Mikel. You have a tendency to single out the players you do not like and blame them DISREGARDING the actual facts in each incident.

I am not defending Mikel's career overall in Chelsea but this particular goal was the time to criticise Azpi who was culpable for both goals due to his ball watching skills.

Go and watch the first goal again and tell me Mikels role in it.

Fans do not criticise reliable players if they phuck up once.

If an incident is caused by two players they will criticise the one who is unreliable.

If Pique and Vermaelen both make a mistake leading to a goal, who do you think fans will criticise and get irate about?

Even if Pique made the final mistake but Vermaelen made the initial mistake, believe me Vermaelen will get excoriated to death.

It is called credit in the bank. Azpi has that.

I'm not being funny.

Someone should study that first goal again and tell me what the job of a defensive midfielder is.

When Rabiot started the move, Mikel was high up the pitch marking no one.

Rabiot ran past Willian into the space a DM should occupy. Willian sef did not follow the run, expecting Rabiot to run into the pivot.

Mikel was as usual escorting back, never mind not being in position to begin.

Azpi is marking Di Maria on the back post when Rabiot saunters in unchallenged, leaving him with two men. He opts to cut out the cross and misses it.

Again, move does not even start to develop with a competent midfield in place.

afrodoc2:
Azpilicueta's primary job is not to see into the future and predict that a yellow carded Mikel would win a 50-50 ball, his primary duty is to mark and track the runs of his man............not ball watch like a boy seeing Kim Kardashian's booty for the first time.

I am not concerned with defending Azpi.

The fact is that goal does not happen without a snail like Mikel.

The fullback runs forward as soon as his team get the ball.

There was nothing 50:50 about that ball. Mikel had that ball virtually in his grasp. Any midfielder gets that ball. . . except Mikel.

Our midfield has been raped home and away.

How can PSG come and collect 62% possession at Stamford Bridge. Their attackers are not even scared of going forward knowing what kind of midfield sits behind them.

Vialli: Chelsea allowed too much space and time to PSGs midfielders. That's all.

afrodoc2:
Azpilicueta failing to track Di Maria's run was the primary reason that goal was conceded. Azpilicueta is the main culprit not Mikel

Mikel was extremely sluggish in reaching that ball.

That's the initiation of that goal.

Azpi prolly already thought that is Mikels ball and started running forward only to find that snail couldn't reach the ball.

Anybody that put any iota of hope in Mikel as a midfielder in a team like Chelsea is stewpid.

See Mikel the snail closing down the loose ball that led to the goal and failing to get to a ball he is favourite for.

That is why we can't win these kind of games.