Keane V Mee

[starting_11]

Who's better?

I think Keane seems to have the all around skill and loads more potential than Mee.

At the moment though, Mee has a wise old head and tonnes of experience. He did more saves than Robinson the other day.

What do you reckon?

[Bin Ont Turf]

I love Ben Mee, he's the epitome of Burnley.

However anyone saying that Mee is better than Keane, really do need new spectacles.

We love you Ben Mee!

[boatshed bill]

Tarky!

[starting_11]

I love Ben Mee, he's the epitome of Burnley.

He truly is isn't he. All the way down to being so far under the radar no one seems to know what to expect from him!

Long may it last, he is one of our most important players this season.. despite his "occasional hiccups"

[bfccrazy]

This is something I have voiced my opinion on A LOT with friends.

Keane is the "better player" as he still has so much room for improvement at a young age and looks like he can only get better and better.

Mee is a rock and does the job asked of him and bar a few slips is what makes us so solid at the back.

Whenever I watch Burnley and Keane has a great game ... I cant help but think that one of the biggest reasons he does so well is because he has Mee next to him to clean up or do the dirty work.

I feel Keane can play how he does, only because he has Mee there and knows that if he has a hiccup then Mee will generally sort it out. This gives Keane a free'er role to go about his more flamboyant defensive style.

Similar to why I feel the Barton/Defour partnership would work very well for us as Barton could do the dirty work and let Defour express himself a little more.

There seems to be little partnerships of a similar nature forming all over the pitch which is one of the reasons we do so well and arguably are punching above our weight from a squad perspective.

Barnes does the dirty work for Gray.

Boyd covers in and helps Lowton.

Mee grafts and covers Keane allowing him to be more daring.

Arfield tracks back and pulls back when Ward goes up. (Which is why I feel Brady hasn't assimilated properly yet as he is working out this role.

It is great to see but for us as a team right now, for me at least - Mee is more inportant than Keane in our defence even though I can easily say Keane is the "better player".

*sorry if I dragged on a little*

[Elizabeth]

* you haven't met Spice yet ? *

[CharlieinNewMexico]

Tony Gayle is usually VERY complimentary of Mee on the TV.

Keane gets caught out of position if the ball is moved along and crossed in quickly, leaving poor old Lowton to try and win a header against their forward (twice against Watford, once against Swansea and that's without even thinking too far back). Going to be a Rolls Royce of a player but still has a lot of experience to gain.

[Vegas Claret]

Keane is clearly a technically better player, he's been superb for us
Mee, I love him to bits, he makes mistakes but I don't care, this lad would bleed Claret and Blue. Got to be one of our best signings of the last 10 years

[ashtonlongsider]

I think Keane and Mee are ideal partners, a little like Vokes and Ings were albeit in a different position. A bit good cop, bad cop. Certainly the best combination we've had IMO since Waldron and Thompson. Keane is the best young England CD and think he now has all the attributes and mentality to play for a top club.

[Claretmatt4]

Third attempt at a reply ffs.

Basically you are spot on bfccrazy.

[dsr]

We don't need "Keane v. Mee" because they're both on the same side

Keane and Mee are like Davis and Pender, only a few divisions higher. They're both better for the presence of the other one.

The only thing about Mee is that he isn't a "glamour" player (ie. he can't pass so well!) so we might have a chance of keeping him.

[claretgimmer]

Keane is a cracking player but Ben Mee`s reading of the game, reaction to situations, tackling ability and total commitment gives him a slight edge at the moment, many times he reacts to the second ball quicker than other players, against Hull for example people villified him for the foul on Huddlestone from which Snodgrass scored but nobody questioned why only Mee reacted to a player lining up to shoot and he slipped as he got there. Keane still has the habit of getting caught like a rabbit in the headlights as Charlie mentioned above but there is no doubting his pace and skill on the ball. Keane will get better and gain the attributes that Mee posesses now and then he will be an alround better player than Mee is hopefully he might still be in a claret shirt when that time comes but I unfortunately doubt it.

[50 shades of Grey]

People rightly talk of 'how much Keane is worth',, but similarly, how much is Mee worth. Both of them are outstanding defenders. Amazing how far we've come. Oh, and we've got another gem waiting in the wings in Tarkowski as well.

[Claretdan]

Think Mee is every bit as good as Keane, wonder why he doesn't get the publicity Keane does

[Decades]

Frank Lampard had Keane in his team of the season so far on Monday night football on Sky and he deserves the accolades. Ben Mee has been fantastic for us.

[Quickenthetempo]

Keane picks his battles better so he won't make as many mistakes, where as Mee is just wholehearted and will try to defend everything. This results in more mistakes but more goal line/last ditch clearances.

[Cooperclaret]

Keane is a 50 + million pound footballer if Stones is and if we sell for anything below that then we have failed. Mee is everything Burnley Football Club is about and is priceless !

[taio]

Keane is a 50 + million pound footballer if Stones is and if we sell for anything below that then we have failed.

If we were to sell below £50m it wouldn't be a failure. The transfer market works in different ways depending on the conditions and circumstances. I don't think for a moment we can expect a fee of that size.

[lakesclaret]

Mee been a good player for us and he's decent defender ,though to compare him to Keane is ridiculous . While Mee has been " good for Burnley" he's ultimately a championship player, brave old school defender,good in the air, but painfully slow, a soso passer and offers virtually no attacking threat . Keanes a Rolls Royce in the making .

[wilks_bfc]

Mee is a fantastic reader of situations, you only need to look back to Saturdays game to when he covered back behind Robinson to clear of the line.

We are very lucky in that we have 3 excellent ENGLISH centre backs

[dsr]

Mee been a good player for us and he's decent defender ,though to compare him to Keane is ridiculous . While Mee has been " good for Burnley" he's ultimately a championship player, brave old school defender,good in the air, but painfully slow, a soso passer and offers virtually no attacking threat . Keanes a Rolls Royce in the making .

You have to have defenders who defend. Keane and Mee make a better pair than Keane and Keane would do, cloning permitting. IMO. Put Keane alongside Stones and watch the goals fly in; Mee and Stones would be a better pairing. IMO.

Ultimately a championship player? Definitely not. If this season hasn't proved that he's a Premier League player, what has it proved? (And I don't think he's painfully slow, either. Not as quick as Keane, but not slow.)

[jurek]

Keane and Mee do, to a certain extent compliment each other but
both are still prone to straying out of position at times or not getting into the right
position. They're both good headers and decent tacklers and Keane edges Mee in terms
of technique on the ball and distribution.

They've only been together for 16 or so month is it?
So they've come quite a long way in that time.

Keane probably has the better potential for improving and developing his abilities
by playing alongside others and in another team unfortunately but Mee has come on greatly also.
They're a pretty good duo. However, I'm not sure Mee could develop much more.
He nevertheless brings something to the team that is core to the team's spirit which you can't put a price on.
I think Keane has been very happy at Burnley and it would have been interesting to see him play alongside Tarkowski.

Keane will probably go in the summer and hopefully we'll get a healthy amount for him.
I wouldn't sell him for less than 25m and probably ask for 30m.

Tarkowski seems the obvious choice to step in and it will be interesting to see how he pairs up with Mee.
It's probably our best option even though we'll need to bring in another central defender
who can step in and not let us down and/or push Tarks or Mee for a place.
In today's market (unless we can bring in someone unknown and develop quickly) we'll probably need to spend
a hefty amount of the Keane fee.
That should still leave us with a decent amount for other incoming/s which will no doubt be required
whether we stay up or not.

[bfccrazy]

The thing that's stood out for me with Tark is when he has tried to close down players when on as a midfielder.

I'm hoping he does it the way he does because he's in midfield and not becaus that is his natural way to tackle/close down/jockey the opposition.

His positioning seems to be a little wayward when hassling opposition players in the few times I have seen him try and if he does that in a game when playing at CB it could be dodgy.

Having said that though, when he stepped in for Keane last season he was top notch and I doubt anybody could claim he didn't slip into the side in defence seamlessly.

[lucs86]

Keane's quite significantly better in most of the attributes that make a top CB - faster, taller, more comfortable in possession, better distribution, more goal threat, great in the tackle. Also a few years younger so he has more potential to develop any weakness in his game, although there's nothing much that springs to mind.

Mee is the more natural leader which is very important (hopefully future captain material) and likes to get stuck in more. If he was a couple of inches taller and had one of either pace or distribution he'd be as good as Keane, but they are pretty noticable traits that he lacks and that he makes up for with getting-stuck-in-ness.

Both are great though and form a brilliant partnership with all boxes ticked. Keane will move on for serious money because he can step up a level, Mee (touch wood) will be with us a while longer yet, he'll not outgrow us while we're Premier League.

Credit to Dyche here too, the framework that's drilled in, the consistency of team selection and the attitude instilled means that the CBs, more than anyone else in the team, have a straightforward role to focus on and excel in. My expectation (and I think a lot of other people's) is that Tarkowski (a £3m Championship CB) will slot straight in for Keane and also look a world-beater. I think Dyche is going to create great CBs wherever he goes.

[Claret_Jules]

Mee been a good player for us and he's decent defender ,though to compare him to Keane is ridiculous . While Mee has been " good for Burnley" he's ultimately a championship player, brave old school defender,good in the air, but painfully slow, a soso passer and offers virtually no attacking threat . Keanes a Rolls Royce in the making .

A championship defender who's playing for a mid table Premier League side? He's every bit a Premier League defender and is certainly not the cart horse you've described.

[timshorts]

Michael Keane is the classiest English defender that I have seen come through for years. Give it a year and he will be the mainstay of the England defence - unless he ends up sitting on a bench at Man City or something. I just wish he was welsh. and that he stays.

Burnley has been good for him and vice-versa.

[Rileybobs]

Silly question as it's blindly obvious that Michael Keane is a better player. But in terms of importance to our team I'd say there's nothing between them.

[MDWat]

Keane and by a distance.

[Decades]

Would always have put Mee on a par with Keane, have now found some justification for my view!

http://talksport.com/football/not-kante ... 230672?p=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ben Mee ranked equal 7th in the Premier league for interceptions ahead of Kante!

Go Ben Mee!