Mikel John Obi

[Special Juan 27,101]

This lad put the absolute shits up when he cane on. Turning in dangerous areas and his first contribution was to give the ball straight to them. I am not for one moment using him as a scape goat but after all this thread is named Jon Obi Mikel, but I tell what, he's fucking terrible.

He couldn't be any further away from the level Matic is at.

[Spyker 27]

Mikel really neds to step up as the season closes especially in champions league if he hopes to stay next season..

[Jase 43,479]

Not saying this on hindsight but think Mourinho should have brought Mikel on earlier a bit yesterday when Galatasaray were already putting some pressure on us rather actually doing so immediately after we concede.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Don't get where the criticism comes from, he came on to do a job and he did exactly what he came on to do. He killed the Gala momentum, kept the ball and gave us a lot more possession than we were having. Before he came on in the second half, the game was being playing in our third and we weren't putting together more than 3 passes in a row.

[The only place to be 11,313]

Put us under pressure a couple of times when he got possession. Rather than looking to advance the play, he moves it backwards and allows the Galatasaray players to press us so that we give up possession.

His possession stats are thoroughly misleading and here's why. At one point he received the ball and had two players move towards him. Rather than shipping the ball on, he shielded the ball for a couple of seconds whilst moving towards Azpi at left-back. He then passes Azpi the ball but the players who were on Mikel are already near the ball so Azpi has to hoof it.

End result - completed pass for Mikel (yay for the stat!), missed pass for Azpi and Galatasaray regain possession.

And it's not a freak occurrence. He passes the ball to players who aren't in good positions a lot. But at least he's leaving in the summer.

[didierforever 7,349]

Don't get where the criticism comes from, he came on to do a job and he did exactly what he came on to do. He killed the Gala momentum, kept the ball and gave us a lot more possession than we were having. Before he came on in the second half, the game was being playing in our third and we weren't putting together more than 3 passes in a row.

Dude. I don't think any1 has criticized mikel on last night's performance.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Dude. I don't think any1 has criticized mikel on last night's performance.

I feel like he does not give 100% for CFC if we compare with his national team performances that is

This lad put the absolute shits up when he cane on. Turning in dangerous areas and his first contribution was to give the ball straight to them. I am not for one moment using him as a scape goat but after all this thread is named Jon Obi Mikel, but I tell what, he's fucking terrible.

He couldn't be any further away from the level Matic is at.

[Special Juan 27,101]

Dude. I don't think any1 has criticized mikel on last night's performance.

I did, he was fucking shite. Along with Ramires, Hazard and Willian.

[didierforever 7,349]

They ll always be a couple of those guys dude. But overall he was good. Anyone who actually saw the match would have appreciated mikel's contribution in 2 aspects

1. Providing defensive stability

2. Retaining ball possession.

We were getting murdered out there before the goal and mikel helped us come from turkey with a very gavourable reault

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Put us under pressure a couple of times when he got possession. Rather than looking to advance the play, he moves it backwards and allows the Galatasaray players to press us so that we give up possession.

His possession stats are thoroughly misleading and here's why. At one point he received the ball and had two players move towards him. Rather than shipping the ball on, he shielded the ball for a couple of seconds whilst moving towards Azpi at left-back. He then passes Azpi the ball but the players who were on Mikel are already near the ball so Azpi has to hoof it.

End result - completed pass for Mikel (yay for the stat!), missed pass for Azpi and Galatasaray regain possession.

And it's not a freak occurrence. He passes the ball to players who aren't in good positions a lot. But at least he's leaving in the summer.

In the first 18 minutes of the second half we completed just 32 of 48 attempted passes. Then in the next 20 minutes after Mikel came on, we completed 91 out of 108 attempted passes. I'm not saying that was all down to Mikel, but he played a big part in that transformation.

They were killing us at the start of the second half and we weren't able to keep possession for our life. It does not matter whether Mikel's passes were forward or backwards as long as we kept possession and killed their momentum. We would have most likely conceded a second had Mikel not came on.

[didierforever 7,349]

I did, he was fucking shite. Along with Ramires, Hazard and Willian.

can't say anytging other than ehat I said to choulo

[We Hate Scouse 10,260]

22 passes 21 successful is all well and good apart from the fact that he played a massive 4 balls to an attacking player, 0 of them a striker. He had 24 touches on the ball in all so literally all he was doing was distributing the ball back to the defenders when he received it.

We were constantly on the backfoot and he was constantly passing backwards - It was such negative and horrible football. It's impossible to play counter attacking football with him on the pitch.

He really is the fraction of the player that Matic is.

[Reddish-Blue 2,220]

They ll always be a couple of those guys dude. But overall he was good. Anyone who actually saw the match would have appreciated mikel's contribution in 2 aspects

1. Providing defensive stability

2. Retaining ball possession.

We were getting murdered out there before the goal and mikel helped us come from turkey with a very gavourable reault

DID YOU ACTUALLY WATCH THE GAME?

Mikel did nothing, other than a few backward passes.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

22 passes 21 successful is all well and good apart from the fact that he played a massive 4 balls to an attacking player, 0 of them a striker. He had 24 touches on the ball in all so literally all he was doing was distributing the ball back to the defenders when he received it.

We were constantly on the backfoot and he was constantly passing backwards - It was such negative and horrible football. It's impossible to play counter attacking football with him on the pitch.

He really is the fraction of the player that Matic is.

That was exactly what was needed from him and Jose would be very happy with him. We had practically nothing of the possession in the second half before he came on. What he was supposed to do is keep the ball and string a few passes together. The objective was not to counter attack, the objective was not to concede a second which we would most likely have had we continued to play like we did in the first 18 minutes of the second half. Reread my post to TOPTB and just let those numbers sink in:

In the first 18 minutes of the second half we completed just 32 of 48 attempted passes. Then in the next 20 minutes after Mikel came on, we completed 91 out of 108 attempted passes. I'm not saying that was all down to Mikel, but he played a big part in that transformation.

They were killing us at the start of the second half and we weren't able to keep possession for our life. It does not matter whether Mikel's passes were forward or backwards as long as we kept possession and killed their momentum. We would have most likely conceded a second had Mikel not came on.

[didierforever 7,349]

DID YOU ACTUALLY WATCH THE GAME?

Mikel did nothing, other than a few backward passes.

Those few back passes coupled with the fact that we broke gala's momentume plus we were able to actually keep the ball for morw than a sexond is what probably got us a draw insteaf of a loss.

I strongly suggest that u SHOULD WATCH THE Match AGAIN. When a coach takes off an attacking player like sxhurrle and replaces hin with someone like mikel, it means he wants to shut the shop. Jose wanted a draw abd mikel played a huge role in stemming the flow.

Add to all this that hazars and willian were having the worst matches of the seasob TOGETHER, it is simoly stulid of people to blame mikel that we could not attck or countet.

[BloodIsBlue 291]

Mikel taking that shot near the end of the game (that could of been a promising situation) was a microcosm of all our moaning.

[The only place to be 11,313]

In the first 18 minutes of the second half we completed just 32 of 48 attempted passes. Then in the next 20 minutes after Mikel came on, we completed 91 out of 108 attempted passes. I'm not saying that was all down to Mikel, but he played a big part in that transformation.

They were killing us at the start of the second half and we weren't able to keep possession for our life. It does not matter whether Mikel's passes were forward or backwards as long as we kept possession and killed their momentum. We would have most likely conceded a second had Mikel not came on.

Just looking on squawkas stats and the percentages go from 73% to 81% after Mikel's introduction. That's marginal and I'll say again that you have to look beyond the stats and at the actual match itself. Yes we may have completed more passes but Mikel tends to put players into poor positions with his passes. I cited an example with Azpi and it's always the same with him. Rather than relieve pressure by opening up the play and looking upfield, he tends to move the play backwards towards his own goal which allows oppositions to press on us.

Those few back passes coupled with the fact that we broke gala's momentume plus we were able to actually keep the ball for morw than a sexond is what probably got us a draw insteaf of a loss.

Keep the ball for how many phases though? Does Mikel advance the play and turn Galatasaray or does his slow play actually allow them to advance upfield and apply pressure to us so that they can regain possession in advanced areas?

[didierforever 7,349]

Just looking on squawkas stats and the percentages go from 73% to 81% after Mikel's introduction. That's marginal and I'll say again that you have to look beyond the stats and at the actual match itself. Yes we may have completed more passes but Mikel tends to put players into poor positions with his passes. I cited an example with Azpi and it's always the same with him. Rather than relieve pressure by opening up the play and looking upfield, he tends to move the play backwards towards his own goal which allows oppositions to press on us.

Keep the ball for how many phases though? Does Mikel advance the play and turn Galatasaray or does his slow play actually allow them to advance upfield and apply pressure to us so that they can regain possession in advanced areas?

so tell me how many moves had we made in the sexond half without mikel? How were we playing? How many times did mikel lose the ball cos of this incessant pressing of gala? U might not like mikel but to ridicule him for yesterday is childish to say the least. He played well. He did the job that he was brought on to do. It was not as if jose removed a defender and put in a midfielder so that we go for an extra goal.