Mikel John Obi

[BLionheart 516]

Stats actually don't show that Mikel is that superior, hardly anyone uses stats to depict how good Mikel is. People use their own opinion. It's not a surprise that Mikel has continued to be a mainstay in midfield regardless of what manager we've had. Are you saying that all of these world class manager couldn't see that Mikel is shit? Exactly.

Well you need to browse through the pages and you will notice that anyone who remotely likes mikel uses stats to support their opinion ,

All the managers who used mikel , used due to lack / unavailability of a proper DM , Jose used him when Makelele and Essien were unavailable , Carlo preferred Essien and sometimes Belleti to Mikel , AVB would rather use Mierles there , Hiddink had Mikel sitting next to him once Essien was fit.

All the managers who relied on mikel , used him due to the fact that they ve been waiting for essien (who is always injured) to be fit .

Mikel is the metronome of the team, the link between defence and midfield. He isn't flashy, and that's why many people don't appreciate what he actually does for the team.

What kind of link would actually aim 90% of his passes back to the CBs and GK !! don't you think that's why Mata and Lamps has to drop so deep to get the ball forward, i bet terry and luiz has more forward passes than Mikel

Have you ever sat and considered to think that maybe the managers instruct Mikel to hold up play? To hold on to the ball whilst the team organises itself? To be the outlet of the team when there are no options in attack? There are so many misconceptions about Mikel.

Most of the fans are annoyed of him holding up play when there are outlets that will possibly lead to a great goal scoring opportunity , sometimes you need to hold up play but Mikel is irritating because he does that even in times where all you need to is play a long pass as quickly as possible or start a counter attack.

Bingo. That exactly explains the general misconception about Mikel. People expect him to be the classic, run-around-closing-down-like-a-headless-chicken ball winning DM. That's not his role. Surely by now people should know that Mikel is in the team as a shield to the back four, an outlet to the midfield and defence, someone who is essential in keeping the shape of the side and the third centreback.

Oh !! you mean busquets , Mikel is no Busquets , if we want someone who can do that then Romue is a much better fit .

What I mean about Mikel being the third centre back is that he allows the likes of Ashley Cole, Bosingwa (seasons he was here with us), Ivanovic etc. to bomb forward. Has no one noticed that when these bomb forward, Mikel drops back in between the two CB? It provides cover for the team, an extra body against a potential counter attacks, and again, an outlet to the team when we win the ball back in defence. Mikel is vital in keeping the team ticking. Again, it's not a coincidence he kept getting picked by every manager we've had.

Right. So, Bayern Munich in a CL final, renowned for their attacking football, had a player like Tiote or Parker in their XI right?

Although this is totally irrelevant but i know for a fact they didn't have a mikel and they usually use Gustavo who was suspended in the final.

Barcelona, Man City, Man Utd all have players like them two starting week in week out do they?

Barcelone is incomparable to any other team as their style of football is like no other , and between them and man-city they have De Jong and Mascherano , you can even include Yaya toure who was a superb DM during his days with Barca .

The fact is, many here think there's only one way to play the DM role. There's many different types, and many are confusing your TRADITIONAL ball winning DM with Mikel's role, which points more towards him being the holding man in our midfield. None in the CFC squad are better than Mikel at the holding role. Few are in the PL.

Yes . there are many different styles of DMs , the style that will best suit our game-play is the traditional ball winning DM , and btw if you wanna consider mikel a deep-lying playmaker then he is a pretty average one .

Mikel's strengths consists of good concentration, accurate passing, good anticipation, ball retention and composure. All which are essential attributes for the holding role.

You mean lack of concentration , accurate back-passing , No anticipation , great ball retention (had to be said) , great composure .. add to the fact that his other weaknesses of huge lack of mobility , lack of agressiveness , he needs almost 10 seconds to make a decision so no quickness of thought ...

Why haven't we been linked with a DM this season? Because there are no problems in that department. And our board and managerial staff clearly, and gladly see that.

No , it's actually because we had other priorities , i don't like Mikel but he isn't a shit DM as much as Malouda , Kalou , Bosingwa are shit in their positions , also btw we were linked numerous times with Tiote and M'ville .

If Mikel was suspended for that CL final, we would've lost. That's my honest opinion, and that's how highly I rate him.

Mikel has a superb game no one can take that away from him but he had loads of awful games , and as i said before he is more suited to the defensive football we were playing last year but for an attacking game-plan he will be useless .

Mikel is vital to our future style of play, not a ball winning DM who runs around closing down opposition players. That would cause us to lose our shape, become more suspect to a counter attack, and lose the safe haven of knowing there's always an option to pass back to if things don't work out in attack.

Totally disagree , you can't have too static midfielders such as Lamps and Mikel when you are planning on attack , it worked last year because we defended with 10 players and even drogba was doing a lot of nasty work in midfield so their lack of mobility wasn't exposed but any decent opposition would walk through lamps and mikel due to their lack of agressiveness and mobility

Sorry for the essay but it really grinds my gears when people speak about Mikel like he's some sort of irrelevant League 2 footballer.

Besides, we've already a player who can adapt to that ball winning midfielder role in our squad - Ramires.

I am one of Ramires's huge admirers but he will never be that player

I am sick of waiting for mikel to improve , his learning curve is so slow , he has been with us for 7 years and Ramires learned in 1 year more than him .

[Blue Armour 4,164]

Those two aren't even DM's though. They're better placed as the team's engine.

Essien's best position wasn't as a DM. It was when he was allowed to roam around the field as a B2B midfielder causing havoc.

Same with Davids. Davids only reincarnated himself later into a more deeper player as he lost his pace.

I wouldn't call Essien a true DM. He was good there as he has some attributes that complement it, but he was shackled as well. With Mikel that is not a problem as he naturally compliments the holding position.

Fact is they were both very good at their defensive work (David's marking ability for instance), and were equally good in their contributions further up the pitch.

I personally feel Mikel is fine, as long as you have someone else in midfield to take the game to the opposition. But it really helps if you have a DM with all round ability.

[zolayes 14,489]

I am sick of waiting for mikel to improve , his learning curve is so slow , he has been with us for 7 years and Ramires learned in 1 year more than him .

patience Maka has retired ,,,unless you want us to get Tiote

[Santiago. 1,500]

MIkel in the double Pivot along side Lampard or Oscar

Romeu in the 4 3 3 defensive role alongside Oscar and Ramires in the midfield.

[Blue-in-me-Veins 4,067]

MIkel in the double Pivot along side Lampard or Oscar

Romeu in the 4 3 3 defensive role alongside Oscar and Ramires in the midfield.

agree whole-heartedly

and in 4141 romeu in cdm.

[Kojo 4,676]

I am sick of waiting for mikel to improve , his learning curve is so slow , he has been with us for 7 years and Ramires learned in 1 year more than him .

Woops my bad.

And I agree it's pointless waiting on someone who is shite. Akinfenwa would do a much better job there.

[Stats 6,980]

I am sick of waiting for mikel to improve , his learning curve is so slow , he has been with us for 7 years and Ramires learned in 1 year more than him .

I am sorry but that is rubbish. Mikel was not a DM when we bought him, he wanted to play as an attacking mid so obviously the tranisition will be longer and playing a DM role and getting adjusted to it and being told you can not go forward will take time to learn and over the years has learned this brilliantly. He has improved every season for us and is a key player now for us. I think we have developed him into one of the best holding-mids in the premiership IMO. How else you want him to improve, I do not know.

[OneMoSalah 8,614]

Just had a look for Mikels stats on EPLindex

They are actually incredibly good for a defensive mid.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Just had a look for Mikels stats on EPLindex

They are actually incredibly good for a defensive mid.

Impossible, Mikel is just some random guy playing for us because we have no one else to play

I said it last season and I'll continue to say it until it becomes untrue: Along with Song, Mikel is the best DM in the league.

[capriccioso 2,545]

What do you want from him? Do you expect him to be some sort of Hollywood wanker? Running 20km per game and winning 100 tackles a game, scoring three 30 yarders a match and pinging spectacular 80 yard through balls?

Mikel's detractors should stick to playing FIFA orr watching those Goal! films, where they can realise their delusions of average players like Tiote and Parker somehow being fit to lace the shoes of a European champion.

[RamiCFC9 258]

Ivanovic is probably going to get all the blame and rightfully so.But this guy Mikel is hopeless to say the least, to say he is shit is actually complimenting him.He is just an useless body on the pitch which (sadly) is playing for us.Got caught out of position countless times, overran just as many and lost all the 50/50 battles.No passion, no drive, no agression.This guy offers absolutely nothing offensively and is just as bad in defending, really.He is just a blank page, pathetic player, never been good enough and never will.Fuking pathetic wussy.And if Robbie can't see that, then I feel sorry for him, cuz he will get his head axed sooner rather then later.

[Sir Mikel OBE 4,738]

Ivanovic is probably going to get all the blame and rightfully so.But this guy Mikel is hopeless to say the least, to say he is shit is actually complimenting him.He is just an useless body on the pitch which (sadly) is playing for us.Got caught out of position countless times, overran just as many and lost all the 50/50 battles.No passion, no drive, no agression.This guy offers absolutely nothing offensively and is just as bad in defending, really.He is just a blank page, pathetic player, never been good enough and never will.Fuking pathetic wussy.And if Robbie can't see that, then I feel sorry for him, cuz he will get his head axed sooner rather then later.

If Mikel were even remotely Offensive then we would have lost this by 3 goals. He is being exposed because the other side of the pivot is spending more time in the attacking box than our actual striker. It is no mistake he looked better in the second half when we were a man down, and Lampard was practically forced to stay back in the pivot next to him.

[Kojo 4,676]

What do you want from him? Do you expect him to be some sort of Hollywood wanker? Running 20km per game and winning 100 tackles a game, scoring three 30 yarders a match and pinging spectacular 80 yard through balls?

Mikel's detractors should stick to playing FIFA orr watching those Goal! films, where they can realise their delusions of average players like Tiote and Parker somehow being fit to lace the shoes of a European champion.

I love how your thoughts have now all changed...

Yeah and as for those stats, Leon Britton is the best english midfielder at the moment if that's the case.

Fuck stats, they show only a little bit and even then they are misguided, watch how a player does on the pitch, that's the only true way you can know.

[zolayes 14,489]

I love how your thoughts have now all changed...

Yeah and as for those stats, Leon Britton is the best english midfielder at the moment if that's the case.

Fuck stats, they show only a little bit and even then they are misguided, watch how a player does on the pitch, that's the only true way you can know.

of course you were a DM until you retired from football ...a while ago

[Kojo 4,676]

of course you were a DM until you retired from football ...a while ago

And you where... oh no i can't say anything as I'll get banned.

[capriccioso 2,545]

I love how your thoughts have now all changed...

Yeah and as for those stats, Leon Britton is the best english midfielder at the moment if that's the case.

Fuck stats, they show only a little bit and even then they are misguided, watch how a player does on the pitch, that's the only true way you can know.

Hardly.

I back Mikel to the hilt. One bad game won't change that. I want him starting against Wigan.

[Kojo 4,676]

Hardly.

I back Mikel to the hilt. One bad game won't change that. I want him starting against Wigan.

One bad game?, he's been average for a while now. He will never flourish and he's like what coming up 26?, he can only get more experienced and that will not turn him into a world beater, or sadly even a 'good player'.

[Spike 12,049]

He is a good player but I don't think he fits the attacking and controlling football. In defensive football he is very good at what he does. He likes to spend time on the ball which in turn allows players to nick the ball off him and so I believe he needs cover in the midfield which is very lacking when Lamps is his only partner.