Mikel is the only holding midfielder we have available who actually does the "holding" bit. His effect was more than his performance as it gave rambo freedom to surge forward with protection, which he doesn't get when playing alongside anyone else. Mikel started well and did his job effectively, but there were a couple of sloppy passes that should have been fairly simple leading to counters, but he got back and defended well. He played fairly well, but we benefited more from it giving rambo and the others a bit more freedom.