With Essien out, you think Mikel will flourish?

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Mikel has to be first-choice.

I can't offer a massive post arguing this view as I don't have the time at this minute as I'm distracted by the cricket. So, I shall be succinct:

• With Essien out injured, Mikel is our only real defensive midfielder. McEachran is not suited to the role, as I believe he lacks the necessary defensive discipline and the physical strength to successfully carry out the role. I appreciate players don't have to be big and bulky to be successful in that role, such as Makelele and Ramires, but Josh is very slight, and furthermore, he is better used elsewhere. I believe the same applies to Ramires, who offers too much going forward to be wasted in the role.
• McEachran is ready for first-team football, but that doesn't mean he has nothing still to learn. As I have already said, he lacks the same defensive discipline Essien or Ramires possess, and that means there is more of an onus on a CDM if we are to play two attack-minded midfielders in the middle. If we play Lampard and McEachran, for instance, a defensively-disciplined player is needed, and Mikel is the perfect player. Positionally he has improved massively, and the most important part of his game is what has developed the most - his standing tackles and defensive jockeying. Previously he would go to ground, but he has nearly almost entirely eradicated this from his game.
• He has the experience and the quality to make that position his own. Furthermore, if we increase our attacking prospects by signing Modric or Pastore, or by playing Benayoun or McEachran, we would be increasing the pressure on the CDM role. Mikel knows the role inside-out, is the most positionally-disciplined and the strongest physically out of our CDM options. Yes, Josh could play there as a deep-lying playmaker, or we could play Ramires, but both players would have their attacking instincts negated at the same time as reducing the licence our full-backs have going forward. SO we would have to completely alter the system and buy genuine wingers to supply the width instead of having the need for the full-backs pushing on.

What I am saying is he is not only the best option for our CDM position, but his disciplined nature brings the best out of other players. He gives licence for the full-backs, CAMs and B2Bs to bomb forward - and I could argue he is our only option there. Luiz is untested there, Benayoun and Josh are far too attacking and Ramires' B2B contribution would become much more limited. Furthermore, if we sign Romeu, what is to say he'll walk into the matchday squad, let alone be charged with marking Iniesta, Sneijder, Schweinsteiger or Ozil in the Champions League?. That amount of importance has only increased now Essien is out.

[wisey11zola25 142]

With Essien out, you think Mikel will flourish?

No.

as much as i want him to, he is not even nearly of the standard for a defensive midfielder at a club of our stature....just look at his passing..there are times i wonder how he made it pro!

his passing throughout the years..and this pre-season(when he should be flourishing) has been woeful.

i'd rather play Joshy or adapt David Luiz to that position.

We've all been to patient with Mikel and he has never delivered!

[lionsden 4,689]

With Essien out, you think Mikel will flourish?

No.

as much as i want him to, he is not even nearly of the standard for a defensive midfielder at a club of our stature....just look at his passing..there are times i wonder how he made it pro!

his passing throughout the years..and this pre-season(when he should be flourishing) has been woeful.

i'd rather play Joshy or adapt David Luiz to that position.

We've all been to patient with Mikel and he has never delivered!

Wow really? Do you realise this same mikel completed more passes than any other player in the premier league last season according to highly credible and accurate "opta stat". let's try and be objective here.

[GodZola 630]

AVB has stated in his last interview one of the points that I was trying to get across about Mikel but he quite rightly addressed it to the whole team & that is that he wants to see the ball moved "vertically" as opposed to "horizontally"

This philosophy will improve our style of play & speed of attacks, this will hopefully benefit our forwards who were starved for service last season. Mikel has his orders so I hope that he carry's them out to the letter & makes him a better player in the process, I still have my doubts but atleast AVB is giving him (& others) the opportunity to improve.

[madalista 30]

With Essien out, you think Mikel will flourish?

No.

as much as i want him to, he is not even nearly of the standard for a defensive midfielder at a club of our stature....just look at his passing..there are times i wonder how he made it pro!

his passing throughout the years..and this pre-season(when he should be flourishing) has been woeful.

i'd rather play Joshy or adapt David Luiz to that position.

We've all been to patient with Mikel and he has never delivered!

wow this post suggest you dont ever watch chelsea play. mikel is a good passer a fairer criticism might be that he is conservative with his passing, more lateral passes than forward ones. he is a good tackler, positionally aware. josh would not make it as a defensive midfielder. he not a good tackler and his skill set is better used elsewhere. he hasnt been poor this pre season esp. in the last game. he played well with good passing and broke the play well enough. i thought josh and him played well against the thai 11. if you gonna complain about a midfielders passing look at lampard who seems to have forgotten how to pass. he keeps on giving the ball away regularly these days. by the way passing doesnt make a dm. makelele was never a good pass and neither is mascherano. have you ever seen david luiz play in midfield???

[Guest justin_3d]

@justin - If we're looking for goals from Mikel, we're in serious trouble.

Looking good, looking good! :dude:

[BlueLion. 21,491]

He sometimes hits a wonder volley, like in today's game, completely out of nowhere. And a goalkeeper always saves it. We should give him a penalty if we ever get one when we're 3-0 up in a game.

[Milan 17,959]

He sometimes hits a wonder volley, like in today's game, completely out of nowhere. And a goalkeeper always saves it. We should give him a penalty if we ever get one when we're 3-0 up in a game.

No! :wag_finger: Penalties for Lampard as he pushes for the top spot in the best Chelsea scorers ever! He only needs to make sure he scores from the spot

[ChelseaFanMKD 41]

With Essien out, you think Mikel will flourish?

Yes. At least he HAS TO.

Why?

I could write sentences about this, but i will put that in 2-3 sentence : he just need to be good because we don't have much options and he is a 24 years old player. In the previous season we used to say : he is younger, he will get better as he grows up. His time has come, this is his chance to prove himself and i am sure he will do good.

[cujo101 75]

With Essien out, you think Mikel will flourish?

No. Sorry! He dosn't impose himself on a game, doesn't contribute any goals, lacks the ability to drivre the team forward and his passing range is limited.

[Madmax 9,219]

LOL^

[robdog 2,084]

With Essien out, you think Mikel will flourish?

No. Sorry! He dosn't impose himself on a game, doesn't contribute any goals, lacks the ability to drivre the team forward and his passing range is limited.

Funny, I recall people saying the same about Maka. I find these two players to be very similar, but Mikel has a bit more pace. He looked good to me last week. There was a couple of times he provided cover for Cole & stopped Pennant making runs down the Stoke right flank. There was a couple of more times I saw Mikel provide cover for either Terry or Alex & stop some runs up the middle. Did he have a perfect match??? No, but IMHO he is the engine of the midfield for Chelsea. Right now anyway.

[Guest justin_3d]

Mikel still looking good for me, and that's even after suffering that pain of his father.

[Rambo 1,729]

With Essien out, you think Mikel will flourish?

No.

as much as i want him to, he is not even nearly of the standard for a defensive midfielder at a club of our stature....just look at his passing..there are times i wonder how he made it pro!

his passing throughout the years..and this pre-season(when he should be flourishing) has been woeful.

i'd rather play Joshy or adapt David Luiz to that position.

We've all been to patient with Mikel and he has never delivered!

|

Mikel is a very disciplined passer, arguably the best on our squad.

[manpe 10,861]

I don't get where people take the he's a bad passer thing. Everybody has a shit pass once in a while, but overall I think his passing is decent and some have impressed me over the years. A very cool-headed holding midfielder, not the one who used to get carded almost every game

[NattyBlue 44]

Yeah, very different player compared to when he first came on. Great stuff really. Thought he was MoM vs West Brom

[SamTrueBlue 2]

Really liked his range of passing and has a great touch, i felt confident when he was on the ball

[tnchelsea 79]

Oriol Romeu will give Mikel a run for his money.

[OneMoSalah 8,886]

Mikel has looked good this season, even though his father has been kidnapped he has shown great mental strength and got on with it and put in two good shifts. He has changed from the undisciplined player he once was picking up a yellow card every game and developed into one of the finest holding players in Europe, I hope he continues to play through out the season and not pick up any injuries to halter his progress

[the Blues 11 19]

Mikel is a good player but is not the player essian is. If AVB can put in the right system I do think Mikel can flourish. I just want him to play to his strengths and if he does the club will be alright.