Mikel's tactical flaw

[manco 38]

I know I'm repeating myself but it just pissed me off again yesterday...

I can't really doubt the fact that he's playing only because we are still playing in 3 different

sets, but he's continuing with the terrible positioning. If he plays against Barcelona it will be very sad...

Example from the match against Wigan (which are turning to be our nemesis since the Avram season):

As you can see , Diame is with the ball, Bertrand coming back from the left wing

to fill in for the hole in defense (Mikel's area). Mikel is overlooking , and let's say the

area he can defend is the black circle. Cahill is keeping a straight defense line with Luiz

so he can't move. Meireles is behind and he can't tackle (or he gets a red card), and Diame is

moving in (white circle) towards the edge of the box as some Wigan player is running into

the box (yellow line). The thing is, the minute Diame takes a step he is totally alone,

instead of Mikel doing the obvious and covering up. As you all know this resulted with a goal (red-black line).

This is just one example, but is seems to be happening over and over again (such as the horror game

against Man City at home last season). Don't let the pass stats (90%) fool you, this guy should spend

next season elsewhere.

[Corlett 202]

If Mikel went towards him it would free up space for the guy standing behind him. He was Bertrand's man and I thought he did enough by showing him onto his left but it was just a great strike, no stopping it.

[manco 38]

If Mikel went towards him it would free up space for the guy standing behind him. He was Bertrand's man and I thought he did enough by showing him onto his left but it was just a great strike, no stopping it.

There's no reason to go after the guy behind him as Diame is facing the goal and not with his back to it...

[capriccioso 2,545]

Mistake by Mikel there, what if Diame and the Wigan player in front of Cahill had exchanged passes and allowed Diame to blast one at goal? You can get a lot more power with the ball rolling back towards you. But him standing there would have interrupted the view of Cahill and wouldn't have blocked the shot anyway.

[Sheva. 5,373]

Ok maybe he made a mistake focusing on the wrong player, but what i hate the most is people like you will never mention a word when he's playing well like he has been doing recently, but the minute he makes one single mistake you come out of your hole.

[Marvin123 483]

my opinion is mikel has been sensational under RDM, and was better than ess in the few mins he was on yday than ess the whole game

[Steve 10,227]

Mikel has been quality since Roberto took over. There is 3 other players in that photo and to put the blame completely on him is ridiculous.

[francozola 2,040]

my opinion is mikel has been sensational under RDM, and was better than ess in the few mins he was on yday than ess the whole game

yeah... but that's not saying much considering how rubbish Essien was

haha I agree though he's been very good since returning from injury, fair play to him! No way is he a 'top class' player though or ever going to become one, and I can see where the OP is coming from. He is the defensive-midfielder after all. I have had the same problem with him.

This is a post I made after the Spurs away game in one of CarefreeChronicles' threads

CC, I believe that Mikel was largely to blame for the goal. Even moreso than Bosingwa or JT. Just to try and make my case:

In picture 1: I believe Mikel is obstructed by that pole and is around the same line as JT (near the center circle). If you look at that picture, he is the player who at that moment can make the most impact. Because he can make a diagonal run towards the area where bale is going to run (towards Bosingwa), thus significantly lessening the space Bale has.

In picture 2: You can see that he has hardly moved at all. He hasn't moved very much closer to bale NOR closer to Terry.

His positioning sense can be awful at times.

And I agree with that Wigan situation that the OP illustrated. He is the DM therefore it is job to cover the midfielders. The defenders have to worry about the other players who are near or in the box.

In an ideal world we would have a better DM and he would be a squad player but for now I guess he will do.

[Kostas 1,468]

Not gonna defend his tactical nous but in an ideal world we would have at least one reliable midfielder with better technique than Mikel.

[DDA 9,570]

I'm one of Mikels harshest critics but since playing under RDM he has been surprisingly good with his tackling and passing game! No need to lay into him at the moment but if he stops passing forward again and strolling back to chase down i will start throwing my rizla's and lighter and the TV again!

[KonohasOrangeFlash 2,607]

Defending wasn't great, but seriously it was just a beast strike, can't really pin all the blame on Mikel

[zolayes 14,489]

I know I'm repeating myself but it just pissed me off again yesterday...

I can't really doubt the fact that he's playing only because we are still playing in 3 different

sets, but he's continuing with the terrible positioning. If he plays against Barcelona it will be very sad...

Example from the match against Wigan (which are turning to be our nemesis since the Avram season):

As you can see , Diame is with the ball, Bertrand coming back from the left wing

to fill in for the hole in defense (Mikel's area). Mikel is overlooking , and let's say the

area he can defend is the black circle. Cahill is keeping a straight defense line with Luiz

so he can't move. Meireles is behind and he can't tackle (or he gets a red card), and Diame is

moving in (white circle) towards the edge of the box as some Wigan player is running into

the box (yellow line). The thing is, the minute Diame takes a step he is totally alone,

instead of Mikel doing the obvious and covering up. As you all know this resulted with a goal (red-black line).

This is just one example, but is seems to be happening over and over again (such as the horror game

against Man City at home last season). Don't let the pass stats (90%) fool you, this guy should spend

next season elsewhere.

who produced this video and analysis???

[Kojo 4,676]

The player infront of him, i think it's Essien. Should of dealt with it, Mikel can help out but also at the risk of leaving space for Diame to slot in a pass behind him, which is dangerous, cause then he's only got Cahill to beat and got a better chance than Diame had.

Mikel has the choice to make a gamble, if Essien was playing bad all game (i wouldn't know i wasn't watching it). Then Mikel should of took it onboard to help out and stick a tackle in, especially you're 1-0 down, have to break the play up. Be the dirty DM and just do it by all means and snap him. But of course conceding a very close free kick and it's very risky.

But anyway i don't think Mikel is to enitirely blame for that, at the end of the day i think it's his gamble, he should of took it onboard but how was he to know Essien (who ever that is) would remain invisible to Diame.

But then again Mikel shouldn't of put himself in that position, what ever he was before that and if he was lying upfront taking another risk then yeah. Unfortunately for Bertrand who i've just found out who it, is covering for Mikel. Now in the first picture i think Bertrand had to make a tackle, he's pretty much the only one who has to do it. But he didn't instead Diame managed to spring forward and score. Unfortunate as anything but that's what the prem does doesn't it, you don't get even the smallest things right or exact it can still boot you up the arse 9 out of 10 times.

EDIT: sorry for my stupidity, i have actually just took it on myself to look at the number and can see that's not Essien. But still can barely make out what the number is, sorry for my poor eye sight.

[manco 38]

who produced this video and analysis???

The video from 101gg, my analysis

[J.F. 1,484]

Essien>>>>>Mikel.

[Kieran. 6,317]

Essien>>>>>Mikel.

In the past, yes, but definitely, DEFINITELY not now.

[francozola 2,040]

The player infront of him, i think it's Essien. Should of dealt with it, Mikel can help out but also at the risk of leaving space for Diame to slot in a pass behind him, which is dangerous, cause then he's only got Cahill to beat and got a better chance than Diame had.

Mikel has the choice to make a gamble, if Essien was playing bad all game (i wouldn't know i wasn't watching it). Then Mikel should of took it onboard to help out and stick a tackle in, especially you're 1-0 down, have to break the play up. Be the dirty DM and just do it by all means and snap him. But of course conceding a very close free kick and it's very risky.

But anyway i don't think Mikel is to enitirely blame for that, at the end of the day i think it's his gamble, he should of took it onboard but how was he to know Essien (who ever that is) would remain invisible to Diame.

But then again Mikel shouldn't of put himself in that position, what ever he was before that and if he was lying upfront taking another risk then yeah. Unfortunately for Bertrand who i've just found out who it, is covering for Mikel. Now in the first picture i think Bertrand had to make a tackle, he's pretty much the only one who has to do it. But he didn't instead Diame managed to spring forward and score. Unfortunate as anything but that's what the prem does doesn't it, you don't get even the smallest things right or exact it can still boot you up the arse 9 out of 10 times.

EDIT: sorry for my stupidity, i have actually just took it on myself to look at the number and can see that's not Essien. But still can barely make out what the number is, sorry for my poor eye sight.

That's actually Bertrand, and he did his job by funneling Diame to the middle, where he should have been helped out by the midfielders

[Kojo 4,676]

That's actually Bertrand, and he did his job by funneling Diame to the middle, where he should have been helped out by the midfielders

Yeah i know put that in my edit at the bottom, didn't read the full post only the begining from the topic. So it seems it was bad from Mikel in the first place to be put in that position. But if you look at the first picture, forget about all the previous faults, Bertrand is the one who has to make the tackle. This is where quality comes in, he has to make a good tackle. That's why you need quality players, If Mikel helps out he's taking a huge gamble, hes further away and he's leaving space behind him, Bertrand is infront of him and has time to make a tackle, which he should of done.

But i know it wasn't his fault to be in there in the first place, well done to him for covering.