John Mikel Obi, the keystone

[CHOULO19 24,332]

I'm still open to someone convincing me that Mikel is good enough for us, but I just personally feel he's mediocre at this point.

What about Mikel is mediocre? What requirements of a DM does he not serve? What does he lack to become world-class in your opinion?

[Leif 6,006]

What about Mikel is mediocre? What requirements of a DM does he not serve? What does he lack to become world-class in your opinion?

• He rarely throws in a tackle. He looks more concerned about hurting his opponent than he is concerned about getting the ball back and helping the team.

•He lets players just walk past him (he prefers to intercept occasionally opposed to closing down. That's not the right mindset for an attacking team, even if you're performing a defensive role.) I can't count how many times he's let players literally half a meter away just trod on by with the ball.

•He doesn't have that aggression, determination or leadership which has become essential in playing that role. You need a strong personality/character as well as physique to play that role well; and finally, he also rarely drops back and covers for Luiz or Ivanovic when they roam forward (something which Romeu does excellently.)

Those are just a few points.

[SeB 1,281]

• He rarely throws in a tackle. He looks more concerned about hurting his opponent than he is concerned about getting the ball back and helping the team.

•He lets players just walk past him (he prefers to intercept occasionally opposed to closing down. That's not the right mindset for an attacking team, even if you're performing a defensive role.) I can't count how many times he's let players literally half a meter away just trod on by with the ball.

•He doesn't have that aggression, determination or leadership which has become essential in that role. You need a strong personality/character as well as physique usually to play that role well; and he also rarely drops back and covers for Luiz or Ivanovic when they roam forward (something which Romeu does excellently.)

Those are just a few points.

Point after point:

> He's a 88% tackling ratios. You definitely should search this Alonso interview when he says that tackling is not an ability, that's a last choice when you cannot regain the ball another way. That's pleasant to see players going into dirty tackles, work their socks off... But that's not a Sunday League derby. A defender has to defend standing, not going on the ground.

Just an illustration: I can't stop saying to the kids I coach not to dive into challenges they'll miss because if they don't knock an opponent, they leaves him a boulevard.

There's nothing that pisses me off more than a player diving into a challenge when he can regain the ball standing. Why? Because if you regain the ball, is that common to ask your opponent to give you a hand to lift up?

A famous bald philosopher said one day (err... actually more than just one time) the now famous quote "stay on your feet" !

> Mikel's has strict zonal marking instructions (especially in 4-3-3, in 4-2-3-1 that's less strict), he's not expected to press the opponent nor to close on him if he's 15 yards away.The best tactic to create holes in the opponent's defense is to attract him. Why kids are taught "don't get attracted by the ball" and so on during their formation as future senior defenders ?

He could chase the ball like a 4 year old but not only that would create huge inbalances but athletically speaking that's completely stupid. The 11 players has to share the defensive duties in order to optimize the collective athletic potential of the team.

Kojo said above (lazy to quote the sentence) "who's the defensive midfield there ?". That's not the right view of the thing. Chelsea is a team who keeps the ball (top 5 possession rates) and then has to press to regain it.

Mikel is the player whose role is to pick up the crumbs of the opponent's attacks which are expected to be chopped by the collective pressing ahead of him. The players ahead of him don't press, then Mikel doesn't collects crumbs but the whole bread

Football is a collective sport, the possession is a team thing and so is the ball recovery.

> Sometimes I wonder if I watch the same games as other people. Saying Mikel never dropped between the CBs is like saying Lampard never scored goals with late runs into the box... that's insane. In 4-3-3 that's Mikel's trademark move ever since we switched to 4-2-3-1.

In 4-2-3-1 people should have a look on the organisation before drawing conclusions, that's just not 11 dudes on the pitch. In 4-3-3 the anchor works with the back four and fills the holes made by a CB coming out to challenge the ball or covering his full back.

In 4-2-3-1 his only role is to cover his double pivot partner (you've to imagine them being linked by a rope, they always have to be at the same distance)

> I don't get the "excellently" for Romeu. He's the basics and knows to drop betwenn the CBs but that's not a reflex and he hasn't Mikel's skills there. At a low level you ask your anchor man only to play through the passing angles he's offered when he gets the ball, when he faces his goal, then he has to play to his CB or his full back. This is due to the fact this player hasn't the ability to turnover with the ball, in order to keep the ball you ask him to play backwards.

That's what Romeu did most of the time.

Mikel has the outstanding ability to turnover and get rid of players harassing him, thanks to his brilliant ball retention. Then he can face the play and distribute studiously (one more time he's not expected to be creative).

[The Skipper 20,609]

Excellent responses, SeB.

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

Fantastic response SeB.