Mikel John Obi

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

Steaight Scenes if he scored that goal. :lol:

[Kieran. 6,317]

i am not sure if people are honestly praising him or sarcastically mocking him, but i thought he was good today.

He was great today, pretty sure almost everyone agrees.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

YES! You guys are embracing Mikel finally and not in a sarcastic way, I've been waiting for this day for a long time

[Kieran. 6,317]

YES! You guys are embracing Mikel finally and not in a sarcastic way, I've been waiting for this day for a long time

You, me and Choulo

[LDN Blue 7,903]

You, me and Choulo

Times like this I wish Kojo & Justin were still around!

[The Skipper 20,593]

You, me and Choulo

Don't forget about me

[robsblubot 3,527]

Mikel was absolutely fantastic today!

I honestly don't know what was more impressing: his one-touch back passes or his elegant running in the dead zone.

The highlight of the day however was his very good shot in front of the goal and completely unmarked. Just needed more luck.

[DYC. 7,542]

Are you guys for real?

[BleedsBlue 1,549]

Whenever he takes a shot on goal the commentator always has to bring up his goal record.

Its so bloody annoying!

[Amblève. 4,995]

You, me and Choulo

Goddamn man, I've been leading the Mikel brigade for 2 years now and you forget about me. I'm literally even the only member with a Mikel ava on this site lmao

[Amblève. 4,995]

Times like this I wish Kojo & Justin were still around!

Two words: Cheik. Tiote.

[Kieran. 6,317]

Goddamn man, I've been leading the Mikel brigade for 2 years now and you forget about me. I'm literally even the only member with a Mikel ava on this site lmao

I thought you were more sarcastic/tongue-in-cheek

[Amblève. 4,995]

I thought you were more sarcastic/tongue-in-cheek

Some of my comments are but Mikel and I go way back

The over-the-top comments are pretty much aimed at the people calling him shit though.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Hahaha, all jokes aside.. He did what he usually does and it was ideal he did it without any careless mistakes. Whether Mikel should actually be here or not is another issue, but it was pleasant to see other fans giving him his props

[robsblubot 3,527]

Hahaha, all jokes aside.. He did what he usually does and it was ideal he did it without any careless mistakes. Whether Mikel should actually be here or not is another issue, but it was pleasant to see other fans giving him his props

So, for the same of argument let's say he did play well - though i still find difficult to see it (different discussion).

Now, the big question, concerning this match (Watford), is why did we play freaking Watford @ the bridge with both Mikel and Matic in the second half? Just check their attacking stats. Having them both on the pitch makes us LESS likely to score. Yes, we should have more of the ball and be able to defend better but we were losing the match at the time...

[Ossie the King 634]

Saw him get some stick for coming on but he's usually a very solid presence. Did what he was asked to and added a bit of steel to the side. Fact is Guus doesn't have a vat amount of options at the moment.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

So, for the same of argument let's say he did play well - though i still find difficult to see it (different discussion).

Now, the big question, concerning this match (Watford), is why did we play freaking Watford @ the bridge with both Mikel and Matic in the second half? Just check their attacking stats. Having them both on the pitch makes us LESS likely to score. Yes, we should have more of the ball and be able to defend better but we were losing the match at the time...

See the thing is, I do agree. I don't know why Hiddink did that, because if Mikel was coming on I thought for Matic would've made more sense. But this brings me back to Cesc being too poor right now, for Hiddink to sacrifice him like that must be something attributed to Cesc himself. But that being said, Mikel hadn't done much wrong when he was playing. He did the job. Didn't play overly well or overly poor.

It's a flaw of playing Cesc in that role. Everyone know, this is just a very wild example, on Fifa when you play 2 proper DMs then it's almost impossible to get past such a defence at times. Maybe Hiddink wanted the back 6 to be solid as possible to give a free license to Pedro (Hazard), Oscar, Willian & Costa.

[robsblubot 3,527]

See the thing is, I do agree. I don't know why Hiddink did that, because if Mikel was coming on I thought for Matic would've made more sense. But this brings me back to Cesc being too poor right now, for Hiddink to sacrifice him like that must be something attributed to Cesc himself. But that being said, Mikel hadn't done much wrong when he was playing. He did the job. Didn't play overly well or overly poor.

It's a flaw of playing Cesc in that role. Everyone know, this is just a very wild example, on Fifa when you play 2 proper DMs then it's almost impossible to get past such a defence at times. Maybe Hiddink wanted the back 6 to be solid as possible to give a free license to Pedro (Hazard), Oscar, Willian & Costa.

He may have done the job, but was it a job in need of doing?

I see Fabregas and Mikel in a very similar way. Mikel is too much of a short passer (and nothing else); long balls are far more important for the role. He's also calm, composed and slow, which is also not what the role requires - DMs need to be dynamic and decisive. They need pace to recover because the very defensive ones are essentially defenders playing in the middle.

Fabregas is the polar opposite. He's dynamic, but has no strength or power (Mikel has plenty of strength). He cannot tackle to save his life, but he adds a lot of creativity if you can afford having him there. I personally think you can't (have Fabregas in a CM), but I also think you cannot have Mikel there either.

At least top top teams should aim for having better than both... but can't really say we are a top team at the moment...