Mikel John Obi

[Madmax 9,219]

Sssh don't say it out loud, this praise goes against the general tide of ''Go away you're so shit'' comments directed at him recently.

[Kieran. 6,317]

His run on the left wing yesterday

[sleazyB 58]

Yeah he very good yesterday. Everyone around him, trusts him, and he distributed the ball very well. Guess he has his hater-blockers on!

[cujo101 75]

Sorry but Mikel is not a 1st choice holding midfielder. Just not good enough. I think back to the days of Makelele & Deschamps and John Obi cannot hold a candle to them. Any of Tiote, Cabaye, M'Vila, Capoue & Biglia would all be an improvement.

[Ramzi 233]

Sorry but Mikel is not a 1st choice holding midfielder. Just not good enough. I think back to the days of Makelele & Deschamps and John Obi cannot hold a candle to them. Any of Tiote, Cabaye, M'Vila, Capoue & Biglia would all be an improvement.

Seriously??? The only one close to Mikel is Tiote who is very overrated IMO, Mikel>Tiote

[BleedsBlue 1,549]

Its sad to see that most of our fans are always disappointed with the players we have right now.Its not possible for us to buy all the hot talents every transfer window.Mikel is a good player and had he been playing for some other top club,you all would be hoping he was a Chelsea player.

[zolayes 14,489]

Sorry but Mikel is not a 1st choice holding midfielder. Just not good enough. I think back to the days of Makelele & Deschamps and John Obi cannot hold a candle to them. Any of Tiote, Cabaye, M'Vila, Capoue & Biglia would all be an improvement.

true about the two players who have retired NOT about the current ones you listed

[Clevemayer 764]

Capoue is one of my favourits and I think for that price tag he's a bargain compared to tiote and M'vila... but still Mikel is better then BOTH... god... when will all of you get it, Mikel is here now for SEVEN Years and since three years he's 1st choice, whether you like it or not... If all this players where that much better then we would've bought them allready with RDM at the helmit and that spendingspree we had this summer, and its not even like hes a fans favourit like lamps or jt...

[Muzchap 8,966]

Yup - it's a hard role to play though and get any thanks...

How I see that role is the same as 'IT Support' - everything works, nobody knows you exist, the minute it breaks you are slagged off until it's working and again nobody knows you exist... You can never improve things for the person, just return to normal. No, never worked in IT Support - but manage a team that does

So yes i get angry/frustrated with him - but against Reading he really and i mean REALLY tried to be the player he should be and it was really encouraging... A few more games, bit more confidence and we'll be Tiote who?

Roll on Saturday - c'mon Mikel, show Tiote as the imposter he is

(P.S. Makalele was probably the BEST EVER DM - any comparisons to 'normal modern footballers' are unfair!)

[xPetrCechx 13,563]

You're on the anti-Mikel bandwagon too? Ridiculous.

Carry this conversation in the Mikel thread.

I'm watching him playing and i'm really can't find what he does in the starting 11.

Slow game,Slow reaction,Bad tackles, Ball losses.

[Leif 6,006]

How can anyone say that Mikel is better than M'Vila, Biglia or Capoue?

[Muzchap 8,966]

Guys he's not as bad as we think, there's a lot worse and only a few better...

I would like Fellani in that role for us...

If we did decide to replace Him

[robsblubot 3,502]

Mickel is still fairly young... I think he is still a good prospect, but needs to work on (agree with poster above) his reaction and possession. Holding midfielders cannot be bad passers, and by bad I mean one bad pass is enough to determine a loss.

As a holding mid he also needs to cover forward runs of other players, which also demands mobility. A forward run by someone like Luiz should NEVER leave the team exposed if the team mechanics are working and the holding mid ,along with CMs, are doing their job.

[The Skipper 20,593]

Sorry but Mikel is not a 1st choice holding midfielder. Just not good enough. I think back to the days of Makelele & Deschamps and John Obi cannot hold a candle to them. Any of Tiote, Cabaye, M'Vila, Capoue & Biglia would all be an improvement.

Tiote is not a holding midfielder. He's a midfield destroyer. Nor is Cabaye, Biglia or Capoue.

If Mikel is so shit, why haven't the club been avidly searching for a replacement?

[xPetrCechx 13,563]

[Superblue 6,370]

Tiote is not a holding midfielder. He's a midfield destroyer. Nor is Cabaye, Biglia or Capoue.

If Mikel is so shit, why haven't the club been avidly searching for a replacement?

^^This.

A player in his early twenties cannot continue playing in central midfield for one of the biggest clubs in the world with the number of managerial changes we have made without being a very good and trusted footballer. With the exception of AVB, all the other managers the club has had have made him a big part of their plans...and we are talking some of the best managers in world football within that group!

[DH1988 1,273]

Lordy, why is it that every other dm or 'pivot' able player is suddenly much better than mikel. He takes a lot of stick but in reality isn't a natural dm at all, those who might remember he started his career and won accolades as a Cm/more of a am player. One example is tiote, anyone who has watched him surely must agree his distribution is very very sub par whereas mikel is excelling at this the backed of last season and this, what people see about tiote is his Essen like tenacity and they love that, it's wht the epl loves however when you actually sit and analyse it, is he really that good? No. Am I saying that mikel is amazing? No but I love the above analogy of its IT support, nobody moans if it's working ok but often he is made a scapegoat, let's also remember that mikel plays with lampard who I saw against reading leave mikel exposed countless times! Rambling now and I'm typing this on an iPad, notoriously difficult so excuse any grammar etc

[sleazyB 58]

Haters gonna hate, Mikel will keep starting. Nuff said.