Mikel John Obi

[didierforever 7,349]

i hope jose gives him a real shot to prove himself because as things stand at the moment, mikel went from our 1st choice midfielder to 4th choice(rambo, mvg, essien) in a span of 1 season.

[lucio 5,418]

needs to work harder and be more agressive otherwise i dont see why he should be in th team

[meetdoscar 335]

Excuse me? The fact is when we get dominated by other big clubs, it's because of our midfield, you simply cannot argue that. If you want to, then you don't know as much as probably think you do about the sport. So what are the problems with our midfield? The fact one spot is occupied by Lampard/Ramires and the other is the the level of Mikel. He's not a world class player and it will be exposed every time we play one of the top 4-5 clubs in the world. Shaktar, Juventus, and City bossed the fuck outta us and it's because of those 2 reasons. If Ramires is going to be played in the pivot, he can't have the size of the burden that gets placed on him when he's next to Mikel because he's not really being played in a position that will make him excel. Some may say, "why does Ramires get the pass and not Mikel"? That is also very simple, he's supposed to be a holding midfielder that protects the back 4 and he does not.

Am still yet to be convinced by most posters, mikel retains possession far better than ramires and is more comfortable on the ball than even lampard, infact that's his greatest strength so when you say we do not boss midfield because of a Defensive midfielder it sounds odd when we have arguably 4 other midfielders ahead of him especially when he is not even a DLP and has a great burden trying to defend, that's like saying gareth barry is responsible for city's dominating football or scot parker for tottenham for me possession is the responsibility of the team and some teams are better than others because its basically their style of play e.g barca, bayern, juve but certainly has not been our style of play in this Roman era. And for all points made i will take posters that criticise chelsea players who ever they may be at face value except the manager who trains this players says so or does something to suggest such.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Mikel - Van Ginkel will be tough to work, since mikel will pass the ball sideways or backwards, which will force van ginkel to come back to recieve the ball, then pass it to Mikel and make a run forward, Mikel will again pass the ball sideways or backwards. which will force van ginkel to come back and receive the ball, then pass it to Mikel and make a run forward, Mikel will again pass the ball sideways or backwards. which will force van ginkel to come back and receive the ball,then pass it to Mikel and make a run forward, Mikel will again pass the ball sideways or backwards. which will force van ginkel to come back and receive the ball,then pass it to Mikel and make a run forward, Mikel will again pass the ball sideways or backwards. which will force van ginkel to come back and receive the ball, It will be an endless LOOP. Sorry was getting bored, but i dont like Mikel, and this is truly how i think about his style of play.

I'm sorry, but that's just a myth. According to Squawka, Mikel played 65% of his passes forward last season which really incredible considering the lack of forward passing options we had. As opposed to 62.2% for Lamps and 63.7 by Ramires.

[bleed_blue 136]

I'm sorry, but that's just a myth. According to Squawka, Mikel played 65% of his passes forward last season which really incredible considering the lack of forward passing options we had. As opposed to 62.2% for Lamps and 63.7 by Ramires.

Bit difficult to pass backward when even your CBs are more mobile than you and end up going farther up the pitch.

Thats like saying Cech is the most positive/attacking player in the chelsea team as 100% of his passes are forward.

and that also explains why he looks better in possession than Ramires and Lampard. Amateur watchers will not understand that since he hardly looks to trouble the opposition with the ball, they let him have his own sweet time on the ball. Ramires n Lampard on the other hand regularly move higher up the pitch, have better shots on them, are more adventurous with passing.

But I don't expect biased and novice fans to understand this.

Diego Simeone (Athletico Madrid's coach) shared these thoughts after our UEFA super cup defeat at their hands last year.

http://www.futaa.com/football/article/mikel-is-one-dimensional--diego-simeone

[The only place to be 11,313]

Make or break season for him. I expect Nat to kick on and already I'd say Mikel is not exactly a first-choice player so hopefully this will spur him on to really apply himself this year.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Bit difficult to pass backward when even your CBs are more mobile than you and end up going farther up the pitch.

Thats like saying Cech is the most positive/attacking player in the chelsea team as 100% of his passes are forward.

and that also explains why he looks better in possession than Ramires and Lampard. Amateur watchers will not understand that since he hardly looks to trouble the opposition with the ball, they let him have his own sweet time on the ball. Ramires n Lampard on the other hand regularly move higher up the pitch, have better shots on them, are more adventurous with passing.

But I don't expect biased and novice fans to understand this.

Diego Simeone (Athletico Madrid's coach) shared these thoughts after our UEFA super cup defeat at their hands last year.

http://www.futaa.com/football/article/mikel-is-one-dimensional--diego-simeone

Why can't you ever make a post without personal insults?

You KNOW that what you just wrote is not right. Mikel is never our deepest man. And moving our ball forward from the pivot to the front four was arguably our biggest problem last season. Mikel is also the player who is constantly under the most pressure in our midfield because his teammates use him as an outlet when under pressure because of ball retention skills.

On any account, I have long ago given up on any "discussion" with you about Mikel. My post was in reply to The Rising Sun in regards to the claim that Mikel only passes backwards which is obviously a myth since stats show he is the one who passes forward the most among our central midfielders.

[bleed_blue 136]

Why can't you ever make a post without personal insults?

You KNOW that what you just wrote is not right. Mikel is never our deepest man. And moving our ball forward from the pivot to the front four was arguably our biggest problem last season. Mikel is also the player who is constantly under the most pressure in our midfield because his teammates use him as an outlet when under pressure because of ball retention skills.

On any account, I have long ago given up on any "discussion" with you about Mikel. My post was in reply to The Rising Sun in regards to the claim that Mikel only passes backwards which is obviously a myth since stats show he is the one who passes forward the most among our central midfielders.

look at you taking the moral high ground while completely ignoring the fact that mikel plays deeper than ramires n lampard n hence that 2% diff is not a positive.

and you are right that our problem last season was moving the ball forward from pivot. That is because we played the woeful John Obi Mikel there. Whenever he was replaced by other players, our gameplay and results were much better.

I know you don't argue with me about mikel because I have exposed your lies about him time n time again.

[yuvala 2,167]

Expecting to see the best of him this season.

[zolayes 14,489]

this has become worse than the Kalou thread

[Johnny Kills 164]

Am still yet to be convinced by most posters, mikel retains possession far better than ramires and is more comfortable on the ball than even lampard, infact that's his greatest strength so when you say we do not boss midfield because of a Defensive midfielder it sounds odd when we have arguably 4 other midfielders ahead of him especially when he is not even a DLP and has a great burden trying to defend, that's like saying gareth barry is responsible for city's dominating football or scot parker for tottenham for me possession is the responsibility of the team and some teams are better than others because its basically their style of play e.g barca, bayern, juve but certainly has not been our style of play in this Roman era. And for all points made i will take posters that criticise chelsea players who ever they may be at face value except the manager who trains this players says so or does something to suggest such.

This...has....nothing...to...do...with....why...we...get....dominated. He doesn't read the game well (this is self evident when watching the likes of Bastian, J Martinez, Sergio , h he doesn't tackle well, he lets the opposition pass the ball around rather than go get it back rather than Essien (in this preseason anyway. This is the man that's supposed to protect our defense and he becomes a passenger when we get dominated.

[The Rising Sun 709]

The problem with Mikel is that he marks spaces, not players.

The sad fact is that his style of play also doesnt pay dividends for the team as opposition players are faster than him, so marking space rather than the player is counter productive for him.

When he does get the ball, he doesnt utilise space or vision, but makes passes that are not truly transitionary.

Even once he passes to any player around him, passing it back to him does not progress the play.....rather it starts that Loop again by which time our transition is slowed down.

This is not a positive characteristic, and not that safe either.

I dont trust him to even come on the pitch at 70 mins to close out a game. Stats are merely stats, and dont always truly reflect an overall picture of a players effect on a game.

Torres got 22 goals last season and that as a stat is decent, but when you analyse it then it tells a different story. IMO its the same with Mikel.

He is statistically alright, but effectiveness and progressiveness is what he lacks in.

Im glad essien has shown that he can put a good shift in and looking at him it really shows where Mikel is lacking for us.

MVG is another one who shows what characteristics can make a DM progressive in our plays.

Not to forget Ramires.

[meetdoscar 335]

Critics always find a way don't they???

[Duppy Conqueror 1,494]

Just popped by to see if anything new was being said..Will try again in a few weeks..

[Magic Lamps 11,668]

The problem with Mikel is, he is just not that hard-working destroyer you need for a DP. Mikel is almost majestic in his laziness. He is King when it comes to sit deep, guard space and calm down the play but he seldom tends to make some main points offensively or in transition. When he got hard working players next to him like he had with Belletti or Ballack in 2009/10 or usually when Essien was not injured, he was simply beast. That is also why a Mikel-Ramires pivot is ok defensively, just not very creative. Mikel is our best DM, cos he is almost our only one. If we want to finish 2nd or 3rd with a decent run in the CL and maybe an FA Cup win, that is ok. If we want to challenge for the very big prizes, we need a serious upgrade on him...

[Johnny Kills 164]

I feel like whenever the anti-Mikel people make points about how/why Mikel is so bad and it's the truth, the Mikel supporters just choose to ignore the thread or just say "i can't do this anymore, you just don't get it" until it's time for someone to mention a bad point as to why Mikel is bad and then they jump all over him and say "SEE! LOOK AT HOW DUMB THIS ARGUMENT IS! YOU'RE SO WRONG".

Someone wrote up a beautiful analysis, season to season, about how Mikel was involved in the squad since he's been here and fucking NO ONE came in here and said anything about (referring to the regular, big posters). The hypocrisy of both sides when it comes to the use of stats has also been bad. Not because the stats themselves are bad but because the stats don't agree with their own agenda... until they find stats of their own. Some came in here and posted SeB's great analysis of PL midfielders and how Mikel stacks up against them. Having Mikel works if we're trying to win the PL because the PL is easily the weakest of the top 4 leagues when it comes to that area. We really only have Yaya Toure and Fellaini, and even Fellaini gets debated as to how effective he is when he plays deep. We are not just trying to win England though, are we? We want the motherfucking Champions League every single season. We want to win the UEFA Super Cup and the Club World Cup. We are not a top 5 club in the world presently because of our pivot. That is a fact people. Even if we switch to a 4-3-3, Mikel will still need to be replaced.

[Naked Mole Rat 437]

I feel like whenever the anti-Mikel people make points about how/why Mikel is so bad and it's the truth, the Mikel supporters just choose to ignore the thread or just say "i can't do this anymore, you just don't get it" until it's time for someone to mention a bad point as to why Mikel is bad and then they jump all over him and say "SEE! LOOK AT HOW DUMB THIS ARGUMENT IS! YOU'RE SO WRONG".

Someone wrote up a beautiful analysis, season to season, about how Mikel was involved in the squad since he's been here and fucking NO ONE came in here and said anything about (referring to the regular, big posters). The hypocrisy of both sides when it comes to the use of stats has also been bad. Not because the stats themselves are bad but because the stats don't agree with their own agenda... until they find stats of their own. Some came in here and posted SeB's great analysis of PL midfielders and how Mikel stacks up against them. Having Mikel works if we're trying to win the PL because the PL is easily the weakest of the top 4 leagues when it comes to that area. We really only have Yaya Toure and Fellaini, and even Fellaini gets debated as to how effective he is when he plays deep. We are not just trying to win England though, are we? We want the motherfucking Champions League every single season. We want to win the UEFA Super Cup and the Club World Cup. We are not a top 5 club in the world presently because of our pivot. That is a fact people. Even if we switch to a 4-3-3, Mikel will still need to be replaced.

This has little to do with Mikel, but do you even know what a fact is?

[Johnny Kills 164]

This has little to do with Mikel, but do you even know what a fact is?

Our MF has nothing to do with Mikel? Yea, you're right.