Mikel John Obi

[ChelseasMessiah 304]

your right mate. an accurate pass is worthless unless its a 50 yarder with your weak foot.

"Mikel plays today the same way he was playing when he was 18, when picked him against Valencia in the quarter-final of the Champions League and left [Claude] Makelele on the bench," said Mourinho. "He's exactly the same: position, stability, control, to score a goal is a miracle, but to lose a ball is also a miracle."

Exactly. He's got a spot in the first 11 now and he's not letting go of it.

I saw another post match interview of Mourinho saying that the way he chose us to play against West Ham with 3 midfielders was because of Sam's long ball tactics. Which implied we will play a different system in the next games.

[Clevemayer 764]

I told you it is well known saying in football circles "form is temporary class is permanent" and we all witnessed class at West Ham .

Now Lampard has hit form he will and deserves to be first on the etamsheet after a performance like that ,Oscar,Hazard and Lampard were a delight to observe the link for that first goal was Barca like and it all started from Lampard's early forward ball into Hazard ,something we do not get from the pivot with Mikel that would have gone sideways/backwards and West Ham would have had 10 behind the ball on the edge of their box. I know a lot of you guys like your stats and whoscored.com Lampard got 9.6 for a class performance. Eat it .

[Strike 7,250]

I told you it is well known saying in football circles "form is temporary class is permanent" and we all witnessed class at West Ham .

Now Lampard has hit form he will and deserves to be first on the etamsheet after a performance like that ,Oscar,Hazard and Lampard were a delight to observe the link for that first goal was Barca like and it all started from Lampard's early forward ball into Hazard ,something we do not get from the pivot with Mikel that would have gone sideways/backwards and West Ham would have had 10 behind the ball on the edge of their box. I know a lot of you guys like your stats and whoscored.com Lampard got 9.6 for a class performance. Eat it .

Imo, Lampard played well because Mikel was picked

[hjperdeath 2,226]

Imo, Lampard played well because Mikel was picked

and also cause Ramires , Lamps and Mikel knew their roles perfectly well. When to drop deep and let the other one go forward, when to form a pivot, when to keep only one back, etc.

[Muzchap 8,966]

To be fair to Mikel - I think he looked comfortable in this formation - along with Lampard and the unbelievable running Ramires

I'd say this was one of Mikel's better games...

[Sidzeret 2,257]

the injury to Van Ginkel was a terrible blow ,,he was showing so much promise ..hope he returns and proves to be just what we need

maybe we should invest in those anti- gravity treadmills to ease up his recovery. We're always gonna have spare change after the Mata sales this January

[zolayes 14,489]

imo we played well because we pressed from the front and ALL over the pitch. they were not given time except for very short periods

[Phil Driver 503]

He had an easy time ,put him under a bit of pressure and he is gone and all the team have ti sit and help him do his job like in our Champions League victory (even Drogba had to come back and help and last season at West Ham he was murdered by Diame when Lampard did not play ,so who did Mikel make look good at West Ham last season?

Lampard or Diame ,

The truth is when our top players like Lampard perform like on Saturday they can overcome mediocre/rubbish players like Slobi ,when they are off form and we rely on Slobi ,Diame mureders us and we get hammered by West Ham ,he had it easy on Saturday ,put him under pressure and he will fold ,this protecting the back four is laughable and the slow sideways rubbish passes with (spins ) gets us nowhere fast. He was carried on Saturday by our class players and did nothing.

[Muzchap 8,966]

He had an easy time ,put him under a bit of pressure and he is gone and all the team have ti sit and help him do his job like in our Champions League victory (even Drogba had to come back and help and last season at West Ham he was murdered by Diame when Lampard did not play ,so who did Mikel make look good at West Ham last season?

Lampard or Diame ,

The truth is when our top players like Lampard perform like on Saturday they can overcome mediocre/rubbish players like Slobi ,when they are off form and we rely on Slobi ,Diame mureders us and we get hammered by West Ham ,he had it easy on Saturday ,put him under pressure and he will fold ,this protecting the back four is laughable and the slow sideways rubbish passes with (spins ) gets us nowhere fast. He was carried on Saturday by our class players and did nothing.

Heh - definitely not a fan then

Who you hoping we sign for this role then - come the January window?

If we had a Toure type player - we would be unstoppable in midfield.

I did think Mikel did ok on Saturday - but like Graham Souness's comments about Adebayour on Sunday "He flatters to deceive, and is a trickster" - at the time I thought, brilliant description of Mikel...

[Phil Driver 503]

I will leave that to Jose but it will not be hard to improve on Mikel and our team will function a whole lot better and be more consistent without the terrible lapses like at West Ham last season when we were murdered in the second half when West Ham put pressure on Mikel,

[Jase 43,479]

Imo, Lampard played well because Mikel was picked

I don't mean or want to alienate anyone here in the forum but really, sometimes I just wonder why on earth do people reply to Phil and his posts about Mikel when he always slam him even when he's done well in games. Anything positive will always somehow by hook or by crook be turned into something totally negative.

[Phil Driver 503]

Imo, Lampard played well because Mikel was picked

What a load of bollox that is

[Strike 7,250]

I don't mean or want to alienate anyone here in the forum but really, sometimes I just wonder why on earth do people reply to Phil and his posts about Mikel when he always slam him even when he's done well in games. Anything positive will always somehow by hook or by crook be turned into something totally negative.

Oh yeah. My bad.

[ChelseasMessiah 304]

The shirt is his and he ain't letting go of it. He showed in the last 6 or 7 games for us what we need from a player in the pivot.

[Phil Driver 503]

Slow sideways passes are not what we need ,look at our first goal on Saturday a quick straight ball from the pivot by Lampard to Hazard before the defender could close and a flick by Hazard to Oscar and a goal ,it could have been like West Ham last season without that ,he did nothing on Saturday our top players won that. Jose has said he only has his uses in certain games ,so how is the shirt his?

[The Skipper 20,593]

Slow sideways passes are not what we need ,look at our first goal on Saturday a quick straight ball from the pivot by Lampard to Hazard before the defender could close and a flick by Hazard to Oscar and a goal ,it could have been like West Ham last season without that ,he did nothing on Saturday our top players won that. Jose has said he only has his uses in certain games ,so how is the shirt his?

If he was as bad as you're trying to make him to be why didn't Jose just take him off? Why isn't Jose using Essien instead?

[lucio 5,418]

Slow sideways passes are not what we need ,look at our first goal on Saturday a quick straight ball from the pivot by Lampard to Hazard before the defender could close and a flick by Hazard to Oscar and a goal ,it could have been like West Ham last season without that ,he did nothing on Saturday our top players won that. Jose has said he only has his uses in certain games ,so how is the shirt his?

we werent using a pivot and it wasnt his job to do quick straight balls. he held the midfield together so lamps and rammy could go forward and provide for the front 3

[The only place to be 11,313]

Glenn Hoddle saying he's never really rated him, plays too square, doesn't get it forward enough.

Is Phil Driver Glenn?