Mikel John Obi

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Like I said in the previous post, I'm not denying how good his performance was. But I can't call him the standout performer when there were so many other players that had as much, if not more, influence on the match and its outcome.

And I respect your opinion. You have every right to believe that he was not the stand-out performer, I'm not trying to say you're wrong just that my opinion of him being the MOTM in Munich is not ridiculous because a lot of people thought so too back then.

[DDA 9,570]

He made a mistake against Juve this season but Mikel usually performs extremely well in important matches. Go back to the semifinals and finals of the cups last season where he put in his best performances of the season in those five matches. He was by far our best player in Munich. Even in the 09-10 season, as I've already eluded to in this thread, his best performances of the season were against what was know as the "top four" of utd, Arsenal and Liverpool. He was absolutely instrumental in those matches (don't quote me on this but I remember that he had an assist's assist, meaning the pass to the player who made the assist, in something like 5 of those 6 matches!)

Desire to win back the ball and chase players around to do so is not always the best thing for the team. You need composure and discipline more, imo. David Luiz is evidence for that. And I'm not just talking about when he played in midfield but his general play especially when he first arrived here. How many time has him putting his desire to win the ball above his discipline costed us goals and matches? You can't have one player chasing the ball because that would leave massive holes in your team. You either have your whole team pressing and couple that with a high back line like AVB tried to implement, or you have a defensive system where all the players have to stick to their positions and defend their areas.

As for our players's passing, it's funny you should say that now because only two days ago Lampard and Ramires must have missed more than 20 10-yard passes even though Rubin had practically zero pressure on our midfield.

I can agree with you that Mikels best performances in a Chelsea shirt were in the semi finals and finals of certain cups last season but let's face it, the whole team played out some of their best performances in a Chelsea shirt. When the rest of the tewam is playing as remarkably well as they were it made Mikels job a lot easier. This is probably why I don't rate Mikel because when others are lacking he isn't good enough to make up for their bad performances. We can go on forever with this because you clearly support Mikels right to have a place in our starting eleven whereas I desire more from a defensive midfielder. I wish i had a laptop to express my opinions in more depth but unfortunatley I am having to use my Samsung and It is a nightmare to write more than a few lines in each post lol.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

I can agree with you that Mikels best performances in a Chelsea shirt were in the semi finals and finals of certain cups last season but let's face it, the whole team played out some of their best performances in a Chelsea shirt. When the rest of the tewam is playing as remarkably well as they were it made Mikels job a lot easier. This is probably why I don't rate Mikel because when others are lacking he isn't good enough to make up for their bad performances. We can go on forever with this because you clearly support Mikels right to have a place in our starting eleven whereas I desire more from a defensive midfielder. I wish i had a laptop to express my opinions in more depth but unfortunatley I am having to use my Samsung and It is a nightmare to write more than a few lines in each post lol.

Haha well fair enough. Agree to disagree then

[Kojo 4,676]

I'm not just talking about his defending, which he did brilliantly along with everyone else that night, but also about how Mikel was able to keep the ball under immense pressure countless times in the match and then deliver the pass to a teammate. He didn't put a foot wrong in that match. It was, imo, the best performance by a DM in Chelsea shirt since Maka left. Here's what people said after the match in case people forgot:

And there are dozens more. And some of the people up there were/are his biggest critics. I'm not even picking the posts that fit my view, here check out what everyone said: http://forum.talkchelsea.net/topic/29-12-john-obi-mikel/page-12

So fair enough if you don't agree he was MOTM because there were so many heroes out there that night, but I don't think it is that 'ludicrous' because many posters seemed to think that at the time.

Go to any thread there would've been a lot more posts about every player.

Fuck me even Kalou got praised and he was hated to fuckery. Not to mention that everyone was very surprised by Mikel at the end of last season, when the whole team got together no one expected Mikel to do well also, just shows how much of a miracle worker Di Matteo was, but then again i guess it was Mikel who was the miracle worker not Di Matteo

ACTUALLY THANK FUCK HE GOT SACKED.

[Kieran. 6,317]

Why do people hate this guy so much? He plays a very thankless role and gets shit by members here every week, give him a fucking break. Jesus.

[Heisenberg 1,824]

Why do people hate this guy so much? He plays a very thankless role and gets shit by members here every week, give him a fucking break. Jesus.

We don't hate him, we just love him less than other players

[Backstreet09 499]

Why do people hate this guy so much? He plays a very thankless role and gets shit by members here every week, give him a fucking break. Jesus.

[The Skipper 20,593]

Probably mate, I think you are right.

But what we need is more a Essien type of players as defensive midfielder than Mikel no ? who may be intelligent but he must be more aggressive, like Khedira for an example, I think he could do much better, even Busquets tackle more at times ! Luiz looked good in midfield, but I think Rafa didnt want him to change his position for some reasons.

Well I think that depends on the game and match we're playing. To be honest I think in this system we'll always need a holding player in the mould of Mikel simply because it allows the player next to him and those in front of him to have a bit more freedom - Busquets as you mentioned does this extremely well however I think it's arguably easier for him since Barcelona have the ball for the majority of the game. Khedira also has the excellent Xabi Alonso next to him who sits deep anyway and is very competent defensively - this allows him to be a bit more aggressive than Mikel for example.

Luiz isn't that good in the holding role to be honest as it restricts him offensively and it's not that beneficial to the team - we're a lot more exposed when he plays the holding role as he thinks because he's in midfield he has a license to go forward. Luiz next to Mikel is more balanced because Luiz is a good defender and also has a brilliant eye for the pass - also he has the tendency to harass the opponent like Khedira for example.

I think Luiz is best at CB though simply because it most importantly opens up another spot in the team and he isn't under as much pressure when receiving the ball so he can easily pick out a good pass as we saw this Thursday. Due to having Mikel in the team as well Luiz then has the extra license to roam forward where Mikel will drop deeper and cover him until he returns from his adventures up top. It makes us more unpredictable in a sense - I really hope that if Mourinho or whoever is manager next season will implement the above properly as I feel ATM it's just being half heartedly done.

[Heisenberg 1,824]

Well I think that depends on the game and match we're playing. To be honest I think in this system we'll always need a holding player in the mould of Mikel simply because it allows the player next to him and those in front of him to have a bit more freedom - Busquets as you mentioned does this extremely well however I think it's arguably easier for him since Barcelona have the ball for the majority of the game. Khedira also has the excellent Xabi Alonso next to him who sits deep anyway and is very competent defensively - this allows him to be a bit more aggressive than Mikel for example.

Luiz isn't that good in the holding role to be honest as it restricts him offensively and it's not that beneficial to the team - we're a lot more exposed when he plays the holding role as he thinks because he's in midfield he has a license to go forward. Luiz next to Mikel is more balanced because Luiz is a good defender and also has a brilliant eye for the pass - also he has the tendency to harass the opponent like Khedira for example.

I think Luiz is best at CB though simply because it most importantly opens up another spot in the team and he isn't under as much pressure when receiving the ball so he can easily pick out a good pass as we saw this Thursday. Due to having Mikel in the team as well Luiz then has the extra license to roam forward where Mikel will drop deeper and cover him until he returns from his adventures up top. It makes us more unpredictable in a sense - I really hope that if Mourinho or whoever is manager next season will implement the above properly as I feel ATM it's just being half heartedly done.

"Well I think that depends on the game and match we're playing"

Exactly, this season we really lacked variety in our game, in our formations, in our approach, and that is killing me.Mikel-Luiz could be used against some teams, and Ramires-Lampard against other, there is also the Ramires-Luiz option so overall, we have flexibility, but not the mind that translate that on the pitch, and that's what i'm expecting of the best tactician of this last decade, José can fix Mikel by switching to a four-three-three like the Ancelotti's days, or stick with the pivot but change the mentality of the player, its down to him, and I have trust in him.For me, because he has a good placement on the pitch, flair, he must play as the loan DM in a 433/4-3-2-1 or 4/1/2/1/2 like Galatasaray played last match.Tactically he is good, he knows when to tackle and when to not, but I just feel he could become world class, he has the qualities, he need the consistency, and to add some combativity which is needed in the PL.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Mikel bossing it once again... the insurance policy you need in banana-skin games such as this.

[Marvin123 483]

mikel is so underated,

brilliant once again

[lucio 5,391]

if he could play like this every game it would be great

[Ollie 4,400]

His strength helped us a lot in this game against N'Diaye and Sessegnon. He's such a key player in these types of games.

[Kojo 4,676]

When in space he was getting the game going forward, he picked out a lot of players.

Although he still has to do better defensively, also when the other team is on the front foot he won't be as effective, he needs to start improving every side of his game.

Especially if he wants to play here next season.

[The Skipper 20,593]

Especially if he wants to play here next season.

Mikel is definitely going to play plenty next season.

[Kojo 4,676]

Mikel is definitely going to play plenty next season.

That's the problem.

[robsblubot 3,217]

Isn't this guy's problem just consistency? 3 games in a row he's been very good! He has had great games, even against strong opposition, so it is something he can do.

[Backstreet09 499]

He was good but his passing meer was pretty much the same. #2sloppy4me and that little chicken run he did was HIGHlarious #5realz