Jump to content

Mikel John Obi


Badboy
 Share

Recommended Posts

@CHOULO19,

"Naturally, when your opposition are in control and are committing men into the box, your DM should get into the box because 2 CBs to defend the area wouldn't be enough"

This is where you're wrong. Defending Mikel's contribution as the starting point of attacks is fine but there isn't an excuse for a defensive midfielder slotting in between the CB's that often. that mentality puts us under more pressure because as soon as the CB's get the ball away, the opponents will regain control of it. Unless we are playing Bayern/Barcelona OR defending a lead very late in the game, that is not acceptable. It rounds back to your initial point of gaining control of the midfield - Mikel unbalances the double pivot by falling too far back.

Won't stand for Vidal with you being a Juve follower, I'll assume you know more.

Yacob started of brilliantly and then went unnoticed a bit but about the "out-of-position" argument against Yacob - he has Mulumbu next to him - another defense-minded midfielder. Mikel doesn't have that security.

I am quite bemused by the Sandro criticism. He had a great season up until the injury

As for "Cant pass to save his life" Arteta - He has a 91.5% Pass-Completion rate this season in the Premier League (whoscored)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know but the reason Benitez didn't like him must be because in the Benitez system, the dm must help the fullback in the trap triangle on the side and harass the opponent to make him lose the ball.

The winger is there to close the passing lanes, inviting the player in a trap zone were the fullback and dm crowd him, Mikel was too lethargic to his liking I guess and that's why he was putting Luiz in midfield.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've only watched Fernandinho in the CL, so I will comment on Vidal only since I've watched every Juve game this season. Vidal has many many qualities, but his defensive ability is not one of them. He is too aggressive and even though he sometimes does get the ball, other times he does not and that often puts Juve in trouble. Again people just judge Vidal based on a couple of great games he had in the CL while forgetting a couple of horror games he had as well like against Bayern. And just to put an end to the myth, Mikel has a higher interception per game ratio than Vidal; check whoscored.com. Mikel has the ability to go to ground, but just like Alonso said, it's only something you resort to when you make a mistake.

I disagree that Mikel is not dynamic, just watch his matches with Nigeria where he is given a more free role and you can see him all over the pitch in a more of a box to box style. But at Chelsea his role requires discipline. He is the midfielder that is supposed to shield the back 4 and he shows great discipline to stay in position and not leave gaps behind him. Naturally, when your opposition are in control and are committing men into the box, your DM should get into the box because 2 CBs to defend the area wouldn't be enough.

Finally, regarding the comparisons you made, I couldn't disagree more. I mean Arteta who can't pass for his life, Yacob who spends more time out of position that actually in it, and Sandro the head-less chicken?! Also, none of those players have Mikel's distribution and ball retention abilities. We've been talking about the defensive part of the holding midfielders role because that is what you criticized in you original post, but for me Mikel's biggest assets are on the ball. He always provides an outlet for the back four because they know that they can give Mikel the ball in almost any situation and he has the ball retention skills to keep it under immense pressure and then play a safe pass. He also has incredible pass completion percentage meaning that when Mikel plays, our distribution of the ball is more accurate and we lose the ball less often. That's why you see when Mikel does not start, our CBs tend to lump the ball forward much more often.

I wasn't quite sure you could top your "Mikel is the 2nd best holding midfielder in England after Carrik" line but I was wrong.

How can someone say this with a straight face?

"I mean Arteta who can't pass for his life"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not sure what is the debate. Can we have better midfield then mikel, yes of course

but that is not really important what important is who is the passer that we can get. Prime lamp and Mikel will be a damn good partnership but lamp is 34/35.

I am more interested getting a passer next to rami/Mikel/romeu. Once he play with these guys then we can start talking about replacement

Damn I hate typing using tablet, so many typo.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

He was awful even in the friendly ,did you see how deep we were in the second half and City dominated posession (I thought with Mikel in the team we were sure to dominate posession with his safe passing) and he is so unfit he was literally getting in the way of the two centre halves when we need someone in that position driving us forward and getting us as high up the pitch as possibe.

Most goals are scored when you nick posession high up the pitch and counter quickly not by plugging imaginary gaps and playing safe sideways/backward passes that are oh so slow.

I will be amazed if Jose does not replace Mikel as a priority and the waiter was dead right to even play Ake in front of Mikel,Jose will not have missed that,will he?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

He was awful even in the friendly ,did you see how deep we were in the second half and City dominated posession (I thought with Mikel in the team we were sure to dominate posession with his safe passing) and he is so unfit he was literally getting in the way of the two centre halves when we need someone in that position driving us forward and getting us as high up the pitch as possibe.

Most goals are scored when you nick posession high up the pitch and counter quickly not by plugging imaginary gaps and playing safe sideways/backward passes that are oh so slow.

I will be amazed if Jose does not replace Mikel as a priority and the waiter was dead right to even play Ake in front of Mikel,Jose will not have missed that,will he?

Mikel was our best player on Saturday..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mikel was our best player on Saturday..

Absolutely. He was brilliant in his role as DM. He provided such good cover to our defense.

He was covering all the passing channels for opposition.

We only conceded 5 goals in the game, God knows how many we would have conceded if he did not play.

On a sidenote: we conceded 0.89 goals per game on an average last season when Mikel did not play.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That would be absolutely delicious irony considering how a) so many dislike him and b ) so many trust Mourinho's judgement 100%.

The cognitive dissonance would make some heads explode.

And in the famous words of one Kevin Keegan.. "I would LOVE it."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • 0 members are here!

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

talk chelse forums

We get it, advertisements are annoying!
Talk Chelsea relies on revenue to pay for hosting and upgrades. While we try to keep adverts as unobtrusive as possible, we need to run ad's to make sure we can stay online because over the years costs have become very high.

Could you please allow adverts on this website and help us by switching your ad blocker off.

KTBFFH
Thank You