Mikel John Obi

[Blue Armour 4,168]

Still early to draw any sort of conclusions about how Jose plans on using him but it's possible that mourinho might favour Ramires in the holding role. Although I agree with Choulo that in some ways Ramires as a defensive midfielder is like trapping a bird in cage, but at the same time if mourinho persists with playing him (rather than Mikel) in that position, I completely see why.

Most of the people I know who are football fans tend to be Nigerian so I've been following the national team for a while now. I just think that with the type of attacking players we have, whoever plays as the holding midfielder, their game has to be more about athleticism than anything else and from what I've seen of Mikel, being a chelsea supporter and following the Nigerian national team, I'm convinced that he can't play that role. If we still had players like Kalou, Malouda, Anelka and Drogba, then Mikel would be my first choice defensive midfielder, always. But with Hazard, Mata, Kevin et al you need a runner in central midfield. That's just my opinion though.

Having said that, I think Mikel's ball playing skills are very much underrated. From some of the comments, people seem to be under the impression that he plays as a number 10 for Nigeria - that's not true. He plays as a centre midfielder (or deep lying midfielder) and it's actually quite remarkable how good he is in that role especially under Stephen Kelshi (the current coach). His performance against Spain would have been classified as "world class" if it weren't for the name on the back of his shirt and I guarantee that many on here would be crying out for us to sign him for the pivot. Would love to see what he can do if he were playing in Lampard's position.

Anywho, all of Mikel's touches against Spain. Absolutely a brilliant performance from him.

Like Kalou, a completely different player for his country. I guess it also helps that Nigeria's attackers make good movements giving Mikel the chance to make good passes. Just convinces me even more that he's better suited to an attacking role rather than that of a holding midfielder.

[Amblève. 4,995]

I want to see the Mikel - Ramires pairing again. With our attacking players actually tracking back now it would be more than interesting to see how this pivot would work; they played well together under RDM last season already so this combo definitely deserves a fair chance.

[The only place to be 11,313]

I want to see the Mikel - Ramires pairing again.

Last year's season review is available at the megastore.

[Kojo 4,676]

Thought he did ok when he came on. Kept it simple but showed a bit of urgency in his movement which has been sorely lacking for a while now. Maybe he's getting the kick up his arse he sorely needed.

Mikel usually does play decent against United, that's because we always stay in our own half.

He was definitely an upgrade from Ramires that game, Ramires was very poor, he couldn't keep the ball or anything. Whereas Mikel can be trusted with that job and you can have confidence on Mikel keeping the ball. Unfortunately that wont change anything in the future, we aren't going to have many games like we did against United where we are sat more deep, we are going to be stretching a lot more, and there will be a shit load more space to be covered and we all know Mikel can't do that.

[robsblubot 3,237]

Still early to draw any sort of conclusions about how Jose plans on using him but it's possible that mourinho might favour Ramires in the holding role. Although I agree with Choulo that in some ways Ramires as a defensive midfielder is like trapping a bird in cage, but at the same time if mourinho persists with playing him (rather than Mikel) in that position, I completely see why.

Most of the people I know who are football fans tend to be Nigerian so I've been following the national team for a while now. I just think that with the type of attacking players we have, whoever plays as the holding midfielder, their game has to be more about athleticism than anything else and from what I've seen of Mikel, being a chelsea supporter and following the Nigerian national team, I'm convinced that he can't play that role. If we still had players like Kalou, Malouda, Anelka and Drogba, then Mikel would be my first choice defensive midfielder, always. But with Hazard, Mata, Kevin et al you need a runner in central midfield. That's just my opinion though.

Having said that, I think Mikel's ball playing skills are very much underrated. From some of the comments, people seem to be under the impression that he plays as a number 10 for Nigeria - that's not true. He plays as a centre midfielder (or deep lying midfielder) and it's actually quite remarkable how good he is in that role especially under Stephen Kelshi (the current coach). His performance against Spain would have been classified as "world class" if it weren't for the name on the back of his shirt and I guarantee that many on here would be crying out for us to sign him for the pivot. Would love to see what he can do if he were playing in Lampard's position.

Anywho, all of Mikel's touches against Spain. Absolutely a brilliant performance from him.

Fair enough, but Spain were not very good in the conf cup. Italy gave them a much harder time than Nigeria for example - not to mention Brazil trashing.

Mickel also, when playing for Nigeria, hardly gets harassed when carrying from deep, so he has time to build up his own speed. BPL games are far more dynamic and Mikel lacks pace. That's less of a problem for Nigeria than it is for Chelsea.

Although I wish we had better than Mickel, I do agree that we cannot afford to sell him without getting a replacement. Unless Essien miraculously recovers some of his game.

[Kojo 4,676]

Probably should have started this game or at least came on earlier, we where in our own half and Jose knew that would happen hence the decision to stick deep all the time even when we where on the ball.

The game would've benefited him as he wouldn't of had to cover as much ground, he came on and played well, it just proved it.

I'm still not convinced that he can be a starter for a full season however, but he really should have started for me.

[meetdoscar 335]

Well nice to see he isn't being blamed for our lack of domination of teams as he hasn't even started a game. For me he would have been far better than lampard for this game and also vs ManU

[BlueLion. 21,491]

I thought he played very well when he came on. Mikel is brilliant in the big games.

[chelseathebest 150]

I thought he played very well when he came on. Mikel is brilliant in the big games.

Agreed.

I believe he should have started this game. The calmness he has is something you really need when you defend all the time.

[Phil Driver 503]

Did nothing when he came on ,one clumsy foul, at least it was higher up the pitch than he usually is and hardly plugged the gaps for the equaliser ,also turned the other way when Jose was looking for penalty takers and I dont think Jose liked that,Lampard was still covering more distance in extra time than Mikel . When I see a sub come on fresh and especially in extra time I want to see him making a difference , I never saw it .

[Kieran. 6,317]

I hate Mikel

We get it.

[Phil Driver 503]

Still not getting much minutes. Somebody please check on choulo19

[Stats 6,982]

Did nothing when he came on ,one clumsy foul, at least it was higher up the pitch than he usually is and hardly plugged the gaps for the equaliser ,also turned the other way when Jose was looking for penalty takers and I dont think Jose liked that,Lampard was still covering more distance in extra time than Mikel . When I see a sub come on fresh and especially in extra time I want to see him making a difference , I never saw it .

LOL, Mourinho would have asked Lamps to cover more distance than Mikel. Mikel did not do this because he is lazy. He done what he was told to and tbh I thought he done a good job. You look for anything to slate him, really. Even Kojo, who is not his biggest fan knows when to accept when he done his job but you are looking for the slightest of excuse to criticize his performance. He done well, what do you want him to do? Go out of his way to expose our defence and try dribble past 11 Bayern players? Of course not. It was a clear instruction for Mikel to just sit deep and Lampard do more chasing. Wake up and stop your blind hate.

[bleed_blue 136]

Was useless as usual in the 40 odd minutes he was on the field. The link between defense and attack that he was supposed to provide was completely missing. He took 9 touches on the ball to complete a grand total of 3 passes in 40 minutes. As a result our defenders had to step up for that role as well (luiz's pass to hazard).

He was just another body on the pitch in the game. 0 tackles, 1 interceptions in 40 minutes of football and people here are raving about him.

[Phil Driver 503]

Those stats do not count or the ones that show how poor our record is when we play ,the only stats that count are where he stands on the pitch .

The most telling stat we can see at the moment is the stat that shows him sitting in his fat arse on the bench and is about time people started backing Mourinho on this as we were all told that a number of managers could not be wrong when they picked Mikel ,well Jose is not picking him.

Was useless as usual in the 40 odd minutes he was on the field. The link between defense and attack that he was supposed to provide was completely missing. He took 9 touches on the ball to complete a grand total of 3 passes in 40 minutes. As a result our defenders had to step up for that role as well (luiz's pass to hazard).

He was just another body on the pitch in the game. 0 tackles, 1 interceptions in 40 minutes of football and people here are raving about him.

[The Skipper 20,593]

Was useless as usual in the 40 odd minutes he was on the field. The link between defense and attack that he was supposed to provide was completely missing. He took 9 touches on the ball to complete a grand total of 3 passes in 40 minutes. As a result our defenders had to step up for that role as well (luiz's pass to hazard).

He was just another body on the pitch in the game. 0 tackles, 1 interceptions in 40 minutes of football and people here are raving about him.

He came on when we had 10 men, we weren't playing football anymore. We parked the bus, and it was clear he was under construction to just keep it simple.

He provided added defensive solidity and such, which our offense to not completely sacrifice their attacking game (until late in extra time when we were desperately trying to hang on), but I don't even want to discuss it with you since you clearly hate anything he does.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Was useless as usual in the 40 odd minutes he was on the field. The link between defense and attack that he was supposed to provide was completely missing. He took 9 touches on the ball to complete a grand total of 3 passes in 40 minutes. As a result our defenders had to step up for that role as well (luiz's pass to hazard).

He was just another body on the pitch in the game. 0 tackles, 1 interceptions in 40 minutes of football and people here are raving about him.

And here, children - proof that stats mean fuck-all in football.

I have eyes, and those eyes saw Mikel do a very good job in man-marking and denying the likes of Ribery and Shaqiri - who were given freedom beyond measurement whilst Ramires was on to do their thing - the space and time needed to create a match-winning moment.

[Sheva. 5,373]

Lol link between attack and defence? we had no attack, Lukaku was playing as CM ffs.