Mikel John Obi

[OneMoSalah 8,614]

Ramires - Mikel vs Newcastle anybody?

[Stats 6,980]

Big game for him tonight to see who is back up to Frank and Rammy,what has Essien got left in the tank?

We find out tonight.

We found out alright. Essien good, sometimes looked rusty but overall very decent and Mikel absolutely flawless. Hopefully for once you will actually agree Phil and not slate him again. You were eager to see one slip up but tonight he was immense and there is no denying that. You said his time at Chelsea is over a days/weeks back and he will prove you wrong. I know Jose feels there are things to work on with him but he knows Mikel is a valuable player to have around and last night proved that.

[blu35_army 550]

Torres and now Mikel....Mou's man management is so awesome...

[Phil Driver 503]

Sorry mate thought he did ok but his direct opponent was Ramsey their best player ,he disposessed Obi once who was to slow on the ball and the ref luckily gave us a free kick in a very dangerous area and Carzola and Wilshire skipped past him when he got too square on ,his passing was safe as usual and that does not impress me,Essien is now back up to Lamps and Rammy in my book and probably Jose's as well ,he did ok for him though ,nothing spectacular 6/10 ,Essien 8/10 .

[ChelseasMessiah 304]

Sorry mate thought he did ok but his direct opponent was Ramsey their best player ,he disposessed Obi once who was to slow on the ball and the ref luckily gave us a free kick in a very dangerous area and Carzola and Wilshire skipped past him when he got too square on ,his passing was safe as usual and that does not impress me,Essien is now back up to Lamps and Rammy in my book and probably Jose's as well ,he did ok for him though ,nothing spectacular 6/10 ,Essien 8/10 .

Whatever helps you sleep better at night Phil...

[The only place to be 11,313]

Ramires - Mikel vs Newcastle anybody?

Considering Lamps was rested in midweek, conventional wisdom would suggest he would get the nod ahead of Mikel and probably rightly so.

[remains of the day 564]

He's so incredibly graceful on the ball and has a way of making it look effortless at times. Yeah there were times during the match where he slowed down play, but he compensates for it by generally being neat and tidy in possession which then allows us to launch attacks. Really though, I've been watching Mikel for a while now and I'm still convinced that he can't consistently do a good enough job (defensively) in this team. In my opinion Jose has been using him the correct way by bringing him on towards the latter part of the game and paying him in cup games. These are the kind of situations where Mikel excels, where he's not continuously being relied on to carry the team.

[The_Flash 1,144]

He's so incredibly graceful on the ball and has a way of making it look effortless at times. Yeah there were times during the match where he slowed down play, but he compensates for it by generally being neat and tidy in possession which then allows us to launch attacks. Really though, I've been watching Mikel for a while now and I'm still convinced that he can't consistently do a good enough job (defensively) in this team. In my opinion Jose has been using him the correct way by bringing him on towards the latter part of the game and paying him in cup games. These are the kind of situations where Mikel excels, where he's not continuously being relied on to carry the team.

Totally agree. I think we are lucky to have so many people to call upon.

[happy_juan 64]

When he recieves the ball, he will have a few passing choices. Then he will decide to shield the ball/do fancy stuff and after that make the pass which will put us in no better situation than if he had played the safe pass initially.

In other words, killing the momentum of our offensive play.

[OneMoSalah 8,614]

When he recieves the ball, he will have a few passing choices. Then he will decide to shield the ball/do fancy stuff and after that make the pass which will put us in no better situation than if he had played the safe pass initially.

In other words, killing the momentum of our offensive play.

Its hardly killing the momentum of our offensive play, you don't always attack in football, nobody attacks, attacks and attacks constantly for 90 minutes. You need to control the game at times, like defending with the ball, keeping it so the opposition don't get it, limiting the chances they have to score. Mikel is exceptional at helping the team do this. Safe passes aren't bad passes, they are no risk passes, help the team retain possession, means the opposition has to either press and leave spaces for us to expose or stay compact and we run the clock down if we are winning 1-0 or 2-0 for instance.

[OneMoSalah 8,614]

When he recieves the ball, he will have a few passing choices. Then he will decide to shield the ball/do fancy stuff and after that make the pass which will put us in no better situation than if he had played the safe pass initially.

In other words, killing the momentum of our offensive play.

double post

[Kojo 4,676]

When Mikel has had a good run in form, which has been around 4-5 games he hasn't been able to carry it on. I only hope he does.

If he does manage to have a good season, then I think many of us should be saying sorry to the board including myself for yelling at them for not buying a deep lying playmaker or a CM. As perhaps keeping the same side was a good idea after all, instead of replacing a full team.

Lets face it I think anyone would of gotten rid of Mikel last season, but putting faith in him for another season was a big decision, and if it pays off then it's one of those things what can help us with more success in the future. Man Cities downfall is that they buy new players every season, had it been up to them they would have gotten rid of Mikel two seasons ago and already of had Joao Moutinho or someone in the side.

[Stats 6,980]

Sorry mate thought he did ok but his direct opponent was Ramsey their best player ,he disposessed Obi once who was to slow on the ball and the ref luckily gave us a free kick in a very dangerous area and Carzola and Wilshire skipped past him when he got too square on ,his passing was safe as usual and that does not impress me,Essien is now back up to Lamps and Rammy in my book and probably Jose's as well ,he did ok for him though ,nothing spectacular 6/10 ,Essien 8/10 .

Cazorla and Wilshere done the same to Essien. Essien got skinned quite embarrassingly by Cazorla and Essien resorted to conceding a blatant foul. More times than Mikel btw. Mikel's positioning and interceptions was a reason why we never conceded yesterday. I would give him a 8/10. Had Lampard done what Mikel done last night you probably would have done the same thing but because it is Mikel you seem to look for any excuse. Essien and Mikel formed a very good partnership last night and never actually looked like a weak link. Essien had a good game but sometimes looked rusty, but Mikel was awesome but nevertheless them 2 were a big reason Arsenal never looked close to scoring and why we restricted them to about one shot on target.

[cripji 16]

If this lad had played today's match, the statisticians in this thread will come out with another one like 'another bad statistic for Mikel, he played and we lost 2 nil.' Atleast Jose did him a favour by not playing him, else, the slege hammer would have been hard this time not minding whether the fault is his or not.

[Phil Driver 503]

We would have been even slower than we were with him in the team,he would have made not a bit of difference and we would still have had a large share of posession but gone nowhere even slower than we did. It would have been a waste of time to even bring him on as a sub as he could only have made us slower and pedestrian,that is what he does.

[Namika 922]

We would have been even slower than we were with him in the team,he would have made not a bit of difference and we would still have had a large share of posession but gone nowhere even slower than we did. It would have been a waste of time to even bring him on as a sub as he could only have made us slower and pedestrian,that is what he does.

He would have allowed Ramires to go forward and it's a big +.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

If this lad had played today's match, the statisticians in this thread will come out with another one like 'another bad statistic for Mikel, he played and we lost 2 nil.' Atleast Jose did him a favour by not playing him, else, the slege hammer would have been hard this time not minding whether the fault is his or not.

Just imagine if he'd put in a performance as bad as Lampard today...

[zolayes 14,489]

Just imagine if he'd put in a performance as bad as Lampard today...