Mikel John Obi

[Jype 6,398]

To Mikel critics, i would like to see a lists of DMs that you guys prefer over Mikel.

Not a Mikel critic (far from it actually, I like the man and rate him highly) but if I had to make a list, it would be something like this:

Busquets

Mascherano

Xabi Alonso

Javi Martinez

De Jong

Yaya Toure

Tiote

Alex Song

Vidal

De Rossi

Schweinsteiger

Players I would take over Mikel any day for the double pivot in our current 4-2-3-1 formation. Some guys from my list might not be that much better in terms of quality but are completely different types of DM's who at the moment would be far better suited for our team and it's tactics than Mikel. As can be seen, hardly anyone from that list is a realistic target for us so we have to place our trust in Mikel and I don't have anything against that, in fact just the opposite but let's not be deluded here and think Mikel is the second coming of Jesus Christ or something.

edit: someone has just posted a similar list.

[Manuf 1,448]

Seems like every team in the world has a defensive midfielder that doesn't make any mistakes. You guys forgot to put Makelele, Fletcher and also Dariusz Dudka while we're at it. There always have to be a player at fault when the whole team is playing like pile of shit.

[Blue-in-me-Veins 4,067]

i would like to make clear that im not a critc of Mikel but i will state when he (or any other player) plays bad i will mention it.

he lost the ball 3 times in that first half, whatever the case may be that is not acceptable but then later i think it was cap who said it, that yesterday was the most times mikel has lost the ball in one game in some long-ass of a span so with that i think everyone just decided to dig the knife furthur in.

i like the 4-3-3. it alows mikel to be the sole anchor and rambo to be a box to box mid, which we all can agree he does better than lamps. and plus we won this way for a longer period than with 4231, so reverting to it should not be a problem.

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

i like the 4-3-3. it alows mikel to be the sole anchor and rambo to be a box to box mid, which we all can agree he does better than lamps. and plus we won this way for a longer period than with 4231, so reverting to it should not be a problem.

The 4-3-3, but I don't see it happening. Had RDM wanted to change, he would have done it pre-season. One of the biggest problems at Chelsea is the complete lack of continuity of coaches and lack of a coherent transfer policy so we have a whole bunch of players who suite different systems and complete imbalance at depth in different positions.We have players built for counter-attack, some for ball movement, some for defensive play, some are adaptable but some will get lost in style or tactical changes .Chelsea have spent 70M pounds in the last two seasons buying three central and left-sided attacking midfielders who require a lot of the ball to be effective and have basically ignored every other position where we have a spectacular lack of depth. We need a long-term coach who has tremendous say in transfers in order to fix this re-occurring problem.

[BLionheart 516]

Is that it? I was expecting to see a list of a 1000 players which contained a couple of League 2 players in there, the way you guys go on about how shite Mikel is.

When teams like Porto - Benfica - Bilbao - Roma Etc ... have better DMs than our starting DM then we need to strengthen in that position .

[Joker10 946]

<p>

Yaya Toure - Tiote - De Rossi - Busquets - M'ville - Song - Mascherano - Vidal - Javi Martinez - Cambiasso - Javi Garcia(Benfica) - Parker - Romeu - Fellaini .

I was hoping for something realistic, but i will take a shot at your list.

Yaya Tour- definitely but he needs to play alongside a holding midfielder. B2B

Tiote- injury prone, kinda brainless, and limited technically.

De Rossi- He can do the job.

Busquets- I rate him as the best DM in the world at Barca.

M'villa- haven't seen him in the last year or so, cant comment personally.

Song- One of Arsenal biggest problem over the years has been thinking he is a DM, he needs to play alongside a holding midfielder by himself he is a major defense liability.

Vidal- another B2B midfielder, i guess he would suffice along side another B2B.

Javi Martinez- first name that i thought of and i one who would add so much to the squad either play alongside Mikel or Lampard.

Cambiasso- not sure if serious, few years back i would say yes.

Javi Garcia- If you are going pick a dm from the Portuguese league, then there is not a better Dm in that league then Fernando reges, imo he is one of the most underrated Dm in the world. calmness on the ball, technical ability, work rate, aggressiveness he has it all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCzK_vZE5cg

Parker-

Romeu- so many myths has been said about him, i quite i don't see it. For example he has been described by here as disciplined with good positional sense. Both are false, but it is something you usually stereotype with a Spanish/barca midfielder.

Not a Mikel critic (far from it actually, I like the man and rate him highly) but if I had to make a list, it would be something like this:

Busquets

Mascherano

Xabi Alonso

Javi Martinez

De Jong

Yaya Toure

Tiote

Alex Song

Vidal

De Rossi

Schweinsteiger

Players I would take over Mikel any day for the double pivot in our current 4-2-3-1 formation. Some guys from my list might not be that much better in terms of quality but are completely different types of DM's who at the moment would be far better suited for our team and it's tactics than Mikel. As can be seen, hardly anyone from that list is a realistic target for us so we have to place our trust in Mikel and I don't have anything against that, in fact just the opposite but let's not be deluded here and think Mikel is the second coming of Jesus Christ or something.

edit: someone has just posted a similar list.

So by reading your list and BL, so in short people here main problem with Mikel is that he is a holding midfielder. Because your list and BL contains more B2B midfielders then holding midfielders.

[Jype 6,398]

So by reading your list and BL, so in short people here main problem with Mikel is that he is a holding midfielder. Because your list and BL contains more B2B midfielders then holding midfielders.

I don't have any problem with Mikel and I thought I made myself clear enough, guess I was wrong and should've explained myself even better so that everyone could understand.

Someone asked to list players I would rather take instead of Mikel, so I was simply answering to him. I consider Mikel to be a quality player but I still think there are players I would rather take over him to play in our 4-2-3-1, not because they are necessarily better players but because in my opinion they would be better suited for our needs. If the correct term to describe a player like that is a box-to-box midfielder, then so be it. I don't really give a shit about the terms but I do like to think I know a thing or two about tactics in football. Having a player like the ones I listed playing next to Mikel could be great, or maybe playing with two of those skillful box-to-box midfielders with good passing abilities as well as a good workrate to do their fair shares of defensive duties (for example De Rossi, Vidal etc.) would be an even better way to go forward. All I know is that our midfield seems to be currently lacking something in the double pivot area and if we are to continue with a similar formation next year too, then maybe it should be time to invest in new midfielders. I'm not expecting any new arrivals there this season, having already spent a shitload of money improving other areas of the team but maybe if Lampard leaves or takes a significantly smaller role next season, then we should be looking to buy a proper top class midfielder there. Like I said, most of them guys on my list are unrealistic for us and either not even wanting to join our team or being way too expensive even if they wanted to come, but the player type is there and that's what we should be aiming at sometime in the future, when improving the midfield comes our first priority. Feel free to think differently, just my two cents.

[BLionheart 516]

I was hoping for something realistic, but i will take a shot at your list.

Yaya Tour- definitely but he needs to play alongside a holding midfielder. B2B

Tiote- injury prone, kinda brainless, and limited technically.

De Rossi- He can do the job.

Busquets- I rate him as the best DM in the world at Barca.

M'villa- haven't seen him in the last year or so, cant comment personally.

Song- One of Arsenal biggest problem over the years has been thinking he is a DM, he needs to play alongside a holding midfielder by himself he is a major defense liability.

Vidal- another B2B midfielder, i guess he would suffice along side another B2B.

Javi Martinez- first name that i thought of and i one who would add so much to the squad either play alongside Mikel or Lampard.

Cambiasso- not sure if serious, few years back i would say yes.

Javi Garcia- If you are going pick a dm from the Portuguese league, then there is not a better Dm in that league then Fernando reges, imo he is one of the most underrated Dm in the world. calmness on the ball, technical ability, work rate, aggressiveness he has it all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCzK_vZE5cg

Parker-

Romeu- so many myths has been said about him, i quite i don't see it. For example he has been described by here as disciplined with good positional sense. Both are false, but it is something you usually stereotype with a Spanish/barca midfielder.

So by reading your list and BL, so in short people here main problem with Mikel is that he is a holding midfielder. Because your list and BL contains more B2B midfielders then holding midfielders.

So basiclly you admitted that all of those are better midfielders than Mikel and you added another better player yourself to the list , you classified only 2 players (Song - Vidal) out of 14 as B2B players , and now i don't know the difference between a B2B and a holding midfielder !!! BTW Vidal , Toure and Song can all be great B2B players but they are still way better holding midfielders than Mikel .

You can name them whatever you need to , at the end of the day the best double pivot is a combination of two players :

• A tireless , agressive , mobile and energetic ball chaser and winner (Like most of those mentioned above)
  
• A creative , technical , smart deep-lying playmaker.
  

Case in point : (Alonso - Khediera/Diarra), (Parker/Sandro - Modric) , (Mascherano - Alonso) , (Gustavo - Shweinstiger),(Khediera - Shweinstiger) ,etc...

The biggest problem in Mikel's game is that he's none of those and tries to be both , Is he a great ball winner ? no he is an average one , can he be used next to a ball winner as a deep lying playmaker ? No , he lacks the technical aspects and creativity for it.

[Shak 22]

Signing M'Vila or Capoue would be perfect. They've been two of the better performing midfielders in Ligue 1 of recent times...and they'd be available for only 15 million.

If Spurs can bid 15 mil for M'Vila, why can't we?

[Manuf 1,448]

OMG MIKEL Y U SO POOR? Y U NO AGGRESIVE LIKE TIOTE? U NO CHELSEA QUALITY, U HAVE NO GOAL

[Kojo 4,676]

OMG MIKEL Y U SO POOR? Y U NO AGGRESIVE LIKE TIOTE? U NO CHELSEA QUALITY, U HAVE NO GOAL

He's poor because he's not good enough, and that's that. You can go on about Michael Carrick and that, but Uniteds play is different to ours, there players stick to position and go up and down the pitch together.

There's a reason every other club laughs at Mikel and says he's terrible, and only Chelsea fans are blinded by it such as yourself. Get rid that's all i can say, has no aggression, cannot read the game, always out of position, just a generally shit player. When i want a player who just sits there and just side passes the ball i will let you know... well actually i wont because who wants a shit player like that.

[Kojo 4,676]

I was hoping for something realistic, but i will take a shot at your list.

Yaya Tour- definitely but he needs to play alongside a holding midfielder. B2B

Tiote- injury prone, kinda brainless, and limited technically.

De Rossi- He can do the job.

Busquets- I rate him as the best DM in the world at Barca.

M'villa- haven't seen him in the last year or so, cant comment personally.

Song- One of Arsenal biggest problem over the years has been thinking he is a DM, he needs to play alongside a holding midfielder by himself he is a major defense liability.

Vidal- another B2B midfielder, i guess he would suffice along side another B2B.

Javi Martinez- first name that i thought of and i one who would add so much to the squad either play alongside Mikel or Lampard.

Cambiasso- not sure if serious, few years back i would say yes.

Javi Garcia- If you are going pick a dm from the Portuguese league, then there is not a better Dm in that league then Fernando reges, imo he is one of the most underrated Dm in the world. calmness on the ball, technical ability, work rate, aggressiveness he has it all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCzK_vZE5cg

Parker-

Romeu- so many myths has been said about him, i quite i don't see it. For example he has been described by here as disciplined with good positional sense. Both are false, but it is something you usually stereotype with a Spanish/barca midfielder.

So by reading your list and BL, so in short people here main problem with Mikel is that he is a holding midfielder. Because your list and BL contains more B2B midfielders then holding midfielders.

Lmao!, Tiote is brainless?, i guess anyone can just read the game like he does then?. Jason Cundy said himself Tiote has an impressive ability to read the game and be in the right position at all times, very rarely makes mistakes. He was good against Spurs and he was carrying a knock from that tackle on Kyle Walker, which was great may i add. Tiote isn't injury prone he's had a few knocks but that's about it. He can have a full season. Your knowledge is pretty poor, that's all i can say for you, don't post about it if you don't have a clue what the fuck you're talking about.

[rantdeville 195]

^^So mad bro.

[Naked Mole Rat 437]

I thought Mikel was solid today. A couple misplaced passes, but overall, he looked very tidy, and his first touch was exceptional, I think, which was important when playing against high-pressing teams. Also, it was nice to see him push forward when he needed to.

[Clevemayer 764]

I thought Mikel was solid today. A couple misplaced passes, but overall, he looked very tidy, and his first touch was exceptional, I think, which was important when playing against high-pressing teams. Also, it was nice to see him push forward when he needed to.

had the same impression of him, nice to see him adding a bit off aggresiveness to his gameplay but I'm not gett'n overexcited he had some games in the past where he seemed to finally get this better attitude and then it faded away... hope he can keep it up, hat some nice interceptions ant tackles and feeded our creative players pretty well with his crisp passing...

[CHOULO19 24,332]

After Hazard he was our best man yesterday. Was solid in the middle, covered for Iva several times and dictated the tempo throughout the game. Excellent performance all around. I also like his relation with Hazard: Mikel seemed always to be able to find Eden in a good position. Glad to see the two have a good understanding.

I have big expectations for John this season; with Song gone he should be the best DM in the league.

[Muzchap 8,966]

I'm still not sure where this hate for Mikel against Reading comes from?

Admittedly, I only watched the highlights - but he looked to be playing really well - and much more adventurous! Isn't that what everybody wanted?

The poor lad cannot win.

I was critical of him during pre-season, but he seems to have improved in PL and will just keep getting better - he has the ability to be the new Essien, he just needs some belief and forgiving fans...

[DYC. 7,542]

I agree with Stewie. Thought he had a good game. Good interceptions and some good tackles. Also provided pretty good support to the attacking players and hardly giving the ball away as usual. No complaints really.