Mikel John Obi

[Kojo 4,676]

It's actually shocking how bad this forum has gotten, you can't even post a point without getting told to grow up.

Grow up for what exactly you mindless prick?, fact of the matter is i never said anything abusive in my previous post, nothing at all, and I'm getting told to grow up because i'm describing a player and his performances 'appropriately'. That makes no sense what so ever, forum has gone downhill, never used to be like this.

[Spike 12,049]

@, I would never call Yaya Touré a Defensive Midfielder. He is a Box To Box fella much like Essien was/is. ManCity's resident DM is Gareth Barry, so analyse him!

[Kojo 4,676]

Mikel in PL so far this season:

Defensively he averages 2.8 tackles per game, 1.7 interceptions per game, 2.3 fouls per game, 0 offsides won, 1.5 clearances per game, dribbled past 0.7 times per game, 0.3 shots blocked per game and wins 1.4 aerial duels per game.

Offensively he averages 0.5 shots per game, 0.5 key passes per game, 0.6 dribbles per game, gets fouled 0.7 times per game, dispossesed 0.6 times per game and 0.6 turnovers per game.

He averages 60.9 passes per game, with an average completion rate of 90.3% and he completes 2.9 accurate long balls per game.

He has 2 yellow cards.

Other DMs in PL so far.

Cheik Tiote (Newcastle):

Defensively he averages 2.2 tackles per game, 1.2 interceptions per game, 2.2 fouls per game, 0 offsides won, 3.4 clearances per game, dribbled past 0.2 times per game, 0.4 shots blocked per game and wins 2.4 aerial duels per game.

Offensively he averages 0.6 shots per game, 0.2 key passes per game, 0.8 dribbles per game, fouled 1.4 times per game, dispossessed 2.2 times per games and 1.4 turnovers per game. Also has one assist.

He averages 44.6 passes per game with an average pass completion rate of a 83% and he completes 4.4 accurate long balls per game.

He has 2 yellow cards and 1 red card.

Sandro (Spurs):

Defensively he averages 3.5 tackles per game, 3.8 interceptions per game, 1.4 fouls per game, 0.2 offsides won, 3.2 clearances per game, dribbled past 0.2 times per game, 0.5 shots blocked per game and wins 1 aerial duel per game.

Offensively he averages 0.8 shots per game, 1 key pass per game, 0.6 dribbles per game, fouled once per game, dispossesed once per game and 0.5 turnovers per game.

He averages 39.9 passers per game with an average completion rate of 86.6%, 0.1 crosses per game and he completes 3 accurate long balls per game.

He has 2 yellow cards.

Yaya Toure (Man City):

Defensively he averages 0.8 tackles per game, 0.5 interceptions per games, 1.1 fouls per game, 0.5 clearances per game, dribbled past 0.5 times per game, blocks 0.1 shots per game and wins 0.9 aerial duels per game.

Offensively he averages 2.1 shots per game, 1.7 key passes per game, 1.4 dribbles per game, fouled 1.1 times per game, 0.1 offsides per game, dispossesed 1.4 times per game and 0.8 turnovers. He has scored 2 goals and has 2 assists.

He averages 84.9 passes per game with an average pass completion rate of 89.6, completes 0.1 crosses per game, completes 6.7 accurate long balls per game and completes 0.5 through balls per game.

He has 1 yellow card.

Only picked Sandro, Yaya Toure and Tiote as they are probably the only other 3 DMs of a similar quality to/better than Mikel. Wouldn't class Arteta, Wilshere, Ramires, Carrick, Scholes etc as DMs.

There are positives out of these stats and negatives.

Mikel out passes Tiote and Sandro but not Toure.

Higher passing completion rate than all three.

Completes more tackles than Toure and Sandro but not Tiote.

Makes more interceptions than Toure and Tiote but not Sandro.

Makes more clearances than Toure but less than Tiote and Sandro.

Is dribbled past more than all three.

Blocks more shots than Toure but not Sandro and Tiote

Wins more aeriel duels than Toure and Sandro but not Tiote.

Shoots less than all three.

Makes more key passes than Tiote but not Sandro and Toure.

Makes the same amount of dribbles as Sandro but less than Tiote and Toure.

Gets fouled the least out of all three.

Dispossesed the least out of all three.

More turnovers than Sandro but less than Toure and Tiote.

Makes less accurate long balls than the other three.

Today he was very good in the pivot along with Ramires.

Mikel -

Made 5 tackles, 2 interceptions, 2 effective clearances, gave away 3 fouls.

Made the most passes for Chelsea today. Completed 45/51 passes (88% completion rate) and 1/2 accurate long balls.

Had 1 shot but it was off target. Was dispossesed once and had 1 turnover.

Ramires -

Made the highest amount of tackles for Chelsea today. 7 tackles, 2 interceptions, 1 effective clearance, gave away 1 foul.

Completed 41/44 passes (89% completion rate) and 3/4 accurate long balls.

Had 1 shot but it was off target. Made 1 successful dribble. Wasn't dispossesed once and had 1 turnover.

Partnership in the double pivot is looking very very promising. Both are only 25, so they could be a main part of our squad for the next 5 years.

Sorry mate missed your post, but i think it's fair to say when it comes to a DM, Sandro and Tiote are on another level than Mikel and Ramires. Though Ramires and Sandro are actually very similar, i do rate Sandro more at his duty. But Ramires has done very good.

However i don't want both of them in the double pivot, cannot be too similar. I think what we need is someone who covers a lot more and has much better positioning, Tiote and Sandro don't do that, they are more ball winners, but are very good at it. Ramires seems to be our ball winner who gets about the pitch. However Mikel seems totally useless in the midfield and is usually the fault in the midfield. Stats will not convince me, it's a team game, different team you get different outcomes for each player it's a fact. However you might laugh yes but someone who covers for example is Gareth Barry, yes i know he can be quite mediocre, but he does do his job very well, that's why City can bomb forward all the time.

Okay now look at there game today against Spurs, Spurs where 1-0 up, AVB stubborn bastard still plays highline, even though Mancini has brought on Kolorov and Maicon, so there's more options for Yaya Toure and David Silva to pass too.

So Gareth Barry stays back and covers, and he's really good at it, that's why he plays for Man City still. He's a vital player for them, even though he's an average tackler and gets skinned at times.

Mikel does nothing but stand there, leave his man unmarked which people wave off all the time. His positioning worries me at times, i think we need that player to cover, although Ramires can be useless when it comes to passing, but he has gotten better, i have faith he can still become a better player for us.

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

Partnership in the double pivot is looking very very promising. Both are only 25, so they could be a main part of our squad for the next 5 years.

The problem is not their quality, it's that they, or rather Ramires, doesn't bring the needed skills to the double pivot. You need someone there like a Xabi Alonso or a Modric to be able to create chances and to open up the field. When Ramires gets the ball, he runs it up and hands it off to Mata or Oscar who have to drop back deep to collect the ball. If we are looking to play a ball-control, passing game, having a central midfielder who doesn't control the ball or pass well like Ramires is always going to be an issue. Mikel can play and play well in any system. Today, Mikel was very good in the first half and then had a poor stretch in the second half.

[Spike 12,049]

Sorry mate missed your post, but i think it's fair to say when it comes to a DM, Sandro and Tiote are on another level than Mikel and Ramires. Though Ramires and Sandro are actually very similar, i do rate Sandro more at his duty. But Ramires has done very good.

However i don't want both of them in the double pivot, cannot be too similar. I think what we need is someone who covers a lot more and has much better positioning, Tiote and Sandro don't do that, they are more ball winners, but are very good at it. Ramires seems to be our ball winner who gets about the pitch. However Mikel seems totally useless in the midfield and is usually the fault in the midfield. Stats will not convince me, it's a team game, different team you get different outcomes for each player it's a fact. However you might laugh yes but someone who covers for example is Gareth Barry, yes i know he can be quite mediocre, but he does do his job very well, that's why City can bomb forward all the time.

Okay now look at there game today against Spurs, Spurs where 1-0 up, AVB stubborn bastard still plays highline, even though Mancini has brought on Kolorov and Maicon, so there's more options for Yaya Toure and David Silva to pass too.

So Gareth Barry stays back and covers, and he's really good at it, that's why he plays for Man City still. He's a vital player for them, even though he's an average tackler and gets skinned at times.

Mikel does nothing but stand there, leave his man unmarked which people wave off all the time. His positioning worries me at times, i think we need that player to cover, although Ramires can be useless when it comes to passing, but he has gotten better, i have faith he can still become a better player for us.

Stats wise I believe Sandro looks the best, followed by Mikel and by Tioté (hugley disappointed with his pathetic tackle count). I'd say that Mikel does the same as Barry, he knows his role and does that and only that, but I'd have to say that Mikel's role is changed by each manager. Under RDM Mikel has gotton foward more times than he ever did in the previous 5 years. Mikel used to be an attacking player in his youth and RDM may be trying to bring some of those qualities back. He may take a while but he could be quite a good B2B kind of player.

Mikel does have a bloody brilliant first touch, I might add.

[Kojo 4,676]

The problem is not their quality, it's that they, or rather Ramires, doesn't bring the needed skills to the double pivot. You need someone there like a Xabi Alonso or a Modric to be able to create chances and to open up the field. When Ramires gets the ball, he runs it up and hands it off to Mata or Oscar who have to drop back deep to collect the ball. If we are looking to play a ball-control, passing game, having a central midfielder who doesn't control the ball or pass well like Ramires is always going to be an issue. Mikel can play and play well in any system. Today, Mikel was very good in the first half and then had a poor stretch in the second half.

Ramires can be bad when it comes to technical skills, like he's never been a gifted passer or crosser or anything. He can take players on with pace and then pass the ball, but he's not Zidane or Dembele who are very good midfielders at doing that. You always need that deep passing player, this is my opinion although i have faith in ramires, i realistically think we will need two new DM's, could be wrong but that's what i think.

[OneMoSalah 8,611]

@, I would never call Yaya Touré a Defensive Midfielder. He is a Box To Box fella much like Essien was/is. ManCity's resident DM is Gareth Barry, so analyse him!

Ok then...

Mikel in PL so far this season:

Defensively he averages 2.8 tackles per game, 1.7 interceptions per game, 2.3 fouls per game, 0 offsides won, 1.5 clearances per game, dribbled past 0.7 times per game, 0.3 shots blocked per game and wins 1.4 aerial duels per game.

Offensively he averages 0.5 shots per game, 0.5 key passes per game, 0.6 dribbles per game, gets fouled 0.7 times per game, dispossesed 0.6 times per game and 0.6 turnovers per game.

He averages 60.9 passes per game, with an average completion rate of 90.3% and he completes 2.9 accurate long balls per game.

He has 2 yellow cards.

Gareth Barry in PL so far this season:

Defensively he averages 1 tackle per game, 1.6 interceptions per game, 1 foul per game, 0.1 offsides won per game, 2 clearances per game, dribbled past 0.1 times per game, 0 shots blocked and wins 2.3 aerial duels per game.

Offensively he averages 0.7 shots per game, 1.1 key passes per game, 0 dribbles, wins 1 foul per game, dispossesed once per game and 0.9 turnovers per game.

He averages 59.4 passes per game, with an average completion rate of 88.2%, completes 0.4 crosses per game, completes 2.4 accurate through balls per game and 0.1 through balls per game.

0 bookings so far this season, but hes only played 7 games in the PL. 6 starter 1 as a sub.

Stats wise I believe Sandro looks the best, followed by Mikel and by Tioté (hugley disappointed with his pathetic tackle count). I'd say that Mikel does the same as Barry, he knows his role and does that and only that, but I'd have to say that Mikel's role is changed by each manager. Under RDM Mikel has gotton foward more times than he ever did in the previous 5 years. Mikel used to be an attacking player in his youth and RDM may be trying to bring some of those qualities back. He may take a while but he could be quite a good B2B kind of player.

Mikel does have a bloody brilliant first touch, I might add.

Sandro's stats are good, the tackles and interception stats are quite incredible. He also isn't dribbled past a lot which is also good compared to Mikel and Toure. Only thing that he needs to improve is not getting dispossesed as much (Mikel has a lower dispossession rate than Sandro by 0.4). Also Tiotes stats are rather pathetic compared to Mikel's, I thought he'd be a bit closer to him with some stats. Especially the hype he gets on here by some people, looking at each others stats and seeing Mikel is miles ahead with some is crazy.

[Kojo 4,676]

Stats wise I believe Sandro looks the best, followed by Mikel and by Tioté (hugley disappointed with his pathetic tackle count). I'd say that Mikel does the same as Barry, he knows his role and does that and only that, but I'd have to say that Mikel's role is changed by each manager. Under RDM Mikel has gotton foward more times than he ever did in the previous 5 years. Mikel used to be an attacking player in his youth and RDM may be trying to bring some of those qualities back. He may take a while but he could be quite a good B2B kind of player.

Mikel does have a bloody brilliant first touch, I might add.

Mikel has some good things, his passing is brillaint, but he's not that consistent at it, like the Juventus game for example when he kept giving the ball away on simple passes. Last season under AVB his passes where fucking brilliant, he was pulling the strings just by simple passes, like against Laverkusen when we won 2-0 or 3-0 can't really remember, he was surrounded by about 5 players then he would chip it up for a perfect pass towards Mata, and then Mata, Anelka, Torres are up against two people.

He does have a nice first touch, he's a good safe player, but he's not the player i want on my team when the other team have the upperhand, or when they are on the counter or attack, fair enough the counter he's always going to struggle as he lacks pace.

However the best way to describe Mikel is really good on the ball, poor off the ball.

[Amblève. 4,995]

It's doing my head in how quickly some people change their opinions, not particularly talking about this place, more about Twitter etc. Firstly, it was them saying Mikel should play more offensively (because he doesn't add anything when we're attacking bla bla bla). And suddenly when Mikel is being given more offensive instructions they're, all of a sudden, saying he should be more defensively minded. I mean, where's the logic?!

Mikel has been a monster, especially in the last couple of games, and I can't even express how happy I am that Chelsea have this lad on their roster.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

I think RDM figured that with Ramires next to him instead of Lamps, he can afford to take a few risks and join the attack, I have a feeling he will score soon. Regarding today, he was absolutely immense for 70 mins, then disappeared like everyone else after the equalizer.

I have honestly given up on discussing Mikel with some people. Bottom line is, like it or not, he is the first name on the team sheet, and I can't be happier about t.

[OneMoSalah 8,611]

Passing directions this season

Tackling/duels this season

Previous seasons I'd imagine his passing was much more backwards than forwards and that he would have lower tackling/duel stats. Pity I can't get his stats from last season on this site to compare them...

Anyway hes becoming a big big player for us. We'll see how we cope without him in January.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

I dont get why so much hate for this fella. He seems to play better and better. The problem I guess is in Ramires who is technicaly very weak. Would love to see someone like Xabi Alonso next to Mikel. That would be just brilliant. Xabi is such a complete midfielder realy...

Anyway if we would be scoring goals when we create chances, we would probably have 99% of wins so far. Then people would never hate Mikel.

[zolayes 14,489]

I am worried that when ACON starts we will find out just how important he is to us.

[OneMoSalah 8,611]

I am worried that when ACON starts we will find out just how important he is to us.

Exactly and with talk of Lamps moving off to China and people thinking Oriol isn't ready yet we'll soon find out how good he really is. We might end up using the loan market to get another midfielder in for a few months just to aid the loss of Mikel in that January period.

[Kojo 4,676]

Ramires has one thing Dembele can dream of: the quality of his last services. To be fair Dembele is very overrated, he's almost a ball wanker... Good baller, good short passer but when it happens to be creative and make the difference in the last tier he's a dreadful player with poor choices even a 5 year old could guess.

But because he makes 5 passes per minute we aren't especially keen to notice that the build up passes aren't that succesful beside the loads of possession passes (I don't have a better translation for "redoublement", that's making the same pass to fix opponents and not to go forward or build something)

Ramires is more creative most people think, the passing thing is very overrated with him. I have complete faith when he has to make the good pass, at the right time, at the end of his run etc...

Don't get my post twisted when i mentioned Zidane and Dembele, because fuck me i should be shot dead if i even compared with those two. I was just talking about the criteria of them type of players.

And no, Ramires has sparks where he can make a great pass, or cross, like the cross to Drogba against Napoli when we went 1-0 was just amazing. But come on he will pull that off once out of 10 wont he unfortunately. And the other 9 crosses, well about 6 of them wont make it on the pitch. Okay slight exaggeration but he is very inconsistent with them type of things... well technical abillity. We can't have a good pass now and then, we need that consistent and reliable player in the deep, Ramires will never be able to take that on. But i do believe he can establish himself a place in this team and get better. I wrote Ramires off last season, i did joke about selling him with the pictures, but i did think at first he should be sold or dropped.

The thing what's so special about Ramires, is that he's so damn adaptable, i thought he would only have 2-3 decent games in DM as it's not really his place, but fuck he's gone out there and done it. He can do the job pretty much anywhere and still be effective, okay fair enough he was dull on the right wing but he still done decent and worked hard.

[Kojo 4,676]

I am worried that when ACON starts we will find out just how important he is to us.

Or that might be because we don't have another defensive midfielder except for Romeu who is very young and hasn't been the same since AVB departure?.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

Personaly, I would love to see Ander Herrera next to Mikel. Herrera outplayed United with ease last season in Europa league. Such a quality player, strong, calm on the ball. Like Xabi. I think he would fit fantastic in this squad, very young. I believe he needs to move to higher level from Bilbao. Would be great if we were interested in him, but no links at all.

[Kojo 4,676]

Personaly, I would love to see Ander Herrera next to Mikel. Herrera outplayed United with ease last season in Europa league. Such a quality player, strong, calm on the ball. Like Xabi. I think he would fit fantastic in this squad, very young. I believe he needs to move to higher level from Bilbao. Would be great if we were interested in him, but no links at all.

Well i suppose we should go get him then, no one can have a great performance against united of course.