BlueChampions The Chelsea FC Blog – views, opinions, discussions, debates, polls, videos . . .
On Wednesday night, John Obi Mikel cost us 2 points and a needed victory against the Italian champions. His second half performance was uncharacteristically very poor, in terms of both his decision making and the execution of his passes. Instead of it being remembered for what it should’ve been – the incredible performance of Oscar dos Santos, making his first appearance in the starting XI – the match left us cursing our inability to preserve a lead and, in this case quite fairly, pointing the figure of blame at Mikel.
In interview after the game, this time very much in character, our #12 took full responsibility for his error and apologised, refusing to make excuses. The issue should’ve been dropped there and then. Disgracefully though, some of the idiotic and bigoted members of our fan base decided to crudely remind us they still exist by sending abusive messages (including some racial remarks) to John’s twitter account, prompting him to close it down Thursday afternoon. It’s a travesty and a huge embarrassment that this happened to one of our players. Criticism and negative judgement (from people that often know very little) is a part of being a being a footballer – to be abused/derided by your own supposed fans however is something no player should be expected to endure.
Personally, when I look back on Mikel’s career at Chelsea, I can’t help feeling slightly sad, given what an exciting prospect he was as an 18 year old. His performances in the 2006 ACON were exceptional and prompted Jay-Jay Okocha to hail him as the best 18-year-old he had ever seen, calling him “a natural talent of the type that rarely emerges now”. Jose Mourinho himself also referred to an 18 year old Mikel as “pure gold” shortly after he joined.
Yet in spite of making his name as an exciting attacking playmaker, Mourinho put him straight in front of the back four and asked him to play a role that’s normally asked of more experienced players and players with a totally different skill set as well. It’s a role that Mikel has always looked frustrated and restricted in, despite adapting well for a young player.
There was one moment last year though that was really horrible for me personally. In our home league game against Liverpool, we conceded the first goal after Mikel had lost possession in the final third after a misguided Cech roll-out. As Liverpool scored, Mikel cut the tragic figure of a man who had finally completed his transformation from an exciting teenage prodigy into a boring and ineffective holding midfielder. As Jonathon Wilson wrote for Sports Illustrated in a review of that match, all the “fun” and excitement seemed to have finally disappeared from Mikel’s game, and he was a poorer player for it.
What happened after that game though was very uplifting (or at least should have been uplifting for all fans) as Mikel had without question his best four months in a Chelsea shirt from February onwards. He was imperious in midfield game after game and was a crucial part of our successful cup campaigns. Indeed in the CL final itself, Mikel was easily Chelsea’s best player over the 90 mins, never once giving the ball away in a packed midfield. To be honest I think he’s had a fairly good start to this season as well. Certainly in Monaco he was the only player I wasn’t embarrassed of on the night.
Sadly for Mikel his job is absolutely thankless. Just as with the referees, if he does it well then he’s invisible, but if he makes a mistake then it’s there for all to see and it’s also often costly. At his best he can run the midfield on his own. He can shrug off any pressure from opponents with his strength and phenomenal close control. His passing is simple but it’s still effective and always a vital part of our build up play. For some reason though people can’t seem to shake this image they maintain of Mikel from years ago of a boring, not especially talented player who does nothing but slow the play down by passing only sideways or backwards. These stats show that to be totally false: http://www.eplindex.co.uk/18194/influence-john-obi-mikel-stats-analysis.html
One question that seems to have been asked a lot on forums around the web and one that really annoys me is: “Why did let go of Essien and keep Mikel?” With the question usually carrying some unsubtle implication that Essien is the better player. My main argument against that would be every single one of Essien’s performances over the last two years. They’ve all been disappointing, and even before his last big injury people were starting to question how much he was contributing to the side. Even if he were to regain his form of 4 years ago, I’d still question if he had (primarily) the fitness required, as well as the leg strength and close control to play the role Mikel does for us. That certainly won’t be his role at Real Madrid, where he’ll probably be nothing more than a utility player or just someone to help pack the midfield in the big matches, like against Man City on Tuesday.
Comparisons between Mikel and Essien are stupid, not only are they very different players but different ages, and with very different form and injury records. Put it all together I don’t see how anyone could consider Essien to be the superior asset for Chelsea at this moment. Letting him go was a smart decision.
One other stupid comparison often made is between Mikel and Claude Makelele. For some reason I’ve never understood, Chelsea fans have always wanted Mikel to take on the Makelele role, as though there was a massive hole in the side left by the Frenchman after he departed in 2008. Don’t get me wrong, I have massive respect for Makelele; that trademark uncomplicated discipline at the back of midfield was a big part of our success under Mourinho, but I wouldn’t call it a “key” part of our success. In my opinion the usurpation of his position by Mikel was a necessary move by the club, with Mikel just being a far more complete midfielder.
I’m prepared to get shot down for this statement now because I feel quite strongly that the contributions of Mikel towards the end of last season did more for the legacy of Chelsea FC than everything Claude Makelele did for us in five years. Purely for the reason I’m sure we would’ve won those league titles under Mourinho with or without Makelele in the squad. If Mikel had been injured however or left out at the end of last season, I can predict quite confidently we wouldn’t have won the Champions League – we probably wouldn’t have even reached the final.
Expecting more from Mikel at this stage of his career is more than reasonable, especially given all the potential he used to show only a few years ago. I’m still waiting for him to step it up personally and reach a level where he can contribute on a weekly basis the way he did towards the end of last season. I’m surely not his biggest fan in the world but it’s time now for Mikel to start receiving more recognition for his contributions – from the Chelsea fan base in particular.
@MatthewClark46
I agree with most of what was written by Matthew. I believe Essien was surplus to requirements considering the depth of the current squad and the need for players like Oriol Romeu and Ramires to feature in a new look Chelsea Team. I also agree that John Obi performances in the latter part of last season in the Champions League and FA Cup run were exceptional, especially the Final in Munich. However his (MIkel) comparison with Makalele is not wrong in my opinion because the role Mikel was asked to play is a role Makalele was best breaking up tackles, protecting the back four, and instigating the attack. Makalele was paramount in Chelsea FC winning back to back Titles, he had experience that money could not buy, he was world class and gave great performances.
Mikel over the last 6 years at Chelsea has garnered the experience, he is a leader in this Chelsea Team i agree with you Matthew that, when he is exceptional he is invisible but when he has a bad game he is ubiquitous, i believe Chelsea have a great player in Mikel and they are only three better in his position in World football Bastian Schweinsteiger (Munich) Yaya Toure (Man city) and Sergio Busquets ( Barcelona) howevr with more Titles and more consistent displays Mikel will be the best
Arturo Vidal is a beat in dat position too,
I beg differ! Comparing Mikel to Makelele, and even to Essien now,is a great mismatch! Or why do you think everybody complains about his performance? Are you the only person who sees something good in Obi Mikel to even have compared him to Makelele or Essien?
U said it all.
U said it all. Mikel is a hero. He won us the eluded CL. Makelele didn’t neither did Essien or Romeo
U said it all. Mikel is a hero. He won us the eluded CL. Makelele didn’t neither did Essien or Romeo.
Mikel obi wan is not an insignificant player…….that is all…….
U got it right bro.ask John Terry,he’l tel u hw much cover Mikel provides 4 ds team.we kuldnt hav beatn Barca last seasn without him being at his best not to mention d munich final.its time to place him in his deservd place in history.
U don’t blame mikel 4 dat flop, but d coach. Ask me y; d attacking bit have collapse, mid field was struggling remove Ramires and bring on Moses so as 2 force d opponet back alittle bit, he brought on bentrand. I believe bentrand shud b brought in when cole is on pressure. Makalele, Essien and Mikel are different player entirely, pls don’t 4get dat Mikel was converted 2 dat position so which he is bond 2 make some mistake when d pressure times, but makalele is naturally 4 dat position, 4 Essien he 2 is 4 dat position but make some costly tackles dat will almost kill d team. Don’t blame anyone but d coach who can’t make decisions at d appropriate time.
Mikel s gud.somtime u does mistake.chelsea shuld nt give lampard a contract.he shuld go away
Absolute brillian article Matt. Mikel has been one of the most consistent players throughout the years. Terry makes mistakes every other game and no one bashes him.
Well, he didn’t go to ACON last year. He was dropped by AVB after that Liverpool blunder. That said, I agree with your opinion as enumerated in the article. Nonetheless though, Mikel should learn not to be lukewarm with his performance(s) given he’s still young: I hope he’s reading this. I’m a Nigerian Chelsea fan: one of those who feel excited when he signed for CFC from Lyn Oslo and has always supported him through thick and thin. #I_loveMikel #WeLoveMikel
It’s very sad to see how Mikel performance been underrated by the media and fans..Many times he has played and he was the best player on the pitch,he remain unsung and invisible, many player have committed many err in the past,even Essien in our last season CL..his the second best holding midfielder in the EPL and number three in the world..
I am nt Detered frm surporting obi no 1 is perfect most players including the likes of the Legendry J.T Did uncountable mistakes on numerous ocassion he has been taunted alike by some contigent of blue fans, So we hav to see the positive side of their contributions rather than viewing it frm anegative perspective.
#BLUE BOY
I dnt understand why ppl are not seeing Terry’s fault although Mikel gave away the ball but Terry was right beside Quarela and left him as soon as the pass came in he should av marked the guy instead of giving him the space he used so well.
Mikel has grown to make that positn his own but crucifying mikel 4 Juventus second goal that night is absolutely unfair. Though he misplaced a pass, the ball strolled through some players in the field and they refuse to make takles. The scorer of the goal moved away from JT and he refuse to follow him. The whole team was lukwarm at the latter part of the game and that cost chelsea the match. Chelsea players lacks focus when at the last 25 mins of every match expecially when winning which if not amended may cost them dearly this season.
Mikel as no blame for much of d goal conceded in juventus game… Good,he made a wrong pass,we all know but their is no pressure from juventus angle prior to d goal… Why on earth will john terry left is man om account of keeping offside…. John terry suld b blamed not mikel… He(jt) ran out of the box leaving his maker wen d ball was played in…. All of you dat pass blame on mikel suld go back and re- watch d match.
If Mikel is 40% responsible for that goal, then Terry is 60% responsible because it was his bad decision to keep the scorer offside that actuall caused the goal. We could have won the ball back but for that wrong decision by Terry.
Am happy that people have rewatched that Juv match and have seen what actually happened. People ar always fast in blaming Mikel perhaps, for his inability to score goal. Mikel has been unlucky in that angle. He has come close to scoring many times. Against QPR, he almost score had Anton not blocked the ball with his hands. A player in his position need not go all out in search of goal. If he does chelsea will suffer. This chelsea team is built around Mikel. He is over laboured. His team mates help no issue. They don’t cover for him. They all troop forward knowing that Mikel has matured into a responsible and discipline player and as such will sit back and cover for the team. For me, no Mikel, no Chelsea. TERRY, CECh and co will affirm to this
i dont why peaplo are bleming mikel for that goal, in football, u cant play 90minute without mistake so people should leave him and let him consetrate. about mikel and essien in that position, i prefer mikel coz he has good passes, skill and hiegth to play in dat role than essien. moreover, mr RDM please we need moses in the right wing, is far far better than ramires pls i dont want u to loose ur job this is why am saying, i think u knw how Roman act. one love chelsea till i die
i dont no why people are blaming mikel for that goal, in football, u cant play 90minute without mistake so people should leave him and let him consetrate. about mikel and essien in that position, i prefer mikel coz he has good passes, skill and hiegth to play in dat role than essien. moreover, mr RDM please we need moses in the right wing, is far far better than ramires pls i dont want u to loose ur job this is why am saying, i think u knw how Roman act. one love chelsea till i die
Come what may,MIKEL IS RDM’s FAVOURITE!
Here comes the mikel brigade.
He is a decent player and nothing more, lets not even put Makelele in the same article, its an insult. in my opinion and every top team in the world has a better player in that position than clueless mikel
Khedira – Madrid, Toure – City, Busquets- Barca, Schweinsteiger and Martinez – Bayern, Vidal – Juventus.
Hell even weaker clubs than us have better players than Mikel,- Fellaini, Kehl, Tiote, Bender.
I can name a lot more who are better, like Mascherano, M’vila, Romulo, De Jong, Fernandao, Garcia etc.
For those saying that mistakes happen, wow, you guys are blind, what about that chance he handed to zamora on the weekend? thankfully zamora couldnt finish, otherwise mikel would have cost us 5 points in 2 games. and these are not rare instances either, every game he plays he is bound to give a chance to the oposition.
His own passing is not even worth talking about, its that crap. He aint quick, he cant score, he cant head, he dosent even physically dominate opponents even though he is big and tall, 95 per cent of his passing is to the defenders, gives away needless fouls, holds the ball till eternity when torres hazard, mata etc need it first time.
On the point of him having a good finish to last season, i agree, but we spent the entirity of that time hiding with all hands to the pump, the real test for me comes now, its easy defending when you have all the players doing it, its quite another to do it all alone, and clean up the midfield so that players like mata, hazard and oscar can shine. At a club like chelsea we will be expected to attack and attack, and the DM has to be quick, agile,a great tackler, good passer and a fantastic reader of the game. Mikel is MILES from being that world class player. And if people are happy letting all that attacking talent go to waste, because the defensive midfilder can make a ‘little mistake’ every game, then screw you.
@bluechampions.com: u judged with setiment….supposing mikel was not converted to a DM, he would have been one of the best players in world today..even at that he is still one of the best in the DM position in the world……..the last time i checked…..HE IS STILL GOOD
joeblue tanks for no sentimental approach to mikel issue. Am a nigerian nd a blue fan but for me mikel is is a midiaocar player. He slows the ball with hoples giuding not gud in the air joggling not runing in de field 80% back pass attacking ability very poor dribling skil always afraid. Ok what happen in our last two match looking at making costing mistakes esp with juve if mikel close de player after losing ball that goal would have nt been score bt he stood watching could not intercept de pass. My sumbssin is dt mikel is a squad player
Funniest statement, if mikel hadnt been there we wouldnt have won the CL?? what if messi had hit that penalty? what could have demi-god mikel done? defended the midfield? what if cech had leapt the other way for robben penalty? what would have mikel done? defended the midfield? or what if Drogba hadnt scored when he did, what would have mikel done? defended the mifield?
The entire team should be credited, because they were all there, clearing balls away and taking all the shots to their bodies, covering for each other, and so was goddess fortune smiling so brightly on us, to credit any one player for that CL win is foolish in my eyes, great moments- cole clearance, Ramires nou camp goal, barring drogba and cech no individual can claim such a decisive impact in our entire squad, let alone mikel.
Like or hate Mikel, all these crap opinion doesn’t count cos he (Mikel) has virtually be in the plan of every coach that comes to CFC. As for goal scoring, lets look at it again, in a club where wing backs fly the wing, the DM is expected to stay put in case of any break away from the opposing team. If Mikel is not important to chelsea FC they’ll know what to do though he has his faults, he can only get better. the coach also has his faults, most times his selections are not right. Playing two DM with QPR is an insult to CFC, tactically there should be teams where 2 DM are required like M. united and the likes. Unleash 2 strikers and 4 midfielder with leser teams as Elnino is not a striker who can play as a lone striker.
I dont knw why people are always talking abt Mikel, if u call urself gud chelsea fan u will not be talking abt Mikel like dis, i can remembre chelsea vs Barca Messi miss penalty no bod talks, schweinsteiger miss penalty vs chelsea no body talks, Arjen Roben, Olic, C Ronaldo, Kaka, Mata, and other big players miss penalty in a big CL game no body talks, i dont want to talk abt our so called chelsea big players any body can make mistake, and for me Mikel give wrong pass were is our JT and other defenders, if Mikel leav Chelsea 2day sorry go be our name, i dont tink any gud chelsea fan go talk abt dat mistake, bcs all chelsea players is down at dat time,i dont want to call name but make chelsea bad fans leav Mikel to enjoy his game, his trying for chelsea, i pray dat all of them hav gud game 2day
JoeBlue,
I’ll be honest – I never liked Claude Makelele; I don’t like any footballer you could apply the term “specialist” to. Players that contribute to the team in one way only are lazy tactical selections. The point of tactics is to arrange players so that the whole is greater than some of the parts, but Makelele didn’t raise his teammate’s qualities at all – he just covered for them, providing a balance I don’t think we ever really needed.
All I’m saying is if we can hold a player like that in such high regard, as a club legend even, then surely we can find more respect and appreciation for a better all-round player like Mikel. At least he tries to take the initiative sometimes and come up with ideas to help his teammates, and won’t just play the easy pass 100 times out of 100, whether it’s progressive or not.
Also, I didn’t say anything to suggest Mikel’s contributions were ‘THE’ key part of our Champions League win or more important than anyone else’s, but it’s pretty damn close to a fact that they were ‘A’ key part and we wouldn’t have won the trophy without him. I can’t think of a trophy we wouldn’t have won without Makelele.
Matt
Hello to you to mate. I wont get into an argument over the status of makelele, its not his fault he was called an expert, or that some of the teams he played in were anyways awesome. He did what he was the best at in the whole world and did it flawlessly, its only after him that this supossed makelele-role has become part of punditry, much of which i dont really give a damn about. The status of Makelele also is not just of a club legend, but more as a legend of the game, he was brilliant for whichever team he played. Wether it was in spain with celta and Real, or in France with Marseille and PSG or in England with chelsea or in that fantastic national team.
The fact that we are noticing our dm’s so much as itself bodes very badly for us, every game we are having discussions over lamps and/or mikel, another interesting fact, that we have conceded 6 goals in europe in two games while we are yet to even play away from home.
I dont hate Mikel or any player or any team, i am simply a football fan and then a chelsea fan, just because a guy plays for us and tries his best does not excuse him.
Mikel was A part of a lot many people who won that trophy, so we can also ask why was meriless sold then? romeu has more variety than him, why isint he played?? also mikel is not a more complete player than makelele, he just tries to do more, unfortunately most of it is average, makelelele agreed did not have a lot of variety, but he gave a 9/10 average per game, mikel is 5/10 per game, and a good performance once in five-seven matches.
ifs and buts dont make great players, you go out there week in and out and you show them why you are good, like Yoda says – ‘either do, or do not, there is no try.’
Mikel won’t find a place in the first 11 of any top team in Europe. I have no idea how this guy makes first 11 of Chelsea.
He stood still for like 8 seconds doing nothing after he gave the ball in the Juventus game. If he wanted he could prevent the goal which was assisted just through the part of the pitch he was standing but he was just standing and staring. That prefetcly summarizes who Mikel is.
I remembered terry kicking sancez of barcelona..i still remembered terry falling down last season against liverpool and arsenal but all this was ignored…mikel makes a mistake then england fans go crazy with racist…i wonder why is taking them time to win d worldcup if they so perfect.
JoeBlue,
I won’t ever slag off Makelele or criticise him because he always did what he set out to every game but like I said, I never really liked what he did and I wouldn’t want a Makelele in my team. The same way I wouldn’t want any specialist wingers like Lennon over a modern inverted winger like Robben or Di Maria; I wouldn’t want a big classic #9 forward like Andy Carroll over a striker like Torres who will happily drop deep or wide; or (as much as I used to love him) an old fashioned playmaker like Juan Roman Riquelme over someone like Luka Modric.
Spain are so good at the minute because of how complete all of their players are. Their midfielders can play deep, they can be creative, they can drop off the forward (even play as a forward), their defenders can play in midfield, and many of their full backs can play just as well as wingers.
Specialists or “experts” will always to some extent drag a team a down, by forcing others to play to their strengths rather than working for the team, which should be every player’s objective. That’s clearly always Oscar’s objective which is why I think he’s is such a good signing and should play every game as a #10, and that’s why as well, I don’t like to see Makelele eulogised the way he is whilst Mikel is being overlooked.
Trying and failing to be something your team needs is better than succeeding a being something they don’t need. That’s what I think anyway.
Call me the captain of the ‘Mikel brigade’. His role is not directly comparable to most of his so-called peers in other clubs. To compare Schweinsteiger with Mikel is sheer madness. But still, Khedira is better than Mikel? Because he plays at Real Madrid? No way. I’d take Mikel over most of those players listed over there. Moreover, playing Mikel’s role in the premier league is lot more difficult and challenging than in la liga etc. In my view, Mikel has been consistent across 6 seasons amidst different managers and players and has gone through all that the club has gone through. The likes of Fellaini and Tiote have had good seasons but can they be consistent at a top club for half a dozen seasons. It’s easy to make a mark in a club where whether you finish at 9th or 15th doesn’t matter. The margin of error is very slim in top clubs like Chelsea. So again, to compare how Mikel does at Chelsea and how Fellaini does at Everton is just not right. Plus, in all honesty, we watch about 40-50 matches that Mikel plays. Fellaini? I’d see him play about 5 or 6 times (against the top teams). The rest I just go by what media and the fans say. Honestly, I don’t know how many mistakes he makes over 40-50 games. Totally unfair sizes of samples for a loud conclusion.
Mikel is very under rated and that’s hardly surprising. Fans have this tendency to think the ‘grass is always greener on the other side’. Playing a withdrawn def mid role, if he were white and if he was playing in Man Utd, he’d have got lot more spotlight and admiration. And we’d be saying we need a player like that. Trust me, more than ever, now with the kind of players we have, we need Mikel and exactly Mikel. I’m glad that he plays for us. I hope he signs a long extension with the club.
I heard a lot of people cocking their guns. Let the bloodbath begin.
I dont think anyone here even mentioned Makelele until you did in the article, you talk of specalists in spain, well i would have driven all the way to bilbao to get a javi martinez, you are right it is the time of versatlity but being versatile without quality is called stupidity. You dont go swimming in the depths of the ganges simply because you know how to swim, you go there because you can.
Quality trumps everything else, who thought a little git like mascherano can play centre back? but his performances have proven everyone wrong. Similarly mikel is not confined to anything, if he can play a long ball that can clear torres free he would also be acclaimed like song, if he can dominate a midfield he will also be compared to toure, or if he goes dominating box to box we would compare him to vidal.
I dont care about past xyz stuff, i compare our striker with the strikers of our rivals, i dont care what records pele has, i compare our GK to the GK’S of others no matter what zoff did, similarly i compare mikel to yaya, javi martinez, bastian, busquets, khedira,vidal etc, and he comes up way way short.
BC
well fine then, lets keep on playing mikel and lamps, and lets go on saying mikel is underated, and ask hazard to win us penalties every game because we cannot make good attacks, or ask oscar to score wonder goals. and let all that unbelievable talent waste away so that we might not hurt the ego of two mediocre players. You cant stop a person bent on self harm.
Quality really doesn’t trump everything else. Mesut Ozil has more talent than Sami Khedira for example but he plays in a style that doesn’t benefit Madrid nearly as much. Ozil is like Makelele in that he just plays his own game, forcing others to accommodate.
Swapping Mikel for a player like Yaya Toure or Schweinsteiger would leave us tactically weaker there is no question and we’d concede more goals, even though they’re better players. Mikel plays the role we need him to and does it playing for the team. To me that matters more than him being world class and I don’t think he’s that far from the players you list in terms of technical ability – he has the close control to match any of them.
just amazed at chelsea fans, go and ask these big clubs if they would want mikel in their starting 11. that answers the question for me.
@joeblue: There there. I have been saying for about a month that Lampard & Mikel as a midfield combination in 4-2-3-1 just doesn’t work. I’ve been saying for some time that Lampard should be benched. Left to me, I’d bench both Lampard and Ramires. I’d start Mikel, Hazard, Mata & Oscar.
Since my primary abode these days in Twitter, most of my views don’t get shared here at the right time. But there you go. Lampard to the bench.
@joeblue: Manchester United did – when he was only 18.
Matt Clark: “Swapping Mikel for a player like Yaya Toure or Schweinsteiger would leave us tactically weaker there is no question and we’d concede more goals, even though they’re better players.”
I cannot believe that this is not actually a joke!!! We have been conceding possession and goals, and struggling in transition from defense to attack because of our weak double pivot of Mikel+Lampard but apparently there are fans who think that we’ll be tactically weaker if we replace our double pivot with quality players. Amazing! I am speechless.
BC
I am talking right now. Do better ask any united fan if they wld want Mikel and start him every game.
Good news: Lamps and Terry on the bench for the Stoke game!
@bluechampions.com: I know your type. Ungrateful maggot. If you have forgotten, I will remind you when Makalele got his first goal for us. It was a penalty we all rallied him to play. And for an Essien, he once did an own goal. This same Mikel you fools blame for collective team below par performance. Go see the clip again, JT holds the blame no Mikel.
@Antoine de Saint-Exupéry:
It makes me laugh how black and white football is to some people. Suggesting that swapping our only really defence minded midfielder for another attacking player would leave us less secure at the back seemed like a fairly straighforward point to make. I guess not.
Mikel played very well today, he bossed the mid park. And to those racist fans – they can fcuk themselves..
Man, is mikel an integral part of the present team or not ?
,without referencing makalele,ozil and etcs and CL win and the inevitable occasional human blunder that is………..
And by the way : the plague upon barkalona ! The dirty acting-shit bags…….. I hope chelsea never even think of playing like them ……. Me would be ashamed to be a barka fan….with the favouritism they have enjoyed over the years so double joy that they got the chelsea boot up their sorry conniving asses last year…… ! ! !
Matt Clark,
Tell to football experts that Yaya Toure, Tiote, Alonso, Busquets or Khedira are attacking players and they’ll make a laughing stock from you. These names are the best defensive midfielders because they can tackle, distribute the ball and attack. Who is Mikel in comparison to them?
Hazard aint so good in every game ……..Torres flops over a lot…..ash cole has horrible hairdo……..lamps is boring…… Oscar is skinny………Ramirez runs and dissapears……. Ivanovic is petulant and has big bottom……mata dont look right with or without a beard……. Terry is slow n darstadly ….. Mikel the dm makes blunder and leads to draws… Cech flaps at crners n cannot get legs to shut
Yep none of them would win miss universe….but football is a team game….
@bluechampions.com: FOOL! DID U SEE TODAY’S GAME? UNGRATEFUL MAGGOT. TELL ME MIKEL IS THE REASON WE SCORED LATE TODAY, RIGHT?
@Antoine de Saint-Exupéry:
Yaya Toure & Schweinsteiger (the only two players I mentioned in the initial comment) are most certainly not defensive players, their priority isnt to fill in the gaps and cover for teammates the way Mikel does for us. Their positions might be the same but their roles are very different.
Also, if you can seriously talk about Cheick Tiote along with Alonso and Khedira and Busquets, then I don’t see why you can’t talk about Mikel as well. He’s easily as good as Tiote.
I seriously hope we recall Lukaku cause with Torres we will not score as much as we should with all the current creative players we have.
Matt Clark,
If we replace Mikel with Yaya Toure or Schweinsteiger they would make Chelsea a better team all around, and that’s what matters. We have been conceding possession and goals because of Mikel yet you consider him a quality defensive midfielder which is contradiction in itself. Apparently you consider Mikel a good defensive mid because he never scores. That is so wrong.
I have my reservations about bluechampions and his tactical analysis….Mikel is a poor player and has always been….Offers nothing in attack and and little support for defenders…his own nation has been in constant critisism of the midfielder…he was left out of Nigeria’s squad for the qualifiers…rumour has it that Emilano has a hand in his selection at Chelsea…Oriel it in ability wise, way better than Mikel but for some wierd reason we lost Essien because he was preferred….
I cannot serious believe all this hog wash – my oh my. The blog is certainly active today and something to do with Mikel uncharacteristically poor in terms of performances – then Berating Makelele . Firstly Mikel hasn’t been characteristically playing well for a while now and apart from the Second half of the season he was dreadful ( there was a reason before he did not start ahead of Bison not until much later ) Though this is not originally his position that’s granted and he has evolved a lot but let us call a spade a spade.. Now is he a very good player ?- i say indeed he definately is. Will he be a better player in the future ?- i most certainly hope so.
I like many things about Mikel but we need to also remember the people we are talking about very clearly. Essien agreed hasn’t been playing too well over the past two years but then again he is a player who has been battling knee problems for a while now. Though he might not have been the quickest of DM’s he was most certainly world class( One of the few men who could stop Steven Gerrard in his peak considering that Gerrard was almost every managers wet dream ever since he was 17). Makelele was under valued by Real Madrid and it took them years to find someone capable of filling in the shoes. He was a star , World class along side Edgar Davids , Marcel Desailly , Cocu the list goes on and i respect your opinion Matt but these guys are legends and gave a lot.
To the Point – though i agree that we tend to assume that the grass is greener the other side we need to accept the fact that some players are not yet at a certain level. Concerning the Racial abuse i clearly do not condone such behaviour and then this match to me was very exciting seeing all those opportunities and well the finishing should have been better but i wasn’t one to complain as Oscar was there instead of Lamps.
This was a shock especially the Behaviour of some STOKE PLAYERS -thuggery should be stamped out of football. These guys are supposed to be professionals . Enough about that i agree with RDM’s assessment in how the attack needs to be conditioned to improve on communication and coordination inorder to have better finishes – we should have won at least 5-2
@Antoine de Saint-Exupéry:
In Toure and Schweinsteiger you’re talking about maybe the greatest box to box midfielder in the world and maybe the best modern regista in world football as well. They can’t be compared at all to each other or Mikel. Either would change the dynamic of Chelsea completely. We might be better going forwards and our transition play might be smoother but we would unquestionably be less secure at the back because neither are predominantly defensively minded – that’s the only point I was trying to make.
And “I think Mikel is a great defensive player because he never scores” is just a very strange thing to write, given I’ve never made or even implied that argument ever, at all. Don’t put words in my mouth.
joeblue
do I think mikel is world class? no. would I swap someone like yaya for mikel? call me an idiot but no. considering our undoubtedly weak defence. mikel’s willingness to stay back is an asset (specific to us at least). toure bosses the midfield like no other, but his tendency to bomb forward to support the attack (because he’s that good at it) often leads to goals, but unlike city we cannot deal with the counter. I’d more than willingly swap toure for whoever we have to partner mikel.
i know mikel’s passing leaves a lot to be desired, but that’s because no one is near him. everyone bombs forward, heck even luiz is often ahead of him. we blame him for making backward and sideway passes when no one is near him, yet blame him when a deep pass he tries to make is intercepted and no one (including him and others) react to it.
he is no deep playmaker, we should not expect him to play like one. if that’s what we want we need to look elsewhere. but if you ask me, I’d say as a defensive midfielder he’s pretty darn solid. if someone that plays alongside him can stay positionally relatively in the middle of the park but slightly ahead of mikel to hold the midfield/playmake from deep, perhaps things will look a lot different? would you think so?
yes a lot of teams would not have mikel in their starting 11, but we (or at least I think we) would and should. there’s a lot of comparable defensive minded midfielders out there, but mikel’s the best we have now and I think he’s good.
The bottomline though is that Mikel is not one of the best, he is not world class and a club like ours can do way better.
Matt Clark,
Hi Matty a bit of a thought provoking article.
I think that Jon Obi Mikel is a *keyboard error 10128*_
Jon Obi Mikel could have played alot better for Chelsea than how he has played over the last several seasons.
I will use Glenn Johnson as an example. Glenn played rubbish for Chelsea everytime Jose Mourinho played him and ended up costing us football matches.
Glenn Johnson was subsequently sold to Portsmouth. Then reality set in. And now he plays for Liverpool.
I think that Jon Obi Mikel has under-performed to show his true potential over the last couple of seasons.
Jon Obi Mikel is a much better football player than what he delivers, I think that he just needs a good kick up the arse.
My opinions;
1. Mikel (Still one of the best defensive midfielders. Just becoz one blunder, we turn back on this guy? Common.. We can think better than that)
2. V. Moses ( Very impressive with his skills & physical. Im officially fan of this guy)
3. Ocsar (Im in high spirits because of him. 25million is worth it!)
4. Ramires (Boring boring Ramires. I miss last season Ramires)
5. Torres (R u trying to make Chelsea to sell u to Juventus?)
All rights reserved.
Please don’t get me wrong as I am a Jon Obi Mikel lover.
I think that Jose Mourinho messed up Jon Obi Mikel’s career by playing him as a defensive midfield player.
Jose Mourinho should have played him as a centre midfield.
I would imagine that this proves that Jose Mourinho is only human.
Jon Obi Mikel should have been a centre midfield.
All rights reserved.
Mikel’s problem is quite easy for an avid observer to point out. He lacks self confidence and has a languid style. Which makes him appear lazy and slow. He also gives the impression he doesnt really care about improving his game. Naturally he comes across as one who doesnt wanna take risks. Whether its an inferiority complex, i dont know. For a midfielder to go over 150 matches without scoring is quite frankly, telling. He is not quick, cant shoot, hardly wins headers, even though he is over 6 feet tall. However, he does have his advantages and that is he is good for the team when we wanna control matches. That is Mikel’s plus. I agree we all have our opinion of the lad.
@BluesOceanStrategy: You are SPOT ON on your points!!! I can not agree more!
MatBlue,
A comment that was worth reading. Well done.
@JoseHoliday: You are funny. You are unbelievably funny.
OMG. The new Iphone 5 is specially made for Liverpool fans. They don’t have to scroll down to see where they are in the table.
Matt Clark & BC. I hope u make an article (simple, short & simple) regarding League Cup CFC vs Wolves. Whats yours thought about it?
i wish Oscar, Romeu, Moses, Sturridge, Azpilicueta, Cahill, Paizon, Mauloda & maybe ferairra play today.
great blog
WE WILL PUT TURNBULL IN GOAL AND CONCEDE EVERY TIME WOLVES SHOT ON TARGET. PATHETIC. How is it that teams like QPR, Tottenham and even Stoke have much much better 2nd keepers than we do? Incredible.
@MatBlue: Yes I agree. We should definitely get rid of Turbull he is utter shit. Hilario is much better but still not good enough for a 2nd choice. I miss Cuidicini.
When you buy fresh milk you drink it when it goes sour you get rid of it!
Mikel (aka Mr. back pass) has to go. He is simply not very good and we need a new DM if we are to challenge the Manchesters and Barca’s of the world consistantly
You know, you are right about Mikel’s performances. They’ve been good though. The only thing that bothers me is the comparison you made on Essien and Makelele. Injustice really.. Both are great players and its a damning injustice to say that without them Chelsea would still have won the EPL.