I have being following John Mikel Obi's games and style of play for quite something now, 2005 to be precise  I know he (Mikel)  has a regular shirt in Chelsea but his role as a defensive mid fielder; i personally think he's overrated. I think he is yet to prove he was worth all the hassle he caused between man utd and Chelsea.

When playing for Chelsea, John is a defensive midfielder but when playing for the Nigerian national team he is a play maker,  thus the quarterback or the point guard of the Nigerian national team.

How can a player who plays as a  defensive midfielder regularly for his club be used interchangeably as a play maker for the national team? does this sum up Yakubu Aiyegbeni's argument that his (yakubu) lack of ability to produce goals at the just concluded African nations cup was due to lack of world class midfielders/play makers in the super eagles to pass the ball accurately or produce scoring chances? Did you notice how Nigeria's game changed dramatically in the third place match against Algeria? Did you see how well kanu dazzled in that role? (mind you, am not advocating for kanu)

I understand quite well that he (Mikel) started off as an attacking midfielder in the Holland 2005 tournament but that changed over time in the Chelsea squad.  Mikel has had more success play as a defensive midfielder in Chelsea, so for how long are we going to continue playing Mikel in a role he has proven over time he isn't a perfect fit for? Can we afford to gamble our play maker role with mikel any longer? especially for the upcoming 2010 SA world cup.

My argument: Is John Mikel Obi superb or simply overrated? (putting into context which ever position is playing  both at the club side and the national team).

please this mikel this is getting too much and annoying, people should just give up on him as an attacking midfilder, and hope he becomes a good defensive midfilder. what we need to do now is to hope that rabiu ibrahim becomes great

He's simply a bad player, Case Closed.

He ain't even good enough to be rated talkless of been over-rated.

He is an overrated,overfed buffon.Infact I will slap him if i see him

He's just overrated. mind u, he's a good player, at least he gets to play regularly for Chelsea(i just have that feeling that the injuries essien keeps on sustaining really helps him alot), but i won't put him in the class of the messis or the ronaldos or even the paul scholes.

He is an average player. He would have been treated as such if he had not started on a highly promising note that put high expectations on him, which unfortunately he has not been able to live up to.

he is average but not a great player. he is just too slow

Yoruba Pips dey hate on this guy wella, Chill for the homie now, If you watched the match yesterday,you would have noted that he was the only exceptional player in a Chelsea jersey,only over shadowed by Schneider,He had over 78 accurate passes while Ballack managed only 17, Give the guy a break i guess if his name was Ajayi Oluwasegun,we would be saying something different here. No be fight,oh, Just my opinion    

As far as am concerned,mikel obi is one of our best exports.For Chelsea he plays very important role as a defensive mid-fielder,if u take a closer look at chelsea,u will observe that Lampard&Ballack has since lost form and Mikel has been doing all the dirty Job in the entire mid-field&covering their ass!Infact i stand to vote him,one of the best holding mid-fielder in EPL.

the most silly ppl on earth are nigerians. no wonder nothing is working in nigeria.
we selected, appointed, elected and anointed few idiots to take care of our natural resources and they are using it for their personal interests and all of u here are not doing anything about that but in your stupidity, u have refused to let an individual struggler be. a boy who left nigeria to find greener pastures to take care of himself and his family without our votes shld be allowed to survive.
if mikel's destiny is in the hands of nigerians, he would have been a motor park boy by now but as God will have it, he has grown from strenght to strenght not withstanding what dull and weak minds are talking about.
who among u here came to this world with one leg? what does mikel have that u do not have? why is his name always on news and u are not there? will your parents choose u over mikel if they are asked to make a choice.
he does not know how to play yet nairalanders will not sleep a night without talking about mikel negatively here.
who in your lineage can stand on the way of mikel?
u are all shameless, weak, envious, and silly idiots who have nothing relevant to do with your time.
the moderator here shld have closed this mikel multiplied topics here.

does this sum up Yakubu Aiyegbeni's argument that his (yakubu) lack of ability to produce goals at the just concluded African nations cup was due to lack of world class midfielders/play makers in the super eagles to pass the ball accurately or produce scoring chances?

@poster,
if all the killer pases mikel gave ur yakubu during the african cup of nations are not enough for him to score a goal, then there will be an ultimate need for ur mother to come into the squard to give yakubu the kind of passes he needs to score a goal.

phreakabit:

Yoruba Pips dey hate on this guy wella, Chill for the homie now, If you watched the match yesterday,you would have noted that he was the only exceptional player in a Chelsea jersey,only over shadowed by Schneider,He had over 78 accurate passes while Ballack managed only 17, Give the guy a break i guess if his name was Ajayi Oluwasegun,we would be saying something different here. No be fight,oh, Just my opinion

Tribalism of Politics section is gradually being exported here, abi. What has tribe got to do with it.
Are Kanu and JJ not Ibo like Mikel? Are they not two of the most praised Nigerian players, irrespective of etnic group.
Is Olofinjana not a Yoruba? Mikel has not received half of teh bashings Olofinjana receives here.
You need to grow, dude!

@chidichris

No mind dem jare . Na jealousy dey worry dem.

Like the saying goes a trial will convince you,If you haven't played a real and i stress real football match,you wouldn't appreciate footballers when you see then on the field of play, Mikel is barely doing as he is told, if a coach says play the free role,the holding,or attacking midfield you have to do so, You don't have a choice. Besides,Mikel wasn't blessed with speed as we are mare mortals and aren't perfect.I hear a lot of people calling for Rabiu,truth be told Rabiu is exceptional,but in recent outings for the junior team he is yet to prove himself,Rabiu is likewise slow and most times trying too hard to be a JAY JAY replica,that he looses concentration and gives away the ball cheaply. Shey na true abi lie? 

absolutely overrated but could improve when people like lampard retires and he plays in a more advanced role.

If you take a wide pole(about a meter wide and 2 meters high) dig a hole and put into the ground that will play the role mikel plays what exactly does he do?

they pass him the ball and he turns to his left or right and passes, or does a long pass to the keeper if there is pressure. Its only in the recent 5 or 6 games for chelsea i have seen him do anything productive honesltly

they guy is highly overrated.

People fail to realise that each player is asked by the coach to play a specific role. This is why Pak of Man Utd gets praises. If you ask him to play a particular role, he will plays it to the letter.

You will always hear complaints that Mikel Obi does too much back passes. Well, he is a defensive midfielder and that might precisely be the instruction he received from Ancellotti. Also, Mikel is one of the best long ball passers I have seen in Nigeria apart from Okocha and Oliseh. But if you watch his game, most of his passes are short. Again, that may be Ancellotti's instruction.

What we think doesn't really matter. The important thing is that the coaching staff at Chelsea thinks he is good enough to play for them.

If there was a FIFA award for back-passing skills, it will definitely go to Mikel for 10 straight years.

IMO he his the biggest diassapointment in Nigeria football lately. My expectation of the guy was so great especially when Nigerians cvompared him to Messi after the 2005 WC. He has been a complete average player at chelsea nothing more. perhaps if he had gone to Man U or Arsenal (no sentiments attached) he MIGHT have been a great player.

chidichris:

the most silly ppl on earth are nigerians. no wonder nothing is working in nigeria.
we selected, appointed, elected and anointed few idiots to take care of our natural resources and they are using it for their personal interests and all of u here are not doing anything about that but in your stupidity, u have refused to let an individual struggler be. a boy who left nigeria to find greener pastures to take care of himself and his family without our votes shld be allowed to survive.
if mikel's destiny is in the hands of nigerians, he would have been a motor park boy by now but as God will have it, he has grown from strenght to strenght not withstanding what dull and weak minds are talking about.
who among u here came to this world with one leg? what does mikel have that u do not have? why is his name always on news and u are not there? will your parents choose u over mikel if they are asked to make a choice.
he does not know how to play yet nairalanders will not sleep a night without talking about mikel negatively here.
who in your lineage can stand on the way of mikel?
u are all shameless, weak, envious, and silly idiots who have nothing relevant to do with your time.
the moderator here shld have closed this mikel multiplied topics here.

What we're saying about mikel here is true,i don't think anyone is hating,if you play well people will love you, He use to be good back in 2005 when playing as acttacking midfielder and that's where he got all the attention(My God i was enjoying his game more than messi)but now you can't compare both.Mikel has lost his game an i don't think that's good for SE because we really need a good replacement for Baba Jay Jay and he's not that player anymore period.

simply overrated, bad and unproductive. his days are numbered. trust me.

he is a good player, thats all

@ poster
You just have one post. Should I say welcome to this site or go straight to the point that this topic has been over flogged in the past and need not be resurrected.

The views/responses you get are purely Manchester United and Arsenal beef against Chelsea so I think it will be better you change the subject to ''MANCHESTER UNITED, CHELSEA AND ARSENAL'' which is a better team.

any time i see him play i become wet

mikel all d time. wen will u guys stop taking panadol 4 another prsons headache. i dont tink if super eagles coach does nt cll him he will come. so why dont u link any of ur family or ur parents to d eagles squad if any of dem shld do wel i bet u no more space 4 mikel. besides chlsea fans except nigrians appreciate dis guy's gud work alot. Abeg makd una try find somtin dey do.If una wan watch ball make una open una eye and eaq well no b eye and mouth.

He's simply overrated! its nigerian sycophants that overrate him & make him look very good. Can u compare Mikel now & Kanu in his younger days

He is overrated,overcelebrated & overcherised. A bad player indeed

phreakabit:

Yoruba Pips dey hate on this guy wella, Chill for the homie now, If you watched the match yesterday,you would have noted that he was the only exceptional player in a Chelsea jersey,only over shadowed by Schneider,He had over 78 accurate passes while Ballack managed only 17, Give the guy a break i guess if his name was Ajayi Oluwasegun,we would be saying something different here. No be fight,oh, Just my opinion    

The unfortunate fact that you have access to a computer and internet doesn't mean you should reply all posts.

I hope your JSSCE result is out  

Dis what we call bad bellizium! In case you don't no, it's called packaging, If na Oyinbo be mikel he go don pass dat level. Black people black attitude

The brother is simply overrated. JAZZ LO GBA

phreakabit:

Yoruba Pips dey hate on this guy wella, Chill for the homie now, If you watched the match yesterday,you would have noted that he was the only exceptional player in a Chelsea jersey,only over shadowed by Schneider,He had over 78 accurate passes while Ballack managed only 17, Give the guy a break i guess if his name was Ajayi Oluwasegun,we would be saying something different here. No be fight,oh, Just my opinion   

Probably the most unintelligent post i've come across in a while  What has his tribe got to do with his game?

@poster,see my previous analysis of Mikel's game here : https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-320379.0.html

Please don't mention Yakubu,we also analysed his game here : https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?topic=385119.msg5398587#msg5398587

During CAN 2010 -there was this pass echiejile gave him against ghana,it rebounded against yak's knee,& he failed to put the ball into an open net. . . . . despite this glaring miss ,I was shocked to see yak shouting at Echiejile that he should have passed the ball on the ground !!

Yakubu can complain ? Just reminds me back in the days of strret football,whenever one fails to score an easy goal we put the blame on our boots,the pitch,'muscle pull' etc