I don't know where the statisticians got the stat that makalele scored one goal for chelsea?
Makalele actually scored two goals!!!

And being one of the best dm in his time, and also considering the fact mikel took over from him, pple mikel is doing well!!!
shikena!

what nigeria players are doing this week is irresponsible. adeleye played yesterday but have given excuse for korea game, mikel the same. obinna on pre season also gave excuse men i hope siasia don't tolerate this nonsense

I think he's playing what the coach wants otherwise he wont be there.
After all we have so called strikers that cant score in front of an open net in BIGGER tournys.

From Chidichris:
my dear, tell urself the truth, if your parents have the opportunity to choose between u and mikel, who will they choose?

Haba Chidi, kwich kain kwestion come be this one? Tried answering it from my end, not funny. lol

what nigeria players are doing this week is irresponsible. adeleye played yesterday but have given excuse for korea game, mikel the same. obinna on pre season also gave excuse men i hope siasia don't tolerate this nonsense

@12large,
if u are not a madman, u will still be a madman.
u have jumped from a topic u started here to another unrelated topics. which one do we follow now? do u want to turn all of us to mad ppl.
by the way, are u not aware that such unimportant friendly is surposed to be a testing ground for unestablished players rather than these established ones.

ppl are asking u questions on the topic of mikel. someone is asking u why u think the coach is not happy with what he is doing?
it is obvious u are frustrated in life. leave the guys alone bcs they are enjoying their lives.
if u are not a disabled person, why are u not playing for nigeria?

in everything u post here, u play the role of a fault finding machine. is it possible no one makes u happy in life? are u a saddist?

chidichris:

u have jumped from a topic u started here to another unrelated topics.

And while we are jumping from topic to topic
let it be on the record that Frank Lampard has NEVER scored a world cup Goal while Yakubu has!!!

This chidi self, you funny no be small! If the truth must be said, the fact is that this Mikel is not the same Mikel we all knew in 2005 Fifa U/20 youth championship, the guy who came out as overall second best player after Messi,who was described by fifa website then as a young man carrying  the head of an  adult, not forgetting how Jose Morhino and Alex Ferguson almost  exchanged blows while trying to lure Mikel to their Club. Was Mikel a defensive midfielder then, if not, what suddenly happened?

Chelsea vs Man Utd, FA Community Shield.

You know what you get with a Jon Obi Mikel performance and this game he patrolled the usual rectangle area in the centre of the pitch and didn't stray from it

Goal.com.

One superb pass to release Kalou but, in truth, lacked impact and doesn’t dominate. His place is under threat

Telegraph.co.uk

Is likely to be the fall-guy when Ramires eventually joins Chelsea, with Ancelotti likely to opt for the Brazil World Cup star and Essien at his expense

Mirror Football

he will [img]http://s07.flagcounter.com/count/DymW/bg=ffffff/txt=ffffff/border=ffffff/columns=1/maxflags=1/viewers=3/labels=0/[/img]

I don't know where the statisticians got the stat that makalele scored one goal for chelsea?
Makalele actually scored two goals!!!

Makalele scored one screamer out of the ordinary, and his first goal for Chelsea, Mourinho asked Lampard to let Makalele take the penalty this was in 2005 and makalele hasnt scored in the previous 6 seasons (the last time he was Celta Vigo) and the keeper saved it makalele scored the rebound,

Jay Jay Okocha during the 2003-04 season took 105 shots at goal scored 0 goals so dont hang Mikel out to dry

make una leave mikel alone, im dey play the tin wey dem send to play! @Chidi, take am easy

yeah omar22 i understand but like i said even if he don't score goals he should do something positive. why is he scared or who is he scared of why can't he move forward sideways and backpass is not the way

please leave Mikel alone , hes one of the best player in Nigeria Today , have you ever wonder why he continue tp play regularly in his club ? he listen to coaches which is what many players lack , how many skillfull and goal scoring players are always on the bench, but he keep playing, common leave the guy abegiiii

@12large. . . Do u expect mikel to always move forward?. . . U can neva c someone playing as a gud DM to always go forward. . . Even in the days of makelele, he doesnt get into the 18 yard box of the opponent, thats a very gud DM. . . Weneva defenders move forward for corners, a dm would stay behind. . . .he'snt on the pitch to score but to defend the team. . . . SO HE'S CONTRIBUTING POSITIVELY TO HIS TEAM.

@12large. . . Do u expect mikel to always move forward?. . . U can neva c someone playing as a gud DM to always go forward. . . Even in the days of makelele, he doesnt get into the 18 yard box of the opponent, thats a very gud DM. . . Weneva defenders move forward for corners, a dm would stay behind. . . .he'snt on the pitch to score but to defend the team. . . . SO HE'S CONTRIBUTING POSITIVELY TO HIS TEAM.

This chidi self, you funny no be small! If the truth must be said, the fact is that this Mikel is not the same Mikel we all knew in 2005 Fifa U/20 youth championship, the guy who came out as overall second best player after Messi,who was described by fifa website then as a young man carrying  the head of an  adult, not forgetting how Jose Morhino and Alex Ferguson almost  exchanged blows while trying to lure Mikel to their Club. Was Mikel a defensive midfielder then, if not, what suddenly happened?

@manosteel,
u sound like someone ready to learn and i like u for that.
mikel before he signed for chelsea was just playing soccer at a low level and what he did on joining chelsea is just a change of level.
in mourinho, mikel was meeting a world class coach for the first time. at chelsea, mikel was coming to play under the biggest boys in soccer not forgeting how hot lampard, makalele, ballack, essien, deco and a host of other tested and trusted plahyers of this world were and u can attest to the fact that mikel displayed courage at the highest level for taking that risk. u will agree with me that 99.9999% of nigerians never give mikel the chance and opportunity he has already in chelsea.
converting mikel to holding midfielder was and is the best thing that happened to mikel. if u have been watching mikel closely, u will agree with me that mikel doe not have the desired stamina to run from post to post hence seating back was the best way to make use of mikel at the highest level.
why are we not talking positives here? mikel in his first season saw like 3 red cards and many yellows but today we can hardly see yellow going to mikel despite his sensitive role.
in 2005, mikel came second but there were players who came third and fourth and various other outstanding players in that tourne, where are they? or was 2005 just between mikel and messi?
if mikel can do 5 seasons with chelsea, it means he is good.  if mourinho was wrong in converting mikel, what abt grant, scolari, hiddink, and now ancelloti?

Chelsea vs Man Utd, FA Community Shield.

Quote
You know what you get with a Jon Obi Mikel performance and this game he patrolled the usual rectangle area in the centre of the pitch and didn't stray from it

Goal.com.

Quote
One superb pass to release Kalou but, in truth, lacked impact and doesn’t dominate. His place is under threat

Telegraph.co.uk

Quote
Is likely to be the fall-guy when Ramires eventually joins Chelsea, with Ancelotti likely to opt for the Brazil World Cup star and Essien at his expense

Mirror Football

@IbrahimB,
thanks for making available all these information. mikel's place was under threat before he signed chelsea hence that is no longer a news. mikel was signed into chelsea when makalele, ballack, essien, lampard, joe cole etc were all there so signing ramires will not be new thing.
can u swear that u have never seen any good news abt mikel before. if u have seen any, can u swear that u made them available like u did these ones now?
no matter what mirror and telegraph say, u and i know that mikel is well placed and chelsea has contract with mikel of which he will be a very rich man at the end of that if not the richest among his peers.
on the other hand brother, mikel is blessed above our background criticisms.

Does anybody remember the 2010 Cup of Nations in Angola? There, Mikel played attacking midfield and had a hand in a few of our goals. At that period an article in Chelsea's website noted that Chelsea fans will be surprised to see Mikel playing the role of an attacker. At Chelsea, he is playing according to instructions. With the return of Essien, you will now rarely see Mikel past the center line. I don't like it, but that's how it is. So get ready for more complaints like this.

Mikel is a star in the Super Eagles. He takes free kicks, corner kicks, penalties, everything. But at Chelsea, he is a regular player. When was the last time you saw Mikel take a free kick, penalty or even a corner kick for Chelsea? The answer is never unless you are talking about a long, inconsequential free kick. I'm glad he understands his place and doesn't try to take matters into his hands. People should learn to differentiate between the SE Mikel and the Chelsea Mikel.

na wa for this kind thread. havent u heard of defensive midfielders (DM)?

how many goals/shots did makelele have?
how many goals/shots did mascherano have?
how many goals/shots did busquets have?
how many goals/shots did de jong have?

one can go on and on with this list. these guys are DMs' and their job is not to score goals. The only teams where DMs' even attempt to score or have decent shots are free passing teams like Arsenal and Barcelona or teams that make use of 2 DMs' in a three-man midfield (Man U, Bayern, etc).

@CHIDICHRIS.
Thanks for your superb and well articulated submission. Please ignore the acerbic and invidious remarks by slaphappy football analysts.  Their ignorance is nauseating.

Chidichris when cricticizing pls focus on the footballing aspect.you focus more on how much he has made,how he can feed ten generations to come,who ones parents wld choose over Mikel and so on.Mikel doesnt know any of us so he is not worth trading insults on this forum.in my opinion,he has not stepped up his game since the WYC 2005.Messi&co are light years ahead in footballing terms

people make me laugh when you hear them chat about the holding role, his role is to screen the 2 centre backs while the 2 fullbacks attack its a way of creating a Sweeper system that makes Mikel acts as an extra defender infront of the front or droping in as cover,

Chidichris when cricticizing pls focus on the footballing aspect.you focus more on how much he has made,how he can feed ten generations to come,who ones parents wld choose over Mikel and so on.Mikel doesnt know any of us so he is not worth trading insults on this forum.in my opinion,he has not stepped up his game since the WYC 2005.Messi&co are light years ahead in footballing terms

Mikel is the only one that played at that tournament,

This is the first time I'm replying to a post. U guys are really great here. This post made my day. When Chelsea was chasing the game against ManU yesterday in the community, they took out Mikel and Essien went to fill his position. What does that say?

chidichris:


@IbrahimB,
can u swear that . . .

And why do I have to swear? I don't understand.  

can u swear that u have never seen any good news abt mikel before.

Mikel and Messi, were the two most exciting prospects in world football 5 years ago. No one will argue that.
However, protecting Mikel from criticism will never improve his game. It's for his own good.

larimo:

na wa for this kind thread. havent u heard of defensive midfielders (DM)?

We've heard of defensive midfielders before, Larimo - but YET we criticise Mikel's game and rightly so.

Mikel doesn't need to score or shoot that much - he just needs to be more mobile and ambitious - that's all.
Passing sideways to the nearest blue shirt or back to his goalie is not the best.

He needs to improve.

its high time he needs to score goal, in that field of play.we all need a goal from him, cause he is painting us black.

Me thinks the dude is dead and gone as far as football is concerned.

Mikel is a good player in fact he is the best we presently have in 9ja,You are right to advise or push him to his best but na uk no be 9ja if he does any mistake he will sure be sitting on the bench or be shown the door out of the club.