He just doesn't get enough credit! How good has he been this year? And today's game showed what he does for this team. He controls everything in that midfield. Early on, everything went through him. His passing has been great, especially the long balls. He has defended well all year long and is a great tackler. This is the kind of player who I can see getting a captain armband in the far away future.

Mikel's job certainly isn't flashy but he does it very, very well. It's no coincidence he has almost always been on Carlo's team sheet. He is the anchor of our midfield without a doubt and a key player in our system where everyone else bar him and the two centre backs look to get forward at every opportunity.

I think there is a consensus on how great Mikel is. He's been our MOTM in half the games this season.

And he has a lot of games for someone so young. He's played 158 games for us and is still only 23. That's impressive and long may this trend continue!

Apart from some stupid unecessary tackles i rate him very highly , can be sloppy in his passing , usually a simple pass but he's an underated player and reads a game brilliantly. Can see him being with us for hopefully 10 more years.

If the Player of the Year poll was held today, I'd strongly consider giving my vote to Mikel.

He's been much improved from the disaster he was last season. Getting back to the levels that he promised in his first season. Defensively, he is much, much better, it looks like his spell on the sidelines has taught him a few things about discipline.

He's also moving the ball forward a lot more, playing a lot more directly. I don't know about player of the season, but as Salomon Kalou hasn't quite found his shooting boots yet i'd say Mikel deserves the Florent Malouda award for Most Improved player.

He's been much improved from the disaster he was last season. Getting back to the levels that he promised in his first season. Defensively, he is much, much better, it looks like his spell on the sidelines has taught him a few things about discipline.

He's also moving the ball forward a lot more, playing a lot more directly. I don't know about player of the season, but as Salomon Kalou hasn't quite found his shooting boots yet i'd say Mikel deserves the Florent Malouda award for Most Improved player.

I think calling him a disaster last year is pretty harsh, I thought he was decent last season, especially the 2nd half of the season.

He's played very well I know people that really don't rate him but they aren't Chelsea fans. I'm like you have to watch him he's been fantastic this season. Some Gooner fans on this other forum I go on were on about him making only short passes and I told them to watch him he makes some fantastic long passes and has done plenty of them this season.

He's also moving the ball forward a lot more, playing a lot more directly. I don't know about player of the season, but as Salomon Kalou hasn't quite found his shooting boots yet i'd say Mikel deserves the Florent Malouda award for Most Improved player.

Agree he had started to look up and forward instead of playing the ball sideways all the the time which has brought his game on no end . He really is turning into a vital player for us

He just doesn't get enough credit! How good has he been this year? And today's game showed what he does for this team. He controls everything in that midfield. Early on, everything went through him. His passing has been great, especially the long balls. He has defended well all year long and is a great tackler. This is the kind of player who I can see getting a captain armband in the far away future.

He has been MUCH improved this season. He is certainly playing very well and his passing is a lot more varied.

BUT no way could I ever see him as captain material. As improved as he is, he doesn't come across as a leader, (like a JT) and he does lack discipline.

He was excellent last night, and ever improving. I remember a spell last night where he was taking the ball into our own right corner area, and confidently holding a Spartak player off him with his back turned, like he was a tricky winger rather than a huge midfielder. It was a moment of confidence on the ball from him, and he wasnt in the middle of park he was calmly steering it out of his own end.

I know this doesnt mean much but he is the captain of the Nigeria national team.

Correction: he was the captain of Nigeria up to the world cup. He got hurt and didn't play so someone else was given the band. Still, he was picked to captain the team for the world cup.

If the Player of the Year poll was held today, I'd strongly consider giving my vote to Mikel.

Likewise.

I see Gerrard is being rested tonight in preparation for spending 90 minutes in Mikel's pocket at the weekend.

I thought last night he got in front of the ball quite a few more times than I'm used to seeing. It's good because it show's his game isn't just one-dimensional.

I'm certain he'll part of the strong backbone of our team for years to come.

I see Gerrard is being rested tonight in preparation for spending 90 minutes in Mikel's pocket at the weekend.

Ha ha ha. Thats great.

You can call me a pessimist, but I'm not sure Mikel is the right person to mark Gerrard... Mikel is possibly the slowest player in our side (including Cech), and Gerrard although not blisteringly fast, has enough pace to give him a few yards on Mikel. Essien has a history of being able to keep him quiet (ok, silent), so maybe he should be given that role.

Mikel has always been one of my favourite players. I think his problem is he stepped into Makelele's shoes. I'm not going to type more of what seems to come up every month, but I don't think he is captain material, but that may develop.

Also, I think if there is to be someone mark Gerrard, it'd be Essien

Getting better? Not according to Nigeria's new national team coach he isn't:

Nigeria - Chelsea have 'destroyed' Mikel

The new national team coach of Nigeria has certainly wasted little time in causing waves, blasting Chelsea for destroying John Obi Mikel's game.

Samson Siasia complained that, since moving to the English top flight, Mikel's natural attacking instincts have been stamped out of his game entirely.

'The system in Chelsea actually destroyed Mikel's game,' said Siasia. 'Mikel is an offensive player, but when he moved to Chelsea, they changed him because they had a better player offensive wise like Frank Lampard who can score goals.'

He went on: 'I don't think he is playing in his natural position because we all saw what Mikel played in 2005 and everybody loved him for what he did, he can keep the ball and create chances for the strikers to score goals.'

'That was why Chelsea actually gave him a contract, but getting there they had two top players, Lampard and Michael Ballack. Lampard scores goals and so what (Jose) Mourinho did was to bring Mikel back because how many goals has Mikel scored? He brought him back so that Lampard and Ballack played offensive.'

And Siasia's advice for the 23-year-old was clear: quit Chelsea now.

'He has to start playing more offensive to become the Mikel we knew,' he added. 'But if it would be difficult to change the way he is playing, he has to move to another club.'

Link

My first thought: What a prick. My second thought: What a prize prick. And my third thought: What a complete and utter prize bloody prick.

So does anyone think he might have a point?

Getting better? Not according to Nigeria's new national team coach he isn't:

Link

My first thought: What a prick. My second thought: What a prize prick. And my third thought: What a complete and utter prize bloody prick.

So does anyone think he might have a point?

The guy is a prick for saying this, but he may have a point. We will never know how good of an attacking player he could be. I am not saying he should move. He has become, in my mind, one of the best defensive midfielders in the league. He is great at what he does. Who knows if he could do something different. By the way, this is the third time I have heard this claim from somebody from Nigeria.

Edited November 9, 201014 yr by BrewCrew

I've heard on this forum a few times what a great forward thinking attacking player he is - but I just think he's a good player who has improved every year since he has played for us - even John Terry puts in goalscoring passes every so often and makes runs forward, if Mikel was a natural attacking player surely he would have put in a few more goals along the years, not a criticism of Mikel but you can't blame his position for all his goalscoring problems

even John Terry puts in goalscoring passes every so often

Terry is a far better passer of the ball than Mikel.

Terry is a brilliant passer of the ball, in fact Lampard even credited Terry's passing as making him realize he had to make his passing better.

Anyway, we've heard this before (in regards to Nigerian's claiming that we've ruined him), both from the National team or from other Nigerians coming on here and accusing BJD of being a "beefdog!" for not realizing this.

Personally, if he was that great at attacking he'd be up there. I've even heard people claim that Mikel would be good at the point of a diamond formation. I think his close control and short range passing are exemplary, so I can see where they are coming from. However, I also think he is better at breaking up and building as opposed to pure creativity.

Also, where is he going to play as an attacker in our team? Certainly not ahead of Lampard or Essien, that's for sure

Just watched the post game interview after Fulham with Mikel. You listen to the guy talk and he really does show captain qualities. The interviewer kept asking him about his individual play and confidence and he directed all of his answers toward the team and how he is happy doing what he is doing as long as the team is succesful. Remember, Mikel is still a young kid and to see him talk like this and act like this is very impressive. I am not saying he should be captiain of this team because Terry is our captain and a legend, but I feel he should be considered if he is here in the long term future.