There have been many posts recently praising Mikel and his recent good form.

In the event that Essien does not start today, due to a toe injury, this should be a great opportunity for Mikel to keep on top of Gerrard and show any critics he really is becoming the finished article.

Here's hoping he has a great game today.

yeah hopefully he;ll play well but I think he would find it hard to mark Gerrard, Gerrards more mobile than Mikel

I just hope Essien is playing

Here's hoping he has a great game today.

Oh Well. Maybe next time.

A midfield of Mikel, Ramires and Zhirkov might be okay against against a weak opponent in the champions league but it was never gonna be strong enough at Anfield. We were easily dominated and far too lightweight.

You're taking the piss right? He was one of the few players that actually played well today.

I think that is harsh on Mikel Nibs. Ramires and Zhirkov had shockers today and as a consequence Mikel was faced with the whole Liverpool midfield who had the run of the centre of the park. I actually thought he did fairly well given that he was abandoned by the other two.

The line said "lets hope he has a great game today". He didn't. I'm not saying he was sh*te nor am I saying he was our worst player (he clearly wasn't). But our midfield WAS dominated - especially in the first half and he formed part of that midfield.

He was better than the other two, but that's not saying a lot. For the record, I think Ramires has a lot to do to merit a place in the starting 11 and when Essien and Lamps are out, I would start McEachran ahead of Ramires.

There is the argument that Ramiries needs more playing time to get accustomed to the game here however it is hard to disagre with you on that one. He is a very weak link just now and I was hoping McEachran would replace him at half time.

There is the argument that Ramiries needs more playing time to get accustomed to the game

That's true and probably fair comment. Thing is, if players like McEachran are going to improve and be of benefit to us they too need playing time.

To be honest, Liverpool away is not an ideal game for either - as much as they have looked sh*t this season, they were always going to up their game and ideally you want your Essiens and Lampards on the team sheet.

But I get the feeling Ramires will get picked when the big names are missing as we have to justify the big price tag.

Edited November 7, 201015 yr by Nibs

Spot on Nibs. Surely Carlo has seen enough of Ramires & McEachran now to know that the latter is better in every department and should start. No doubt they did their homework and targeted Ramires as the weak link today. And it worked to a tee. He looked like a schoolboy out there - even in the second half. More playing time? Not in this league.

The line said "lets hope he has a great game today". He didn't. I'm not saying he was sh*te nor am I saying he was our worst player (he clearly wasn't). But our midfield WAS dominated - especially in the first half and he formed part of that midfield.

He was better than the other two, but that's not saying a lot. For the record, I think Ramires has a lot to do to merit a place in the starting 11 and when Essien and Lamps are out, I would start McEachran ahead of Ramires.

Agree with all this Nibs. Yes he was the best of our midfielders but thats not saying much. Its hardly an accolade bearing in mind how piss poor the others were.

Any unit that got out ran, and out fought like our midfield were are times on Sunday can hardly have an individual who had a great game. Im not even sure if Essien wouldve made a difference, in my opinion his form has been very so-so for the past month, but who can tell? Once i saw the team sheet yesterday and in particular our midfield i thought we were going to struggle but i didnt think it would be as bad as it was.

What i do know is that in these games, against good teams we really, really miss Frank.

Edited November 8, 201015 yr by bjd

The line said "lets hope he has a great game today". He didn't. I'm not saying he was sh*te nor am I saying he was our worst player (he clearly wasn't). But our midfield WAS dominated - especially in the first half and he formed part of that midfield.

He was better than the other two, but that's not saying a lot. For the record, I think Ramires has a lot to do to merit a place in the starting 11 and when Essien and Lamps are out, I would start McEachran ahead of Ramires.

To be fair to Ramires, although he had a shocker in the first half he was a lot better in the second. I was most disappointed with Zhirkov. Whilst I too would have liked to see MacEachran, I think dropping him in to that midfield in the second half would have been a mistake.

It is the sort of game, like the City game, where we missed the experience and physical presence that Essien, Lampard and Ballack have given us over the last few years.

Mikel on the Liverpool game.

John Mikel Obi has given his verdict following the defeat at Anfield, and believes we needed a higher first-half tempo to succeed, while also praising Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina for some important saves.

At least someone knows what we must change and hopefully the whole team got a kick in the arse after this defeat.

I think its very harsh to pick on Mikel after that display, at times in the 1st half he was pretty much on his own battling against the Liverpool midfield.

No one is criticising him him dkw, at least not from what i can read. Just not that he put in a brilliant display - as some are alluding to.