Posted January 1, 201114 yr Mail Carlo Ancelotti has suffered another midfield injury blow with scans confirming John Mikel Obi faces a month out with a knee injury. Mikel damaged medial ligaments in the defeat at Arsenal on Monday when he was caught late by a nasty challenge from Robin van Persie. Having started the first 18 Barclays Premier League games for Chelsea, the Nigerian missed Wednesday’s1-0 win over Bolton and is not expected to be back for three more weeks. It is bad news for the champions, with Frank Lampard only just back from injury, Michael Essien playing with a nagging knee problem and Ramires still adjusting to English football. Lampard played 180 minutes in three days this week after four months out but there is little scope for rotation in Chelsea’s midfield because Yossi Benayoun and Yuri Zhirkov are also out. Ancelotti is reportedly reluctant to recall Michael Mancienne, who could play in either defence or midfield, from his season-long loan at Wolves, even though a clause in the deal allows for a January return.
January 1, 201114 yr This is bad news according to the Mail? I think this actually pretty good news. Our midfield against Bolton looked great without Mikel.
January 1, 201114 yr This is a quandary for me. Do we pitch young Josh in and hope it's not too early in his development or give Ramires the game time he clearly needs?
January 1, 201114 yr Mikel been back to his usual sh*t self lately anyway. Ramires & Essien covered the postion ok vs bolton.
January 1, 201114 yr A valuable player to have, even if his form is currently in the s***ters. Let's hope Ramires can continue his excellent form. By the way, how is a Chelsea player getting injured good news?
January 1, 201114 yr More issues, and here I was thinking he was dropped for Bolton. What a miserable run we've had with injuries. I noted the article mentioned recalling Mancienne. If I'm not mistaken isn't he injured currently as well?
January 1, 201114 yr Mikel Alex Zhirkov Benayoun Ivanovic(suspended) :angry: Originally I thought you had posted this in 'Who do we need in January?' thread and I thought it very clever. Sadly I simply had both threads open on different tabs. 5 very big players all out, not sure any other club has five as significant players absent this weekend.
January 1, 201114 yr This is bad news according to the Mail? I think this actually pretty good news. Our midfield against Bolton looked great without Mikel.
January 1, 201114 yr Ridiculous. Our squad is thin and people think Mikel getting injured is good news.
January 1, 201114 yr Only muppets cheer when one of our own players get injured :angry: How many knee injuries have we had so far this season? Seems like everyone has suffered from that at one point.
January 1, 201114 yr Bad news for our already-stretched midfield. It's boom or bust for Ramires as our DM, but it does mean that McEachran is midfield sub #1. Hopefully we'll be seeing more of him in the upcoming weeks.
January 1, 201114 yr So we now have "fans" happy when we lose a player to injury. Lovely. f**king idiots.
January 1, 201114 yr Ridiculous. Our squad is thin and people think Mikel getting injured is good news. +1 Loz. Love Mikel or not, we don't need another injury. Especially not one that could be a month... or more. It's a knee injury so that is a possibility.
January 1, 201114 yr Can't believe anybody finds a positive in one of our players picking up an injury, for all we know he might have been playing with a bit of a niggle without mentioning it and that could account for his lack of form of late. I really wanted to see Ramires Lampard and Essien as our midfield three but I'd still like the Manager to have choices which we are very short of already. Next people on here will be praying the aged Ferreira picks up Alzehimer's and can't remember where his boots are
January 1, 201114 yr This again puts pressure on our wafer thin squad. I'm over the moon Carlo has put faith in Bruma for the Villa game, maybe it is too much putting another youngster in for the fixture, but with Ivanovic back for Wolves I'd put Josh in. On current form, Mikel with a fully fit squad would not be in my starting eleven, in fact I am not convinced he has a long term future at Chelsea, how long does a player need to become consistent and live up to the early hype ? Yes he has improved under Carlo, but those silly lacks in concentration still remain and at the very top level of football it will restrict his chances of being the World Class player I always thought he was destined to be. Hand on heart I believe he isn't quite going to be the answer in his role in our team. Josh, Essien and Ramires are our hopes for the next four years, somehow we have to find *that* player to replace Lampard if not Mikel. History tells us we have to break the bank to do just that, as we will to replace Drogba, but Man City have all the cards and we will pick up the scraps unless we have the nouse to pick up a gem along the way. As I've said before the Russia World Cup winning bid might just determine our future more than people think. I'm not confident at all Roman will put us first, with Arneson gone, development in the future has still to be addressed, plus the future of Stamford Bridge, we cannot expect to survive on 40.000 gates, Spurs are a huge threat to the top four as Man City's money has them nailed on like us in the past. Not qualifying for the Champions League would be a disaster, these days to compete you have to spend money, can anyone be confident we will ? I'd be gutted if we did, my dad's ashes are in the Shed Goal, but logically a move to Earls Court would have to be the answer. The sale of land right next to the Kings Road would be a goldmine even in todays climate. If Roman was to put that in the self sufficient pot and think of the design of a new ground to outshine the Emirates and bring more revenue together with higher gate receipts at a place that would still be considered home and Chelsea for sure. But as I've said is Roman the man to take us forward, all the signs at the moment are not. I wish England had won that poxy bid!
January 1, 201114 yr By the way, how is a Chelsea player getting injured good news? Okay maybe I was being facetious by saying "good news" but the Mail was trying to make it out like it was a serious problem, which, if you saw the Bolton game, you'd agree with me that isn't. Only muppets cheer when one of our own players get injured :angry: It was hardly cheering... Edited January 1, 201114 yr by Planet Drogba
January 1, 201114 yr It's surprising that some Chelsea posters don't give Mikel the credit he deserves. He has really improved over the last few seasons. He reads the game well and is dominant in the air which are essentials for the holding role. Let's face it. He's the only defensive midfielder in our squad. He is young and will improve under the watchful eye of Carlo. Essien may be a better all round footballer but he is wasted in the holding role as it restricts his attacking qualities. Mikel is better equipped for the job. He presents a commanding presence in front of the back four. He may not be popular with some but he does a damn good job as a defensive midfielder. He will be sorely missed over the next couple of weeks.
January 1, 201114 yr It's surprising that some Chelsea posters don't give Mikel the credit he deserves. He has really improved over the last few seasons. He reads the game well and is dominant in the air which are essentials for the holding role. Let's face it. He's the only defensive midfielder in our squad. He is young and will improve under the watchful eye of Carlo. Essien may be a better all round footballer but he is wasted in the holding role as it restricts his attacking qualities. Mikel is better equipped for the job. He presents a commanding presence in front of the back four. He may not be popular with some but he does a damn good job as a defensive midfielder. He will be sorely missed over the next couple of weeks. yep. For me Mik is arguably the best DM in the world when at his best.
January 1, 201114 yr yep. For me Mik is arguably the best DM in the world when at his best. I like your optimism, but I'm not sure I agree with this. Mikel is an excellent player on his day, but I'm not sure he can compete with the likes of Cambiasso and Busquets.
January 1, 201114 yr yep. For me Mik is arguably the best DM in the world when at his best. Really? Thats like saying, on his day Kalou is as good as Messi!! It rarely happens. Alex Song is a better defensive midfielder than Mikel, and he doesn't get a nosebleed when he shoots. Busquets plays a very simular role to Mikel, but doesn't lose concentration so often. Yes Mikel has been better, at the start of the season, but we need to strengthen there. I wonder if Mancienne will get called back now.
January 1, 201114 yr yep. For me Mik is arguably the best DM in the world when at his best. Gutted for him and for the squad that he is injured, but that is a nonsense statement. Either you haven't seen Mikel play very much or you haven't seen much football played, well, anywhere...
January 1, 201114 yr As a pure DM he is one of the best. There are others you can throw into the mix but a case can be made for Mikel as the #1. People will point to his lack of offensive ability but I think that has more to do with how much defensive responsibility is put on his shoulders and how well he does with that. Yes there are other DMs that have more impact in the game on the offensive side of the ball, but few of them take on as much responsibility as Mikel. A lot of what Mikel does is just smart positioning and ability to intercept and regain possession. Song is no where near Mikel in terms of a pure DM, Bousquets is one of the guys you can make a case for definitely. Taking last year into consideration Mikel was a huge part of the double and one of the main reasons for our defensive success. Edited January 1, 201114 yr by Saaladin
January 1, 201114 yr It's surprising that some Chelsea posters don't give Mikel the credit he deserves. I'm actually a fan of Mikel myself but against Bolton our midfield looked great. I'm curious to see how they'll develop and with Mikel out they might actually try to step it up a bit as well. Besides, Mikel needs a break. He's looked really jaded in the last couple of games.
