Chelsea’s John Obi Mikel: The Myth of Ineptitude

Despite José Mourinho’s post-match denial, it was obvious that Chelsea set out to get a draw at Old Trafford on Monday night. In order to contain the home side, Mourinho opted for a six-man midfield of sorts, with Frank Lampard and Ramires occupying the central midfield roles; Ramires bursting forward, while Lampard fulfilled the defensive role. The formation proved to be successful, with Chelsea leaving Manchester with a point and a clean sheet – a pleasing result for most Chelsea fans.

These supporters however appear to turn a blind eye to the fact that Rafael Benítez exceeded Monday night’s achievement in a home tie against Manchester United in the FA Cup in April. Benítez not only managed to keep Manchester United’s key players at bay, but also instructed his players in a way that allowed Chelsea to counter, and ultimately win 1-0, courtesy of a Demba Ba goal.

Chelsea’s outstanding player on that day was John Obi Mikel who made countless tackles and interceptions, most notably on Antonio Valencia in the 48^th minute from which Chelsea regained possession and scored the winning goal.

On Monday, Chelsea failed to produce a single threatening counter attack, for Lampard and Ramires struggled to win the ball in the midfield area. As a result Chelsea’s creative players had to drop deeper to help win possession, therefore reducing their chances of creating any danger once the ball was won. Mikel was not introduced until the 87^th minute, and even then solely as a further defensive measure for Mourinho who had already settled for the draw.
Judging by Monday’s game, Mikel’s chances at Chelsea may be very limited this season; given that he is now behind Lampard and Ramires in Mourinho’s plans, as well as having to compete with Michael Essien (a favourite of Mourinho) and new signing Marco van Ginkel – who has been promised game-time. Rumours of a move to Galatasaray seem to make sense for Mikel; a fresh start alongside his friend and former teammate Didier Drogba, which will hopefully allow him to shrug off the ‘flop’ tag imposed upon him by lazy pundits and fans on social media sites who judge players based on video-game stats and YouTube videos.

Mikel has in no way been a ‘flop’ at Chelsea. Expectations were outrageously high following his controversial arrival from Lyn Oslo which resulted in multiple court cases, Chelsea having to pay £12 million to Manchester United, and even a jail sentence for the Lyn director Morgan Andersen. For an Eighteen year-old, that kind of pressure can be extremely damaging when joining a new club, and unsurprisingly it took Mikel a while to adjust to the culture of his new club.

Mourinho began to deploy him in a defensive role, despite his reputation as a powerful attacking midfielder, and stunning display during the recent 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship. Still, Mikel adapted well at first to his new position, filling in for Makélélé and Essien now and then and impressing during a number of important matches. It was not until he began playing regularly in the 08-09 season, following the departure of Makélélé and a serious injury to Essien, that Mikel began to draw criticism from certain Chelsea fans, in particular following a disappointing display in Chelsea’s 3-1 defeat away to Roma.

Since then on, he has struggled to convince fans and pundits that he is worthy of a place in the Chelsea team each week. Errors every so often, such as goal-costing mistakes against Liverpool, APOEL and Juventus, have been picked up on, and used against Mikel throughout his Chelsea career – creating the myth that Mikel is not of the standard required to play for Chelsea. As a result, when he puts in a good display he is rarely credited, as demonstrated following his world-class display in the 2012 Champions League final. The Telegraph, Daily Mail, and Guardian awarded Mikel 7, 7, 6 ratings respectively – proving just how ignored his attributes are. Mikel is no longer the kind of player who will surge forward and blast the ball in from the edge of the box as he was for Nigeria in 2005 when he won the Silver footballer award in the U-20 World Cup. Mikel’s job is to break up play, and pass the ball forward; a simple, yet vastly important role. A role however which is perceived as unglamorous, and therefore unspectacular.

Now to put the myths to bed, using Staztone and OPTA stats from the 2011/12 season (arguably Mikel’s most disappointing season).

Is Mikel a ‘sloppy passer’? No – 90% completion rate from 982 passes.

Does Mikel ‘always pass backwards’? No – 362 passes forwards, 110 backwards.

Does Mikel ‘lose possession easily’? Again, No – Dispossessed just 16 times, 0.727 times per game.

Sure, Mikel does make the occasional mistake which will lead to an opposition goal, but the criticism he receives following poor displays is astounding (the abuse he received on Twitter following his mistake in the 2-2 draw against Juventus compelled him to delete his account). When you consider the number of costly mistakes Steven Gerrard has made which have led to goals (three awful back-passes against Arsenal, Chelsea and France spring to mind) you realise just how unfair the criticism of Mikel really is. Gerrard is still considered to be an elite player, and rightly so. Yet with John Obi Mikel, it seems people are simply unable to move on from his mistakes, and are blind to the fact that Mikel is in fact a very good, but vastly neglected footballer.