The Curious Case of John Mikel Obi

Carl Jackson lays out his case in defence of the much maligned Jon Obi Mikel…

No one in my lifetime of supporting this wonderful club has divided opinion quite like the owner of our number 12 shirt John Michael Nchekwube Obinna, or in simpler terms to me and you Jon Obi Mikel. Signed from Norwegian side Lyn Oslo back in 2006 via Man Utd he came with the reputation of being a playmaking number 10 but Jose Mourinho thought differently. During his early days Mikel struggled to adapt to his new deep lying role and his mentality on and off the pitch got called into question numerous times and it looked as if his time in SW6 would just be a short and sweet one. Fast forward 8 years and this is a man who has won a Premier League title, 4 FA cup winners medals, 1 League cup winners medal, 1 Europa League title and 1 Champions League title with what I believe to be a man of the match display in the final. This is a man who has played under 9 Chelsea managers including arguably the best manager in world football Jose Mourinho twice yet none of these managers got rid of him. He has also helped his country win the African Nations Cup in 2013 which ended a 19 year drought for the underachieving country.

Unfortunately present day he has become our marmite player, our scapegoat now David Luiz has left the club and the fact this man who has done so much for us gets this sort of unfair treatment doesn’t sit comfortably with me. One of the best things about the modern day game is that we have the social networks available to debate about the game so easily and so frequently. I love listening to everyone’s opinions but get frustrated when people use reasons for disliking someone which are entirely false. The usual comments which come up when discussing Mikel are “he passes the ball sideways and backwards only”, “he gives the ball away too much”, “he only passes the ball 5 yards” and even “he doesn’t score enough”. I thought I’d do some research comparing Mikel with some other defensive midfielders in the world right now just to give us all some perspective.

Total Chances Created:

Mikel – 2

Matic – 12

Busquets – 9

Khedira – 3
Pass Completion %:

Mikel – 91%

Matic – 88%

Busquets – 92%

Khedira – 86%

Forward – Backward Pass %:

Mikel – 66.6% – 33.4%

Matic – 66.1% – 33.9%

Busquets – 66.9% – 33.1%

Khedira – 58% – 42%

Average Pass Length:

Mikel – 17metres

Matic – 18metres

Busquets – 16metres

Khedira – 14metres

Now quite clearly from this quick research you can see most of the things labelled against Mikel couldn’t be further from the truth. I am not saying he should be first choice in this current Chelsea side because that would be wrong, I am saying he still has a role to play at this club and maybe deserves a little less stick than he is currently getting. Recently it seems that if we win, lose or draw with him in the side he gets slated in some capacity. What I will say about him is that he does slow the play down when he is in possession of the ball which is not great for this current side when we are attacking as we love to catch sides on the counter attack. But later on in games in tight matches when the opposition side starts getting some joy a player who can put his foot on the ball, take his time and then pass to someone else on our team is just what we need.

Lets just enjoy what I believe could be a monumental season for us blues together and enjoy watching this squad as a whole.

Hope you all enjoyed your festive period’s UTC!!!

Carl Jackson

You can follow me on Twitter: @jacko_cfc