7 years. John Obi Mikel has been at Chelsea for 7 years.
Although this may seem surreal, Mikel has gone through 8 managers in 7 years. His 9th manager is the reason he’s at the club, the reason he decided to snub Manchester United in favour of working for a young, cocky and arrogant Jose Mourinho.
He said recently of Jose, “Everywhere he goes, players tend to work for Mourinho and fight for him. He knows how to motivate players, how to get the best out of you. From day one, he tells you what he wants from you and that’s exactly how it’s going to be.”
Having been pictured wearing a Manchester United shirt, Mikel felt his dream move had arrived, until Chelsea and Mourinho completely hijacked the move, and turned his head towards the blue of Chelsea, who were fresh off major success.
We were packed in midfield with top players – Frank Lampard, Michael Essien and Claude Makelele. New signing Michael Ballack and Lassana Diarra, waiting in the wings from the 2005/06 season to take over from Makelele, were also determined to get themselves a regular place in the side. Despite United being so close to getting Mikel to sign on, he found a better challenge, with better money at Chelsea. He felt he could bulldoze his way into our midfield.
He knew his time would come, and bulldoze he did.
Not getting a real run in the team until Michael Essien’s injury during Scolari’s reign, and despite establishing himself as a holding midfielder under Mourinho, Mikel became a firm favourite of the Brazilian manager, and was deployed into an anchor role, one which ‘Maka’ made his own. Groomed to be an attacking midfielder, it was obvious where Mikel’s strengths were – Covering our back 4, winning aerial challenges, intercepting and making swift decisions to get the ball into attack.
To this date, not many understand Mikel’s responsibility, although his errors are forever highlighted, with neon paint slapped all over it for all to see.
To me, a fan of the anchor role, it’s extremely obvious where Mikel’s problem is. Rewinding back to Carlo Ancelotti’s time at Chelsea, we were extremely comfortable in a 4-3-3. The reason for this was because with Mikel in the anchor role, Lampard, Ballack and Ramires were given the green light to join attacks, strictly because Mikel, as mentioned a groomed attacking midfielder, would stay disciplined and put the team before himself by sitting deep in front of our defence throughout the 90 minutes of every game.
He had grown used to having midfield defensive responsibilities, so much so that when Robbie Di Matteo took charge, Mikel looked out of place on several occasions in our midfield pivot, with the formation being 4-2-3-1. He didn’t seem confident of his midfield partner at all. With Ramires and Lampard making timeless runs into the box to help our attack, Mikel then had to revert from an anchor midfielder to a pivot midfielder, something that is difficult to do given that most teams have learned the art of counter-attacking.

A quote from Robbie’s reign when 4-2-3-1 had become our standard formation, Mikel said, “It’s important playing in that deeper role, if there is one or two of you, that when you have the ball you have players full of confidence who want it off you,’ he points out. ‘It makes it easy to release the ball quickly, and it’s something we are doing more now. It makes my job a lot easier. When we lose the ball I have to be the man to start the defence or make sure everything is in order and we are in shape. Everyone is doing their job well right now.”
Verdict

It worked when it really mattered – Against Barcelona, and against Bayern Munich. After that, it became a problem. I don’t agree with those that say Mikel is useless, I just think he’s the wrong man to put in a 4-2-3-1, due to his static approach in midfield, and because of his new-found defensive instinct. He feels he’s capable of being the only man in midfield. I’m all for a player like Daniele De Rossi moving to Chelsea, someone our club has been crying out for since Carlo’s second season as Chelsea manager, however, I feel Mikel still has a major part to play in our team. The use of 4-3-3 is where Mikel will excel, undoubtedly. We should even try a 4-1-4-1 or a 4-1-3-2 or a 4-3-2-1, to make use of Mikel’s best ability, being the player that covers the back 4.
Of course, in this day and age, 4-2-3-1 is being used by most teams, which calls for more dynamic midfielders like De Rossi, and even David Luiz to take their position in.
One has to remember that we haven’t got a number of defensive midfielders at the club. Mikel, Romeu and Luiz seem to be the only ones capable of taking up the role, however Mikel and Luiz are the only ones capable of putting in decent shifts in a midfield pivot.
I don’t see Mikel as a waste of space at Chelsea, he loves working with Mourinho, and Mourinho hasn’t really gotten a chance to play Mikel in his midfield for games. All will be revealed after pre-season regarding Mikel, but on a personal note, I still think he’s more than capable, and is Chelsea standard.
Whatever the outcome, I’m sure Mikel’s absence or presence will have an affect on our style of football, so it is a story worth keeping track of.
Leave me your thoughts below!