KING Maka's gone - long live King Mikel
That's the view of Chelsea fan Josh Sansom. Josh is 22 and from South Devon.
JOHN Obi Mikel has for so long been the enigma of the Chelsea team. He arrived following a hugely controversial transfer that involved FC Lyn Oslo, Chelsea and Manchester United as well as several figures at the Norwegian club who have since faced criminal charges.
Many Chelsea fans had high hopes for the talented teenage when he arrived at the club in 2006, yet initially he seemed to have trouble settling on a position within the team and seemed unable to really show his potential. Arriving as a 19 year old in a new country can be hard enough, worse still when the world’s spotlight is thrown on you and worse again when you suddenly need to adapt to a completely different role from the one that you had played before.
Prior to leaving Chelsea for PSG in 2008 Claude Makélélé was Chelsea’s primary holding midfielder and the player that, arguably, Jose Mourinho built his entire team around. Makélélé’s role at Chelsea was a highly specialised one, he was to act as a protective shield to the defence, roaming from left to right breaking up opposition attacks and acting as an auxiliary additional centre back.
Makélélé’s role went beyond this, however, he was to receive the ball from the defence and act as the first point of the attack, quickly transferring the ball to the further forward midfielders to make up for the fact that Mourinho’s full backs rarely ventured forwards in order to provide additional width.
It was a highly specialised role requiring the kind of anticipation skills as well as quick thinking that over a decade as a professional had honed. The role also required Makélélé to play with his back to the goal for much of the time, needing to therefore turn and present the ball to the rest of the midfield quickly and efficiently.
For Mikel this presented a great challenge. His size and stature would always prevent him from covering ground as quickly as Makélélé did and his youth meant that he did not have the anticipation skills that Makélélé had developed over the years. In such an important position he was therefore shown up often, committing needless fouls and slowing the play due to being unfamiliar with Makélélé’s back to goal role.
The position highlighted his flaws and did not allow the tremendous upsides to his game to be fully appreciated. The interest that both Chelsea and Manchester United showed in him from such a young age was a principal result of his magnificent passing ability from the playmaker role. We have recently seen Mikel produce a wonderful 60 yard pass through to Anelka in the 6-0 victory against Wigan, which exemplifies the impressive range of skills he has, but that as Chelsea fans we didn’t see during the first two years at the club.
It became obvious that during the first part of his Chelsea career his time in the spotlight was not doing him good. He managed to progress and learn and was doing a diligent job in the “Makélélé role” though he was still subject to criticism due to his inability to perform the defensive midfield role in the way that Makélélé did. The pressure this would have put onto such long shoulders coupled with the damage to his confidence this would have done saw his performances and development stall for some time.
That said under Carlo Ancelotti he has been able to improve. Carlo has a history of developing magnificent deep-lying playmakers, such as Andrea Pirlo, and has clearly seen Mikel as the type of player who can fulfil such a role for Chelsea. It is notable that positionally Mikel is playing a very similar role to the one that he played under previous managers, though there are subtle changes to the way that the team operates.
While previously the team began their plays through the defensive midfielder it is notable that now many of them begin with the full backs. This is a policy that was developed first by Luiz Felipe Scolari and Ancelotti has continued to this day. This change has allowed Mikel to play far more facing the opposition goal as opposed to facing his own defence. Not having to turn with the ball has allowed him more time on the ball to control the way that the team operates and to utilise the superb range of passing he has, while attacking full backs have afforded him a greater range of options for those passes.
The mentality of the team has altered as well. Gone are the days of counter attacking play where we let the opponent come on to us and therefore it was very important that our defensive midfielder was able to cover ground and break up plays. Now we have shifted mindsets to a more offensive base leaving the deep lying midfielder with fewer defensive duties and therefore greater licence to go forward.
This change has exacerbated the physical skills that Mikel has. While previously a smaller, more nimble player was preferable Mikel is now able to hold a more central position where his size and ability to clear the ball aerially is a boon insofar as it prevents our centre backs from needing to step out of defence to deal with such threats. In light of the departure of Michael Ballack, Mikel’s skills in this role have proven very important.
Overall it is clear that we have an improving and capable player on our hands. The changes in tactical systems by the club since the arrival of Carlo Ancelotti have allowed Mikel to play to his strengths and dictate the play for the team. He certainly isn’t the finished article and I would like to see him improve his shooting, but, within the current system and under the guidance of Carlo Ancelotti we have a player who could go on to be as important to us as Makélélé. Maybe it is time to retire the “Makélélé role” and rename it the “Mikel role”?
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