Chelsea Roundtable: John Obi Mikel—Flattering to Deceive or Top-Notch Talent?

3) Should he keep his place, once Essien returns to fitness?

Salomon Gonzales:

Yes, he should. Up untill recently I was convinced that Essien should return to the starting line-up, only if he was to replace Mikel. I have since then, changed my stance.

Mikel should definitely keep his place. If, and only if, he has to be replaced, then Julio Belletti would be more suitable to take his spot.

Essien is not a defensive midfielder, despite what people think. He is an attacking midfielder, but due to his physical approach and non-stop hassling of opponents people tend to believe that he is actually a defensive player.

Therefore when Essien returns, he should replace another attacking player: either Deco or Ballack. That's if they are still putting in the dire performances they have been recently. I am a firm believer that every player, no matter how great his ability, should be made to work for his place in the team, earn it. Essien should be, and is, no different.

A midfield line-up of Mikel, Essien, Deco (would've said Joe Cole, but sadly he'll be out for the remainder of the season) and Lampard doesn't look too shabby does it?

Steven Ho:

No.

But I'm not saying that I think Scolari should automatically replace Mikel with Essien simply because Essien is more talented. I think both players are actually equally poor in many respects. Rather, my rationale is that Mikel has been the source of so many costly errors for Chelsea, that simply replacing him with anyone—whether that's Essien or anyone else capable—would be an improvement, and thus the right choice.

If it is Essien that the manager chooses to replace Mikel with, Essien wouldn't need to put in outstanding performances to justify replacing Mikel; just not making calamitous errors would be good enough.

Saying all of that, I think that the right choice for Scolari right now is to replace Mikel with Julio Belletti, and when Essien returns keep him as a backup. We've already seen, in Didier Drogba's case, how a player coming back from injury, no matter how much ability they've shown in the past, can perform way below par. That's why I think it's very unlikely that a player like Essien will be the magic bullet a lot of Chelsea fans are hoping him to be.

Belleti, however, is a proven talented individual who has shown potency in both defense and attack. And most importantly, he is an experienced player. Therefore he would not be as vulnerable to the sort of horrific errors that Mikel has been making, the sort of errors that have been costing Chelsea so many points.

Alan McGuiness:

Yes. He has been one our best players this season alongside Lampard and he doesn't deserve to be dropped, something I can't say about some other players. I'd move Essien further forward and drop Deco.

With Joe Cole now out for the rest of the season I'd play a midfield of: Mikel, Lampard, Ballack and Essien.

4) He's 21 now. Looking at his past performances, how good do you
reckon he could get?

Salomon Gonzales:

Well, it's not an easy thing to predict but I'd say he'll turn out pretty good. In the two years he has been at Chelsea, he has managed to reduce the amount of fouls he concedes, hence also the amount of bookings and sending offs he recieves.

In another two years, he could possibly add something else to his game that he doesn't already have. Improving tackles would be a good place to start. If he masters his tackling to perfection and improves on his ball distribution he could turn out to be one hell of a player.

As for now though, he is making steady progress and I am pleased with his attitude and performances so far.

I'd say he has the potential to be a better holding player than Makelele ever was, which shows how high my expectations are for him.

Steven Ho:

It's incredibly difficult to make any sort of prediction in football so I'm hesitant to make a prediction about Mikel's potential.

But if I had to, I would say that... he can only become as good as Darren Fletcher has been for Man United, early on this season.

My reasons? Well, Fletcher also showed similar qualities as Mikel in the past: lack of concentration, poor ball distribution, weak defending etc. Fletcher also plays the same role as Mikel does now, and for a couple of seasons he was massively under-performing in my opinion, much like Mikel is right now.

Fletcher has managed to improve significantly, though, and this season he's shown himself to be one of United's most improved players over the last year. He's grown up a lot, and perhaps Mikel will eventually do the same. The only caveat I would add is that whilst Fletcher has obviously put in a lot of work to improve himself, I've yet to see the same level of determination and internal motivation in Mikel.

Alan McGuiness:

I definitely think he can become one of the best midfielders in the Premiership. He reminds me of Makelele in many ways and also has the added bonus of a much more imposing stature.

If he keeps on improving at the rate he is now then the £16 million we paid Manchester United and Lyn Oslo for him will look like a very shrewd piece of business.

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