If you want to call the Nigerian
Hiddink’s lucky charm, you can go ahead, but we still need to answer
the pressing question, "what it is really about Mikel’s game that suits
Hiddink’s plans to a tee?"
The midfielder was lauded to the heavens after his display against Crystal Palace last Sunday as he helped the Blues record their biggest win in 12 months.
After the win over Palace,
Hiddink had the following to say about the Nigerian midfielder, “He is
the ideal player in my option to bring balance to the team.”
Mikel under Mourinho
Unfortunately for many a Jose
Mourinho fan, the Super Eagles talisman was not deemed worthy of a
starting berth in the Special One’s tactical plan – which worked very
well last season but faltered spectacularly this term.
In five games under the regime
of Mourinho this season, Mikel played only 177 minutes [including coming
on for Cesc Fabregas in the 92nd minute against Arsenal] and starting only twice; at home against Liverpool, and he was replaced with scores tied at 1-1 and away at Everton, where he provided the assist for Chelsea’s goal, scored by Nemanja Matic. He was again taken off with the Blues chasing the game at 2-1.
In the 17 matches that Chelsea
played before sacking Mourinho, the preferred midfield duo of Matic and
Fabregas showed that there was an imbalance but Mourinho persisted with
the two players and got sacked – appropriately if performances since his
exit indicate.
Mikel, now under Hiddink
Mikel has played in all three
matches under Hiddink, a total of 225 minutes. Former Liverpool midfield
enforcer, and now television analyst, Graeme Souness said after the
Crystal Palace win, “I don't think I've ever seen John Obi Mikel play so well. He bossed that area.”
Hiddink also continued his lavish praise: “He played very well but also in the previous game.
"If the team is not willing to
defend well, or hasn't got the right balance, then you'll concede a lot
of goals. I think John Obi can be one of the key figures in bringing
back that balance.
“On this podium very talented
players can explore their qualities. He reads the game very well, he
knows where the strength of the opponent is and knows how to combat
that.
“He has very good sense, he
doesn't do it in a brutal way, he's very elegant. Someone who can defend
so smoothly is very beautiful.”
Reading those words, it's little surprise that Mikel is being known as the African Zidane!
We are talking about Mikel here –
a player that divides Chelsea fans one way or another. That eulogy
reads like Shakespearean poetry, and the plaudits did not stop there,
the Chelsea fans who travelled to the Palace game at Selhurst Park were
singing his name to the rafters by the end of the contest – the first
time he has had such adulation since he joined the club in 2006!
What's changed? So, what has changed about Mikel’s game that he could shine so brightly against Palace?
Mikel's masterclass vs. Palace in numbers
In sport as in life, there is one sure thing that makes an athlete perform to his/her optimum and that is confidence.
Hiddink has not changed anything
about Mikel’s game – he will still pass back to the goalkeeper if he
sees no way forward, he will still pass over 5m, and he will not run 5km
during a match, but what he could do has been improved because his
confidence is back – he feels that the new manager trusts him and be
assured that Mikel will only get better this season.
“Since the new manager came in
we have been working really hard and as I said before, the atmosphere
has changed a bit," the player began.
John Obi Mikel's stats so far this season
“The players seem more relaxed
and as we are working hard in training, it is now starting to show in
the matches that we play,” Mikel told Sky Sports after the Palace
victory.
Mikel's renaissance is a
reminder of how quickly—and dramatically—things can change in football.
The Nigerian had appeared destined for the exit door at Stamford Bridge
under Mourinho, with the amount of minutes spent watching football
increasingly remarkably compared to the number of minutes actually
playing it.
Now, however, the only things going through the roof are his value, his confidence and his playing time. Long may it last.
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