Previously on Mikel's Sideway Passes:
[fade in]
THE GAME: Reading (H), Premier League 12-13.
THE SITUATION: Chelsea are dominant in the early stages of the game, but Reading defense stays compact with two banks of four. Chelsea moves the ball around in the back from left to right before Mata finds Mikel around the center circle.
THE EXECUTION: Mikel lets the ball roll across his body effectively slipping away from his marker Guthrie. He then plays a neat little one-two with Lampard and drives forward down the left with Guthrie chasing. Just like that Mikel is between Reading's two defensive lines. The Nigerian sees that Hazard has pulled away from Gunter, so he passes the ball into the Belgian's feet before continuing his run forward.
THE CONSEQUENCE:
"I love John Obi Mikel like a mother loves her middle child, who's starved of the attention other siblings get. A child who's under-appreciated and often misunderstood."
"With three Bayer players pressing him like a pack of wolves, Mikel executes a quick change of direction toward the left before lifting ball gently, in a perfect rainbow arch, to Malouda."
"The Nigerian lobs the ball beautifully/accurately into the Ivanovic's feet."[fade out]
[fade in]
THE GAME: Reading (H), Premier League 12-13.
THE SITUATION: Chelsea are dominant in the early stages of the game, but Reading defense stays compact with two banks of four. Chelsea moves the ball around in the back from left to right before Mata finds Mikel around the center circle.
THE EXECUTION: Mikel lets the ball roll across his body effectively slipping away from his marker Guthrie. He then plays a neat little one-two with Lampard and drives forward down the left with Guthrie chasing. Just like that Mikel is between Reading's two defensive lines. The Nigerian sees that Hazard has pulled away from Gunter, so he passes the ball into the Belgian's feet before continuing his run forward.
THE CONSEQUENCE:
Mikel's presence in the advance position means that Guthrie cannot double up on Hazard to help his fullback Gunter. Hazard draws a foul and wins the penalty. Lampard scores. Chelsea leads 1-0.
Carefree, wherever you may be...
Yea! What a nice point that u brought up here! I always though Mikel cannot support the attacking, and he is only strong in defending. But here i saw some of his ability , his passes , his speed are so good that I expected. Btw , I have a question for u? Are u a burmese since u mentioned that U grew up in Burma? I found that Ur blog is very good.
ReplyDeleteThanks for highlighting Mikels contribution to the penalty. I was one of those that felt a lot of attention (most of it deserved) was given to Hazards trickery in forcing the foul and little or no attention in Mikels run.
ReplyDeleteYes, I'm a Burmese. And judging from you name, you are too?
ReplyDelete