Ranked: Nigeria's best defensive midfielders

[deanotito]

I for one have always felt that for some unexplained reason, Mikel worked in that position for 10 years at Chelsea. I don’t know why but I think Jose’s alchemy was responsible..

He worked in that position at Chelsea because he was very tactically disciplined in terms of his positioning/ awareness/ reading of the game AND his superior ball control skills and passing accuracy. When you infuse his strengths into a disciplined midfield where each player covers their roles and complements the team, weaknesses of each player involved in the team will be mitigated. Mikel was smart enough to understand that concept early on and therefore played within himself which allowed his teammates and team to function at the highest level. World class Coach after world class coach almost every year were hired by Chelsea and each ended up playing him significantly on teams that won big trophies almost annually for the 10 years.

If you told me that Nigeria was about to play a big match, and Mikel would be the shield in front of our defense, my heart would be in my mouth for 90 mins. I just don’t think that kind of player can work in that position for Nigeria.

Mikel was never a traditional 'midfield shield' for the super eagles. That is not to say that he couldn't have played the position at the highest level for Nigeria during his prime but the reality was Nigeria needed a lot more from Mikel than sitting in front of a back 4. Nevertheless, Mikel was one of the best players in the ANC in 2013 which was won by Nigeria. He also was an influential player in many qualifiers that led to WC campaigns in 2010, 2014 & 2018. ... in addition to the bronze Olympic medal in Brazil where he effectively carried the team on his back and also through his checkbook to mask organizational shortfalls from the Olympic team administrators.

My hope for the current and future SE players is to experience at least a fair percentage of the success enjoyed by Mikel over his illustrious Chelsea and Super Eagles career. #properlegend.

I hear you...but when one considers Nigeria's best DMs, how can you consider someone who in 13 years of playing for Nigeria never played DM....????

[Bigpokey24]

Oliseh (Tunisia 94 and Mikel vs Iceland (CM)

[Ezesportsworld]

Oliha was a benchwarmer for Sunday Oliseh

[Sir V]

Oliha was a benchwarmer for Sunday Oliseh

How my brother?.

[ohsee]

1. Mudashiru Lawal.
2. John michael Obi
3. Sunday Oliseh.
4. Sam Garba Okoye.
5. Ademola Adeshina.

Well done Mikel , African legend ...thanks for your years of service for Nigeria.

Midfielders or defensive Midfielders. MudaL awal was an attacking Midfielder, and Oliseh was a defensive Midfielder.

Not to mention that Garba Okoye was an attacking midfielder.