Super Eagles captain, John Obi Mikel bagged an impressive debut for Middlesbrough in their Saturday’s Emirates FA Cup Fourth Round clash with Newport County which ended 1-1 at the Riverside Stadium, Completesports.com reports.
Mikel earned a starting role in the Tony Pulis’ team for his debut. And he posted a decent performance before he was subbed off for Clayton Adam in the 62nd minute.
Daniel Ayala netted Middlesbrough’s goal in the 51st minute, while Matthew Dolan grabbed a 90th minute equaliser for Newport County to force Boro into a replay.
Mikel who signed on Thursday as a free agent to feature for the English Championship side until the end of the season, is happy with his debut showing and is eager to come better with more games.
“I thought the performance was good,” Mikel said in post match interview..
“When you play these games, we were one up, we controlled the game and it’s one of those games where if you sit back you can get caught out and that’s what happened.
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“The team played really well, it’s a good start for me and hopefully we can carry on from here.
“Today was good and hopefully I can get a few more games to get sharper and help the team a bit more.”
Middlesbrough manager Tony Pulis is also full of praises for Mikel.
“John Obi Mikel did smashing, that was his first game for a long time. He is so composed on the ball, he lifts the rest of the team, he is that type of player,” Pulis told BBC Sport.
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According to BBC:”Former Chelsea midfielder Jon Mikel Obi, who moved to the Riverside earlier this week, showed glimpses of his Champions League-winning class in his hour on the field, although at times he appeared rusty having not played since November after leaving Chinese Super League side Tianjin Teda.”
According to Gazette Live:”John Obi Mikel – 7: tidy, wanted the ball, variety of good passes showing variety and some encouraging glimpses of real quality.
The Gazette writer Anthony Vickers said further:” There were a couple of candidates for the single star. Dani Ayala was the best at the back and Darren Randolph made a big block in the first half and dived in bravely where the boots were flying in.But I’m giving it to John Obi Mikel who showed glimpses of real quality in his hour long cameo.
He was composed, slick and showed a nice variety of accurate passing.
He wanted the ball, was neat and tidy in tight spaces under pressure in holding role but also sprayed a few delightful long balls forward to suggest he can add something going forward too.”
I was so happy to read this reviews of Captain Mikel’s performance yesterday. The field marshal is back!
The field marshal is truly back.
We will continue to watch.
Form is temporary, class is permanent…!
If not for family reasons which I personally too wouldn’t trade for anything else, Mikel would have still been good enough for a Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga or a Roma in the Serie A. Nice to have ‘the catalyst’ back in England