Chelsea boss Guus Hiddink has restored the feel good factor to Stamford Bridge, says John Obi Mikel
The midfielder scored a potentially crucial away goal in last night's 2-1 Champions League defeat to Paris Saint-Germain
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Your support makes all the difference.Guus Hiddink has stabilised Chelsea’s season and restored the feel good factor at the club by making the players feel ‘free’ to express themselves after returning to Stamford Bridge in the wake of Jose Mourinho’s dismissal last December.
John Obi Mikel, Chelsea’s goalscorer in Tuesday’s 2-1 Champions League round of 16 first-leg defeat against Paris Saint-Germain, believes that the Dutchman’s more relaxed approach has been the crucial ingredient in reviving the team’s fortunes to the extent that they retain hopes of silverware in Europe and the FA Cup ahead of Sunday’s fifth round tie at home to Manchester City.
The reigning Premier League champions, currently 12th in the league table, remain on course to mount the worst defence of a title since Leeds United finished 17th in 1992-93.
But Nigeria midfielder Mikel claims that Chelsea’s performance against PSG at Parc des Princes offered proof that Hiddink’s approach is working.
“Guus has come in again and settled things,” Mikel said. “Players feels free to play and free to have responsibility and thrive on responsibility, but do it in a very relaxed way
“That is sometimes what players need. Guus has come in and done that. We’re picking up results in the league and we’re still very much in this Champions League tie.
“We’ve been through a difficult period, no doubt about it, but Guus has come in and settled the ship.”
Mikel, 28, has returned to prominence under Hiddink after becoming a fringe player during the final months of Mourinho’s reign in charge.
Despite now playing his tenth season for Chelsea, the goal against PSG was only Mikel’s fifth for the club in his decade at Stamford Bridge, but after committing the foul which led to Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s opener - which deflected off Mikel - the defensive midfielder admits he felt duty bound to make up for the mistake which gifted PSG the first goal.
“It was good to score, I had to get one for the team,” Mikel said. “The first goal was a big deflection from me and my foul that I committed.
“I had to make the foul because their guy was going deeper and deeper into the box. I know I had to make a challenge, either to get the ball or foul him, but then the deflection was a big one.
“But we came back strong and I got the equaliser back, which was great. Hopefully this goal keeps us alive in the tie and we believe we can do it. We can get a very good result at home which can see us through. We’re still alive.
“The second leg is going to be massive and hopefully this away goal is going to be decisive. If we get a 1-0 win, we’re through. We have to believe we can do it and believe in what we’re doing with Guus.”
“It feels great to be back in the team,” Mikel added. “Sometimes it is disappointing not to be part of the team, not to play, but I’ve always been professional.
“I never speak out, I never get upset. I carry on doing my job, coming to training every day to train with the guys who are playing.
“This is football. In one second it changes. I’ve always believed in myself and kept doing what I was doing and Guus came in and has given me the opportunity, and hopefully that will continue.
“It is my 10th season and it will be 11 years at the club since 2006. I don’t know, maybe I will have a testimonial soon!”
With Hiddink yet to suffer a domestic defeat in his second spell at interim manager, Sunday’s clash with City offers Chelsea the chance to boost their hopes of ending the campaign with silverware in the FA Cup.
City manager Manuel Pellegrini has already warned that he will make wholesale changes to his team due to a Champions League encounter with Dynamo Kiev in Ukraine just 76 hours later and Mikel admits it is a tie that Chelsea are determined to win.
“You never know what team they’ll put out,” Mikel said. “But I’m sure they want to win the FA Cup as much as we do.
“We want to win every game. We want to win every cup and it’s going to be massive. Sunday is going to be big.
“We can’t win the league now, so the FA Cup and the Champions League are the ones and we have to keep going.
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