New arrival at Middlesbrough of England, John Mikel Obi has declared that he wants to get stronger in his efforts on the pitch and contribute more to the club’s success this season.
After lining out for 62 minutes in last weekend’s FA Cup match against Newport County, Mikel said he was happy with his performance, but believes he could have done better to help his side get victory.
Footballllive.ng reports that Newport actually equalised long after Mikel had been substituted in Saturday’s match at The Riverside, but the Super Eagles captain hinted that he could have stayed on to save his side.
The visitors’ equaliser came in the 90th minute of the encounter, which set up a testy replay for both sides, and Mikel is of a view that he will need to step up his efforts and get stronger in order to play better for the team that once had Yakubu Aiyegbeni, Kenneth Omeruo, Carl Onuoha Ikeme, Bartholomew Ogbeche and Sammy Ameobi.
Mikel is now looking beyond the replay, as he has set targets for the remaining half of the season with Boro, and reckons that it will take a lot of effort from him to help the club achieve high levels of success.
The former Lyn Oslo of Norway, Chelsea of England and Tianjin Teda of China star stated: “I appreciate getting my debut with the team so early, and that I even got to start.
“It was an interesting match, but we were not happy that they equalised. I wanted to contribute more and would have loved to stop them from getting the equaliser.
“I want to contribute more for the team, I want to get more stronger and help Middlesbrough back to where they belong.”
