Former Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel has blasted the Blues after their recent poor run of form, while singling out a number of stars and the manager for criticism.
Friday’s 3-0 defeat by Brighton means the London club have won just two of their last nine Premier League games, crashing out of both domestic cup tournaments during that time.
Enzo Maresca’s men were thought to be in the title race back in December but any hopes of top flight glory are long gone now.
Despite this, Maresca believes his side are ahead of schedule in terms of progress, having been told to deliver Champions League football in two years when he took the job in the summer.
And speaking on The Obi One Podcast, Obi Mikel was far from impressed with these comments.
‘Who the f*** has told them that? Are you f***ing kidding me? This is Chelsea Football Club,’ he said.
John Obi Mikel opened fire on his former team Chelsea on the latest episode of his podcast
Enzo Maresca’s men have been on a poor run of form since impressing earlier in the season
‘You can’t be ahead of the f***ing schedule, this is the f***ing Chelsea Football Club, no disrespect to Leicester where he’s coming from, this is f***ing Chelsea Football Club. We are a Champions League football club, that’s what we are.
‘He can’t come out and say if the club employ you, if they’ve told you that, no, mate. This is a Champions League football club. We’ve always been in the Champions League. I can swear to you right now I’ve never watched a f*** ng game in the Conference League. I’ve never watched it, I don’t care about it, that’s not who we are.
‘We are a Champions League football club. So for me, for him to come out and say we’re ahead of schedule, no you are not. We should be there.
‘I think that comment that the manager made that we are not contenders to win the Premier League, that has got into the players’ heads and the whole thing since then has been a f***ing disaster. We have no clue what we’re doing.’
Obi Mikel also took aim at Manchester united loanee Jadon Sancho, who has largely underwhelmed since joining in the summer.
‘I watched the games, the game against West Ham was even worse than the game against Brighton. Against Brighton There was no character, there was no intensity, there was no leaders on the pitch.
‘There was no one telling Jadon Sancho, Sancho the first the first goal you should have tackled for that, there was no one telling Sancho what the f*** are you doing?
‘He’s (Sancho) deceived us with a good couple of games, you know we thought oh f***ing hell now we’re getting this Jadon Sancho from Dortmund but he’s gone again. He’s disappeared off the grid. he takes the ball he doesn’t go past people, anymore he doesn’t create chances anymore you know he doesn’t he doesn’t help the team as much as he should be.
Jadon Sancho has had moments in a Chelsea shirt but has not had the impact hoped for
‘Paul Winstanley (sporting director) I know you watching, you’re listening please and please you and Todd Boehly please we need a striker.’
‘Nicholas Jackson is a fantastic guy, fantastic striker he needs help. It’s not just his form not just his goal scoring what happens when he gets injured and we’ve seen it here now and we’ve come into the crucial part of the season where we need to win games and we need get to win games.
‘They’re not bad players but they need to do more they need leaders they need somebody who’s going to hold them by the f***ng neck and say listen wake the f*** up mate. You need a f***ing leader who is going to say wake up wake the f*** up.
‘They are too soft. That’s what I mean. I know I keep going back to when we were at the club but that’s something that helped us.
‘When you’re not doing things right JT calls you in, goes to maybe meets you in the gym maybe meets you by the pool area, and says listen what’s happening you need to do more. The club needs you to do more because we win games here.
And Obi Mikel does not think that current Reece James is doing that.
‘Ah f*** that, no, you think Reece James is going to speak to Enzo Fernandez? No I don’t see that happening. Reece James needs to do more as a captain, you can only do more by your performances, by being on the pitch, showing leadership on the pitch. He’s been injured half of his career at Chelsea.
‘You can’t go and say to a player you know you need to do more – no, you need to be on the f***ing pitch. That’s a disaster if we fail to qualify for the Champions League I will view this season as a massive massive disaster disaster disaster.
Mikel can’t envisage captain Reece James (R) having words with players like Enzo Fernandez
‘December is not a f***ing time to drink red wine and have turkey. You can enjoy your Christmas but we knew back then that this is the test when you need to win the Premier League.
‘It’s not a holiday period. It’s never a holiday period. So to win 2 out of 10 since then it’s a huge, huge disappointment. I just hope we find our way back.
‘Cole Palmer, his form has dipped a little bit but the guy can’t do everything alone. The pressure always should be on the owners.
‘They’ve bought this football club with the sole purpose of winning – not making profit. If you buy Chelsea Football Club and think you are here to make profit, no mate you can f*** off, you can f*** off. You need to win trophies. You can make your profit but you need to win trophies.’
