John Obi Mikel BLASTS Chelsea and says recent run would have been a CRISIS when he played | OneFootball

John Obi Mikel has slammed Chelsea’s owners, head coach Enzo Maresca, the players and the recruitment staff and says their recent run of form would have been deemed a “crisis” back when he played.

Mikel played for Chelsea between 2006 and 2017, winning plenty of silverware including two Premier League titles and the Champions League.

Enzo Maresca’s current side have slipped from second to sixth in the table following a run of two wins in nine league games and have also been knocked out of the FA Cup.

And speaking about the current situation on the Obi One Podcast, Mikel took aim at the club’s decision making.

He said: “What’s going on is not right. We haven’t been in the Champions League now for how long?

“Now, from the position of competing to win the league, we’re now sixth in the table. And people think I shouldn’t talk about what’s not going right?

“Our voice is needed as fans at this difficult time to help the club make the right decisions, to get the right players in, to bring the club back to where it should be because it’s nowhere near where it should be right now.”

Mikel also declared that Maresca would have already been sacked by previous owner Roman Abramovich: “This would have been a crisis back in our days. The helicopter would have been in London by now and whoever was in charge would have been gone.

“I’m not calling for Enzo Maresca to be sacked. I’m not. My issue is that what’s going on is not right.

“The recruitment process in the summer wasn’t good enough which I talked about. People said I wanted Victor Osimhen at the club because he’s my friend. No, he’s not.

“We needed a striker, we needed a top goalkeeper. I’ve been right the whole time. That’s what we needed.

“People are saying Nicolas Jackson is the solution to our problems but he’s not the solution. Before he was injured he didn’t score in eight. How is he the solution to the problem? He’s not.

“There’s been so many chances created by Cole Palmer and missed.

“The goalkeepers that we have are not top goalkeepers. We needed those two positions sorted and we didn’t do that.

“We’ve gone from a position of depth to a position of weakness. We’ve weakened the squad. We’ve loaned out our players.

“We bought Joao Felix and now he’s gone after a few months.”

Maresca had repeatedly stated that Chelsea were not capable of competing for the league title despite his team sitting second behind Liverpool earlier this campaign.

But Mikel believes that sent the wrong message.

“I’m just hoping that we finish in the top four,” he continued.

“It’s vital we finish in the Champions League positions. It’s going to be a disaster if we don’t finish in the Champions League positions.

“Who has told him (Maresca) that? You can’t be ahead of schedule. It’s Chelsea Football Club. No disrespect to Leicester where he’s come from but this is Chelsea. We are a Champions League football club.

“He can’t come out and say that the club has told him he has two years to get into the Champions League. No mate. This is a Champions League football club.

“I’ve never watched a game in the Conference League. I don’t care about it. That’s not who we are.

“For him to come out and say they’re ahead of schedule. No you’re not. You should be there.

“I hate that he came out and said we’re not a title contender. That was the wrong statement to make. Two wins in 10 since then. We’ve gone from title contenders to top four to out of the top four.

“That statement the manager made that we are not contending to win the Premier League, I think that’s got into the players heads’ and it’s been a disaster.

“We have no clue what we are doing. I watched the games.

“There’s no character, no intensity, no leaders on the pitch. There was no one picking up the others. There was no one giving it to their colleagues to do more.”