CHELSEA hero John Obi Mikel put his former club on full blast in a sensational rant after manager Enzo Maresca’s “disaster” interview.
The Blues’ humiliating 3-0 loss at Brighton last Friday effectively ended any Premier League title hopes Maresca’s side had until December.
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The West Londoners have now won a mere two out of their last nine Prem matches, of which they lost four.
The Italian tactician, though, stated before the loss to the Seagulls, who also eliminated his team from the FA Cup with a 2-1 victory the week before, that his side are in fact ahead of schedule in terms of progress.
That is after the ex-Leicester boss was ordered to deliver Champions League football in two years after he took on the job in the summer, with his team currently sixth in the table with one point away from fourth.
Obi Mikel, 37, refused to hold back on his brutal assessment of Maresca’s statement.
That led the two-time Premier League winner, who also won four FA Cup trophies and the Champions League during his 11-year stint with Chelsea, to lash out by dropping a total of 18 F-bombs.
Obi Mikel told The Obi One Podcast: “‘Who the f*** has told them that? Are you f***ing kidding me? This is Chelsea Football Club.
“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.
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“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 targeted Manchester United loanee Jadon Sancho, who has struggled to impress since moving to Stamford Bridge in the summer with an obligation to buy for a reported £23milion fee.
Sancho had another impressive loan stint at Borussia Dortmund during the second half of last season but he has only managed two goals and six assists in 22 appearances with the Blues.
Obi Mikel added: “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 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.
Chelsea ‘need a striker’
“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 help the team as much as he should be.
“Paul Winstanley [sporting director] I know you watching, you’re listening please and Todd Boehly [co-controlling owner and chairman], please we need a striker.
“Nicolas Jackson is a fantastic guy, fantastic striker but he needs help. It’s not just his form, not just his goalscoring 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 [John Terry] 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’.”
Reece James slammed
That led to another brutal assessment of current Chelsea captain Reece James, who has endured a raft of injuries the last four years and has struggled to regain his former prowess when he’s on the pitch.
Obi Mikel said: “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.
“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 two out of 10 [eight Premier League matches after Christmas] 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.”
