“Don’t blame him” “He makes him looks poor” – John Obi Mikel slams Enzo Maresca decision on Chelsea star
John Obi Mikel, a former Chelsea player, has criticized Blues head coach Enzo Maresca in his most recent podcast.
Like the majority of Chelsea supporters, Mikel is disappointed with the team’s performance in the last three games after the team’s and the team’s fortunes this season had begun to improve.
At one point, Chelsea appeared to have a chance to finish second in the Premier League heading into 2025. However, they had to settle for the 2024 in fourth place in the league after drawing with Everton, losing to Fulham, and then falling to relegation-threatened Ipswich Town 2-0 on Monday night.
To be honest, I still think this is exceeding expectations, because having done some polls on my own personal Chelsea website at the start of the season, barely anyone predicted Chelsea will finish in the top four this season. So if the season ended today and Chelsea got fourth, I think most fans would be content with that and would not have expected it at the start of the season.
Mikel goes in
Enzo Maresca decided to start Axel Disasi at right back against Ipswich when he had three right backs on the bench. Disasi was awful and at fault for the second goal.
Speaking on his latest Podcast in words cited on X, Mikel said:
“Why is Disasi playing right-back when you have three right-backs on the bench? The manager needs to start taking responsibility for dropped points.”
He was also quoted as saying:
“I’ve got no idea why the manager drops gusto sometimes and plays Disasi at right back.”
I think those points and frustrations are echoed by pretty much every Chelsea fan right now. He wanted to rest players, fine, but you have Josh Acheampong right there!