Former Chelsea midfielder, John Mikel Obi has lashed out at the club following their Premier League 2-0 defeat to Everton over the weekend.
Mikel Obi said Mauricio Pochettino’s side lack leaders when players are having a bad game, adding that there is no single leader in the Blues squad.
The ex-Nigeria international spoke during an episode of the Obi One Podcast, stressing that Chelsea needs to start winning game.
The Blues defeat against Everton at Goodison Park saw them fall to 12th position in the Premier League table.
Obi said; “Are we just going to sit on the fence and say we are still in a rebuilding process?. There is no time for that. We need to start winning games. When I look at the team, it comes down to a lack of leaders. In the game against Everton, I looked around the pitch, there was not one single leader. There is no one to come out on the pitch to go at your colleagues and say, ‘Wake up, what are you doing?’ – this is what we had before.
“The likes of Didier Drogba, John Terry, and Frank Lampard, when you are having a s* game, these guys would make you wake up. I look at the manager; I didn’t see him scream at one of the players to say, ‘Do your f**** job, wake up, make sure you run around and make sure we win the game’.”
Mikel recently disclosed that he left the English Premier League club because of the former manager, Antonio Conte.
He said shortly after Conte took over as club manager, he and his compatriot Victor Moses were invited to represent the Nigerian national team at the Olympics, and the Italian tactician told them that if they leave they should consider themselves no longer part of his team.
He said; Conte was the reason why I left [Chelsea]. Once he came in, he was like, ‘You’re not playing anymore.’ Then I left. Obviously, when I saw Conte coming into the club, I was like, ‘My time here is done.’
The only reason is when he came in, me and Victor Moses and we got invited to the [Nigerian] national team for the Olympics. So, I had a conversation with the club and he [Conte] said, ‘If you go, you’re not playing anymore for the club. Because I’m a new manager, we need to think about the club.’
