‘Not good enough’ – John Obi Mikel slams two Chelsea stars after Man City defeat

John Obi Mikel has taken aim at Nicolas Jackson and Robert Sanchez following Chelsea’s 3-1 defeat to Manchester City, claiming the duo are simply ‘not good enough’ to get the club back to where they ‘belong’.

Chelsea got off to a dream start at the Etihad as City debutant Abdukodir Khusanov gifted the visitors an opener through Noni Madueke after only three minutes.

But that was as good as it got for Enzo Maresca’s men, with Josko Gvardiol and Erling Haaland hitting the target either side of half-time to put the champions in the driving seat.

Phil Foden raced through and beat Sanchez with a composed finish to increase the deficit in the 87th minute and the hosts held firm to maintain their grip on fourth spot in the Premier League.

Chelsea, meanwhile, sit sixth after an immensely disappointing run of results and now trail leaders Liverpool by 13 points in the table.

It could have been an entirely different outcome had the away team taken their chances in Manchester and questions have once again been raised over Jackson’s apparent wastefulness in front of goal.

After assisting Madueke for the opening goal, Jackson had a golden opportunity to double Chelsea’s lead but the Senegalese instead decided to pull the ball back for Jadon Sancho, whose shot was denied.

‘Not the scoreline we all wanted, is it? I’m a bit gutted,’ ex-Chelsea midfielder Obi Mikel said on The Obi One Podcast.

‘We started well with the goal and then we thought, “Let’s kick on from here”. This has been what has happened for the last three or four games.

‘We got 1-0 up or 2-0 up and then we don’t kill the game, we don’t finish the game and we end up paying for it.

‘Again, we went 1-0 up and we had that chance to go 2-0 up with Nicolas Jackson.

‘Some people are saying that the pass from Cole Palmer is a little bit… no, it’s not. You’re a striker, just put your foot through it.

‘If you miss it, it’s fine. But attempt to score. What did he do? Just controlled the ball and then came back.

‘Your job is to f***ing score the goals, that’s why you were brought to the football club. Put the ball in the back of the net and try to score. He didn’t do that.’

While Obi Mikel has been heavily critical on a number of occasions, he insists he has no agenda against the former Villarreal forward.

‘I have nothing against Nicolas Jackson and every time I talk about him, it’s like I have something against him, it’s like I’m trying to get Victor [Osimhen] to come to the football club. No it’s not, I’ve said it,’ Obi Mikel added.

‘If the people at the top of the club don’t get Victor… Viktor Gyokeres’ goalscoring stats are unreal. We need somebody who can score goals to get us there. We don’t have that.

‘The reason why we succeeded in my time and, again, I’m not trying to compare him with Didier [Drogba], because we had somebody that when we called upon him he was there to put the ball in the back of the net. We don’t have that right now.

‘Nicolas Jackson, he’s doing well with his combinations. But he’s not a goalscorer and that’s what we need.’

Later on in the podcast, Obi Mikel turned his attentions to Chelsea’s goalkeeper Sanchez, who had another day to forget between the sticks.

The Spaniard should arguably have done better for Gvardiol’s equaliser and was caught in no man’s land after inexplicably rushing out of goal for Haaland’s strike in the 68th minute.

‘Not good enough. He’s not a top, top ‘keeper,’ Obi Mikel said when analysing Sanchez’s performance.

‘He’s good enough to be there in the league but he’s not good enough [for Chelsea].

‘What I keep saying is players who are good enough to win the league and put us in the top four. He’s not that goalkeeper and Nicolas Jackson is not that striker that will get us to win the league.

‘Top four, they might get us there, but to win the league, to get us to where we belong… they are not those people.

‘Sanchez showed that again with that mistake. What are you doing rushing out? What are you doing?!

‘If you called Petr Cech now off the cuff, privately, he would say the same thing but I’m the only person who is coming out to say it.

‘I understand that my colleagues don’t want to come out and say it but I am saying it. This is what we need: we need to get another top striker and a goalkeeper.’

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