John Obi Mikel claims Chelsea have “gone five steps backwards” under Liam Rosenior | OneFootball

Former Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel claims that Chelsea have “gone five steps backwards” under Liam Rosenior.

Mikel, who was a big fan of Enzo Maresca and believed the Italian coach was building something at Chelsea, says there is something now missing under new head coach Rosenior after our last two league performances.

EXCLUSIVE! Inside Chelsea’s new FOS sponsorship deal and what’s happening with Red Bull/Orcale!!

Chelsea have now dropped points in our last two league games against relegation battling teams. We could only manage a 1-1 draw with Burnley on Saturday afternoon after going a goal up early doors.

Pedro Neto whipped a low cross in for the in form Joao Pedro, who bundled the ball in to put Chelsea 1-0 up in the opening moments of the game. The crowd were roaring, and everyone expected a comfortable win with some nice football along the way. But it didn’t work out that way.

Chelsea also only managed a 2-2 draw with Leeds in the league game before that one, wasting a 2-0 lead in that game.

Mikel is concerned

Liam Rosenior on the touchline. (Photo by Ben Stansall/AFP)

On his latest Podcast episode, as cited on X, Mikel said:

“We had Enzo Maresca. I’ve said it, I think it was a massive mistake to sack him.

“I mean, it’s ridiculous. Yeah, a manager that won us the Club World Cup, won us the Conference League, we had some sort of identity the way we played.

“We took a step forward, and we’ve gone five steps backwards. Liam has come in and he’s won games, but there is absolutely something that is missing. Something is not quite right.”

Massive over reactions

I think Mikel is being overly emotional here. This is a big over reaction. Rosenior has had a decent start as Chelsea manager, winning 8 out of 12 games so far in all competitions.

To say he has taken Chelsea 5 step backwards is absolutely absurd and has no basis to it at all, sorry Mikel – you’re wrong.