John Obi Mikel says Chelsea made two big transfer mistakes in January
Former Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel has criticise the club for failing to strengthen in two areas while they had the chance in the January transfer window.
Chelsea surpasse expectations across an excellent แทงบอล UFABET ราคาดีที่สุด ไม่มีขั้นต่ำ start to the season under a new head coach in Enzo Maresca, suffering just two league defeats heading into the Christmas period.
But the west London giants have managed only three wins from their last nine games in all competitions and now sit fourth in the English top flight, 13 points adrift of leaders Liverpool.
The concerning drop-off intensified calls amongst Chelsea’s fanbase for reinforcements to be brought in over the winter, with both ends of the pitch seemingly in need of freshening up.
Robert Sanchez sits joint-top of the list of Premier League goalkeepers with the most mistakes leading to goals this term and major questions have raise surrounding his place between the sticks.
In attack, meanwhile, Nicolas Jackson has experience a worrying decline in form and appears to be badly struggling for confidence in front of goal, failing to hit the target in his last eight matches in all competitions.
‘As a striker, if you haven’t scored in eight, that is massive,’ Obi Mikel said on.
‘But it’s not just Nicolas. Again, it’s good to see that Pedro Neto came in, that’s what we’re crying out for.
‘It’s not just Nicolas that needs to be chipping in with the goals. We need goals from [Noni] Madueke, we need goals from Pedro Neto, we need goals from [Jadon] Sancho, not just Nicolas.
‘But as the main man, as the top striker, no goals in eight is not good enough.’
Maresca replace Jackson in only the 52nd minute of Chelsea’s comeback win over West Ham on Monday, with Marc Guiu brought on in his place at Stamford Bridge.
Obi Mikel, Guiu is a player with great potential – but not who Chelsea should be relying on to score important goals in big games at this stage.
‘Now we’re looking at that and the manager has to hook him off. Who does he bring in? An 18-year-old Marc Guiu,’ he added.
‘He’s very young, a talented player and has got potential. But he’s not the striker that you bring in when you need goals, when you need to win games.