Former Chelsea midfielder John Obi-Mikel has hit out at Tosin Adarabioyo for his performance in the 2-1 loss to Sunderland in the Premier League. He believes the Blues cannot win the league title with the current defenders at the club.
Speaking on The Obi One Podcast, Mikel said the poor defending that led to Sunderland’s injury-time winner was unacceptable. He slammed Tosin and added that Chalobah should have also done better and said:
“It’s a massive three points dropped. The centre-backs that we have right now, we can’t win the Premier League with those centre-backs. Tosin, what are you doing?! Five or six seconds, he controlled the ball, the striker, and you’re standing behind him. Yes, Tosin, yes. [Trevoh] Chalobah as well, yes. Was Chalobah looking at the man who was arriving late to the box, was he trying to calculate where the man is coming?”
“But I just think one of them should have done something, one of them should have been proactive in terms of the defending. They should have gone to the man rather than just wait. When you do that, you just give your opponent the time and space. He had the time and space and all he had to do was square it to the man who was coming. Brilliant finish but disappointing the way we conceded the goal.”
Chelsea’s loss saw them slip to ninth in the Premier League table. A win would have seen them move to third, just five points behind leaders Arsenal.
Chelsea need an experienced defender, says Paul Merson
Arsenal legend Paul Merson has claimed that Chelsea will not win the Premier League title until they add an experienced defender. He believes that they are missing a player like Thiago Silva and said on Sky Sports (via Metro):
“When you get a young team, you’re up and down, they have wingers who are very inconsistent. They can’t win the Premier League like that. They need a little bit of experience in there. They miss Thiago Silva with his experience and that’s their problem. They’re just going to be up and down, up and down. Hopefully they can get top four, but they’ve got to be better than that.”
Chelsea finished fourth in the Premier League table last season, 15 points behind winners Liverpool. They won the UEFA Conference League and the FIFA Club World Cup during Enzo Maresca’s first season at the club.
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Edited by Sripad
