‘What are you doing?’ – John Obi Mikel slams Chelsea star and questions Enzo Maresca decision

John Obi Mikel has heavily criticised Tosin Adarabioyo’s defending in Chelsea’s 2-1 defeat to Sunderland and questioned Enzo Maresca’s decision to bring off two of his ‘best players’ in Joao Pedro and Pedro Neto.

Chelsea got off to the perfect start as Alejandro Garnacho scored his first goal for the club to break the deadlock after only four minutes at Stamford Bridge.

But the visitors levelled through Wilson Isidor before stealing all three points at the death, with Chemsdine Talbi picking out the corner of Robert Sanchez’s net to send the away end into raptures.

It brought Chelsea’s run of four straight wins to an end and ensured the club dropped to ninth, eight points adrift of top-of-the-table Arsenal after nine games.

The Blues will be desperate to get back to winning ways when they return to action with a Carabao Cup fourth-round clash at Wolves on Wednesday night.

A high-pressure London derby then awaits Maresca’s men at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the English top flight next weekend.

‘It’s a massive three points dropped. A massive, massive three points dropped,’ ex-Chelsea midfielder Obi Mikel said on The Obi One Podcast.

‘The way we conceded the last goal was just absolutely awful defending.

‘I’ve mentioned it so many times, we just don’t have good enough defenders. The centre-backs that we have right now, we can’t win the Premier League with those centre-backs.

‘You can see that with Arsenal that defenders win you the title. Yes, strikers win you games, but defenders win you the title, defenders win you the league, and now Arsenal have conceded just three goals in nine games.

‘We’ve said it so many times that if anyone can win the Premier League this season, it’s got to be Arsenal. They have the best team and the best squad.’

Obi Mikel is still scratching his head over Maresca’s decision to remove Pedro and Neto when Chelsea were on the hunt for a winner in the closing stages.

‘I think the manager will be very disappointed with how we lost the game,’ he added.

‘I’ve never been critical of Enzo Maresca, I’m a big fan of his. But I just thought that when we were chasing that game, to win that game when it was 1-1, at home… you can’t take your best players out.

‘You can’t substitute your best players. It doesn’t matter that you’re not playing so great.

‘Joao Pedro and Pedro Neto, they were not playing so well. But you leave those players on the pitch and they will find a way to create chances, they will find a way to win that game.

‘I just thought for him to substitute Joao Pedro and Pedro Neto out, after that substitution it was just flat, absolutely flat. There was nothing, we just couldn’t offer anything.’

According to Obi Mikel, the front three Maresca left on the field was far too inexperienced for such a high-pressure situation.

‘I loved the players he brought onto the pitch. He left Estevao and he brought in Jamie Gittens and Tyrique George as well,’ the two-time Premier League winner continued.

‘But when you look at that front three, they are very young. They can’t win you those kind of games where you’re chasing the game and it’s tight, you’re trying to win, you’re trying to create something, the fans are getting frustrated as well.

‘When you’re bringing off those players and there’s a lot of inexperience as well coming into the game, I just think it will take a little bit of time to get into the game.

‘Bring them in when we’re winning the game, when there’s less pressure. Don’t bring those young players in when we’re chasing the game and it’s tight.’

Obi Mikel felt Adarabioyo was far too passive with his defending for Sunderland’s late winner, with Brian Brobbey given ample ‘time and space’ to find Talbi on the edge of the box. 

‘The defending was poor! Listen, I don’t like pointing fingers,’ the former Nigeria international went on.

‘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.’

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