John
Obi Mikel who has been in action regularly following the gross
under-performance of first-choice midfield pair Fabregas and Matic, has
been alleged to be one of the factors responsible for Chelsea's slump in
their current campaign.
Alan Hudson during his days in Chelsea
Former English footballer, Alan Anthony Hudson, who began his
footballing career with Chelsea, and played there for six years as well
as the England national football team, has argued that John Obi Mikel is
one of the factors responsible for Chelsea’s slump in their current
campaign.
The Super Eagles star, has been in action regularly following the
gross under-performance of first-choice midfield pair, Cesc Fabregas and
Nemanja Matic.
However, Mikel has failed to impress and it’s perhaps little
coincidence that some of his appearances for the Blues have coincided
with their poorest results of the campaign.
The midfielder started in the 3-1 loss to Everton, the 2-1 away
defeat to FC Porto in the Champions League, the Capital One Cup
elimination at the hands of Stoke City and last weekend’s 3-1 loss at
Liverpool. He also featured for 45 minutes in the Blues’ 2-1 loss away
at West Ham United.
Mikel Obi celebrating after scoring for Chelsea
Alan Hudson believes that sub-par players like Mikel and under
performing striker Diego Costa are the chief reason why the West
Londoners are struggling this season.
"I think they need a facelift. You can’t carry on with players
like John Obi Mikel, you need better players than that in midfield.
"They need a clearout of players. Branislav Ivanovic has been
tremendous for them but he seems to have hit a brick wall at right back.
"When they bought Pedro from Barcelona at the start of the
season I thought it would give Chelsea more width, with him on one side
and Eden Hazard on the other, and they would open their game out a bit.
"They play through the middle too much and rely on Diego Costa
up front too much. Costa, in my opinion, is nowhere near as good as
people make him out to be," Hudson told Reuters.
