{"id":451435,"date":"2025-09-25T22:52:18","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T22:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/451435\/"},"modified":"2025-09-25T22:52:18","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T22:52:18","slug":"john-obi-mikel-loves-chelsea-players-arrogance-and-slams-enzo-maresca-for-ignoring-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/451435\/","title":{"rendered":"John Obi Mikel loves Chelsea player’s \u2018arrogance\u2019 and slams Enzo Maresca for ignoring him"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

John Obi Mikel has criticised Enzo Maresca and his decision-making following Chelsea\u2019s 2-1 loss against Manchester United in the Premier League.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Blues returned to winning ways in the Carabao Cup with summer signing Facundo Buonanotte impressing<\/a> during the win against Lincoln City.<\/p>\n

Prior to Tuesday\u2019s win, Enzo Maresca<\/a> suffered his first league defeat of the 2025\/26 campaign in a drama-fuelled clash at Old Trafford.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/ Click to subscribe to the podcast \"\"\/ <\/a><\/p>\n

Man United took a commanding two-goal lead after Robert Sanchez<\/a> received his marching orders inside the opening five minutes on Saturday before Casemiro was also sent off as he was handed his second yellow card on the stroke of half-time.<\/p>\n

\"RobertPhoto by James Gill \u2013 Danehouse\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Chelsea produced their worst performance<\/a> of the season thus far, and now ex-Blues midfielder Mikel<\/a> believes Maresca made a crucial error in the loss.<\/p>\n

Alejandro Garnacho should have played against Manchester United<\/p>\n

When discussing the result on his Obi One podcast, Mikel believes Chelsea<\/a> would have stood a better chance had Alejandro Garnacho<\/a> been introduced at Old Trafford and blasted the boss for leaving his summer signing on the bench.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought Enzo Fernandez<\/a> didn\u2019t have his best game, and I just thought that\u2019s where he should have taken him off and brought on Garnacho.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just thought that game was crying out for Garnacho. He was crying out for Garnacho. You know, back at Old Trafford, he wanted to show the whole Manchester United fans what they were missing. \u2018Why did you let me go?\u2019 He\u2019s got that arrogance \u2013 you can see that. Even at some point, when the manager was making tactical changes and talking to his staff, you could see Garnacho was trying to listen.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe wants to get on the pitch. He\u2019s like, \u2018Gaffer, get me on!\u2019 And I thought that game was meant for him. He should have brought him on, but obviously the manager decided he didn\u2019t have to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ruben Amorim informed the Argentine that he was free to find a new club at the end of the season, and as TBR Football<\/strong> revealed, United allowed Chelsea to sign Garnacho<\/a> in the final days of the transfer window with no other offers on the table.<\/p>\n

However, the 21-year-old has already become the recipient of intense scrutiny \u2013 Garnacho was scolded for his debut display<\/a> as he was scapegoated for allowing Fabio Carvalho to score a last-gasp equaliser in the 2-2 draw against Brentford.<\/p>\n

Maresca piled on the criticism<\/a> of his \u00a340 million star after the final whistle, despite assisting Moises Caicedo to take the lead on the day \u2013 the Chelsea boss admitted Garnacho must improve defensively.<\/p>\n

The Italian then opted to introduce Tyrique George<\/a> at Old Trafford instead of the Argentina international, a decision that ultimately backfired as the Blues failed to find the equaliser.<\/p>\n

Alejandro Garnacho must earn Enzo Maresca\u2019s trust<\/p>\n

It is clear from Garnacho\u2019s omission against his former club that he has a long way to go at Stamford Bridge before he has earned Maresca\u2019s trust.<\/p>\n

Indeed, he was caught lacking at the Gtech Community Stadium as Carvalho rescued a point for Brentford, but it is perhaps unfair for the forward to be judged based on one error.<\/p>\n

With Cole Palmer set for another spell on the sidelines and Liam Delap still rehabilitating from his injury setback, Maresca is surprisingly running out of top-quality options at the business end of the pitch.<\/p>\n

Jamie Bynoe-Gittens and Estevao have performed admirably, but neither boasts the extensive Premier League experience of Garnacho. He will undoubtedly have a significant role to play in the coming weeks, but the writing is on the wall if he doesn\u2019t prove to the Chelsea boss that he can be a reliable option moving forward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Obi Mikel has criticised Enzo Maresca and his decision-making following Chelsea\u2019s 2-1 loss against Manchester United in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":451436,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4100],"tags":[1682,885,1367,94,6276,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-451435","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-alejandro-garnacho","9":"tag-chelsea","10":"tag-enzo-maresca","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-john-obi-mikel","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115267393661247098","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/451436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}