Former Chelsea midfielder Mikel John Obi says the club made a “ridiculous mistake” by parting company with Enzo Maresca and believes they have taken “five steps backwards” after hiring Liam Rosenior.
Maresca left Chelsea on New Year’s Day after a breakdown in his relationship with the board at Stamford Bridge.
The Italian won the Conference League and Club World Cup as well as guiding the Blues to Champions League qualification in his first season in charge, but left under a cloud after a run of only one win from his final seven Premier League games.
Maresca was quickly replaced by Rosenior, with Chelsea seeing a marked improvement in results under the former Strasbourg boss.
After dropping points at home to Burnley and Leeds in recent weeks, however, Rosenior has faced criticism, and Mikel has now said that the club should never have let Maresca go in the first place.
"We had Enzo Maresca. I've said it, I think it was a massive mistake to sack him. I mean, it's ridiculous,” Mikel said on the Obi One podcast.
"Yeah, a manager that won us the Club World Cup, won us the Conference League, we had some sort of identity the way we played. We took a step forward, and we've gone five steps backwards.
"Liam has come in, and he's won games, but there is absolutely something that is missing. Something is not quite right.”
After a relatively comfortable start to life at the helm for Rosenior, Chelsea now face a difficult run of fixtures as they look to seal a place in the top four.
The Blues take on Arsenal and Aston Villa away from home in their next two league fixtures, before then hosting Newcastle and Manchester City, either side of a trip to Everton.
Recent wins for Liverpool and Manchester United mean Chelsea have dropped to fifth in the table and are now level on points with Liverpool in sixth.
