John Obi Mikel has slammed Jadon Sancho’s recent form, accusing him of ‘deceiving’ Chelsea – while Shaun Wright-Phillips still believes in the player’s ability and has told him he will rediscover his form if he keeps plugging away because his talent is still in there.
Sancho initially impressed at Stamford Bridge, providing an assist and earning Player of the Match in a 1-0 away win over Bournemouth. He followed up with assists in his next two matches, suggesting a return to his blistering Dortmund form.
However, the English winger has since scored only twice and added one assist in his last 19 Premier League outings, drawing criticism from fans and pundits.
Earlier this month, former Blue Mikel found fault with Sancho’s performances, saying on his Obi One Podcast: “Jadon Sancho, he’s come on, and he’s deceived us with a couple of games. We thought, ‘Oh, f*****g hell, now we’re getting the Jadon Sancho from Dortmund.’ But he’s gone again. I don’t know what’s happened to Jadon. He’s disappeared.
“Off the grid. He takes the ball. He doesn’t go past people any more. He doesn’t create chances anymore. He doesn’t help the team as much as he should be. And [Noni] Madueke is now injured as well.
“This is when players should step in and take responsibility and say, ‘You know what, listen. Now, I have the opportunity to play week in and week out, and I need to be ready for it. I need to help the team with assists and goalscoring,’ and they’re not doing that.
“Jadon needs to step up. I don’t know what’s happened with Jadon, but Jadon Sancho needs to wake the f*** up. The Premier League is the toughest league in the world. If you don’t do it here…”
Meanwhile, Chelsea legend Wright-Phillips, who played with Mikel at Stamford Bridge, defended Sancho, as he suggested that the 24-year-old is short on confidence but will find his way back to form.
The former England winger told Tribal Football: “Confidence is a massive thing. You can see in elements of his game that he tries to make things happen. If you look at his past, before he joined Man United, whatever he did also worked. That builds confidence to make him do it again and again until he creates a chance or gets a shot or even scores a goal. It will come in time.”
Wright-Phillips also reflected on his own career to offer advice to Sancho, adding: “I was a winger myself, and there are elements in his game I recognise from going through periods of things just not happening.
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“He just has to put his head down and keep going because we know he’s got the ability. You can lose your pace, you lose confidence, but your ability to do things is always there; it’s just a matter of getting it out.”
Chelsea kicked off the season on a high note with impressive wins against Wolves, West Ham, and Brighton – but their form has dipped alarmingly since. Most recently, Brighton knocked the Blues out of the FA Cup, clinching a 2-1 victory in the fourth round, and handed them a 3-0 defeat in the Premier League not long after.
Manchester City and Ipswich Town have also won against Chelsea in the past few weeks. Mikel has made his disappointment clear, going on to critique the team’s performance and recruitment strategy this season.
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He said: “For me, the recruitment process has been really, really poor. You brought back Joao Felix from wherever the f*** he was. You brought him back to the football club and let him go after three months. What is going on?
“Right now, the depth should be more for the money that has been spent. You don’t have healthy competition as a centre-forward. It’s not good enough. We need consistency.”
Chelsea will be desperate to overcome this poor form when they face Aston Villa at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday in the Premier League as they look to get their Champions League aspirations back on track.
