New Year, New Managers: Chelsea Chaos, United Ownership Mess & Osimhen’s Passion

25:06And he has the job of doing that, managing the squad, what happens on the pitch, and dealing with the fans. He has to deal with that. It's a huge job for him. It's a massive job. Can he be able to do it? Is he the manager that's coming right now again and he's going to be the manager that they can manipulate and tell exactly what to do? Of course, that's what it is. Of course, he can say as much as he wants to say that he's not. One thousand percent, he is that guy that they will tell him exactly what to do. There's no question about it. Enzo Mariska was the same. They're all the same. These coaches, these young coaches, because they know exactly what they're signing up for.

25:45They know exactly what they're signing up for. But when they look at it, it's a huge opportunity for them to turn down. I get that. But they have no say on what happens at the football club. Make no mistake about that. And it's the same with Liam Rossini. So I know he's a young coach,

26:00John Obi Mikel:but he's also, again, another thing is, you know, opportunity being given to a black young manager, which is good, but that doesn't qualify you to get a job like that. If you're trying to break whatever barriers you're trying to break, just football club and look good. For me, that doesn't qualify you to get a massive job like that. So, you know, it's just a mess what's going on at the football club. And I just hope that at some point, at some stage, we just get it right. We get it right. I like the fact that a black manager is getting an opportunity to showcase the talent because a lot of black managers, I think, deserve to get opportunities.

26:51John Obi Mikel:And it's nice to see one get opportunity to manage in the highest level, one of the biggest clubs in the world. And I hope he does well. I support him. I hope he does well. I hope he comes in and does really well and shut all the critics, you know, because he has to perform. He has to win trophies. He's been given six years contract. He has to win trophies. He has to win games. At least for the first two, three seasons, he has to win games. Now I was talking about us winning trophies, probably start winning trophies in a year or two. Now we've pushed that back. It's constantly a year or two. It's this project that we talk about.

27:30You're invested in this playing squad, which is, you know, like you said, full of talent. But you're now at a stage where, if you look back at the last three, four years, the managers that you're going through, the Premier League is full of young managers. You could talk about some unbelievable, there's a difference in managing them top six clubs. Yeah. There just is. And I wonder if we get to a stage at some point where your Contes, your Jose's, your Tukul's, they might be difficult, you know, during their career and probably tough to manage, but do them clubs need that sort of statesman-like man manager that comes in and leads rather than these sort of young, I've not seen it work yet.

28:04Arteta maybe, but he's been given the time. I've yet to see a young manager go and deliver a top club.

28:11John Obi Mikel:No, no, you're right. They need time. Every young manager needs time. Ateta needed time, you know. Now he has the best club in the world, in Europe. But he's had time to deal with that. And he's had money. He's had backing of the football club. They've given him money to spend. And he's built a brilliant, brilliant, fantastic squad. So he's had time. Every young manager, yes, needs time. And when they come into the Premier League, which is the most difficult league in the world, they need time. Especially also when they have a young, very, very young squad. They need time. And that's where my question comes in.

28:44John Obi Mikel:What is our objective? Chopping and changing all these managers. What are we trying to achieve? You know, Pochettino's coming. He was gone. Graham Potter coming. He's gone. And now Enzo Maresca after 18 months. So for me, it's a shambles what's going on. At some point, we have to get it right. Clearly, something is not working. When you keep chopping and changing, something is not working. All those managers have come out and they've complained before getting fired. Yep. They've all said the same thing before getting fired. So clearly something at the top is not working. When you have managers that want to do well, that want to improve the squad, that they see that they're putting everything that they have into the team to make the team better, to compete.

29:29And when your hands are constantly being tied, it's difficult for those managers to work. It's difficult for those young managers to work, trying to compete with this young squad that they have. It's so, so difficult. And I hope that at some point, those owners can now say, you know what? We need to free up these managers because we want to win trophies. And that's what we need to get because the fans are not happy right now. Our fans are not happy right now with what happened in the football club. We're not happy. At some point, Chelsea Football Club has to start winning again. And now I think with what has happened now with the second of Enzo Morisca, we've taken one step forward and we've taken five steps backwards.

30:15Because he's going to come in now and try to change the whole thing. The whole fucking system is going to be changed. How he wants the players to play. He's going to start coaching them differently. Start putting different ideas in their head compared to what Enzo Morisca wants. Because we were building something. We were on the right track. On the pitch, yes, I could see that. because there was an identity of how we played, how we won the big games. There was an identity. You can see it. We were competing to win games. But we've taken five steps backwards now, and this is going to push us way, way backwards because I see us now to compete again to win the trophy.

30:55It's another four or five years. City are going to get better next season. Arsenal, if they win this season, they're going to get better. Liverpool are going to get better. Spurs, they're not going to get any worse. So these teams will get better. How do we get better? How do we get better? How does Liam Rossini manage this squad to not lose that dressing room, to not lose the likes of Cole Palmer, the likes of Enzo Fernandez, the likes of Kaicedo? These are your spine. You need that spine to be happy with you. You need to drag them along with you. And if he doesn't manage to do that, he's going to fucking lose that dressing room.

31:35And it's all going to be end before you know it. Not only lose the dressing room, is there a risk of these players have signed up to this project? The world moves fast. Your workday, even faster. Pitching products, drafting reports, analyzing data. Microsoft 365 Copilot is your AI assistant for work. Built into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other Microsoft 365 apps you use. helping you quickly write, analyze, create, and summarize so you can cut through clutter and clear a path to your best work. Learn more at Microsoft.com slash N365 Copilot. Start your day with Quaker Protein Instant Oatmeal.

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32:51John Obi Mikel:because they're going to be thinking that. Enzo Fernandez, he's a World Cup winner. I'm sure he wants to win the Premier League. Kaiseido, fantastic player, one of the best midfielders right now in the Premier League, in the world. He wants to win the Premier League. So they're going to be thinking, what's going on here? You know, they're chopping and changing managers here and there, left, right and centre. And my future is just up and down, up and down. I don't know what's going on. At some point, I'm going to have to think about my career because I want to win stuff. I don't want to be waiting for this five, six year project.

33:25We were close. We were close with Enzo Mareska. We were getting closer and closer. Two, three more experienced players, stock players, could have seen us get there. Get there. We were close. Now, turn to your manager. Starting from fresh. Starting from fresh. Starting from one. It's a shambles. At some point, we have to stop, look at ourselves, and do what's right for the football club. Do what's right for the players, for the fans, which is winning trophies. Which is winning. Not profits. I can understand that. Everybody wants, every investor wants to win, wants to make profits. I get it. I get it.

34:25but never forget the priority, the number one priority of the football club, the culture, which is winning, which is competing. You have to compete. Chelsea Football Club has always competed. Roman Abramovich built a machine of a football club that won and won and won. It's been a long time since he sold the football club. and we keep scrambling and going from right to left and not knowing the way forward. We have to find a way forward because the fans are crying out for it. The players deserve it. Lots of talented, young, fantastic players we have. You need to build a team. You need time. You need a manager that you could give in time.

35:20And Enzo, for me, Moresca, was that guy. The passion he had for the team, for those players. He absolutely loved the players. Twice we saw him, when we scored a goal, running down to celebrate with the players, you know, on the corner flank, with the fans. That's what we wanted to see. Enzo Moresca being there, celebrating with the players, with the fans, building that connection with the players and the fans. He's starting to do that. We were in the right direction. and now he's gone and now we're taking five steps backwards so honestly it's a shame what's going on we have to at some point find a way

36:02John Obi Mikel:I met the guys I spoke to them Paul Wynn Stanley had a chat with him sounds to me like a guy who loves the football club and who wants to see the football club do well had a chat with the owner they seem to me like they want to see but you can't say something and do the other thing because when you start chopping and changing and doing all these things it doesn't look right it doesn't fit the football club at some point they have to find a way of getting the club the football club back to where it belongs sounds like Liam Rossini has got your backing but he might not be the man to take you where you want to be right now when he's going to need time He needs time.

36:49Absolutely needs time.

36:51John Obi Mikel:Yes, he's a brilliant young coach from what I've heard. I don't know the guy. But from what I've heard, he's a brilliant young coach. He can coach. Now, there's a difference of coaching and managing. A dressing room. Especially a dressing room that's not happy that the managers left. It's tough. I've been there. I've been there. When Jose Mourinho left, we were not happy. Nobody was happy. and any manager that was coming in, fuck no, you were not kind of along with you because we were not happy. It takes time for that manager. If that manager is very, very experienced, he can get us to come on his side.

37:32But it's how does he do it? Because the experienced managers will find a way. They know how to get the players on their side. And his inner experienced manager doesn't have that. But luckily enough, right now, he doesn't have the dressing room that we have back in the day. He doesn't. Right now, he's got those kids. He's got those young players. Does that benefit him that he's got a young squad? He's got a young squad. Not you monsters who are winners and leaders and captains. Exactly. Not the gangsters that we had. Not all of that. You know, players with the ego, you know, the Michael Bach, the Shevchenko, the DJ Drogba, the John Terrys, you know, the Frank, so, the Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole, Makalele, All these guys, you know, the ego, Michael Hacien, the egos that we had, you know, the Decos, the Joe Cole and all these guys, the ego, they want to play.

38:26I was the youngest. Me and Solomon Calou, we were the youngest. It was full of top, top players. And I watched them struggle, fight with each other, with their egos, with managers, square up to managers, stand up to managers, to coaches. You've got to give us examples. I'm not mentioning names. But they've all done it. Because they weren't happy. They wanted to play. So how does the man is older when you have 15, 20 players? Who all want to play? It's tough. It's difficult. But the only thing he has right now, he has those kids. He can be able to manage those kids. But he needs to do that pretty, pretty quickly.

39:13John Obi Mikel:And he needs to get them on his side. Because if he doesn't do that, it's going to be tough. It's going to be tough. But I like what I've heard from the guy. I think, you know, I heard him speak. He's very passionate. He loves his job. And this is a massive opportunity for him. And I hope he does well. I really, really hope he does well. You know, if he comes in and starts winning games, that's all he needs to do. Then he will get the fans on his side. He needs to win games. He needs to hit the ground running straight away. There is no time. Because if we lose a few more games, we are fucking in the relegation battle.

39:47And that's the last thing he wants to do. After two games, we find ourselves in a relegation battle. And in the Premier League, when you find yourself there, it's very difficult to get yourself out of it.

39:57John Obi Mikel:So we need to start winning games. He needs to hit the ground running straight away. And I hope he does that because a black young manager who's coming and given a massive opportunity, listen, I have to support him. We all have to support him. Give him the chance to prove himself and I hope he does well. another club in a similar position one of your former clubs Manchester United Ruman Amarim what's your thoughts on that seemed to just fall apart very quickly you could kind of see the Maresco one happening but Amarim it just went like that and he had back in three months ago they came out and backed him what's your thoughts yeah three months ago I mean Jim Ratcliffe came out and said oh yes it's going to be a three year project I'm giving him three years I'm not going to psych him I'm not listening to all of you journalists, all of you pundits, all of you podcasters, whatever he called everybody and say, you know what?

40:48He's a three-year contract. Fuck no. He gave him three months. That's what he gave him. He gave him absolutely three months. But yes, Mariska one, we can see

40:58John Obi Mikel:the cracks, you know, starting to crack. But Ruben Amaran was that. It was quick. He came out, made that statement, made that press conference, and it was quick. They were swift to like get rid of him. I mean, I never saw, I never saw that coming. Um, they were fifth in the table. Yeah. Results weren't great. Results weren't great. He has players away for the African combinations. He has injuries and he still managed to keep them in fourth or fifth position right now. Incredible that they get rid of him. Come, you know, the squad that he has, those players that he has, and to be able to keep them right now in the premier league in fifth position, it's a miracle.

41:42It's an absolute miracle. Yes, they did bring in a few good players in the transfer window, but that's it. That's it. That's all they have. Manchester United, from their

41:53John Obi Mikel:midfield to the back line, to the goalkeeper, they're not good enough. Yes, they brought in attackers. They brought in strikers. They brought in players they can threaten. They can run behind that have good in scoring goals. Mbuemo, I think, is going to be fantastic. Seshko needs a bit of time. Kunia, you can see, is fantastic. Mason Mount coming back to his fitness. Of course, the captain, Enzo, Fernandez, fantastic, fantastic player. The leader, the captain, the man that makes everything tick for Manchester United. The creator, the guy who creates everything for them also. But apart from that, the rest of them are not good enough.

42:28And remember, Amarun has managed to keep them in fifth position. That is a fucking miracle. Under incredible pressure.

42:35John Obi Mikel:Under incredible pressure as well. You know, the guy, every time you see him on a touchline, he's wiggling his head. He's like, oh my God, what have I signed up to? And to manage to keep them in fifth position, it's incredible. And for them to get rid of him, it's just madness. It's just madness. It's madness to see these young, talented coaches getting fired right, left, and center. It's because of these owners, these owners, American owners that don't know too much about football. what it takes to run a football club. Not American football. Our English football. They have absolutely no idea.

43:13They keep hiring these young, fantastic coaches and get rid of them after one year, two years. Honestly, it's a shamble. So for me, what happened with Ruben Amaro

43:27John Obi Mikel:is just a disgrace. And, you know, Manchester United is one of those clubs you can put alongside Real Madrid and Barcelona, the way it's been run. The Glazers, they own the football club. Jim Rockcliffe is goal war, 20, 30 % of the club. The club is being flogged around in stock exchange in America every week in, week out. Everything is shambles what's going on a football club. They're just there for the money. And when something happens, the results start going wrong, they fire the manager. They get rid of the manager straight away. it's way, way deep what's happening in Manchester United that we see on the pitch.

44:10It's way, way deeper than that. Way deeper than that. The club has been run very, very poorly.

44:19John Obi Mikel:You know, they got rid of staffs. They took away Sir Alex Ferguson's title, ambassador, whatever he was getting. Getting rid of people right, left and center. cutting staffs. People who's been there at the football club for so many years that have given so many years for the football club. The kitchen staff, the cleaners. Sometimes it's not just about the players. It's about the people that surrounds the football club, surrounds the players. We used to be very close to our kid, man. He comes in, five, ten minutes, makes a joke with everybody, Cracks a joke. We play around with him. We have a little fight.

45:04These are the things, the atmosphere. Of course. It brings good positivity around the training ground. If you get rid of all these people that's been there a long time ago, it's a shame. And what these managers need to understand as well, these coaches, when they sign up to this, they need to understand what they've signed up for. It's not going to be easy. It's not going to be easy. If you signed up for it, you signed up for it. It's not going to be easy. So you have to make do with what you have. You have to be part of the team behind the team. That's how it is right now. It's a whole package, of course.

45:52It's not you alone anymore, the manager. No, no, no. The coaches now, they have to be behind the team that is behind the team for everything to work perfectly well. And when that is not working, there's friction. And when there's friction, there's only one person that's going to take the blame is the manager and he has to go. They seem to, obviously both managers have gone pretty close together this past week. Chelsea have obviously groomed Rosinia and have plugged him in straight away. Man United seem to have bought themselves some time putting Darren Fletcher in for a few games. It looks like there's going to be an interim manager in the next few months.

46:30Is that them taking stock to go and try and find, you know, the best in class to go back to the old Manchester United ways of looking at Zedan, Ajavi, Atuku when his contract's up?

46:43John Obi Mikel:They're not going to get a manager that they will get a manager that they can control. They will get a coach. They're not going to get a manager. They'll get a coach that they can control and manipulate. The same. like Chelsea. They will absolutely get a manager. Manchester United will go get a coach that they can control. Because that's what happened with Ruben Amaran. He came out and said, I'm a coach. I'm a manager. I'm not just a coach. I'm a manager. But when he signed the contract, he was a coach. And he came out and made a press conference and said, I'm not a coach anymore. I'm a manager.

47:16John Obi Mikel:And that's what got him fired. Because once you stop elevating yourself to that manager role, they don't want that. You're gone. They don't want to hear you say you're a manager. You're a coach. You're here. Stay here. Don't go there. They're not going to get a manager. They're going to get a coach. Somebody that's going to be in charge of just coaching and bringing the best out of the place. So I don't know who Manchester United are going to go for, but too cool is not going to be a yes man kind of guy. Too cool is... Protein is now at Starbucks, and it's never tasted so good. You can add protein cold foam to your favorite drink or try one of our new protein lattes or matcha.

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48:42The players are going to go out. They're not going to give him that.

48:45John Obi Mikel:Jason Wilcox, whatever his name is, he's not going to give him that. Jim Ratcliffe is not going to give him that. So forget about that. Tukul is not going to go there. I don't know who they're going to go for. Now they're talking about bringing Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, going back to what they've done before. It's a mess. It's an absolutely mess. Going back to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, going back to now Darren Fletcher or Michael Carrick. Are you going to bring in Roy Keane there? Nope. We'd all love to see it, though. Nope. Roy Keane, I'd love to see it. We'd love to see it. He's going to punch the fuck out of one of them.

49:20So, Roy Keane is not going to go there and be a yes-man kind of guy. He's not. He's Roy Keane. He's not going to go there and be a yes-man kind of guy. They're not going to take him. They will take somebody that's not going to question them. Somebody who can stand up against them when things are going wrong. So, I don't know where Manchester United go from here, honestly. Which manager, which coach is out there now for them to go for? Which? Tuchel is the name but Tuchel is not going to go there unless he is the guy that makes the decisions and they're not going to give him that well the two in the Premier League at the moment would be Glasner who's done an amazing job Emery his name's been mentioned you know unbelievable what he's doing at Aston Villa Una Emery yeah Una Emery listen Una Emery is not going there do you know what Aston Villa is called right now the Una Emery FC that's what it's called the Una Emery FC that's what it's called He's got a stronghold of everything that's happening at the football club.

50:19He is in charge. Una Emery is in charge of everything that happens at the football club. Who comes in, who goes out, the staff, everything Una Emery hires. He's in charge of it. Absolutely runs the football club with an iron fist. That's what he does. So he's not going to leave all that where he has the flexibility, the power to run a football club and leave that and go to Manchester United where they're going to tell him and manipulate him and tell him what to do. Una Aramish is not going to do that. He's such a brilliant, brilliant manager. And you're talking about Aston Villa. They're on the ascendance right now.

50:54They're way better than Manchester United. So why is he going to leave the project that he's building? They're competing to win the Premier League, right? Why will he leave all that, give all that up and go to a struggling Manchester United that don't know they're left or right and centre? But isn't it a shame that you talk about Manchester United and Chelsea like this, where the blueprint of how a manager should run a football club is what Aston Villa are doing right now. Exactly. That's what it used to be back in the day. Mourinho had all the say at Chelsea. Carl Angelotti had all the say. The players are coming.

51:24Yes, of course, they do consult with the spotting directors, the owners. But they have the final say. I know I don't want that player. No, I don't think this player suits what I'm doing. You know what I mean? Yes, maybe the owner might have a say on one or two players. But the managers have maybe 60, 70, 80 % of the players are coming and going out. That's how it used to be. Now these owners, our sole, the owners and the sporting directors, they decide with the fucking data that they have that they think data is football. It's way too many data, way too much data right now. Club signing players just from data.

52:04That's absolutely nonsense. And they believe in that. And that's why when they see those datas, they just sign the player. Not thinking, is he going to be good for this manager? Is this going to be good for the project? Does the manager like the player? Because he's going to coach that player and bring out the best out of him. So it's just a shamble what's happening right now.

52:23John Obi Mikel:And I just think that Una Emery is not going to give all that up and go to struggling Manchester United right now because he's building a fantastic squad at Aston Villa. The team that he has, they're playing really well. They're full of confidence. they have so much belief that they can beat anyone and they're just on a high he can't give all that up and go to Manchester United it doesn't matter what they offer him right now maybe come the end of the season maybe but right now I don't think he's going to give all that up and go to Manchester United Chelsea we've done Manchester United we've done we could talk about a million different things going on in the world of football we have to talk about Nigeria you were on this podcast very fearful or, you know, the qualification for the World Cup was a disaster.

53:11How do you reflect on, you know, the progress in the tournament so far? Quarter-finals, Algeria is the next game. Happy? Content? Happy, yeah.

53:21John Obi Mikel:The way we've played, we've won games. We've won games pretty convincingly. We managed to keep a clean sheet in the last game, in our round of 16, which is good because so far we've conceded goals. I think defensively, I think overall we've been good. You know, I give the guys credit. You know, overall, the team, the Nigerian team, we've been good in this tournament. We've played well. The goalkeeper has been good. The defense has been great. But we just considered one or two goals right here and there, which is not good. We should be keeping clean sheets, which we did in the last game. So fantastic, fantastic team performance.

53:56John Obi Mikel:I'm really happy with the way the team is playing. I'm happy with what I see on the pitch, the fluidity of the team, the connection between the defense, the midfield and attack, everything just seems to be going really, really well. And I'm so proud of the players we would have done and what we've achieved so far. But there's so much still to play for. You know, right now in the quarterfinals, if we win that semifinals, and it would be brilliant, absolutely fantastic to see us in the final again. But again, I hope we win it. And I just hope that that makes up a little bit of the disappointment of not qualifying for the World Cup twice in a row.

54:34John Obi Mikel:I hope we win it. Maybe that's going to make up a little bit, give the fans a little bit of joy, a little bit of satisfaction that we've gone in and win the AFCON. But I just still think, from my point of view, still a disaster that we didn't qualify for the World Cup. Massive disaster because we have fantastic squad. We can see that right now, that we're not going to be in the World Cup twice in a row. It's just a disaster. For me, it's a massive, massive disaster. It's a failure. But right now, what we're doing in the AFCON is absolutely fantastic. Credit to the manager, credit to the staff, credit to the players.

55:08I can see the fighting spirit that they're giving.

55:10John Obi Mikel:I can see everybody working together to make sure that we win, that we win games, that we compete, that we get to the final and win the trophy, which is what we have to do. Because if you look at the teams right now that are there, yes, Senegal are very good. Egypt are very good. Morocco look like they're absolutely on fire. Algeria next game that we're going to play, I think. So they look really, really good. It's going to be tough. This is now where the tournament starts. This is where it gets tough. I have to see how we cope with how we go from here. Yes, we've qualified pretty easily, make it to the round of 16, convincing win, 4-0.

55:45And now the business end of the tournament is now. You were crying out at the start of the tournament for Victor to step up to score goals. He's done that. But we have to talk about that penalty incident. What was your thoughts on that? Is that frustration? Is that passion? Where do you sit on that incident? Oh, you mean when he had a fight with Lutman? Yeah.

56:08John Obi Mikel:Listen, one thing we need to understand about Victor. You know, Victor Osime is a fantastic young player, talented player. A player that wears his hat on his sleeve, plays like a warrior, fights, runs. Plays in Turkey now. That's what they want to see, how they want to see their players play. Like a warrior, you have to fight on the pitch. If you do that, they give you anything you want. You have to show that you want to fight for the team. You're like a warrior. You're angry on the pitch. You want to give everything. And that's how Victor plays from anyways. And Victor is a guy that wears his heart on his sleeve.

56:52He plays the way you see him. He fights. He gets angry on the pitch. He fights with the defenders. He gets the best out of himself by doing that. and I can understand this frustration. As a striker, you've scored two goals, you want to get a hat-trick. Every striker wants to get a hat-trick. Strikers, when they score a hat-trick, they're happy. And Victor is that guy that wins those games. Victor is that guy that scores the goals. Victor is that guy that makes you play well. When he plays, we play well, because not just what he does with the ball, what he does off the ball as well, we have to give him credit for that.

57:26Massive, massive credit. Now, this incident that happened, I've been there. We've all been there. Tensions fly. Emotions are running high in the game. You want to, as a striker, you want to score a hat-trick. And you get frustrated when your teammates don't pass you the ball, especially when you're in a very, very, very good position to get the ball and score a hat-trick. Now I understand the frustration. I get where he's coming from. And you know what? I like the fact that they both had an argument on the pitch. I like that they had a fight on the pitch. I want to see that. It's been a long, long time I haven't seen that with a national team.

58:06Everybody's fucking too nice with each other. They want to hold each other's hands, they want to put you on, they want to give you a blanket to lie down and say, oh, you, fuck that shit. I want to see us get back to where we get angry with each other. We pull each other around, we scream at each other, we hold each other around the neck and say, do your fucking job. That's how we succeed. I've never seen a team, a nice team that wins trophies. Mourinho always says that. You want to be nice? Go play for a fucking Arsenal or Tottenham. We are Chelsea football club. We're not nice. We're nasty. And we win trophies like that.

58:41I want to see you guys fight each other on the pitch. I used to do that a lot with John Terry, Frank Lampard, all of that. We used to fight on the pitch. Emotions on the high. Tensions flying high. Everybody's scrambling where you're looking around and thinking, we need to win this game. We're all focused on winning, achieving the goal, which is winning. You don't win by being nice to each other. You win by being nasty with each other. On the pitch, outside the pitch, we make up with friends. We go for a drink. We go for dinners. We go for lunches. And whatever happens on the pitch, we forget about it.

59:14So I like to see that fight. I enjoy what I saw. It's been a long time. I haven't seen that nastiness from the national team. I'd like to see more of that players screaming and fighting with each other and saying, do your fucking job. I want to see us win. I want to see us win trophies because that's who we are. We have to be nasty to win. We're not a nice team. We're a nasty team. We will have to win. I want to see that. Now, the only thing that I don't like with Victor, Victor's a smart boy. He's a smart kid. And he knows I'll be the first to tell him. He knows when he makes mistakes. He's a humble kid.

59:50He's a very nice kid. But he plays the way he plays. And I don't want to see that taken away from him the way he plays. The way he fights on the pitch. The aggressiveness that he has on the pitch. The warrior-ness he has on the pitch. That he fights like a lion. I like to see that. I want him to keep that. Don't take that away from Victor. You take that away from Victor, you don't get the best out of him. But you have to control him. You have to manage him. He knows. He's the first to say, you know what? the part that I didn't like about the whole situation is the afters. The afters that he stopped playing.

1:00:30He stopped running and making effort. That part I don't like. I'll be the first to tell him. He knows.

1:00:36John Obi Mikel:If he knows and he will look back and say, you know what? Okay. That part, maybe I crossed the line. The part where he stood up after the game and walked straight into the dressing room, That part, he'll be the first to say, you know what, I fucked up. It's always about the team. It's always about the country. Nobody. Make no mistake about that. Football club, national team. No single person is bigger than a football club or a national team. We all come and we all fucking go. The club, the national team remains. Jejo Kocha, Kanu, myself. We all came. We all left. The national team is still there.

1:01:19John Obi Mikel:The badge is still there. We have to respect it. And I know Victor respect the badge. He's a humble kid. He's giving so much to the national team. And let's all not forget about everything that he's done and jump straight onto the negatives and say, oh, he's this, he's that, he's this. Everybody straight away jumping and blaming and criticizing the kid. He's done so much for us. Absolutely so much. and he's still doing. He's a fantastic player. He's our main man. So, he knows that. The afters, I don't like. What happened after the whole incident, I don't like. But do I like to see that incident more and more?

1:02:03Players fighting on the pitch? I'd love to see that. But the afters, you have to shake hands and say, you know what? It's done when it's in the dressing room. It's done in the dressing room. Let's move on. Next game. There's so much to play for. There's so much we can achieve. Let this not distract us. Let this not be what pulls us down because the last thing we want to see is our two best players in the team not talking to each other. Friction between both of them. All the players sitting around, looking at both of them, not speaking to each other. That is what is going to pull us down. That is what is going to affect us.

1:02:39So the manager has to manage this. The manager needs to get on top of it pretty, pretty quickly. Make sure he sorts it out. And credit to Luke Mann, I must say. Came out after the game and said, you know what? It's football. It happens. Victor is his brother. I like that from him. It shows maturity. And Victor also is a matured guy. And I'm sure they will sort this out, both of them. And then we move on from it. Because we have a massive game coming up. We have a massive, massive game coming up. So the manager needs to make sure he finds a way of sorting this out. because you don't want your two superstars, your two African Player of the Year winners

1:03:19John Obi Mikel:to be fighting each other in the squad because that's what's going to pull us down and that's what's going to affect us and that's what's going to make us. That's what's going to, if we not win this, that's probably what's going to kill us. So I like what I see. I enjoy what I see. But Victor is a humble kid. He's a humble guy. Don't take that bite. That bite here. Don't take that away from him. I know Nigeria is saying, oh, yeah, he's strong. No, no, no. Do not take that away from Victor. You take that away from Victor, you don't get the best out of him. So I'd like to see more of that. I'd like to see the players argue, fight.

1:03:59But knowing that there's a much bigger, bigger thing to achieve than both of us. Fight on the pitch. Make up after. Move on. When we won the Afghan, I'll tell you a story. Victor Moses was my roommate. Now, we know Victor. When he gets the ball, he likes to go. He likes to go and dribble and all that. And Christians, which is absolutely fantastic for us, Victor. A couple of times, he's gone to square it, and somebody has a shot. Victor, no, no, he wants to shoot. I get it. He wants to score. Then I went to him. I said, listen, you have to fucking pass the ball. You have to pass the ball. He said, no, no.

1:04:39I said, no, no, no, no, no. don't don't don't you have to fucking pass the ball because if somebody's pretty much open we have to win here victor we have to win it's not about you we have to fucking win and we had an argument in your room no on the pitch so we after the game he was still having a you know uh he was still angry from what happened we wanted we went into the room for hours we slept we didn't speak to each other. We walked past each other in the room. We didn't say anything to each other. We woke up the next morning, didn't say anything to each other. But then after we thought, fuck it.

1:05:19There's much bigger things here. We spoke to each other, we move on. So these things happen, but you have to deal with it. So I like what I see, and I hope we can go on to winning this title

1:05:31John Obi Mikel:because I think they both deserve it. You know, Victor Sima is a brilliant player. and Ademolo Lukman has been absolutely fantastic for us as well. I can't believe the captain doesn't get his own room. No, I wasn't the captain then. I think Vincent Guillermo, or no, Joseph Yobo was the captain. Yeah. So the captain gets his room, but I wasn't the captain then. So I used to share room with Victor Moses. Last one from me. You've answered that, obviously, you know, you want to see Nigeria win this. Deep down, do you think they can, there's some huge teams left in this tournament. What's your thoughts on how far this team can go?

1:06:09Again, it's how we go.

1:06:11John Obi Mikel:Where do we go from here now? Because the easy part is done. The easy part, which is coming out from that group, because I looked at that group anyways, I knew we were going to come out of it pretty comfortable, which is what we did. You know, Rondo 16 was Mozambique. I think it was absolutely shocking. They were awful. We won the game 4-0. And now I think this is the business end of the tournament. This is where it gets tougher. This is where it's getting more and more difficult. The games are much, much difficult because you're playing against much better players. So I want to see how we go from here.

1:06:40John Obi Mikel:And I hope that that friction that happened has been settled. The managers found a way and the players found a way of settling that because that's a massive thing. If that's not settled, if Victor Simic is not happy, if Ademar Lukman is not happy, go into the next game. You're going to see that's going to affect us. That's going to affect the team because when your two best players are not talking to each other, are not playing, with each other. That's a massive, that's going to make a massive, massive difference the way we're going to approach this game. So, that needs to be sorted out. The manager needs to sort that out.

1:07:14The federation, whatever they have to do, get both of them in a room, lock them both of them in a room and make sure they sort it out. That's what I'll do. But going back to the chat about managers earlier, that can also galvanize a team. The manager manages that in the right way. You can utilize that and that's your basis to go and kick on in the tournament as well. Exactly.

1:07:32John Obi Mikel:So that's what I'm saying. I don't know this manager. I don't know how he's going to handle that situation. Now, is it a manager that can be able to talk to Victor Osime and he listens? I don't know. That's why you need top managers. Managers that when they talk, you listen. If you bring in an inexperienced manager that they're thinking, the fuck is this? They're not going to listen, but I think I know that the Victor Osime that I know, Whatever has happened on that pitch is done. He's moved on from it. He's going to go squash the beef with Ademaroukman. They're going to sort it out. They're going to settle it.

1:08:11John Obi Mikel:And I think both of them are right now in a good place for the next game. So we have to win the next game. We have to make sure we come out, approach the game the right way because it's going to be a very, very difficult game against Algeria. I've watched them play a couple of times. They're a very, very good team. They play as a team. They're very aggressive. They've got good players, quality players. So we have to be on our A game. We have to make sure we approach the game the right way. There shouldn't be any hindrance, any distraction, any negativity. So we have to make sure we sort out any negativity that's going to happen.

1:08:48John Obi Mikel:You know, the player has been paid their bonuses, whatever they've been promised. It needs to be sorted out before this game. Shouldn't be any negativity around the camp. So I believe we can go all the way. I believe we can go all the way and win it. And of course, I'd like to see us win it. I'd like to see Victor Simme win the highest goal score because I think he deserves it. Ademalou Kouman as well, playing really, really well. Both of them absolutely on fire. Alex Iwobi, I must say, as well in this tournament, has been absolutely fantastic. I've been waiting for this from Alex Iwobi for a long, long time.

1:09:21John Obi Mikel:Finally, we can see the Alex Iwobi that we all know, you know, playing well, everything going through him, creating chances, those passes, playing and fighting. Of course, Ndidi as well, the captain as well, the main state of the team, the guy who keeps the balance and everything. So everything is working perfectly well for the team, but we have to go on now. We have to go on now and make sure we win the tournament. A very different take in the Mekal today. There's about three to four episodes of content in this. We made it through. Chris is back next week. But yeah, we'll be back next week. Yeah, we'll be back next week.

1:09:54John Obi Mikel:And all of you guys criticizing Victor Simer, lay off the guy. let him play the way he is he is who he is he's a warrior he's a lion and yes the afters I don't like he knows exactly what he has to do and I just want to see us a bit more of that fight between players I love to see that we have to be nasty with each other on the pitch and that's what's going to make us successful so yes a fantastic fantastic tournament so far we have to go on and win it now. But yeah, as you said, hopefully Chris comes back from his... Yeah. Yeah. Amazing. So thank you guys. And yeah, made possible by Betwinner.

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