The criticism towards Chelsea continues to flood in following the weekend’s result against Sheffield United, and rightly so.
Chelsea let two leads slip in Sunday’s Premier League match, which they ended up drawing 2-2 away to a team bottom of the table.
It was a familiar tale for Mauricio Pochettino’s side of being far too weak defensively. In fact, it’s now seven straight games where the Blues have conceded at least two goals.
Chelsea player can’t jump
TalkSPORT pundit Andy Jacobs didn’t hold back with his criticism of Chelsea’s Benoit Badiashile following his very brief cameo appearance versus Sheffield United.
The £35m defender (Sky Sports) lost his starting position on Sunday as he dropped to the bench, but he came on in stoppage time as the Blues tried and failed to protect a 2-1 lead.
Jacobs said on talkSPORT (1:06pm, 8 April): “The idea of bringing on Badiashile to shore it up. The only way Sheffield United were going to score was to lump it into the box at that stage. He comes on, honestly, he’s got the vertical leap of an upright piano. He missed two headers and they scored, what was the point in bringing him on? Hopeless really.”
We’ll provide a brief defence for Badiashile by flagging it was Trevoh Chalobah who was easily beaten in the air during the build-up for Oli McBurnie’s last-minute equaliser.
However, apart from that, we agree there’s a real uncertainty about Badiashile’s defending right now. Despite being 6ft 4in, the centre-back doesn’t look like a commanding presence, whether the ball is is in the air or on the floor.
What Benoit Badiashile wants to do amid transfer interest
Badiashile, who’s still only 23, is linked with a move in the transfer rumour mill for this summer.
However, the French central defender views his immediate future in west London.
Football.London reported at the start of April that Badiashile wants to stay at Chelsea despite interest from Italian giants AC Milan.
Our feeling is that he’ll really need to improve his recent levels if he wants to nail down a permanent spot in Chelsea’s best XI.