The Chelsea Update- After Chelsea’s 2-1 away victory against Aston Villa on Sunday, former Liverpool star Steve Nicol believes that the problem behind Chelsea’s inconsistent performances is their defence. Frank Lampard’s side is currently at fourth position in the Premier League table, only three points behind Leicester City.
Steven Nicol’s Initial Statement
He told ESPN FC, “Chelsea’s biggest problem is not going forward, it is defensively. They are going to create chances and put teams under pressure all day long, every time they step onto the field, regardless of the opposition. I tell you what, they give me a heart attack at the back. They go a goal down and there were three Aston Villa players who could have put the ball in the net.”
The Blues went behind in the first half against Aston Villa in their first game since lockdown. Despite dominating the game from the first minute, Blues conceded a scrappy goal right after a water break. Clearly, the defence was not disciplined enough at that moment in time. Nicol says, this has been an issue throughout this campaign and it needs improvement.
The Thing He Further Said About Chelsea
“Then they go ahead but then the mistakes… Rudiger is so lucky when he tries to play a back-pass and completely misses it. Villa could have equalized later on when Christensen makes a mess of a simple clearance. They will create chances, no question, but they have to do something defensively.”
The young Chelsea manager left in anger in half-time at Villa Park when his team was 1-0 down to relegation-threatened Aston Villa. After putting seven past QPR in the friendly just three days before, Blues struggled to finish chances despite dominating the possession.
The Blues’ boss said: “I was frustrated at half-time, without a doubt. Was worried that it allowed them to be solid against us and to break on us. Had to keep doing well what we did in the first half. To keep doing it, not to get bored. Had to keep going down the sides. We got down the right-hand side a lot in the game and eventually, we got a goal from it. We expected that [to dominate the game], with the greatest respect to Villa.”
What He Went On To Conclude With?
When the team is at the top of their game in a match, they should be looking to seal the result. Killing teams off has not been a feature of this young and inexperienced side managed by Lampard, and the boss believes that it is their next level of the game where they should improve.
“The way we have been training, the way we move the ball the things we try to do to get to the 18-yard box we did pretty well but sometimes there are little areas around the edge of the box where we can do better. Hopefully, that will improve, but that has been the story of our season. It was nothing new today to play well, concede, and have to fight our way to victory. We have not always got the victory and that is the next stage for us, to try and be more clinical for the moments when we’re on top.”
After winning on Sunday, Chelsea went five points clear of Manchester United. The Red Devils dropped points against Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham two days ago. However, they were able to beat Sheffield United easily. On the other hand, the west London outfit beat Manchester City 2-1. Despite that, the points difference between the two is still five points.
