Leaky Chelsea must prioritise keeper and defender transfers over Kai Havertz after slumping to new low vs West Ham
CHELSEA once again put on a perfect example of how not to defend in a football match.
Frank Lampard’s side went 1-0 up at West Ham in Wednesday night’s Premier League clash, but they were not in the lead for long.
They soon found themselves 2-1 down to the relegation strugglers early in the second-half after two shocking bits of defending.
Firstly, they failed to deal with a West Ham corner that was needlessly given away by Antonio Rudiger.
Kepa Arrizabalaga flapped at the cross and Cesar Azpilicueta failed to even attempt to win the header.
The final punch in the face for Chelsea fans was watching Tammy Abraham fail to make a decent attempt of saving the ball on the goalline and, before we knew it, West Ham were back in the game.
The Hammers then took the lead after more abysmal defending from Chelsea. Azpilicueta was again at fault alongside Andreas Christensen in failing to apply basics such as marking the striker.
I have mentioned all of Chelsea’s backline apart from Marcos Alonso.
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But this alone emphasises the desperate fact that Frank Lampard will surely have to enter the transfer market for a new centre-back, and a goalkeeper, if he is wants to challenge the big boys next season.
Chelsea’s defence has been poor all season and today they slumped to a whole new low level.
Lampard needs to sign at least two leaders at the back.
A centre-back and a goalkeeper who can lead and organise the backline, communicate with the rest of the players, and make sure they are doing the basics. Because that is what they severely lack right now.
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There is currently nobody in that Chelsea backline standing up and being counted, being that vocal encourager and leader that they need to keep a structured defence.
Defending is done collectively but Chelsea are collectively terrible at it, and this will be a major problem for Lampard unless this issue is addressed this summer.
So as nice as it is to be linked with signing the likes of Kai Havertz, arguably they should probably be looking at improving their defence more than anything else right now.
Same old story, Chelsea had all the possession and all the play, but poor defending saw them lose the game.