Rio Ferdinand was on BT Sport’s coverage of Chelsea’s 1-0 loss to Dortmund, and he was critical of the club’s transfer strategy after the Blues missed a host of chances tonight.
“Chelsea spent all this money and didn’t get a number nine in the team, that’s a problem” the former Man U defender pointed out as they assessed the result.
We know what he means. Chelsea created a host of chances tonight, and there are people out there saying there was “nothing more they could have done” – well one thing they could have done is buy a striker, or at least put on the the bench.
You can see Rio make his point in the clip embedded here:
"Chelsea spent all this money and didn't get a number nine in the team, that's a problem"@rioferdy5 reacts after a frustrating night in front of goal for Chelsea 🔵#UCL pic.twitter.com/HNk9tPEsfE
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) February 15, 2023
Ultimately we should have had a goal at least tonight even with the team on the pitch. But the fact we will soon be sitting several wingers on the bench without a striker in the squad at all is surely a symptom of bad planning somewhere along the line.
Duh!
So someone at Chelsea News please explain why you guys spent most of the last five months calling for new/better wingers (I’m looking at you, SuperFrank), when the lack of a world class finisher at the 9 has been our most obvious/glaring need all along? The calls for Ziyech and Pulisic to get the heave ho were coming thick and fast on this site in the run-up to the World Cup with a plethora of potential replacements thrown out. And yet, here we sit with a brand new shiny 100-million winger in the team and somehow we still contrived to net zero goals (against 2.1 xG according to FBRef). Mudryk may yet turn out to be a generational talent, but can’t we all agree that Havertz never was (and never will be) a 9 and that a replacement for Lukaku should have been our top priority in January? City bought Haaland for 60 million just six months ago. I can’t imagine that 100 million couldn’t have gotten us someone serviceable!
Chelsea has been struggling with their goal-scoring recently. They have been creating chances in matches but have been unable to convert them into goals. In their last few games, they have only scored a few goals, and this lack of scoring has resulted in a few draws and losses. It’s worth noting that football is a dynamic sport, and teams go through ups and downs. Chelsea has a strong squad with talented players, and it’s only a matter of time before they start scoring goals again. With the right tactics, mindset, and motivation, they can get back to winning ways and challenge for titles.