Noni Madueke scored a goal yesterday and therefore wasn’t afraid to speak to the press a little afterwards. His comments to BBC Sport were pretty revealing on the subject of how Chelsea’s squad had reacted to another brutal letdown.
After twice going a goal up against Sheffield United, the Blues ended up drawing 2-2 with a team in the relegation zone after conceding a late equaliser. It’s the exact same story as what happened against Burnley the week before.
Both were a brutal gut punch to fans – and apparently to players. Those 4 points we squandered in the last minutes of games would have us sitting pretty right in the battle for European football. Instead we’ve dropped back further and further. As you’d expect, the mood is glum, according to Noni:
“”Silent [in the dressing room] to be honest,”, Madueke conceded when asked about what was happening behind closed doors in quotes picked up by the Daily Mirror.
“Of course we should have won the game. The way we drop points sometimes, it was in the palm of our hands.
“There is still games to go, we have to stick together and I have faith we can finish in the places we want to finish in. There is some positives for sure, but this is our Achilles heel, the next game after a top result – we haven’t been able to do well in that department so far.”
That silence is damning in itself. There are clearly no leaders and no motivators in there cheering their teammates up. There are some experienced players, but they don’t have the English skills or the leadership skills to make it count. Equally there are some players with the leadership skills, but without the experience to step up and boss their more senior teammates around.
It’s a total mess of squad construction, and it needs to be addressed. The flaw in this entire philosophy of buying just young kids has never been more perfectly illustrated than with the idea of a dead silent dressing room after another pathetic capitulation.
