Chelsea’s defeat against Fulham needed scapegoats, and while Robert Sanchez got some criticism for punting the goal kick from which the winner was scored right down the middle of the pitch, there were bigger issues through the game.
Malo Gusto has struggled for form all season, and last night seemed to be really deliberately targeted by Fulham. Various sites rating the players agreed he had a tough, tough night as part of a difficult season:
“5/10. Bombed on down the wing and into midfield but to little gain for his side, often used as a dummy runner rather than getting on the ball himself,” wrote Goal.com That rather sums up his season so far.
The Daily Mail went with the following:
“5.5. Helped by Neto to avoid Alex Iwobi and Antonee Robinson doubling up on him down this flank. Knackering afternoon for Gusto as Fulham were relentless in their targeting of his side.”
Meanwhile Football.London had him down as follows:
“Struggling in recent matches. Not his best once again. 4.”
London’s First are ever harsher, although they put more blame on the manager for not sorting things out sooner:
“He was absolutely ripped to shreds today by Fulham’s left hand side. Caught out of position countless times and just wasn’t able to deal with them. However, it wasn’t all down to him – Maresca must take some blame for not doing anything about it. 3″
Gusto’s struggles become more than a bad patch
Not long ago the talk was so positive about Gusto – “who needs Reece James?” was the line some took (albeit with a tongue in cheek). Now the Frenchman’s bad form has continued for so long that our worries are growing more fundamental.
We’ve defended him a lot by saying that Maresca’s instructions don’t suit him, but he’s still going to have to do a lot better than this.
I blame to the coach because why he did not hange any player. He has changed only 4 times from 15 in the last games. Why? Marco Silva changes 5 player and able to win the game.