Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois says that the team would be better with Nemanja Matic still in the side after the Blues’ humiliating 3-0 defeat to AS Roma on Tuesday.
Antonio Conte had to go through a painful transfer window this summer by not being able to expand his squad size as much as he would have hoped to. Everything seemed fine at first, but after Danny Drinkwater and N’Golo Kante suffered major injuries, Chelsea’s midfield started running out of options.
Conte has simply had to settle for a midfield partnership of Cesc Fabregas and Tiemoue Bakayoko in the last three weeks, a two-man midfield that really hasn’t proven out to be the strongest solution possible. With fatigue quickly getting the better out of the players, Chelsea have failed to keep up with their oppositions in this very part of the pitch.
Should have Chelsea tried to keep Matic at the club after all? According to Courtois the Blues do miss him, but admits that it would have been impossible to hold on to a player who really wants a new challenge elsewhere.
“We know Nemanja’s qualities, he is someone who last year gave us the balance as well. He decided to go to another team, so we won’t live in the past. Our midfield is very good, we have very strong players so I don’t know if we miss him. But if you have two injuries in midfield, then, of course, you can say yeah we miss Nemanja because he is another quality player and he is doing well in Manchester.”
– Thibaut Courtois, The Independent
Drinkwater has now returned from his calf injury and is slowly starting to make his mark in the Blues side. Kante, however, is still doubtful and could even be forced to miss Chelsea’s vital Premier League fixture against Manchester United on Sunday evening.
