It’s safe to say that the Chelsea squad was not up to par playing against a weakened Manchester City side yesterday at home and losing 1-3. The managers and players have been receiving heavy criticism after loss and one of Chelsea’s most recent signings was not exempt from the blame as veteran pundit Graeme Souness picked him out as one of the worst performers at Stamford Bridge.
Hakim Ziyech was an integral part of Ajax’s squad that went all the way to the Champions League semi-final in 2019. Top European clubs came like vultures to pick the main components of that squad with De Ligt heading to Juventus and De Jong going to Barcelona, the rest of the major European clubs were competing for Hakim’s signature with Chelsea winning the race. With his latest performances for the club, many are wondering if that was the right deal for Chelsea, especially Souness who criticised him after the match on Sky Sports reports the Metro and Caught Offside.
The former Liverpool man had plenty to say about the Moroccan international, he was especially critical of Ziyech strolling around the centre of the pitch as Kevin De Bruyne scored on the counter attack.
“Just watch Ziyech. He wanders in, watch him! Big players don’t act like that. He needs to sprint back as fast as he can. ‘They don’t stand and watch the game like this. “It’s not my problem, it’s someone else’s problem.”
‘I’m not saying he’s going to race back and make the difference but he needs to get back. Kevin de Bruyne has followed up, he still wants to be part of it.
‘I’m sure when Frank sees that he will point it out to Ziyech that he just cannot do that.’
‘He wasn’t bothered. He didn’t do the basics. He pretends he slips. What does that say about me as a player? ‘I’m not saying he would have prevented the goal but you never know. That must be happening in training and as a manager you have to point it out.
Do you think Frank will bench Ziyech for the next game to prove a point or has Graeme got this all wrong?