Joe Cole slammed Kalidou Koulibaly and Hakim Ziyech after Chelsea’s underwhelming 1-0 defeat to Dinamo Zagreb on Tuesday night.
The Blues lost their opening Champions League group game thanks to an early goal from Mislav Orsic. It was a poor result for Thomas Tuchel’s side, as they were expected to beat the Croatian champions ahead of European fixtures against AC Milan and RB Salzburg.
Tuchel deployed a very strong team in the Croatian capital, with the likes of Reece James, Mateo Kovacic, Mason Mount and Raheem Sterling starting against Zagreb. There were also starts for new signings Wesley Fofana and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Chelsea were the biggest spenders in Europe this summer – investing more than £200million into the squad – but they couldn’t get the better over Zagreb. Blues legend Joe Cole was understandably disappointed with his former club’s European performance.
“Where do you start?” Cole asked BT Sport. “The guys at the back have got to pull it together as soon as possible. People will look at the goal but we could have pulled out countless examples where Koulibaly was the wrong side of his man. For a 31-year-old defender, he needs to get up to speed quickly.
“At the other end of the pitch, is there a lack of confidence? The only positive for Thomas Tuchel is there were a lot of players knocking on his door before this asking why they’re not playing and saying they want a chance.
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“Those players have come in tonight and haven’t taken their chance so at least he can tell them now that’s why they’re not playing. Ziyech, he’s got a lot of talent but for one reason or another it’s not clicking for him at Chelsea.
“He wasn’t at his best and he hasn’t been at his best. He’s trying hard and trying to make things happen but it’s not happening for him. It’s a bad night for the club. It’s a massive shock.”
Koulibaly was one of Chelsea’s big summer signings, arriving from Napoli to replace the released Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen. Ziyech, meanwhile, has struggled to show consistently good form since he was signed from Ajax two years ago.
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On his team’s display, Tuchel said: “It’s an underperformance from us. We have the same story as always. We have an OK start, we don’t finish our half chances, we don’t feel it when the game is already there to put to bed in the first 15/20 minutes. Then we concede one counter-attack, which is far too easy, and from there we struggled.”
Tuchel added: “Too much to analyse. I’m a part of it. We are clearly not there, where we need to be and where we can be. So it’s on me, it’s on us, we need to find solutions. At the moment, everything is missing.”
Chelsea are back in Champions League action in just seven days’ time, such is the relentlessness of the campaign. They welcome RB Salzburg, who drew 1-1 with Milan in their opener, to Stamford Bridge. Picking up three points will be imperative for Tuchel’s side.
