After suffering their first loss since August against Liverpool last weekend, Chelsea bounced back with a 2-1 win over Newcastle United yesterday afternoon.
It wasn’t an entirely straightforward victory for Enzo Maresca’s men, but with brilliant performances from several players, including Cole Palmer and Pedro Neto, they were able to pick up another vital three points, which leaves them in fourth and just one behind title-chasing Arsenal.
However, while most of the team put in performances that should see them keep their place for the next few games, a couple of starters should probably be dropped after underwhelming in West London, including Noni Madueke.
Why Madueke should be dropped
Okay, so the first thing to say before the pitchforks and torches come out is that so far this season, Madueke has been quite impressive, and with his tally of five goals in ten appearances across all competitions, he has thoroughly earned his place as a regular starter in the Blues’ squad.
However, while the 22-year-old has been great in other games this season, he was underwhelming yesterday, both going forward and in his defensive duties.
For example, in his 67 minutes on the pitch, he produced an expected goals figure of 0.08 and an expected assists figure of 0.18, failed in two of his three crosses, lost the ball ten times, lost six of eight duels, failed in 50% of his dribbles and was dribbled past once himself, demonstrating how exposed he left Malo Gusto at points.
Minutes
67′
Expected Goals
0.08
Expected Assists
0.18
Crosses (Accurate)
3 (1)
Lost Possession
10
Duels (Won)
8 (2)
Dribbles (Successful)
2 (1)
Dribbled Past
1
It might sound particularly harsh, but it’s an opinion shared by the Sun’s Lloyd Canfield, who gave the talented winger a 5/10 at full-time, writing that he was ‘quiet in the first half’ and that he was ‘outshone by Pedro Neto on the opposite flank,’ which is a rather kind way to describe his display.
While Madueke will undoubtedly have a large part to play for Maresca as the season develops, his performance yesterday was poor enough to be dropped for the next league game, especially when the club are currently blessed with talented wingers.
However, the Englishman wasn’t Chelsea’s worst player on the pitch.
Why Robert Sanchez should be dropped
Yes, despite looking slightly better so far this season, Robert Sanchez was arguably Chelsea’s worst player on the pitch against Newcastle.
Now, the former Brighton & Hove Albion ace didn’t make a huge and costly blunder against the Toon – as he has in the past – but he was noticeably uncomfortable with the ball at his feet and almost played his teammates into trouble on multiple occasions.
Unsurprisingly, this shakey performance was spotted and commented on by a number of journalists, with Canfield awarding him a 3/10 on the day and describing him as a ‘liability’, while football.london’s Bobby Vincent simply described his showing as ‘poor’ and noted the manager’s growing frustration with his inaccurate kicking.
Unfortunately for the Spaniard, his statistics from the game also make for dismal reading.
In his 96 minutes on the pitch, he made a single save, took 46 touches, maintained an abysmal passing accuracy of just 50%, misplaced 19 of his 24 long balls – which is unforgivably dire – dribbled past one and lost his one ground duel.
Minutes
96′
Saves
1
Passing Accuracy
20/40 (50%)
Long Balls (Accurate)
24 (5)
Dribbled Past
1
Ground Duels (Won)
1 (0)
Ultimately, Sanchez has yet to really prove himself at Chelsea, and his performance yesterday has only raised more doubts about his long-term suitability as the club’s number one. Therefore, Maresca should boldly drop him for the game against United on Sunday and hand the promising Filip Jørgensen his Premier League debut – he can’t be any worse on the ball than the Spaniard.
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