Chelsea’s impressive turnaround to beat West Ham 3-2 after being 2-0 down at half time came after Liam Rosenior made three half time subs.
Rosenior tried to make it very clear after the game that he wasn’t blaming any of the players who were taken off at the break, but it’s hard to ignore just how poor they were. Alejandro Garnacho was called out for his performance by Gary Neville after the game.
Neville questions struggling Garnacho
Alejandro Garnacho frustrated.
Alejandro Garnacho frustrated. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
“In the first half I have to say West Ham were absolutely fantastic,” Neville said in quotes picked up on the Sky Sports website.
“They dominated the game, even though they didn’t dominate possession. They had the best chances. They were more physical and that left side of Chelsea was obliterated.
“Alejandro Garnacho is a player that divides opinion at times. A lot of people are questioning, ‘is he top-class? Where is he in the pecking order?’
“What was difficult to watch last night was a young player who’s gone to Chelsea and looks shot to pieces in terms of his confidence on that left-hand side. His first touch was backwards, and then he just kept going backwards. They kept giving it away.”
He certainly has fallen down the pecking order since the first leg of tonight’s game, when he scored twice.
In other news…
A quiet January in terms of purchases was of course not what fans were looking for – but it does potentially open up Chelsea for another big summer. They have moves to make and should have the budget to make them.
Chelsea’s window was busier on the outgoing side – there were a number of loans and cheaper deals which were completed in the final hours of the window, concluding the usual late January rush to get things lined up nicely for the rest of the campaign. Some of those deals could yet be decent money makers further down the line.
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