Liam Delap has been defended by his coach after a funny performance against Hull which had one notable moment.
Chelsea striker Liam Delap had another curious weekend up front for the Blues, as the summer signing continues to struggle at his new club.
The really memorable moment from it all was a bizarre incident where Delap nicked the ball from the goalkeeper and blasted a shot off the bar. He thought it had gone over the line, but instead of putting away the rebound to make sure, spent precious seconds appealing to the referee, giving the keeper time to recover.
Delap apologised after the game, and later got a nice assist to make up for it. But it’s a moment that will live long in fans’ memories.
Rosenior protests too much in Delap defence after horrible moment
Liam Delap breaks the Hull back line.
Liam Delap breaks the Hull back line. (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)
Speaking after the game, manager Liam Rosenior tried hard to defend his charge.
“[The assist] was fantastic, a great run,” Rosenior said.
“That’s what Liam is all about: running in behind, using his speed — and then his awareness to pick out Estevao was top. To be a number nine, especially in the system that we play, it’s not always about yourself. It’s about bringing other people into play. It’s about sometimes making sacrifice runs so other players get the space, and I thought he started our press so well.”
But the killer stat which is defining all of this – Delap has scored twice in 23 appearances.
No matter how many compliments he gets from his manager, until that number changes significantly, there’s only so much you can defend the striker’s record. In fact, the more fervently Rosenior spoke, the more you felt like he was overcompensating.
In other news…
The big debate among Chelsea fans today is around which defenders they might sell – the stats make it pretty obvious who the choice should be.
If you look beyond the stats, we also just thought through the logic of who might be going in our post here. The answers are not exactly the same.
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Liam Delap breaks the Hull back line.