Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher criticised Chelsea's goalkeeping crisis after their 5-2 Champions League defeat to PSG, whilst praising manager Liam Rosenior's tactics
Liam Rosenior
Liam Rosenior during Chelsea's 5-2 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain(Image: Michael Regan - UEFA)
View 2 Images
Jamie Carragher has insisted that Chelsea are a 'million miles off' claiming either the Premier League or Champions League - and will continue to be until they address their goalkeeping crisis.
The Blues endured a 5-2 defeat away to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League round of 16 on Wednesday, leaving themselves with a substantial challenge in the second leg, and face Newcastle United in Saturday's Premier League clash at Stamford Bridge.
Newcastle head to West London hoping to close the gap on the sides ahead of them in the race for European places, and buoyed by Tuesday night's 1-1 draw with Barcelona in the Champions League.
Chelsea suffered a heaving defeat in Paris, as manager Liam Rosenior altered his starting goalkeeper for the third consecutive match, as Filip Jorgensen was selected ahead of Robert Sanchez.
Author avatar
Author avatar
The Denmark international didn't do much to justify his manager's decision, though, making the mistake for PSG's vital third goal before failing to keep out their fifth.
Following the final whistle, Carragher criticised the Blues' recruitment and maintains that Rosenior won't achieve success until he's secured a dependable goalkeeper.
"I've been critical of Chelsea for a long time," the Liverpool legend said on CBS Sports. "But I'm being deadly serious, they can't go any further until they sort the goalkeeping issue out.
"I've been saying this consistently. The new ownership have come in and spent absolute billions and right now they've got some great players in the team and I think in these early stages Liam Rosenior has been brilliant.", reports the Mirror.
"I thought Rosenior as a manager tonight, looking at how he set the team up, caused PSG real problems, they didn't deserve to lose as in the way the game was set up and how they played. But big mistakes cost them at centre-back and goalkeeper.
"That has been an issue and will continue to be an issue for any Chelsea manager going forward when they're trying to win the Premier League and Champions League because they're a million miles off it. That's why they lost tonight, not because they haven't got great attacking players or the manager knows what he's doing, tactically they were fantastic tonight.
Jamie Carragher on CBS Sports
Jamie Carragher on CBS Sports(Image: CBS Sports)
View 2 Images
"They were let down by a mistake from the goalkeeper at 2-2 and then the game just completely unravelled and now all of a sudden it looks like they've got no chance of going through."
Following Sanchez's appearance in Chelsea's extra-time win over Wrexham in the FA Cup, Jorgensen was handed the starting spot in Paris. However, the 23-year-old's position looks set to come under scrutiny once more ahead of the Newcastle game.
Rosenior came to Jorgensen's defence during his post-match press conference, saying: "Players make mistakes. Filip's not the first one and that's part of football. Credit to him, he held his hands up in the dressing room.
"I make mistakes. Everybody makes mistakes. Sometimes they're more costly. This is one of those moments. What we have to do for Rob and for Filip and for all of the players is look after each other. This is a big test of our character."