Former Chelsea player Joe Cole believes some forward options at the club are still a ‘work in progress’ under new manager Thomas Tuchel.
Chelsea were held to a 1-1 draw against Southampton on Saturday with Mason Mount’s penalty rescuing a much needed point after they fell behind to Takumi Minamino’s first-half goal.
Tuchel’s side struggled for creatively against Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side with the coach bringing on Callum Hudson-Odoi at half-time – hauling the winger off 31 minutes later and replacing him with Hakim Ziyech.
Tammy Abraham was also replaced at half-time with Timo Werner failing to get a goal after his strike against Newcastle last time out with Cole saying there is still work to be done to get the club’s attack firing on all cylinders.
‘Tactically I thought they were good, in the middle third and defensively they were good,’ Joe Cole told BT Sport.
‘But that final third, that final ball eluded them today. ‘They changed things around a few times. He [Tuchel] has got the players there at Chelsea. I still think it is a case of rebuilding the confidence of some of them.
‘Ziyech when he came on, Werner is still a work in progress, there are a lot of players still developing.
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‘They will get the numbers, but it might take a few months, weeks, whatever to get them up to speed where they start finding the final ball and start banging them in.’
A draw at Southampton sees the London club miss the chance to close the gap on Leicester. The Blues now head to Atletico Madrid for the first leg of their Champions League clash on Tuesday.
