Rio Ferdinand says the failure to sign a striker is undoing of all Graham Potter’s good work at Stamford Bridge, after the Champions League defeat at Dortmund.
Chelsea lost 1-0 at the Signal Iduna Park on Wednesday, through a sublime goal from Karim Adeyemi.
The Blues performed well but lacked clinical finishing, and some great saves from Gregor Kobel, cost them dearly, and they have won just two of their last 14 matches in all competitions.
Since Todd Boehly’s takeover at Chelsea, the club have spent £552m on transfers but signed just one senior striker – the out of form Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
And when Potter updated his Champions League team for the knockout stages, the former Arsenal player was nowhere to be seen, leaving Chelsea without a No.9.
With scoring goals the team’s biggest problem by far, this decision has been blasted by Ferdinand who was impressed with how the Blues played against Dortmund.
‘I think he’ll [Potter] find some positives in there. He’ll be saying, “Slowly but surely we’ll get it right”,’ the Manchester United legend said on BT Sport.
‘They haven’t got a No.9 in this team. They spent all that money in the last two transfer windows and didn’t get an out-and-out No.9. That’s the problem.
‘Long term, I think he’ll go and get that. They’re doing everything up to that point really, really well. The way the team’s been able to pass the ball through the lines and get into those really good areas.
‘But again, they got undone by a clinical bit of finishing which they didn’t have in their own team.’
Potter echoed Ferdinand’s thoughts, adding: ‘It was a very strong performance, especially the second half. We created a lot of chances and efforts on goal but we just have to score.
‘I thought we had good attacking movements, clarity in terms of how we wanted to attack and got into right areas. The attitude was really positive as well.
‘You can see the supporters’ reaction, they were really positive, they can see the performance of the team, they gave us a fantastic reception. We are a team in progress, we know there are a lot of positive things there.’
