Enzo Maresca selected a front line featuring Neto, Jamie Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap, but the group offered little spark, and the west London side found it difficult to carve out meaningful opportunities across the match. ..Continue Reading
Although they managed to claim a significant three points after the international break, fans quickly highlighted two players in particular who continue to fall short, and it now seems obvious that Maresca should drop them ahead of the major Champions League showdown with Barcelona later in the week.
During the summer transfer window, many Chelsea supporters were optimistic about the revamped attack, with Joao Pedro joining from Brighton for £60m and Liam Delap arriving from Ipswich for roughly £30m.
Despite both forwards producing solid displays at the Club World Cup soon after signing, the new Premier League campaign has been far tougher for them, culminating in lacklustre showings in the victory over Burnley.
Sofascore statistics indicated that both endured difficult outings, with Pedro earning only a 6.4 rating in 76 minutes and Delap receiving a 6.2 in his 67 minutes.
Delap failed to register a single effort on target and completed merely eight passes during his spell on the pitch.
Pedro, deployed in his preferred number ten position, also failed to test the goalkeeper and completed just 75% of his passes, while giving the ball away an alarming 17 times.
Supporters expressed their irritation with the duo online, with one fan branding them an ‘extremely painful watch’, even though Chelsea managed to secure all three points.
Another supporter commented that they were ‘not at the races today’, while one fan went so far as to call them ‘idiots’, labelling them ‘relegation level players’ and criticising their display as ‘inexcusable’.
One Chelsea fan suggested the pair are incompatible because they make identical movements, while another argued that the club made an error in letting Nicolas Jackson leave to sign them, insisting the Senegal forward is ‘quite literally better’.
Pedro and Delap, who together take home £280,000 per week at Stamford Bridge, will hope to feature against Barcelona in midweek—particularly with Cole Palmer unavailable after breaking his toe in a freak incident at home—but on current form, they hardly merit inclusion.
Alejandro Garnacho and Estevao remained unused substitutes, hinting that Maresca may be keeping them fresh for the European clash, while Marc Guiu came on and provided an assist for Enzo Fernandez through some sharp centre-forward play.
Any two of those three options would strengthen the team if Pedro and Delap continue at their existing level.
It’s evident that Pedro and Delap have not earned the right to start versus Barcelona, and it falls to the manager to make the tough call to omit them if Chelsea want to secure an important win.
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