Andreas Christensen and Gary Cahill ‘could have done better’ in the words of assistant manager Gianfranco Zola.
The central defensive duo turned out for Chelsea against Derby in the Carabao Cup and looked frail at times against the Championship outfit.
Cahill gave up possession for Derby’s first goal, although the Blues captain did play the duration of the match. Christensen was hooked in the second half with Chelsea winning 3-2.
Quoted by the Evening Standard, Zola said:
A player like Cahill, they play and then they don’t for a while, so they might have a problem,
I didn’t mean the defenders didn’t defend well. Everyone has to participate in the defensive phase. Some things didn’t work.
I thought Gary and Christensen could have done better in the first half. Normally their distribution is better than tonight. That’s the complaint. But we’ll go through this.
Both Cahill and Christensen have been linked with moves away from Stamford Bridge in recent weeks, and Wednesday’s performance will have done little to convince fans they might be re-entering the starting lineup any time soon.
