Joe Cole blasts Chelsea stars Kalidou Koulibaly and Hakim Ziyech following Dinamo Zagreb defeat
Speaking after the game on BT Sport (h/t Mirror), former Chelsea winger Joe Cole slammed Kalidou Koulibaly and Hakim Ziyech after the Blues’ underwhelming 1-0 defeat at the hands of Dinamo Zagreb on the opening night of the Champions League.
Koulibaly played the whole game and wasn’t dominating enough, while Ziyech came on as a substitute and delivered one of the worst cameos. The latter did not impact the game in the final third, instead, his lack of quality ended some of the promising moments going forward.
Talking about the duo, Cole was not complimentary of the fact that Koulibaly was not in the right position to defend the Dinamo goal. On the other hand, the BT Sport pundit described Ziyech as a player who is just not able to make it click in a Chelsea shirt.
Here’s what Cole said in the post-match analysis (h/t Mirror):
Where do you start? The guys at the back have got to pull it together as soon as possible. People will look at the goal but we could have pulled out countless examples where Koulibaly was on the wrong side of his man.
Those players have come in tonight and haven’t taken their chance so at least he can tell them now that’s why they’re not playing. Ziyech, he’s got a lot of talent but for one reason or another, it’s not clicking for him at Chelsea.
The Zagreb result means it is three consecutive away defeats for Chelsea, who have made a below-par start to the season. As a consequence of that, manager Thomas Tuchel is now sacked from the job.
Getting rid of the manager so early in the season despite the negative results could mean that the players were not on board with what Tuchel wanted to do. Maybe, that is one of the reasons why this team has underperformed by a long margin so far in this campaign.
Ziyech arrived in 2020 and hasn’t been able to cement his place in the side. Injuries have derailed him at times, but the consistency is lacking. Meanwhile, summer signing Koulibaly still looks to be in the settling phase. The Senegal international has made a slow start to life in a Blue shirt.
More Chelsea News:
- Thomas Tuchel to not give his players any day off after recent results
- Thomas Tuchel angry after Chelsea lost to Dinamo Zagreb
- Fabio Capello sends a wake-up call for Chelsea defender Kalidou Koulibaly
Whoever the new manager is, the first job would be to get the best out of these talented players. Chelsea need results, and players like Koulibaly and Ziyech have to step up to make that happen.
