Joe Cole has called out Chelsea star Tosin Adarabioyo for his ‘clumsy’ error within the 5-1 Champions League win over 10-man Ajax on Wednesday.
Adarabioyo gave away a penalty in the primary half after a foul on Raul Moro contained in the box, with Wout Weghorst scoring the resulting spot-kick.
The Chelsea defender was then taken off at half-time, with Enzo Maresca replacing the centre-back with Trevoh Chalobah on the break.
Former Chelsea stars Cole and Eidur Gudjohnsen watched the incident on punditry duties for TNT Sports and were critical of Adarabioyo’s mistake.
‘It was clumsy,’ Cole said. ‘In modern football, you can’t dangle a leg. He dangles his leg.
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‘Any of those players now, they feel somewhat bit contact, they go down. The goalkeeper must do higher there [too] because Weghorst doesn’t put it into the underside corner.’
Gudjohnsen added: ‘Once you’re a person up, you don’t need to concede and also you don’t need to nibble at a striker running at you.
‘You simply need to stand your ground and stay in your feet. It was a silly challenge, really.’
Cole: Estevao Willian gives me Neymar vibes!
Meanwhile, Cole was filled with praise for Chelsea star Estevao Willian after he began and scored within the victory over Ajax.
‘He’s such a great watch,’ Cole said. ‘Each time I watch him, he gives me Neymar vibes.
‘He goes each ways. He’s got sensible balance. He gets the gang on their feet and he’s a player you like watching.’
Chelsea head coach Maresca compared Estevao to Cole Palmer in his post-match interview on TNT Sports.
‘For me he may be very much like Cole Palmer, who I had at a really similar age at Man City,’ Maresca opined.
‘Cole began to play wide because he needed to construct his physicality and now he’s playing inside.
‘With Estevao, they’re quite similar. Now he’s playing wide but in the long run I feel he’s more of an inside player.
‘It’s exciting to see him. The benefit of Estevao, sometimes with young players you might be fearful because after one game playing well and so they think they’re top.
‘But Estevao is polite, humble and desires to learn. His family did a job there. We’re completely happy in the way in which he performs but in addition because he’s a pleasant boy, a great boy.’
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