Chelsea star branded ‘silly’ and accused of being ‘non-league standard’ | Football

Chelsea’s Robert Sanchez was accused of constructing a ‘silly’ error and branded ‘non-league’ quality by Jamie O’Hara within the wake of Saturday’s 1-1 draw against Burnley.

The Blues looked on target for a routine win when Joao Pedro continued his high quality run of form by opening the scoring within the fourth minute.

Liam Rosenior’s side did not construct on that early goal, nonetheless, and ultimately dropped two vital points when Zian Flemming headed home an injury time equaliser.

The Chelsea manager blamed an unnamed player for failing to mark the Dutch striker from the corner that led to the late leveller, but O’Hara felt Chelsea’s goalkeeper had been guilty of a good more basic error just minutes earlier.

Having claimed possession of the ball within the eighty fifth minute Sanchez, moderately than opting to take the sting out of the sport, opted to try to launch a fast counter attack by clearing the ball up field towards Pedro who had clearly been suffering with cramp.

‘How old is (Robert) Sanchez?’ O’Hara asked talkSPORT co-host Jason Cundy. ‘He’s not young, is he. He’s got loads of experience.’

As Cundy tried to reply, O’Hara continued: ‘Within the eighty fifth minute, the ball involves him. All you do, go down. Hold onto it.

‘What does he do?’ Cundy asked. ‘He boots it straight to a Burnley player, they usually’re back on it!” O’Hara replied.

‘He’s done it twice. I’m taking a look at him going ‘What’s he doing?’

‘That ain’t about being young, that’s about being silly!’

Cundy agreed, adding: ‘Catch it, go down, kill the clock. He boots it to Joao Pedro, who’s pulling up with cramp. What’s he going to do when he gets it? It’s 3v1.

‘When if it’s the right pass, what’s he going to do? It’s 3v1.’

O’Hara continued: ‘You pay money for it, you go down, get the team up and you then boot it into the corner, right? You’ve wasted two minutes.

‘That stuff there, right there, is where Chelsea are only ridiculous on a regular basis. It’s like non-league stuff.’

Rosenior, meanwhile, said he’s learning who he can and can’t depend on after Chelsea had Wesley Fofana sent off before throwing away one other lead.

Chelsea had 4 central defenders on the pitch at that time on Burnley’s equaliser but none of them were anywhere near Flemming as he met James Ward-Prowse’s cross.

It formed a part of a damning verdict on a display showing alarming parallels with the failure to complete off Leeds when 2-0 up here of their last outing, while Fofana’s red card – shown for a second booking for a late tackle on Ward-Prowse – proved that the team’s disciplinary problems haven’t gone away.

‘That wasn’t on Wesley,’ said Rosenior of his team’s collapse. ‘That was on our performance. From the primary goal, we lacked incision after we had control. I would like us to create wave after wave of attacks. We were too protected in our possession.

‘We knew their biggest threat with Ward-Prowse on the pitch was set plays. We went as big as we possibly could because that was the one way they might rating with 10 men. We still don’t see it out.

‘We’ve set fire to 4 points from two home games. It’s not ok for a club of this level for me to say we were the higher team.

‘I’m learning concerning the players. I’m learning concerning the people you may lean on when things aren’t going your way and you’ll want to see a game out. That’s something we’d like to deal with in a short time.’

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