Chelsea star slammed for his role in Dortmund winner in Champions League clash
Joe Cole believes Mykhailo Mudryk bears some responsibility for Chelsea’s Champions League loss to Borussia Dortmund.
Wednesday night, Chelsea lost 1-0 at the Signal Iduna Park due to a magnificent goal by Karim Adeyemi.
The winning goal resulted from a Blues corner kick that was cleared to Adeyemi on the edge of the box. From there, the 21-year-old forward raced past Enzo Fernandez and Kepa Arrizabalaga before slotting the ball into an empty net.
While nothing should be taken away from the quality of Adeyemi’s goal, the Chelsea defense has been heavily criticized, and while last man Fernandez has taken the brunt of that criticism, Cole believes another player is to blame.
Mudryk was the closest opponent to the Dortmund speedster, but he failed to close him down, allowing Adeyemi to run the entire length of the field without much opposition.
“There needs to be a bit of blame on Mudryk,” Chelsea icon Cole said on BT Sport.
“When you are an attacking player, you are thinking to yourself, “right, I can score a goal here if the ball drops [on the edge of the area]”.
“As soon as you realise that the ball [has been cleared], right, switch on defensively. He just lets [Adeyemi] run off him.
“I feel like quick players can lose concentration because they feel that their pace can get them away with it.”
Graham Potter was similarly dissatisfied with the manner in which the goal was conceded; as a result, Chelsea have won only two of their last 14 matches in all competitions.
“It’s a poor goal and we have to do better,’ the manager said in his post-match press conference.
“We were pushing at the time and were the better team. So to concede in that manner is what we’re disappointed with.
“The players are honest and they know they can do better with that. We have to help them, of course, but we will focus on the positives.”
Chelsea star slammed for his role in Dortmund winner in Champions League clash
