Owen Hargreaves, a former Premier League player, has criticized Chelsea for damaging the club’s culture. He argues that their transfer strategy has hindered their chances of winning European trophies.
Following Chelsea’s 8-2 aggregate defeat to PSG, Hargreaves commented that Chelsea was once a consistent contender for the Premier League and UEFA Champions League titles. However, he believes the new ownership’s strategy has now reduced their competitiveness, as he shared on TNT Sports:
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“They already had a culture, this club have won things forever under different managers, different regimes, different players. And they’ve won the biggest trophies – Premier Leagues, Champions Leagues – not Club World Cups or something smaller. This club should want to win the biggest trophies. The Premier Leagues and the Champions Leagues. Right now, they’re miles off it. They’ve signed some brilliant young players, but right now they’ve got too many young players.”
“They need experienced players. All these great Chelsea teams have had world class experienced players – John Terry, Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, Makelele, Essien. It’s great to have these young kids, but you need to have experience. The guys who own this club, and buy these players they have to understand that. You can’t have three academy kids in a back four against the European champions. It’s impossible, it’s never going to work. 8-2 over two legs. It’s too much.” (via Metro)
Chelsea has been eliminated from the Carabao Cup and is not in contention for the Premier League title this season. Their only remaining chance for a trophy lies in the FA Cup, where they are set to face Port Vale next.
Chelsea manager Liam Rosenior admits mistakes cost them PSG tie
Chelsea manager Liam Rosenior acknowledged that the match was effectively decided in the first six minutes of the second leg after Mamadou Sarr’s error allowed PSG to extend their lead. He noted that the second goal, scored soon after, effectively ended their chances of a comeback.
“Six minutes in and another mistake that we make, it takes the wind out of our sails. I think the second goal he’s hit from 25 yards in the top corner. When you go two goals down so early and five goals down on aggregate, it’s a really, really difficult evening.”
Chelsea conceded once more in the second half, suffering a 3-0 defeat at home. Their next game in the Premier League is against Everton before the players take a break for international duty.
Edited by Sripad
