7 hours ago
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If Chelsea's defenders have clean sheet bonuses written into their contracts, they are not doing much to earn their extra pocket money out of their club. Rather, the dearth of determination to stop the opposition from scoring is getting silly now.
For the 21st Premier League match in succession, Chelsea failed to secure a clean sheet. Their last one came against Brentford coincidentally, and that was in January, Liam Rosenior's first game in charge. Since then, opposition attacks have considered them there for the taking.
How Chelsea surrendered their latest shot at a shutout involved a little charity. It came from a Brentford corner, the fifth set-piece goal conceded by Xabi Alonso's side this season.
Austin MacPhee was hired from Aston Villa in the summer, specifically to help solve these situations. He is making minor changes here and there. For example, Chelsea attempted a new kick-off routine here, with Cole Palmer booting the ball straight out of play for a Brentford throw-in by their corner flag, in a bid to pin them back from the get-go.
However, when it comes to defending set-pieces, little seems to have changed on MacPhee's watch as of yet. Mikkel Damsgaard sent his corner to the back of the six-yard box. Jannik Schuster headed it back across. Jaidon Anthony nodded it in, unmarked with Wesley Fofana having drifted to stand on the line and watch it all unfold.
He was not the only one at fault, but it did have at least some Fofana fingerprints on it, and rarely has the 25-year-old Frenchman looked like the defender that Chelsea – or Todd Boehly – hoped they were signing in 2022 for £75million from Leicester City.
Chelsea continue to struggle defensively and suffered a 3-0 defeat by Brentford on Friday
Boehly was acting as interim sporting director when Chelsea committed to bringing in Fofana. His injury history was naturally a concern, and so Chelsea's chairman had an idea.
Boehly sent his prospective purchase to New York rather than London so he could have a more thorough medical via the team doctor of the Los Angeles Lakers, the NBA team that he also co-owned. That medical lasted more than ten hours, but Fofana eventually got the green light, and Boehly his man.
Chelsea saw something special in him at that time, but he is still not standing up to the elite standards that the club want of him. Hardly any of the back line are.
Chelsea's defence is a problem which Alonso must solve if he wants to be troubling towards the top of the Premier League. They are leaking a glut of goals, and this time, they did not have the attack to save them with Joao Pedro sidelined and replaced by Danny Welbeck.
SUBSTITUTION SCRUTINY
Alonso cannot escape scrutiny for his substitutions, including his ignorance of Estevao Willian.
The Brazilian is a terrific young talent. He is still only 19, but has shown enough since arriving at Chelsea that he can have an impact if allowed the opportunity.
Indeed, it is hard not to think he is deserving of more minutes than he is receiving. Before this trip to Brentford, his Premier League season involved being an 83rd-minute substitute; unused substitute; 81st-minute substitute; 86th-minute substitute.
Here, Chelsea were already losing 2-0 when Estevao was brought on in the 87th minute.
Reports in Brazil have continued to emerge suggesting the starlet is frustrated. It is hard to blame him if so. With the very last kick of this game, Estevao swung in a corner which went straight out of play. In a way, that summed up his sorry season.
Xabi Alonso has received backlash for his substitutions, with some stars seemingly deserving of more game time
Reports in Brazil suggest that Estevao is growing frustrated with his role in the squad
A SURPRISE STAR
The bar was set low, but Jordan Henderson was one of the few that impressed for Chelsea, especially in the first half in what was his first appearance in more than three months.
The 36-year-old added experience into the centre of the pitch, and made the visitors seem a little less soft at least. That has been an accusation levelled at this young Chelsea side. But Henderson was forever having a word with our referee, Andrew Madley, when something did not go his side's way.
A year or two ago, when Chelsea were in the thick of their focus on youth, nobody would have believed us if we said Henderson and Welbeck would soon be starting for this club. Yet here they were, contributing to a line-up that carried an average age of 27 years and 349 days – Chelsea's oldest since a 2023 league trip to Arsenal.
It helped in the first-half, but all unravelled in the second after conceding from a cheap set-piece.
