Chelsea lost 4-1 to Celtic, putting in a really worrying performance defensively. A couple of balls over the top, and Celtic’s attack often found themselves in on goal.
The Blues were not great in midfield either, even with Reece James inverting into the middle of the park to increase the numbers there.
The likes of Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez did not play. Instead, it was Romeo Lavia and Carney Chukwuemeka who started the game in midfield.
Chelsea fans liked what they saw from Lavia in the Blues’ first pre-season friendly against Wrexham. But they would not have been too impressed with his display versus Celtic on Saturday.
Lavia is a strong midfielder who is not afraid to drive with the ball and showed that a couple of times in the Celtic defeat.
However, his passing was not up to scratch on the day, while Chelsea’s midfield in general failed to show any kind of authority in the middle of the park.
Of course, you cannot ignore the fact that Lavia barely kicked a ball last season. It is understandable that the 20-year-old looked a bit rusty at times.
But it still shows that he is probably not ready to start for Enzo Maresca‘s side when they welcome Manchester City to Stamford Bridge on August 18.
Lavia could become a key player for Chelsea. He is still young and someone who they obviously have a lot of faith in.
The Blues paid Southampton £58m for Lavia’s signature last summer, so this is clearly a young midfielder who they believe in.
It may be too soon, though, for Lavia to start such a huge match against City, where everyone is going to need to be at their best if Chelsea are to take anything away from it.
Lavia needs to prove he has his sharpness back again, otherwise the Belgium international should not be included in Chelsea’s starting XI for their first Premier League game of the season.
Robert Sanchez also went long with a lot of his balls, something you would not expect from a goalkeeper playing in a team who are trying to retain possession.
The Spaniard has started both of Chelsea’s first two pre-season games so far but could actually be replaced between the sticks in the new campaign.
Chelsea are about to sign Filip Jorgensen from Villarreal, which is not a positive development for Sanchez.
While Maresca may be the kind of manager who wants to see his team play the ball short and retain it, it was the Italian who told Sanchez to go long in the 4-1 loss to Celtic.
When asked if it was him who told the 26-year-old to be direct, Maresca said to football.london and other outlets: “Yeah because they were marking us man-to-man; the idea was to try and find some solution in behind but it is something we prepared on the tactical board and didn’t try in the training session.
One Chelsea fan took to X to say: “Badiashile, rubbish, should be loaned or sold. Believe me, this guy is not good enough for CFC.”
Another supporter said: “Badiashile needs to hold bench in our next game. I want to see a Tosin-Colwill-Veiga back three in possession.”
One user on X stated: “Badiashile shouldn’t be anywhere near the starting XI from here on.”
Another questioned what the Frenchman has become: “Badiashile, what happened to you, man?”
And one other fan said: “I’m not even joking, Malang Sarr would do a better job than Badiashile and [Wesley] Fofana.”
Possibly having to compete against both Levi Colwill and Renato Veiga for the left centre-back spot this upcoming season, Badiashile really needs to up his game.
It has been claimed that Maresca could still get rid of Badiashile before the transfer window closes.
