Alan Pardew says Chelsea’s back four is a ‘worry’ and a ‘concern’ after Mauricio Pochettino’s side failed to beat Premier League struggles Sheffield United.
Sheffield United had only taken 15 points from 30 games before hosting Chelsea on Sunday but Oli McBurnie’s injury-time goal denied the Blues victory at Bramall Lane.
Chelsea led twice – through Thiago Silva and Noni Madueke – but Sheffield United fought back and secured a point thanks to Jayden Bogle’s first-half equaliser and McBurnie’s late leveller.
Pochettino’s side scored two injury-time goals to stun Manchester United in midweek but suffered more frustration in Sheffield as they stayed just ninth in the Premier League.
Chelsea have spent over £1billion on new signings over the past two years but the investment is thus far not leading to success on the pitch.
Pardew believes Chelsea can be a threat going forward but has major doubts over the team’s defence, which has conceded 52 goals this season – ten more than 15th-placed Everton.
‘After some time Chelsea do have a team that kind of resembles the one from the week before now, but the back four worries me a bit with Chelsea,’ the former Premier League manager told talkSPORT.
‘I think going forward they’re okay, I wouldn’t say they’re brilliant. But the back four is the concern if you’re going to have any kind of consistency.
‘It’s amazing when you think about, and I’ve got a lot of friends who are Chelsea fans, the history of the Champions League and the Premier League titles and [Jose] Mourinho and all that history… it wasn’t that long ago.
‘And now they’ve spent all this money and it looks like their best bet is going to be the Europa Conference League. I mean, it’s a bit of a worry, isn’t it?’
Speaking after Chelsea’s draw in Sheffield, Pochettino said it was a ‘fair result’ and admitted his side are struggling for balance.
‘If we analyse after the game, then a draw was fair for both teams,’ he said. ‘In the Premier League, you need to try to play well and also control games.
‘All of the teams in the Premier League are good. Today we conceded in the last few minutes. We feel really bad in the way we conceded, but we need to keep moving.
‘We need to be more clinical. The team is scoring a lot of goals but we are conceding too much. We need to find this balance.
‘At the moment, we can’t get the right balance of scoring goals and conceding less. We are struggling in this thing and it is something we need to improve if we want to be in a different position in the table.’
Chelsea goalscorer Madueke, meanwhile, said the Blues dressing room was stunned into ‘silence’ after Sheffield United’s late equaliser, which keeps the Blades nine points from safety.
‘It was silent to be honest,’ the England U21 star said. ‘Of course, we should have won the game.
‘The fashion we lost it in [is bad]. The way we drop points sometimes, it was in the palm of our hands. There is still games to go. We have to stick together and I have faith we can finish in the places we want to finish in.’
Chelsea return to action against Everton next weekend while bottom-placed Sheffield United visit Brentford.
