Although Chelsea emerged with credit from their goalless draw with a well-drilled Sevilla side in the Champions League, their performance at the weekend against Southampton left much to be desired.
Frank Lampard watched on as his side gifted the Saints two goals, and defensive howlers have become a bit of a recurring theme since the former Blues midfielder took over.
It’s all very well spending out huge sums for attacking players, but it’s the back four that the manager needs to get right if the west Londoners want to be challenging for trophies this season.
One former Chelsea legend had mixed feelings after seeing the visitors walk away from Stamford Bridge with a point.
“Werner was exceptional and probably wished he could play against Chelsea’s defence,” Alan Hudson told CaughtOffside.
“He was the one big positive along with Havertz just behind him, but there are too many negatives for Frank who can’t see that Azpilicueta and Zouma are not good enough.
“The other teams are improving on the attacking front and these two are hopeless. Frank should’ve played young Reece James no matter that he played for England.
“He has big issues if he can’t see what I can see.”
With Kepa Arrizabalaga clearly struggling too, it appears that any good work the likes of Werner and Havertz do will be undone by the inability of the back line.
“You shouldn’t have to rely on your goalkeeper if you set up your midfield and back four well enough,” Hudson continued.
“Frank can’t do that. It’s too easy to blame the keeper.
“Frank seems to have clouded judgement about his young starlets, as I don’t think they’re everything he thinks they are. He has a lot of problems and hasn’t addressed his defenders at all.”
Still relatively early in the season, Lampard at least has the luxury of having enough time to turn things around.
Hudson clearly believes, however, that the manager isn’t seeing the issues in the first place, and that could spell danger for the Blues.