Former Chelsea defender Frank Leboeuf has hit out at Noni Madueke for some poor play against Middlesbrough last night, but also said the entire team didn’t really look like it knew what it was doing.
The Blues suffered a surprise 1-0 defeat in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final tie, and will be under big pressure when they take Boro on again in the second leg at Stamford Bridge, with the Championship side, managed by former Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick, showing that they’re no pushovers.
Leboeuf was far from impressed by the quality of Chelsea’s play, and he singled out one moment from Madueke in particular, as the 21-year-old at one point crossed into an empty 16-yard box.
The Frenchman, on punditry duty with ESPN, clearly felt this was a concerning lack of in-game intelligence from Madueke, describing it as something he hasn’t seen since all the way back in his childhood when he’d play football in his home town.
“Madueke at one point, he made the cross where we could see there was no Chelsea player in the 16-yard box. But he made it,” Leboeuf said.
“The last time I saw that I was 14 years old in my village where you don’t know what to do with the ball so you cross it and you don’t care about it.
“The guy is a professional player, it means he crossed by instinct, he doesn’t know what he does, he does not inform himself on what he has to do. That is absolutely appalling.”
He added: “It’s not just him, they are all the same. It is amazing.”
Chelsea fans will no doubt be concerned about this, with Madueke not looking particularly impressive at any point now since he joined the club from PSV last January.
The England Under-21 international looked like a promising young talent during his time in the Eredivisie, so it’s not surprising that a club like Chelsea came in for him, but he now needs to improve quickly.