Jamie Redknapp was let down by the performances of Ben Chilwell and Callum Hudson-Odoi during Chelsea’s tough defeat to Leicester City.
It was a harrowing night for Frank Lampard’s side as they lost 2-0 at the King Power Stadium and dropped nine points behind their hosts.
Speaking on Sky Sports after the game, Redknapp was rightly critical of Chelsea’s players and their discouraging display.
Chilwell and Hudson-Odoi were not the only ones under fire, but he focused in on the young pairing because he expected more from them.
“Ben Chilwell comes in for a lot of money, I want to see more from him. I’m seeing him go through the motions a little bit. I want to see more energy.”
“He gave Callum Hudson-Odoi and opportunity today. What did he do? He had one opportunity that he ends up falling over, lack of quality. These are big opportunities for players.”
Plenty was made pre-match of Hudson-Odoi’s inclusion after the 20-year had started on the bench for three of the previous four Premier League fixtures.
Unfortunately, he failed to produce when given the opportunity and squandered Chelsea’s best chance of the first half.
Chilwell signed from Leicester last August for £45m (BBC Sport) as part of Lampard’s expensive spending spree and has generally been a strong addition to the squad.
However, he was extremely quite against his old club, who denied him any chance to foray forward thanks to the tireless work-rate of Marc Albrighton
Lampard also gave starts to Kai Havertz, Tammy Abraham and Reece James who were all extremely underwhelming.
Redknapp echoed this sentiment by saying, “The players that he bought in, you are always asking them to do better, and they didn’t do enough a lot of the players that had their chance.”
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I’ll openly admit I was flying the flag high for Hudson-Odoi when I saw his name on the team sheet, and to say I was disheartened would be an understatement.
He and Chilwell were certainly not the worst players on the pitch, but that is not saying a lot as Chelsea were awful all round.
Lampard has to back to the drawing board and seriously considered or merits a place in this weekend’s XI.