Jason Cundy credits two Chelsea players despite ‘disappointing’ Manchester United loss

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It’s been a pretty dull week for everyone at Chelsea, which was compounded by the defeat against Manchester United on Saturday. Even so, Jason Cundy did still praise two Blues players for their efforts during the dull trip to Old Trafford.

Chelsea suffered a 2-1 loss away to Man Utd in their latest Premier League match as their mini run of poor form continues.

Enzo Maresca’s side are yet to win any of their three games since returning from the international break. However, without a doubt, the performance in Manchester was the most alarming of the season so far.

On reflection, most of Chelsea’s players were below par against Man Utd, so they’ll need to quickly move on and improve. The tone was set, though, when goalkeeper Robert Sanchez was sent off in the fifth minute for fouling Bryan Mbeumo.

• READ MORE: Two winners and four losers from Chelsea’s defeat against Manchester United

Jason Cundy credits Trevoh Chalobah and Reece James for gutsy Chelsea performances

Jason Cundy was left bitterly disappointed with Chelsea after their defeat against Man Utd. However, he did pick out defenders Trevoh Chalobah, 26, and Reece James, 25, as two rare positives.

Speaking on Chelsea’s official app (7:35pm, 20 September), Cundy said: “There has been one or two individual performances. I think Trev has done as best as he can. I think Reece has done as best as he can. But we never recovered from that early red card, that is the truth… We didn’t do enough. For me, that second-half performance was as disappointing as the first half because it was 10v10.”

In a game where Chelsea lacked too much quality, they did create one impressive moment to reduce the deficit to 2-1 late on, albeit they couldn’t then find an equaliser.

Centre-half Chalobah scored his second goal of the season with a powerful header, guiding in his effort after meeting an excellent cross from right-back Reece James. It was a great combination between two talents straight out of the Blues academy.

Even though he ended up on the losing side, Chelsea fans thought James was exquisite against Man Utd with his all-action display at full-back.

We’ve seen him operate in central midfield at times for Maresca. The difference is night and day when he’s on the right flank, though. There is a good reason why Darren Bent called James the Premier League’s best right-back last month.

What Trevoh Chalobah said Chelsea’s defeat to Manchester United

In fairness, Chalobah was very critical of his own side immediately after the weekend’s disappointing result.

Chalobah said via Chelsea’s YouTube channel: “First of all, we just want to say sorry to the fans, this performance is not the level we want show. It was a difficult first 20 minutes with all that happened. We’ve got to look at ourselves and take responsibility. You can’t say we are a young team anymore. We have to take responsibility as men and hold it on ourselves…”

Chelsea’s defence simply must tighten up, which includes both Chalobah and James, because they have become too easy to bypass recently. If not, it will become increasingly difficult to win football matches on a consistent basis.