Chelsea supporters have been left seething after watching the team suffer a defeat away to Aston Villa on Saturday evening; in particular, they’re furious with Reece James.
It’s now back-to-back losses for Chelsea in the Premier League after a 2-1 scoreline at Villa Park.
Enzo Fernandez, who scored highly in the Chelsea player ratings against Villa, netted to put the visitors ahead early in the contest after a very positive start. Unfortunately, Villa’s January recruit Marco Asensio scored two second-half goals to decide the league contest.
As a result, Chelsea stay sixth in the division table as Villa edge right behind them.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 5 |  B’mouthBournemouth | 26 | 12 | 7 | 7 | 44 | 30 | 14 | 43 |
| 6 |  ChelseaChelsea | 26 | 12 | 7 | 7 | 48 | 36 | 12 | 43 |
| 7 |  Aston VillaAston Villa | 27 | 11 | 9 | 7 | 39 | 41 | -2 | 42 |
Chelsea captain Reece James, 25, was one of the big talking points from the weekend.
Even though the right-back does have great versatility, it was a surprise to see James playing central midfield against Villa. Interestingly, he completed the full 90 minutes for the first time since 3 November against Manchester United.
Chelsea fans fume with Reece James being slow for a corner vs Aston VIlla
Chelsea supporters on social media unleashed major criticism towards James in the final moments of the Villa loss.
In stoppage time, when the Blues were 2-1 down, James slowly laboured over to take a corner kick without any real urgency.
One fan wrote: “Look at your captain Reece James, you’re losing with three mins left to play and you’re walking to go take corner kick. This team has no winning mentality.”
“Most worrying was Reece James casually walking over to the corner flag to take a corner in injury time like we were 3-0 up. That’s our captain? Shocking,” another said.
One supporter posted: “Reece James club captain strolling to take a corner with us 2-1 down at stoppage time sums us up since the Everton game. Timid and disinterested.”
“Reece James lack of urgency on that corner. These players,” another claimed.
In fairness to James, he must’ve been tired against Villa after a big shift in midfield. It’s hardly a good look for the Blues skipper, though.
Former Blues star John Obi Mikel demands more leadership from James, and this latest moment is another cross by his name.
The Reece James experiment didn’t work
While we do admire Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca trying different things against Villa to try turn the tide, the James experiment in the centre of the park didn’t work for a couple of reasons.
First, it was always going to be a big ask for James to get through a full game while competing in the midfield battle.
| Minutes played | Total shots | Accurate passes | Accurate crosses | Dribbled past | Duels won | Duels lost | Match rating |
| 90 | 1 | 41/42 (98%) | 0/3 (0%) | 1 | 3 | 5 | 6.0 |
He did his best sitting alongside Moises Caicedo at the base of midfield, but he was bypassed a little too easy at times by the opposition.
Meanwhile, Malo Gusto was enduring a horror evening at right-back. Maresca has been pleased with Gusto’s form throughout the season, but we think he needs some time out of the XI after seeing his levels significantly dip.
In the future, we’d much prefer to see James starting in his full-back position over Gusto.
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