Frank Lebouef was highly quizzical of Graham Potter’s decision to start Denis Zakaria on the Chelsea bench against Manchester City last night.
Speaking on ESPN after witnessing his former side fail at the first FA Cup hurdle, Lebouef bemoaned Potter for leaving the midfielder out of the XI.
Zakaria was seriously unfortunate not to make the initial 11 for the fourth game running.
His longest spell in the side started in the post-World Cup win versus Bournemouth, Chelsea’s first Premier League victory since mid-October.
He was selected again for the subsequent draw with Nottingham Forest, and arguably outperformed any of his teammates during the 1-0 league defeat to Manchester City last Thursday.
Denis Zakaria dropped for Manchester City meeting
Despite battling the light Blues brilliantly, Zakaria was dropped to the substitute seats for Sunday’s cup tie at the Etihad.
Jorginho and Conor Gallagher came into the midfield in place of the Switzerland international, a change that made no difference to the final result.
City cruised to a 4-0 triumph, thanks to two penalties, a delightful Riyad Mahrez free-kick and a meticulously crafted move finished by Phil Foden.
Potter did bring Zakaria on at half-time, but the match was already well beyond Chelsea.
“Zakaria was the best player (in the league fixture). Why was he on the bench today? Why? I don’t get that,” questioned Lebouef.
“He (Potter) made mistakes, then team selection was wrong. He has no excuses, he got it wrong.”
In an attempt to defend his tactical choices, Potter might point to the fact he was without ten members of his senior squad for yesterday’s loss.
Mason Mount returned from injury, but looked like he needed a few more days recovery.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang did not travel to Manchester, whilst the latest on Christian Pulisic is that he could be out for a few weeks.
Nothing is going right for Chelsea at the minute, wrongs that must be rewritten on Thursday away to Fulham.
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