Pat Nevin has admitted he wanted Chelsea’s Romelu Lukaku to take the penalty against West Ham that Jorginho ended up missing.
Jorginho saw his weak spot-kick saved in Sunday’s Premier League contest against West Ham.
It looked like the game was heading for a goalless draw when the penalty wasn’t converted inside the final 10 minutes, but there was still time for Blues substitute Christian Pulisic to pop up with a 90th minute winner in a crucial 1-0 victory.
Chelsea’s first-choice penalty taker Jorginho scored nine out of nine penalties going into the weekend, so he’s the obvious choice to step up from 12 yards.
However, Nevin claimed that it crossed his mind the thought of Lukaku grabbing the ball and taking the penalty.
In fairness, the Belgian striker has scored 30 out of the 35 penalties he’s taken in his career. He was fouled by Craig Dawson inside the box after a clever turn to earn the penalty, too.
Thankfully, Pulisic’s late winner meant it doesn’t matter.
“There was a moment where I was thinking ‘I actually would rather have Lukaku come up and smacking that ball’,” Nevin told BBC Radio 5 Live.
Change for Chelsea?
Jorginho’s still a good penalty taker that backs his own unique style, but that’s now seven penalties missed across his entire career.
It may be worth the Blues finding a new long-term penalty taker.
Kai Havertz, who’s scored all 14 of his spot-kicks in his career, is a superb candidate to consider. He wasn’t on the pitch at the time of today’s incident, though.
It’s great for attackers to boost their goal tally with set-pieces, so Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel should seriously consider a quiet word with Havertz to ask him about it.
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