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ESPN pundits Craig Burley and Frank Leboeuf have criticized Chelsea and manager Mauricio Pochettino following their 2-2 draw with Sheffield United.
The Blues traveled to Bramall Lane to take on the Premier League's 20th-placed side on Sunday, April 7. Despite taking the lead twice through Thiago Silva (11') and Noni Madueke, they could only come away with a point. Jayden Bogle (32') and Oli McBurnie (90+3') equalized for the Blades.
It now means Pochettino's men have won just 12 of their 30 league outings this term. In their last three matches, they've drawn 2-2 with both 19th-placed Burnley and bottom side Sheffield. Their other game saw them stage a late comeback to beat Manchester United 4-3.
As a result, footballer-turned-pundit Burley didn't hold back on his comments about Chelsea. He said on ESPN FC after Sunday's match:
"They're midtable. But then - semifinals of the FA Cup, they were in the Carabao Cup final, which is something to hang on to. But the league form is pretty dismal."
Leboeuf, meanwhile, slammed Pochettino for his substitutions against Sheffield. With the score at 2-1, the Argentine tactician took off Cole Palmer, Madueke, Marc Cucurella and Nicolas Jackson. They were replaced by Carney Chukwuemeka, Mykhaylo Mudryk, Benoit Badiashile and Cesare Casadei.
The Frenchman, who played 203 times for the Blues between 1996 and 2001, said:
"You were leading 2-1. [Chris] Wilder, the Sheffield United coach, tried to put some attackers (on), and Pochettino was just reacting. We saw, 30 seconds before they conceded the second goal, Jackson going off and Badiashile coming on. And I say, 'Wow, he's so scared about not keeping the result that he'll follow what Wilder is doing.'
"Well, you are Chelsea. You have to counterattack and put attackers [on]. Try to score the third goal, don't try to save the 2-1!... What do you expect from a club that have to put defenders [on] to save a 2-1 lead against the last of the league? That says a lot."
Chelsea struggled to create openings against Sheffield, getting just six shots away and scoring with two of the three they got on target. In contrast, the Blades had 11 shots and six on target despite recording just 32% possession.
The late goal also meant that the Premier League giants have conceded 15 times in their last seven matches across competitions. They have failed to keep a clean sheet since January 27 (0-0 vs Aston Villa in the FA Cup).
Mauricio Pochettino admits Chelsea's 2-2 draw with Sheffield United was a "fair result"
Owing to the disparity in chances created, Pochettino admitted that a draw was the right result on Sunday. He said after the match (as quoted by Chelsea's official website):
‘‘When you concede in the last few minutes, always we feel very disappointed and frustrated because we should win the game in this moment. But for different circumstances, we concede and in the end, it’s a draw. I want to say also now with the draw in our hands, it’s a fair result.
‘‘If you analyse the game, even though we had the control and possession, we didn’t create enough or show the capacity to be solid, strong, and not concede goals. That is the most painful situation.’’
The draw lifted Chelsea to ninth place in the Premier League with 44 points from 30 matches. They remain just four adrift of seventh-placed West Ham United, who have played two games more.
