Moises Caicedo breaks silence after nightmare Chelsea debut in 3-1 West Ham defeat

Chelsea midfielder Moises Caicedo has opened up on his disappointing debut for the club against West Ham United on Sunday, August 20.

Caicedo was involved in an incredible transfer saga this summer. Brighton & Hove Albion had accepted a £110 million bid from Liverpool, which topped Chelsea's £100 million bid. The midfielder, however, wanted to join the Blues, who eventually increased their offer to £115 million to seal the transfer.

Caicedo made his debut for the west London side in the Premier League at West Ham United on Sunday. He came on at the 61st minute, replacing Ben Chilwell, with his side trailing 2-1.

The 21-year-old won six of his 10 duels, won one of his two tackles, and committed two fouls, including one on Emerson Palmieri in the penalty box in stoppage time. Lucas Paqueta converted the resulting penalty to complete a 3-1 win for West Ham.

Caicedo came under immense criticism after his debut and the midfielder has now broken his silence on his Instagram account, sharing a post with the caption:

"It wasn’t the debut that I expected but I’m happy to get my first minutes with this big club. We’ll keep working hard to put this team where it deserves💪🏽Thanks to the fans who are supporting me."

Caicedo will now have the opportunity to make amends when Chelsea face Luton Town next at Stamford Bridge on Friday, August 25.

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Mauricio Pochettino defends Moises Caicedo after Chelsea's defeat at West Ham

The Blues have put up good performances in both of their games so far but have failed to register a win. They drew 1-1 with Liverpool and lost 3-1 against West Ham, despite dominating the game.

The Hammers scored in the seventh minute via Nayef Aguerd but Chelsea equalized in the 28th minute courtesy of Carney Chukwuemeka. Enzo Fernandez then missed a penalty in the 42nd minute.

After the break, Michail Antonio scored against the run of play in the 53rd minute with a vicious strike past goalkeeper Robert Sanchez. The Blues created multiple chances after that but failed to score.

Caicedo then conceded a penalty, which was converted by Paqueta to seal the win for the Hammers.

After the game, Mauricio Pochettino defended the decision to bring Caicedo on and his performance, saying (via Football.London):

"We took the decision that we would play with him in the last 30 minutes because he is ready to play 30 minutes but maybe he wasn't ready to play from the beginning, but 30 minutes yes. He did well, some very positive things."

He added:

"Okay, in the last minute we concede a goal but we cannot say nothing wrong. It was positive but we [all] feel disappointed because we deserve more. But in the end we didn't get the result we wanted."

Chelsea have scored two goals from 27 attempts on goal over two games this season. Given that they scored just 38 goals in 38 Premier League games last season, they need a major improvement in the goalscoring department.