“The thing about Nkunku is…” – Former Chelsea player on what Blues must do | OneFootball

Former Chelsea goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer was on the Seaman Says podcast this week, and it was really interesting to hear his thoughts about his old team.

All the talk this week has been about strikers – Marc Guiu and Nicolas Jackson are out injured, and Chelsea are going to have to use Christopher Nkunku up front, something which really didn’t work out last week. The team needs to change its style to accommodate him, something Enzo Maresca mentioned in his press conference and something Schwarzer touched on:

“The thing about Nkunku is I’ve seen him play a lot in Germany and I’m a massive fan of him. I think he’s a really, really good player, but they don’t play to his strengths. There was one moment in the game where they did, and there was this straight, simple ball over the top, and Nkunku was lacking so much confidence. He wanted to hit it with his right but should have hit it with his left, and he looked to play across a little lob to Cole Palmer and it didn’t go very far because it was a really difficult one. The Christopher Nkunku from two seasons ago would have smashed it and scored. It’s a clear lacking of confidence and they’re not playing to his strengths whatsoever.”

They’ve had a whole week to work on it since, and we can only hope they’ve made some progress on it.

Sporting decisions questioned by former Blue

Mark Schwarzer on the Seaman Says podcast.

Schwarzer also questioned the squad building which has put Chelsea in this situation – where their main backup striker plays a different style (almost a different position) to their main one:

“That’s part of the issue, and Chelsea have done that a bit over the years. They bought players that don’t really fit their system. Nicholas Jackson does fit the way that Enzo Maresca wants to play. He’s hardworking, he’s pushing forward all the time, he stays up, he’ll put pressure on the defenders, whereas Nkunku is then coming, looking for the ball.”