Reece James has been discussing a crucial topic to fix Chelsea’s form after John Terry was proven right on his angry comments
Chelsea captain Reece James has held a private meeting with his teammates to address concerns over losing games they should dominate. The Blues are winless in their last three after a defeat to Atalanta in the Champions League, a draw with Bournemouth, and a loss to Leeds United.
According to the Daily Mail, following their latest setback, James has been speaking to his fellow Chelsea stars about why they struggle so much against lesser sides in comparison to performances in games they may not be expected to win.
Prior to picking up just one point from a possible nine, Chelsea battered Barcelona and held Arsenal to a 1-1 draw despite having ten men for nearly an hour after Moises Caicedo’s red card. His absence has certainly impacted Enzo Maresca’s side, with Liam Delap and Wesley Fofana having also suffered unfortunate injury blows.
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The latter duo both started the 3-1 defeat to Leeds which kicked off this poor run with club legend John Terry slamming that display at Elland Road. His comments about the inexperience in the squad have also seemingly come to fruition further in the last week.
He said on TikTok: “Everything I said about Leeds, they were going to be aggressive, fans were going to be up for it, it was going to be a hostile place to go. You either go there and match them or you take the sting out of it completely, and by looks of it we certainly didn’t do that in the first half.
“We cannot follow up two unbelievable performances with a performance like that, it’s certainly not going to make you title contenders. Unfortunately that’s what’s going to cost us, we are inexperienced and if you can’t go Leeds away and know what to expect then…”
Whether or not James and his teammates have figured out why they find it difficult against teams they should beat will be proven this weekend as Chelsea host Everton at Stamford Bridge. It is the final match of Caicedo’s three-game ban, with the midfielder to be back available for the following week’s clash against Newcastle United.
Cole Palmer is, however, expected to return to the fold after not travelling to Italy earlier this week, as Maresca revealed it was in order to manage his minutes.
Maresca, after Palmer was absent from training, said on Monday: “Cole, it’s part of the process at the moment. He can’t play two games in three days. It’s a way to protect him.”
The Blues talisman started the draw with Bournemouth before being subbed off just prior to the hour mark. Liam Delap suffered his latest injury earlier on in that clash, but looks to have at least avoided another serious injury.
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On the shoulder issue that forced him off, Maresca said: “Liam, as I said, he has not fractured anything. How long he will be out? Not sure, to be honest.”
Fofana is a doubt for the weekend after his eye injury, while James could be rested again, having played 90 minutes against Atalanta and Bournemouth.
On whether he could start against Leeds after 172 minutes in the eight days prior, the Chelsea boss revealed: “No, it is a no, the reality is no. It was a fantastic performance [vs Arsenal], but we need to manage.”
