Gary Neville claims Chelsea need ANOTHER striker
Gary Neville claims Chelsea need ANOTHER striker to balance their ‘frantic front line’ and says they have an ‘immature team in the sense of its age’
- Gary Neville believes Chelsea need another striker to ‘balance their front line’
- His comments came after the Blues defeated Luton 3-0 at Stamford Bridge
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Gary Neville has claimed that Chelsea need another striker to help ‘balance their frantic front three’ following their 3-0 victory against Luton on Friday night.
Raheem Sterling opened the scoring, completing a sensational solo dribble winding around the Luton defence, before finding the back of the net with his weak foot.
The 28-year-old winger, who has been in fine form of late, doubled Chelsea’s lead after half time, before assisting Nicolas Jackson, who completed the trio of goals, while also getting his first Premier League goal for his new club.
The Senegalese forward is one of Mauricio Pochettino’s summer additions and has featured in all three of their opening league matches this season.
Chelsea ranked as the joint-fifth lowest scoring side in the Premier League last season and the Argentine manager has notably added to his attacking stocks this summer.
Nicolas Jackson (left) and Raheem Sterling (right) both scored during Chelsea’s 3-0 win against Luton on Friday night
Mauricio Pochettino’s (middle) side secured their first win of the new Premier League season
But Sky Sports Pundit, Gary Neville (pictured) believes that Chelsea need another striker, despite having signed several new attaking players this summer
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But, speaking to Sky Sports following the win, Neville stated that there ‘is still a lot of work to be done at Chelsea’ and that he believes the London club still needed another forward.
‘I think the balance needs working on. It’s an immature team in the sense of its age and it’s an immature team in terms of its games together,’ the former Manchester United defender said.
‘If you think about the best functioning units, at the moment Jackson and Sterling, Sterling’s off the right hand side and it’s certainly better seeing him higher up the pitch.
‘But what you need, and if you think about Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham team, it had Son running behind it, Dele Alli running behind, it had Harry Kane coming short and had Christian Eriksen who could find passes.
‘What we’ve got at the moment is a very frantic imbalanced front line – the left side isn’t sorted it’s very quick players in Jackson and sterling who are running quick but its frantic.’
It comes after the Blues just this week announced the signing of Brazilian centre-forward Deivid Washington.
The 18-year-old arrived on a £17million transfer and signed a seven-year deal to stay at the south London club.
He’ll join up with several other new faces at the club including second striker Christopher Nkunku and winger Angelo and midfielders Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia.
Neville added: ‘The best forward lines for example Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah had Roberto Firminio to balance off them to provide that little bit of calmness to it.
‘So what I see at the moment is for Jackson to get to his best and for sterling to get to his best is they need someone to come in to connect them as a unit to make it a unit front three. Or they need someone from midfield to step up.
‘The problem at the moment is Pochettino has a back three, he’s also got a midfield that he’s trying to work out with Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez.
Sterling (pictured) scored a brace of goals during the match and continued the fine vein of form he showed against West Ham
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‘I think what he’d like to do is eventually go to a back four, play the two midfielders and put one up off the front.
‘There’s no body in the hole at the moment that’s why he had Carney Chukwuemeka and sterling coming into the hole.
‘Nkunku is coming back and he might be the one that connects it but for me its the balance of the front three, the immaturity and they’re frantic.
‘But for me there’s real potential there for Jackson he runs all he needs is someone around him who is world class that can feed little passes and slide little balls across because everything is frantic from distance and you’re sort of hitting him at channels.
‘That’s not going to work in the Premier league too much. A lot of work to do at Chelsea but I do think there will be another forward needed to balance off that front three to get it together. Maybe Nkunku.’
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