Liverpool FC icon Graeme Souness has lambasted Chelsea FC’s midfield duo of Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic. The Sky Sports pundit also questioned Blues’ coach Frank Lampard’s decision to continue to select both the players in his starting lineup.
Souness, who is known to be quite outspoken, lashed out at the pair’s contribution towards Chelsea FC. The former Scottish player also stated that he would have loved to come across the midfield pairing of Kovacic and Jorginho during his playing days.
Expressing his rather fierce views on Jorginho and Kovacic’s playing style, Souness added that both midfielders lacked several qualities. Writing for The Times, the former Reds’ captain berated Chelsea FC’s duo of failure to score goals for their side. Moreover, according to Souness, despite being easy on the eye, Kovacic and Jorginho do not possess the fair share of skills required in a modern-day midfielder.
Souness’s criticism of the Blues’ midfield pairing seems to be quite a harsh assessment of both players. However, the 67-year old’s views are backed by stats that prove Jorginho and Kovacic have been misfiring for Chelsea FC on the attacking front.
From 29 league appearances this season, the 26-year old Kovacic has managed to score just one goal. On the other hand, Jorginho’s tally for the current season is four. However, three of the four goals scored by the Italian international are from the penalty spot.
Both midfielders had been dropped by Frank Lampard prior to Chelsea FC’s last game against Norwich City. Jorginho has featured just twice for the Blues post the lockdown period, having been benched for the remaining fixtures. Kovacic too was benched following the Blues’ 3-2 defeat against West Ham United a fortnight ago.
And Souness believes that the current state of the Chelsea FC midfield would force Lampard to spend big bucks in the transfer market on adding a quality midfielder to his side. The Blues coach has been persistent on finalizing a transfer for German international Kai Havertz.
The 21-year old Havertz has averaged nearly 13 goals for Bayer Leverkusen over the past two seasons. His addition to the Chelsea FC squad would provide Lampard with a great midfield option upon whom the responsibility to score goals can be entrusted.
