Former Manchester United striker, Michael Owen, has criticized Edouard Mendy and Jorginho following Chelsea’s Premier League 3-2 loss to West Ham United on Saturday afternoon.
Mendy failed to keep out Massuaku’s bizarre winning goal for West Ham against Chelsea during the encounter, while Jorginho was not at his best form against the Hammers.
West Ham defeated Chelsea at the London Stadium following goals from Manuel Lanzini, Jarrod Bowen and Arthur Masuaku.
Thiago Silva and Mason Mount did score for Thomas Tuchel’s side.
“When he first hit it, I thought he just miss-kicked it and he tried to curl it. But on closer inspection, it takes a slight deflection off Loftus-Cheek and obviously wrong foots the goalkeeper,” Owen told Premier League Productions.
“It just goes in on the near post. Some people will blame the goalkeeper. I suppose you have got to say if a ball goes in and you have got that much time to see it, then the first priority is to keep the ball out of the net.
“I understand you are probably creeping and anticipating a cross, getting in the right position, but the bottom line is you have got to protect your goal at all times, so you have got to apportion some blame to the keeper.”
On the first-half incident, which saw Mendy bring down Bowen after an ill-advised back pass from Jorginho, who was also at fault in Chelsea’s draw 1-1 draw against Manchester United last weekend, Owen added: “Only he (Jorginho) will know (what he was thinking).
“We could see he was right in the middle of our screen as it happened and he sold his goalkeeper short.
“The goalkeeper, I think, is expecting Bowen to come in and tackle him, which is why he’s almost protecting the ball and takes a touch off his back foot.
“When he doesn’t feel that contact he’s almost got it stuck under his foot now. He tries to take it away from goal and Bowen reads it and it’s inevitable when he brings him down. It’s a catalogue of errors.”
Chelsea will now hope to return to winning ways when they face Zenit in the Champions League on Wednesday night.
