Chelsea managed to defeat Watford in the Premier League on Wednesday evening, but the Blues were far from their best.
Thomas Tuchel’s side has been ravaged by several injuries, with as many as seven first-team players ruled out through injury at the moment. This forced the German manager to field an experimental midfield against Watford by pairing Saul Niguez and Ruben Loftus-Cheek in the middle of the park.
The combination obviously did not work, and Chelsea ended up being outplayed by Watford for most of the game. Tom Cleverley, Moussa Sissoko and Imran Louza had a field day in midfield and even won all the second balls.
Saul disaster-class at Vicarage Road
Many Chelsea players did not turn up against Watford, but none was poorer on the pitch than Saul Niguez. The 27-year-old was simply out of his depth.
The on-loan Atletico Madrid midfielder has struggled for game time since joining the Blues in August, having usually found himself on the bench.
Before Wednesday, he had started just one Premier League game, and this was his chance to redeem himself and stake a claim for more playing time.
However, Niguez was utterly disappointing on the night and was substituted at half-time. The fact that Tuchel preferred shifting Trevoh Chalobah into midfield over the Spanish midfielder highlights just how bad he was.
Saul Niguez has no future at Chelsea
This is the second time Saul Niguez has been substituted after being handed a start in the Premier League, and it is increasingly looking like he has no future at the club.
All the players he’s competing with have stepped up, and it’ll be difficult for him to displace any of them. Moreover, with his move being a loan deal, it’s difficult to see Chelsea extending it at the end of the season.
“It was Saul [who went off] to change the shape a little bit and have Thiago on the pitch with the quality of organising, and Trevoh in the six who is more physical,” Tuchel said after the game, as quoted by Chelseafc.com.
“Unfortunately Trevoh injured himself so we ended up with Ruben in the single six. It was a tactical decision and we go on from here.”
The Blues boss was modest in discussing Niguez’s substitution, but the truth is that the midfielder was disastrous and once again failed to take his chance.
cohcstu
0
I think Tuchel has to do is to consistently give him use him as a sub late in games where they either already won or can’t win. This will raise his confidence and allow him to adjust to the physical nature of the English Premier Language games.
uschelsea
2
this is just his time at chelsea particularly premier league so stop judging him for now is not that easy and u and i no that he is a good player physically so he just needed time he will surely pick his form is just a matter of little time i promise u guys bcs i also blv that jogionho did more than this during his first time
MorizoSeries
2
This guy is going down like hazard
jeoacklrty
0
It was not really impressive 😔
DinoZee
1
Let’s have patience with him. This is only his first season
The vacant space for giving chance is already occupied, Gallagher and Gilmore are better than this Saul. So either of them will return back
rocadmpuy
0
Yeah Saul should just go back to Atletico M. Is clear he doesn’t fit at all
Let’s have some patience with him this is his first season
rocadmpuy
0
We the Chelsea fan association, Nigeria 🇳🇬 branch have started donation for Saul Niguez immediate return flight ✈️ ticket to Spain 🇪🇸. More donations are welcome if you felt our pain yesterday 😂
Let’s have patience with him. This is only his first season
DeeLima_9
3
I hope he will also be honest enough to also admit his poor performance so far when next he wants to whinge about not getting much time on the pitch.
Nekclmrsuz
0
Saul niguez be like I can kil my shelf
rocadmpuy
1
Saul and Werner have to be on the bench. They can only be introduced when we are up by 3 or 4 goals up or they can only be started when we are playing against very smaller teams.
Wasaeklmty
3
Yeah Saul should just go back to Atletico M. Is clear he doesn’t fit at all
DinoZee
6
We the Chelsea fan association, Nigeria 🇳🇬 branch have started donation for Saul Niguez immediate return flight ✈️ ticket to Spain 🇪🇸. More donations are welcome if you felt our pain yesterday 😂