‘Not bringing much at all’ – ESPN pundits slam Liverpool ‘bust’ who lost 13 duels on Sunday
Liverpool were humbled in the FA Cup fourth round by Plymouth Argyle on Sunday as Arne Slot paid the price for heavy squad rotation.
With the likes of Mo Salah, Virgil van Dijk, Cody Gakpo and Alexis Mac Allister not brought to Devon, there was an opportunity for rare starters such as Federico Chiesa to prove a point to the head coach.
Unfortunately, the Italian was among the senior players who disappointed massively, with ITV pundit Karen Carney describing the 27-year-old’s performance yesterday as ‘poor‘.
Chiesa criticised after Liverpool exit FA Cup
The Liverpool forward also came in for criticism from Craig Burley and Steve Nicol on ESPN UK as they analysed the Reds’ defeat at Home Park.
The ex-Chelsea midfielder said: “What was really disappointing was that Liverpool’s best and most experienced players were in the forward line, and we saw nothing.
“Jota’s a very good player and he’s getting back to fitness. He’s always going to do something, but Chiesa – what is he going to bring to this Liverpool side? What he’s going to bring when there’s a time that they need to rest Salah and one or two other players? Thus far, you have to say he’s just not bringing much at all.”
Nicol added: “You know the biggest disappointment today? Chiesa. I know when they signed him, it was a bit of a gamble because he’d been out injured for so long, but the pedigree the guy’s got – you would expect at least something from him today.
“Maybe not scoring goals and all of that, but just showing yourself on the field and helping the younger guys and showing your experience. The guy’s got a European winner’s medal, but he’s been an absolute bust today. If you’re Slot, you’ll be lying in bed thinking ‘I hope I don’t need him’.”
Chiesa was nowhere near his best for Liverpool on Sunday
Chiesa has been most unfortunate with injury problems since joining Liverpool last August, but having seemed to be gradually gaining momentum in recent weeks, yesterday represented a backwards step for him as he failed to convince against the Championship’s bottom club.
As per Sofascore, the Italian completed only 66% of his passes and feebly lost 13 of his 17 duels, while he also failed to get a shot on target and succeeded with just one of his 10 dribbles and lost the ball a whopping 29 times.
Ian Doyle handed him a measly 4/10 in his post-match player ratings for the Liverpool Echo, writing that the Reds’ number 14 ‘barely touched the ball’ in the first quarter of the game and was ‘very disappointing’ throughout the second half.
Slot will have hoped that, despite not playing much this season, Chiesa’s high-level experience at club and international level would’ve shone through against Argyle, but instead the forward squandered his chance to make a statement of intent to the head coach.
From scoring his first Reds goal in the previous round of the FA Cup to turning in a subpar performance in a shock defeat yesterday, the 27-year-old’s first experience of this competition has been a mixed bag. Hopefully what we witnessed on Sunday was nothing more than an off-day from the gifted Italian.
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