If Jazz Richards was the answer to Eden Hazard, why didn’t he start the game?
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In my pre-match preview to the Chelsea game, I proposed that Jazz Richards might be in-line to start against a player he seems to have sort of hex over. And while he didn’t start, his introduction at half time was clearly designed to quell the threat from the twinkle-toed Belgian. To some degree, it worked. Eden Hazard was at the heart of everything good that Belgium did on Saturday. He scored two and had other chances, while also making chances for others. While he completed his hat-trick in the second half, he was noticeably quieter.
So what of Richards? He replaced Harry Arter and people watching from afar said that he was playing in midfield – but from my vantage point, it didn’t look like he had a set position. At times, he doubled up with Bruno Manga and at times he screened the defence, but at no point was he more than five yards from Hazard. He may have taken his foot off the gas, but Richards must take some credit. So what happens now?
Does Sol Bamba keep his place on Saturday?
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Sol Bamba is a hugely likeable guy and is a very sturdy defender when the ball is coming back to him. Indeed, he’s made the most clearances in the Premier League bar one player – Steve Cook of Bournemouth. Those credentials were never in doubt. Instead, he’s been caught on the hop two games in a row by fleet-footed players.
As Kev McNaughton wrote for us, the difference is in that final third and it’s players movements that are going to cause us the most problems. Against Arsenal, he lost Shkodran Mustafi for the goal. Later in that game, he was flat-footed as Alexandre Lacazette scored the winning goal. Against Chelsea, he gave away a needless penalty as Willian took it past him. Warnock has already said ‘You can make a mistake once, but if you do it twice I’ve got to leave you out.’
Maybe Bamba took the brunt of this warning, but Sean Morrison should be wary too. He didn’t rush out to close down Willian for their fourth goal and Joe Bennett was slow to get out to Eden Hazard for their first goal. These mistakes are already costing us goals this season – and the difference between the top flight and the Championship is found within these margins.
What now for Kenneth Zohore?
In the run-up to the Chelsea match, Warnock said that Bobby Reid and Danny Ward were our best forward line and late on against Chelsea, he elected to bring Gary Madine on to bolster our attacking options. Kenneth Zohore was left to ruminate on the bench and it’s hard not to speculate how telling this is.
I’m sympathetic to Zohore’s cause. I don’t necessarily think the system we played in the opening games plays to Ken’s strengths. He is adept at running onto the ball and into channels. Isolating him as a target man neutralises his strengths somewhat.
It might feel like Warnock is trying to get a rise out of Ken – but without playing him, how will Zohore ever show what he can do? Reid and Ward need to start scoring regularly to show Warnock that they are our first-choice frontline. Until this happens, there is always the temptation to roll the dice. Is Zohore now fourth in the pecking order? I’d really hope not, as I think he’s more dynamic than Madine and can really cause problems when he runs at defenders. But where’s his way back in?
Reid will be raring to go against Man City, having caused them problems last season and Ward doesn’t deserve to be dropped. Yet Zohore deserves, at the very least, a go from the bench to be given the opportunity to work his way back in. Until then, he’s likely to become a scapegoat for the problems in the early part of the season.