Former Aston Villa striker Gabby Agbonlahor had some harsh criticism for Chelsea following their 1-0 defeat at the weekend against Nottingham Forest.

He also singled out some players for criticism – Mykhailo Mudryk suffered his wrath in particular, branding him as ‘absolutely useless’ in the game against Forest.

He was critical of the performances of both Conor Gallagher and Moises Caicedo – he also lambasted head coach Mauricio Pochettino’s tactics in his rant.

What did Agbonlahor say regarding Chelsea?

On TalkSPORT, Agbonlahor said: “They’re getting into the positions but they just don’t have the quality and it seems to be a theme now. You look on social media and the story is that Chelsea sign players but they lose games. What I don’t understand with Chelsea is that they had 21 shots and guess how many on target? Two.

“They’ve spent £1 billion. Why didn’t Chelsea use a quarter of that money and go out and buy a star? Go and give Paris Saint-Germain an offer for Mbappe that they can’t refuse.

“They’ve bought loads of players who are average. Mudryk came on and he nearly gave away two goals! He was absolutely useless. He’s had 19 games, zero goals and they haven’t got a style of play.

“Today it was five at the back or three centre-halves. They have Gallagher who doesn’t score goals in there and it’s slow. Caicedo made two mistakes in there, they’re changing formations again – why not start with a back four?

“No disrespect to Nottingham Forest, but you should be playing four at the back against them and yes, Pochettino might think that he’s got time but carry on losing, let’s see if the Chelsea fans give you time.”

Is Agbonlahor’s criticism warranted?

Sadly, it is. Chelsea were very poor at the weekend – but it should also be mentioned that Forest were, conversely, excellent. They defended stout-heartedly and broke with frightening precision and regularity.

It will take some time for Pochettino to fully integrate his style into the team – that much seems clear. However, with Todd Boehly’s propensity for chopping and changing managers, will he get the time he needs to build a successful outfit?