Chelsea midfielder Mateo Kovacic was certainly not the only player who performed poorly for the Blues against Manchester City yesterday evening, but his display epitomised the lack of energy and desire from the home team.
Despite Frank Lampard’s side starting the game well, they completely capitulated after Ilkay Gundogan scored the opening goal for the visitors, with the midfield three of N’Golo Kante, Mason Mount and Kovacic completely overrun.
This season, the Croatian international has not been anywhere near the levels that fans have come to expect from him and supporters on Twitter were not pulling any punches after the loss to City:
Terrible performance from him today
— BANKOLE ABE (@BANKYBABA) January 3, 2021
D guy has lost himself
He does not run anymore
Just pass and vibes— leke (@VOyediji) January 3, 2021
He looks so slow like hes been acting 3 games of football every day for the last week
— De-Gol (@MorganDe_god) January 3, 2021
At this point I’d rather have Havertz on
— CFC Eze (@Momamba19) January 3, 2021
Usually he plays so good against City when he plays deeper and absorbs pressure and drives forward. Kante can't cope with the pressure today clearly
— Unknxwn (@MasxnMount) January 3, 2021
Was our POTY last season and this season just been thrown under the bus by Lampard hasn’t really been involved to much and when he does it’s in a nothing system… still very poor game from kova tonight☹️
— TopChavy (@_TopChavy_) January 3, 2021
It’s the three in midfield they are being completely outrun
— CFCDUB (@CFCDUB3) January 3, 2021
Reality check. You've all overhyped him.
— Bammy (@_Bammy4real) January 3, 2021
Nothing is wrong with kova this is who he’s always been he’s just is what he is and that’s meh
— Mat (@mat_ellis) January 3, 2021
i never rated him, didn't say anything to make unhappy our fanbase. not goal threat also a good defensive midfielder. what is he then?? question zizou could not solve, inter could not solve, sarri couldn't, same goes for lampard too
— lampard-era (@Towfi03) January 3, 2021
To be honest, Kovacic does not merit more starts unless he can recover his form quickly. There are plenty of other options available to Lampard in the squad. He could use Kai Havertz, Jorginho or utilise Billy Gilmour in a more advanced no.8 role. Any of those three would probably be better choices than the Croatian currently.