Chelsea’s Noni Madueke was extremely wasteful when he came on as a substitute in the League Cup final defeat against Liverpool.
That is according to BBC pundit Alan Shearer.
Chelsea are now left reflecting on more disappointment at Wembley Stadium, suffering a 1-0 loss on Sunday versus Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final.
It was yet another close game between the two Premier League rivals that went to extra time, but Reds centre-back Virgil van Dijk headed in a late winning goal in the 118th minute to clinch the trophy.
When reacting immediately to the EFL Cup final on X this evening, Jamie O’Hara described Chelsea as “shocking” for their efforts in extra time against a depleted Liverpool team.
Noni Madueke, 21, did receive criticism for his cameo display at Wembley.
The right-winger only joined the action midway through the first half of extra time, but he still made a few errors to frustrate Alan Shearer.
“Madueke has had three really good opportunities and he has wasted all of them, he did exactly what Liverpool wanted him to do there,” Shearer told BBC Radio 5 Live (5:35pm, 25 February).
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If you want one player that was more wasteful than Madueke, look no further than Conor Gallagher. He’s been one of our brightest individuals over the course of the season, but he didn’t take his shooting boots to Wembley.
Noni Madueke against Liverpool
We agree that Madueke had a rough substitute performance in the cup defeat. However, he joins the long list of Blues stars that had off-days in the club’s biggest game of the season.
Madueke should have been the fresh injection of energy and skill that Chelsea needed to catch out Liverpool in extra time, but he was sloppy on the few times he got the ball in threatening areas.
Unfortunately, there’s very few offensive players in the squad at Stamford Bridge that you can rely on.
We’d guess Blues head coach Mauricio Pochettino may be forced into some changes to his XI due to fitness when his side face Leeds United on Wednesday in the FA Cup. Madueke’s one player we expect to come into contention despite misfiring off the bench against Liverpool.
