‘Lazy and laboured’: Crouch slams Chelsea star after Juve loss

Jason Soutar
Peter Crouch during BT Sport coverage

Peter Crouch has criticised Chelsea star Kai Havertz after the Blues’ 1-0 loss against Juventus on Wednesday evening.

Thomas Tuchel’s men disappointed as they suffered a second consecutive defeat for only the second time in his tenure at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea were beaten 1-0 by Manchester City on Saturday and looked particularly poor against Pep Guardiola’s side.


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Havertz was brought back into the starting XI by Tuchel after being left out against City, but he struggled against a well organised Juventus team.

The Germany international missed Chelsea‘s best chance, heading over Ben Chilwell’s corner in stoppage time.


And Crouch has highlighted how the 22-year-old can be frustrating at times – likening him to former Arsenal star Mesut Ozil.

“I thought Ziyech and Havertz were very disappointing,” the ex-Liverpool striker told BT Sport.

“I think Havertz reminds me of Ozil, he does things where it comes easy to him and he looks technically brilliant but he can also look lazy and laboured at times and he can frustrate you and I thought tonight they were frustrating.”

Mason Mount was missing due to injury, and Crouch has expressed the England star’s importance to Tuchel’s side.

He added: “He (Mount) has the same quality as those boys but there’s more urgency.

“Tactically, he gets back in, he potentially works harder – he looks like he works harder. I think that’s the difference.

“Allegri got it spot on tonight, they defended very well and made it difficult for Chelsea to break them down.”

Chelsea welcome Southampton to Stamford Bridge on Saturday as they will look to bounce back against the south coast club.

Tuchel described Wednesday’s loss as “strange”, saying his team looked “slow and tired”.

The German said: “I think we started not sharp enough. The first 12 to 15 minutes we could have harmed them much more. There was so much space for dangerous balls into the box and ask more questions.

“We struggled to create our own rhythm and intensity because they were so deep and passive. We were lacking runs. We were so good in training yesterday and not good enough, not free enough today. I don’t know why.

“I felt we were a bit slow and tired, mentally slow, decision making. That’s why it’s a strange one to analyse.”