Twenty-three minutes
Twenty-three minutes. That’s all Estevao has played in the Premier League this season. Four substitute appearances across five matchdays. The Brazilian has spent far more time watching than playing.
Jamie Redknapp wasn’t having it. On Friday night, on Sky Sports, after Chelsea’s thumping at Brentford, he asked the question that’s been hanging around since August. “I look at Estevao. Is he too good not to be playing in this side?”
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The logjam problem
Redknapp isn’t pretending not to see the issue. He knows the roadblock. “He is an incredible talent, but how do you get him into the team when you’ve got Morgan Rogers, Cole Palmer and Joao Pedro? Those are the problems he has to solve.” The “he” in question is Xabi Alonso.
The Spaniard has gone with a back three. Pedro Neto is operating as a right wing-back, while Pep Chavarria and Jorrel Hato complete the setup. Up front, Danny Welbeck filled in at Brentford with Joao Pedro injured. The former Brighton man, signed in the summer, had Rogers and Palmer behind him. Not Estevao.
And what about Reece James?
Redknapp then turned to another issue. Reece James has been playing in central midfield since the start of the season. Redknapp, a midfielder at Liverpool in his own playing days, has his doubts. “Sometimes I watch him and I don’t think he’s got the energy to get up and down. As a midfielder, I’m not sure it always suits him, I’m not sure he sees the danger often enough at times. But then he’s also the captain.”
In the dressing room, nobody was making excuses. Levi Colwill summed up the night without any sugar-coating. “It was tough. Conceding from a set piece first isn’t ideal, then we pushed on, maybe left ourselves a bit too open and tried passes we shouldn’t have.”
The centre-back kept going. “We needed to calm down and not force it for the equaliser. They punished us on the counter. Then the second goal goes in, then the third, and that hurts. The second half wasn’t good enough. We’ve got a lot of work to do during the international break.”
Jaidon Anthony, Igor Thiago, Fabio Carvalho. Three different scorers, no reply at the other end. The break has come at a good time.
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