An awful 30 minutes for Chelsea’s Tiemoue Bakayoko culminated in his sending off. But, in truth, it has been an awful six months for the France international.
His arrival last summer was was one of the reasons Chelsea let Nemanja Matic leave for Manchester United.
What a dreadful error of judgment that looks now. Even the fans turned against him at Watford as he went off after receiving his second yellow card on Monday night.
Bakayoko sheepishly applauded the travelling support as he left the pitch but even that could not appease some Chelsea fans who sarcastically waved him on his way down the tunnel.
There was controversy over his second yellow card. Indeed you had some sympathy for Chelsea and Bakayoko, replays showing he made minimal contact with Richarlison.
‘I think they’re soft yellow cards, both of them,’ said Wayne Rooney, who was a guest on Sky Sports’ coverage of the game.
‘Bakayoko has no time on the ball and he has to do a piece of skill but gets a yellow card. Great from Watford but sloppy from Bakayoko. Not just him though, Chelsea are unrecognisable.’
But Bakayoko only has himself to blame and Monday night’s horror show encapsulated his Chelsea career so far: a disaster.
When he was not giving the ball away he was lunging into rash challenges — both his bookings stemming from poor errors.
Mike Dean was almost doing Bakayoko a favour as he pulled the red card out of his pocket.
You almost felt sorry for Bakayoko. He is obviously talented, Chelsea would not have forked out £40million to sign him from Monaco otherwise.
But the midfielder is low on confidence and the way Chelsea are performing, you cannot see the situation improving.
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