The Blues’ struggles in attack continued against Nottingham Forest (Picture: Getty)
Jamie Redknapp says Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang ‘is not the answer’ to Chelsea’s scoring struggles, though fellow pundit Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink believes the blame for his old club’s lack of goals lies elsewhere.
The west Londoners took the lead against Nottingham Forest on Sunday through Raheem Sterling but were pegged back in the second half by a Serge Aurier volley, with the match ending 1-1 to leave the Blues seven points adrift of the top four.
Aubameyang – who has one league goal this season – missed a great chance to score late on and Chelsea have now only managed to net 20 times in 16 outings, scoring half as many goals as Premier League leaders Arsenal.
Sky Sports pundits Redknapp and Graeme Souness are convinced the problem stems from Chelsea’s lack of firepower after letting Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner leave, while the 33-year-old Aubameyang is long past his best.
Slamming the Gabon international, Redknapp said: ‘He wasn’t the answer at Arsenal so he’s not going to be the answer now at Chelsea.
‘He’s getting older now. He’s not the player that he was. They’re trying to get [Christopher] Nkunku, that’s the player they’re after, whether they are going to get him I’m not sure.’
Aubameyang had a great chance to score late on (Picture: Getty)
But Hasselbaink feels it is too easy to simply blame the misfiring Aubameyang and says the rest of the team need to contribute more, with Sterling and Kai Havertz the club’s joint top scorers on just four goals apiece.
‘It’s not only the strikers who can score goals, it’s also midfielders that score goals and provide goals, and defenders even,’ Hasselbaink argued back.
‘How many goals have the midfielders got? It’s not only the strikers. Somebody needs to go beyond [the opposition defence], somebody needs to make runs without the ball.
‘Nothing would have changed if [Lukaku and Werner] were here. They had a player in Lukaku who didn’t want to be here – who still doesn’t want to be here – so you’re not going to get anything out of him.
‘They had Werner who is scared of the ball when it comes in the box, so they’re not going to be better with them!
‘The problem is not the number nine, it’s more, it’s several positions. The midfielders are also not scoring goals, they are not providing, they are not creating enough chances. It’s not only the number nine.’
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The Blues’ struggles in attack continued against Nottingham Forest.
