1/11 duels won is a huge red flag for Chelsea player who Alan Shearer called “solid” | OneFootball

Jorrel Hato had a good game for Chelsea against Hull last night, and both the stats and the pundits agree on that.

With Marc Cucurella injured, it looks like 19 year old Jorrel Hato is set for a run of appearances for Chelsea.

Given his early struggles since signing for Chelsea, that could be a little worrying. However he’s improved steadily in his recent performances, and last night was solid against Hull. On BBC One, the commentary team were impressed:

“He’s had a really good game,” was the main BBC commentator’s take on Hato’s efforts.

“Yeah he has, he’s looked solid. He put in really, really good tackle a second ago,” legendary former England striker Alan Shearer agreed.

Stats are positive – but not perfect

Jorrel Hato in action against Charlton. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

The stats were positive too – Hato got a 7.0 rating on FotMob, making 5 clearances, 3 interceptions and 5 recoveries of loose balls. He made 53 of 58 passes successfully.

He still leaves a lot to be desired in attack, and he went 0/4 on successful dribbles. But in games where Reece James can attack on the other flank, that shouldn’t be such a problem.

The real issue was his duels – Hato won just 1 of 11 ground duels. That’s a really shocking number. We’re still a little worried about losing Cucurella, especially if it’s longer term. But we’re more confident now than we were a few weeks ago.

In other news…

Marc Cucurella is about to enter the final two years of his contract, and Chelsea want him to sign a new one. If he doesn’t, we could be looking at an unthinkable decision.

Lucas Bergvall was apparently a target for Chelsea in January, and while our chances of signing him have gone down, it does seem like he’s a player we’ll be keeping an eye on if things continue to be a disaster at Tottenham.