Garnacho on track for Man Utd repeat as ‘ambling’, ’embarrassed’ Chelsea star outshines him vs Hull | OneFootball

The sad fact is that the FA Cup does not hold the same prominence as it did previously, with this competition often an afterthought for clubs as they try to deal with fixture congestion.

This was underlined by Hull City making six changes against Chelsea on Friday night, as head coach Sergej Jakirovic understandably prioritised their Championship promotion push over their FA Cup run. The Blues, meanwhile, made seven changes from the missed opportunity of a 2-2 draw against Leeds United.

This approach does allow fringe players to stake a claim for starts in the league, with a couple of Chelsea strugglers given a chance against Hull City.

Having opted to join Chelsea over Manchester United, Newcastle United and others in a £30m deal, Delap has been told by Jamie Carragher that he made a “bad move” as he sits with a single Premier League goal in 17 appearances.

Carragher is probably right to say that Delap would have benefitted from going “somewhere like Everton” to grow as a player before joining a Big Six club, with the inexperienced forward firmly placed as the second fiddle to 13-goal Joao Pedro.

Delap showed at Ipswich Town that he has the necessary attributes to be Harry Kane’s long-term replacement for England, but he has plenty of growing to do and against Hull City, it was the case of ‘sometimes may be good, sometimes may be sh*t’.

His head went for a portion of the first half, with co-commentator Alan Shearer blasting his “ambling” and “lazy” play when he carelessly had a follow-up effort saved after thinking he scored when blocking a clearance by goalkeeper Dillon Phillips.

Moments later, “out of embarrassment”, Delap fell to the floor to appeal for the penalty and was also guilty of several weak attempts to maintain possession and make clearances when defending set-pieces.

To the relief of Delap and Chelsea’s other attackers, Pedro Neto swept home a brilliant opener before the interval to spare their blushes, before scoring directly from a corner to double the visitors’ lead and take the game away from Hull City.

This took the edge away from the game as Hull accepted defeat and allowed Chelsea to dominate, which enabled Liam Rosenior’s side to extend their advantage.

And Delap gave a far better account of himself in this spell, having twice produced some brilliant hold-up play to assist Estevao and Neto to complete his hat-trick for Chelsea’s third and fourth goals.

Delap, perhaps, would have been better at Everton to continue his steady progress in the next year or two, but this ended up being a positive night for the up-and-coming striker who can eventually prove to be a huge success for the Blues.

It’s fair to say that he won’t be on the chopping block before Alejandro Garnacho, who has been Chelsea’s ‘worst’ player in the Premier League this season.

We warned Garnacho in January that he faces a repeat of his Manchester United axe under Rosenior if he does not buck his ideas up and this remains on track to happen.

Speaking pre-match, Micah Richards urged Garnacho to show “more conviction” and “be more consistent” after he failed “to do the basics” before being hooked against Leeds United, but he was the weakest of Chelsea’s attackers against Hull City in his latest uninspiring display.

The flashy winger spurned a good chance in the opening half and his decision-making was generally poor when finding himself in the final third, while Shearer justifiably lamented his lack of “desire” when opting to feign injury for a penalty shout rather than challenge for the ball.

It was much of the same as what we have all become used to from Garnacho, who is undoubtedly a talented footballer who is capable of so much more, provided that he applies himself properly. He’ll be back on the bench, replaced by another big-money signing and/or offloaded in no time.