Chelsea have been slammed by Gabby Agbonlahor for their "boring" tactics and for playing like a "youth team".
The Blues take on Real Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals on Wednesday night. Of course, Thomas Tuchel's side are the reigning champions, having seen of Los Blancos in the semi-finals last season.
But after a 4-1 defeat at home to Brentford over the weekend, their hopes of securing a comfortable victory against the La Liga leaders seem far less assured. So with the Blues now 14 points off of the top of the Premier League, former Aston Villa striker Agbonlahor has called into question Tuchel's tactical approach.
TalkSPORT host Laura Woods asked him: "Do you like watching Chelsea play at the moment?" To which Agbonlahor responded: "No, I find it boring. When I watch Manchester City and watch Liverpool - entertaining games, you always want to watch them on TV.
"When it’s Chelsea... sometimes Lukaku's making runs and they’re just playing keep ball. Passing to midfield, pass it to the three centre-halves, pass it to the keeper, keep passing it. It's like they're playing 10 passes a goal, we did that in the youth team."
Is Gabby Agbonlahor right about Chelsea's tactics? Comment down below
Tuchel has admitted that last year's tie, which ended 3-1 on aggregate in Chelsea's favour, influences nothing with regards to this season's match up. The German also insisted that his players were keen to bounce back from the Brentford result.
“Last season has nothing to do with this game,” Tuchel said. “We didn’t look at it in our preparations. We looked at their last matches but not last year. We are out to bounce back from Saturday and to play in the right way – to be physical, intense and focused.”
Real Madrid notoriously won four Champions League titles in five seasons between 2014-2018, with last year's semi-final the furthest they have progressed since then. After knocking heavyweights PSG out in the previous round, Real have once again emerged as serious title contenders.
And Tuchel admitted that they looked like a side who can rise to the occasion once again. “It’s hard to keep the record,” Tuchel said. “It’s usual that cycles like this change at some point and maybe this was what happened to them. But in terms of experience we should be aware that teams like this can produce special nights on special occasions.”
