During large periods of Wednesday night's clash with Arsenal, it felt hard not to, in some way, sympathise with Malang Sarr. After Andreas Christensen's short back-pass had handed Eddie Nketiah the opening goal on a plate, the lack of confidence within Chelsea's defence only grew.
Every touch of the ball for Sarr felt more challenging. Every decision seemed to take an extra second longer to be made, likely because of doubt. Unable to sort his feet out for Nketiah's second to make the game 3-2 couldn't have placed a better exclamation mark on this horrendous night.
Sarr, in the broader context, has been a player viewed in a mostly positive light this season. Used sporadically as either a centre-back or, during more stretched periods, a conventional left-back. Thomas Tuchel has used Sarr in interesting ways and tried to make use of a player who seemed destined for a loan last summer.
