Frank Leboeuf reveals the reason Chelsea’s £200million duo flopped against Liverpool

Chelsea were battered 4-1 by Liverpool at Anfield (Picture: Getty)

Frank Leboeuf fears a lack of experience in Chelsea’s midfield engine room is serving to expose the club’s £200million duo Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo.

Mauricio Pochettino’s expensively assembled side arrived at Anfield last night hoping to build on what, on paper at least, looked like a strong run of form.

A rampant Liverpool team, galvanised by the announcement of Jurgen Klopp’s impending departure simply blew Chelsea away, however, with a devastating display of the heavy metal football that has characterised the German’s nine-year tenure.

Defeat would have been particularly gauling for Fernandez and Caicedo, given both players were coveted by Klopp at various points over the course of the last 12 months.

Both players simply melted in the heat of the Anfield cauldron last night with Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister, the players Klopp turned to in order to strengthen his midfield engine room, running rings around their opponents.

Asked to explain why two of the most expensive players in British football history look so out of their depth, former Chelsea defender Lebouef told ESPNFC: ‘It’s hard to explain because for Caicedo it’s the first time he plays for a big, big club.

‘Let’s say he’s young and coming from Brighton if I don’t mistake anything you have more pressure and you’ve been sold for 100m you have a pressure on your shoulder and maybe he doesn’t handle it properly.

Moises Caicedo endured a difficult evening as Chelsea were thrashed by Liverpool (Picture: Getty)

‘Right now he lives in a very strange atmosphere and you are thrown into that and you kind of drawn into that and it’s very hard to cope with the situation.

‘It’s why I always talk about players who have the experience to sort all the problems out. Thiago Silva can solve problems because he’s very smart he knows how to handle that. We see Badiashile and Disasi not coping with that and it’s the same for Enzo and Caicedo.

‘It’s the same for Enzo and Caicedo. You need players with a certain experience who can help the others to sort out all the problems and make maybe life a bit lighter than it is right now in the dressing room.’

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With the Carabao Cup final on the horizon later this month against the same opposition, Pochettino knows he will have to come up with a different gameplan in order to avoid a similarly humbling experience.

‘If we compete in the same way [at Wembley] as today, it will be the same result,’ warned the Chelsea manager.

‘If we don’t improve, then it’s going to be difficult. For us, it’s about learning in this kind of game. It is good for us to feel we need to improve.’

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