Chelsea news: Stewart Robson stands by Jorginho comments after ‘worst Chelsea performance’

Robson’s comments on Jorginho caused many Chelsea fans to react angrily on social media.

The ESPN FC pundit claimed the Blues’ new signing did not have qualities needed to be a defensive midfielder.

Robson said: I’m not a fan of Jorginho.

“I’ve seen him play for Napoli. Napoli were a good side and I looked at their team and when I’m picking out players, Jorginho would have been the eighth or ninth player I’d have picked out of their team as the most important player.

“I can’t see what (Maurizio) Sarri sees in him quite as much.

“He’s not athletic, if you saw him play in the Community Shield he had an absolute shocker in that game, he was better against Huddersfield. But against the very best teams, I think people can run off of him.

“He’s not going to be a creative passer, he’s a passer who just passes it square and sideways, he just keeps things moving.

“I don’t think he’s a good defensive player, I don’t think he’s a good player in that holding midfield role.

“I know Sarri relied on him at Napoli, but again, I didn’t think he was one of their best players.

“As a holding-midfield player, you need to have athleticism to cover your full-back, you need to be a good reader of the game, get in-between your centre-halves when the ball’s in wide areas, you need to be able to close the ball down and win it back.

“You need to be able to be, I would say, still a creative passer. Jorginho I don’t think has got any of those qualities.”

After receiving plenty of flak, the subject of Jorginho was once again brought up on ESPN FC on Friday.

And Robson defended his earlier comments, claiming Jorginho’s performance in the Community Shield loss to Manchester City was “one of the worst performances I’ve seen from a Chelsea player”.

“If I was wanting a holding-midfield player, I want somebody that’s athletic,” Robson said.

“I saw him a lot for Napoli, probably about 50 times over the last couple of years.

“I saw him in the Community Shield where he put in one of the worst performances I’ve seen from a Chelsea player.

“He got caught on the ball, people ran beyond him. If I want a holding-midfield player, I want somebody who’s athletic, that when the ball’s in wide areas is big enough and good enough defensively to get in-between centre-halves.

“If he’s not doing those things, I want a creative player who’s passing forward, who’s assisting in goals. He doesn’t assist too many goals.

“So I stick by what I said completely and say that, in my view, he’s not an outstanding player. I never came away from Napoli games and said ‘Jorginho was the player’.

“I’d pick other players, week in, week out, never really mentioned Jorginho.”