Chelsea beat Southampton 4-3 on penalties to progress into the Carabao Cup quarter-finals on Tuesday night.
Thomas Tuchel rotated many of his starting XI, but many of the replacements failed to make any real impact.
Kai Havertz's header on the stroke of half-time gave the Blues a 1-0 lead going into the break, but Southampton equalised just two minutes after the game restarted through Scotland striker Che Adams.
Southampton had the better end to the game too, with Kepa Arrizabalaga pulling off two important saves in the latter stages of normal time to keep Chelsea in the competition.
The game went straight to penalties, and Chelsea's impressive spot-kick form continued as Reece James scored the winner.
A win is a win but the performance was far from convincing.
That is the opinion of former West Ham United striker Dean Ashton, who has singled out three Chelsea players for failing to make an impact when they had the chance to do so.
"It is difficult in these big squads like Chelsea have for players like [Ross] Barkley, Saul [Niguez] and [Hakim] Ziyech. And when they get this opportunity, they have to take it," Ashton said, while delivering his post-match verdict on Quest.
"Yes, it is hard when you come in having not played much football to come in and perform, but when you are given these opportunities, you have to try and take them.
"But all three of them were reasonably poor against Southampton."
Saul in particular has struggled to adapt to the pace of the English game since moving to Stamford Bridge on loan in the summer, and Chelsea fans aren't yet convinced that he's someone the club will be interested in signing long-term.
Nevertheless, it's still early on in the season, and given that Chelsea are still in every competition, there will be more opportunities along the way.
