Chelsea fell to their first defeat of the season on Saturday afternoon, losing 1-0 to fellow title hopefuls Manchester City at Stamford Bridge.
Gabriel Jesus scored the only goal of the game with a heavily deflected strike in the second half, leaving Edouard Mendy with no chance, earning City a deserved three points.
Chelsea were not at the races for most of the game and could not cope with the intense pressing of their visitors. One player who struggled more than usual in midfield was Jorginho.
He is a player previously criticised by BT Sport pundit Rio Ferdinand. Back in 2019, the former Manchester United centre-back slammed the Italy international's poor performances after arriving from Napoli.
“Jorginho is someone who sets the tempo of the game. You get the ball to him through the middle third of the pitch, he’s very good,” he said two years ago.
“How many assists has he got this season? Around 2,000 passes, no assists. He can’t run. So, he doesn’t give you anything defensively, and he doesn’t give you anything at the other end of the pitch.”
But on Saturday, Ferdinand revisited that opinion before Chelsea's clash with City.
"He’s [Jorginho] been fantastic, won all there is to win, you can’t discredit that," Ferdinand said prior to kick-off on BT Sport.
"But if he was honest at the time [2019], you go back and rewind and understand the system he was playing in, it didn’t suit him so all of his weak attributes were being exploited because there were big spaces around him.
"But in this system, it very much backs up what he does, it’s much more condensed they’re much more of a unit, he’s actually got confidence to become an important member in this team.
"Hats off to him for his attitude withstanding that criticism, using it as inspiration to come through and do what he’s doing now. I won’t say I was wrong in what I said, at that time that was where he was."
