Chelsea duo Hakim Ziyech and Kai Havertz have been blasted by former Everton midfielder Tim Cahill for breaking the 'non-negotiables' of Premier League football.
Chelsea made the decision to add both Ziyech and Havertz to their ranks over the course of the summer transfer window, signing the duo for a combined fee of more than £100million.
The duo were signed from Ajax and Bayer Leverkusen respectively to increase Chelsea's attacking threat in an effort to help the club bridge the gap on the likes of Liverpool and Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table.
So far, Havertz, who joined the club for an initial fee of £72million, has made five appearances in the Premier League for the Blues, scoring one goal and claiming two assists. Ziyech, on the other hand, has been limited to just one Premier League outing so far - an appearance off the bench against Southampton last weekend - after suffering an injury against Brighton & Hove Albion in a pre-season friendly back in August.
Despite, at the time of writing, having only played the grand total of 22 minutes in the Premier League, Ziyech has been slammed, along with fellow new Blues man Havertz, for getting the Blues into hot water, such as dribbling the ball into areas of danger.
"These are individual errors, it’s not the tactics. It’s a mentality, it’s individuals not focusing for 95 minutes," former Everton ace Cahill said on Football Focus.
"On top of that you see the goals they concede. You see Havertz, he’s trying to do a trick [against Southampton], trying to nutmeg someone and he loses it.
[Danny] Ings is on the front foot, they’re ready, waiting and pounces.
"They’re all little errors and mistakes from individuals. He brings on Ziyech and again dribbling, when to dribble, what areas to dribble, understanding where to do it.
"There’s non-negotiables and they are don’t try and nutmeg someone on the edge of your own area, the other non-negotiable is stop dribbling and taking on 10 players."
