Michael Owen criticises ‘selfish’ Chelsea star during Burnley win

Michael Owen described Liam Delap’s performance against Burnley as a ‘mixed bag’ and believes the Chelsea striker needs to be more ‘unselfish’.

Enzo Maresca’s side sealed a 2-0 win at Turf Moor in Saturday’s early kick-off with goals in each half from Pedro Neto and Enzo Fernandez.

Delap, meanwhile, spearheaded Chelsea’s attack from the start before being replaced by Malo Gusto in the 67th minute.

The 22-year-old, who was signed in a £30 million deal from Ipswich Town in the summer, is yet to score a goal for Chelsea this season.

Owen believes Delap has potential to become a ‘very good player’ but feels the striker needs to improve his link-up play.

‘A mixed bag, I feel,’ Owen told Premier League Productions when asked about Delap’s first-half display.

‘I quite like this lad, I do feel he’s got quite a lot to offer, I do think he is quite raw and he can get better.’

Highlighting a situation in the first half where Delap chose to shoot instead of playing the ball to Neto during a promising Chelsea attack, Owen said: ‘I do think in this situation he needs to be a little bit more unselfish, he probably could have passed it a couple of times.

‘If he plays this ball in [to Pedro Neto] and makes a run to take the defender away, he will leave Neto with a one-on-one in this area. I think he’s got to do that instead of being a bit selfish and thinking he’s going to score a goal on his own. He takes a pot-shot from 25 yards and it’s not great.’

Owen, however, did praise Delap for his movement off the ball, even though he was not picked out by his Chelsea teammates.

‘He needs to be aware all of this space [in Chelsea’s half] is his, he needs to be there before the defender, he can’t wait, he can’t be on the back foot. His size and power, he should be getting hold of that,’ Owen said.

‘Now this is what he loves, this is what I see he’s great at, all this space in behind, he loves to make a run in behind, he’s in there if there was somebody on the ball who is a little bit more aware of his runs. I do like that from him, he’s very good at that.

‘I think with a little bit of coaching, this fella could be a very good player.’

Meanwhile, Maresca praised Delap for his industrious performance against Burnley and believes the striker will soon score his first goal of the season.

‘Be patient, no doubt that the goal will arrive and the way he worked today was very important,’ Maresca said when asked if he had a message for Delap.

‘Liam is also that kind of striker that you as a defender are always worried when he’s around you, so that’s also good for the team.’

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