Chelsea manager, Frank Lampard, has been warned by Paul Merson, that David Luizâs departure to Arsenal will come back to haunt him.
Luiz left Stamford Bridge to sign a two-year deal with the Gunners on transfer deadline day.
Lampard began his reign in charge of the Blues, with a 4-0 defeat to Manchester United in the Premier League on Sunday.
Kurt Zouma, who started in the centre of defence, gave away a penalty in the first half, which Marcus Rashford scored to make it 1-0.
The France defender was generally shaky and Merson, speaking to Sky Sports, insists Luiz was Chelseaâs best ball-playing defender.
âFrank Lampard has got to be careful. Chelsea have let their best ball-playing defender leave to go to their rivals, not just in London but in the top four. None of their defenders can play out from the back.
âI can understand if Chelsea pushed everyone up to the halfway line, the goalkeeper kicks it, and they play in the other half, but if youâre asking them to start playing out from the back, theyâre going to get beaten left, right and centre.
âKurt Zouma just didnât look ready. He didnât look ready before this, which is why he went out on loan. Itâs a dangerous, dangerous game. The fans liked David Luiz. They need to get results quickly, because the fans wonât be happy watching them play out and lose the ball.
âIt looked like Frank looked at the situation and thought: âI need it quiet here, I canât be having problemsâ, so Chelsea let Luiz go. Sometimes thatâs the way it is, and great managers have a high-maintenance player and get them to perform.
âI go to Stamford Bridge a lot, and Chelseaâs defence are asked to play out nearly all the time. Kepa doesnât kick anything long. Luiz was the best player on the ball by a million miles. Now all of a sudden youâve got players who canât play out, and teams will suffocate them.
âFirst 45 minutes, Chelsea looked good but didnât have that cutting edge. Tammy Abraham will take time; heâs been playing a lot in the Championship, and thatâs where youâll pick up bad habits. He would have had six chances in most games in the Championship.
âMason Mount is a tidy player, and heâll get better as time goes on. But it absolutely blew my mind when NâGolo Kante came on at 3-0 down. What for? If heâs fit enough to play, play him. If heâs not, why bring him on with 20 minutes to play? You may as well say to him: âWait there, youâll have another week training and get ready for another very, very big game on Sunday against Leicester.â I was very surprised with that.
âItâs not just getting beat 4-0, itâs the way they were beaten. This is a different job for Frank, heâs now managing one of the biggest clubs in the country. He will learn, and you only learn from experience,â he said.