Osgood predicts more unease at Chelsea

Chelsea legend Peter Osgood predicts more disgruntled Blues players to emerge in the wake of Damien Duff’s criticism of Claudio Ranieri’s rotation policy.

The £17m (€23m) Republic of Ireland winger voiced his discontent on the eve of tonight’s Champions League opener against Sparta Prague, insisting he wants to play full games and not be substituted.

Ranieri is attempting to cram his £110m (€156m) influx of talent into the same team which finished fourth in the Barclaycard Premiership last term – and Osgood believes he will have more unhappy players on his hands.

The 1970s Blues favourite told the Press Association: “Unfortunately, the problem is that Chelsea have so many world-class players that Ranieri can’t please them all.

“It was different in my day as there weren’t such big squads and the manager would pick from a settled 13 players.

“But now, there are so many top players at Chelsea today and they won’t be happy sitting on the bench.

“In a way, though, it’s a nice problem for the boss to have because Chelsea are in the Champions League, Premiership, FA Cup and the Carling Cup.

“So Ranieri will tell them that, to compete in all those competitions, he needs a big squad of 16 or 18 regulars who all gel together.”

Ranieri’s men kick off their Champions League campaign in the Czech Republic tonight – and Osgood believes they must improve their defending in order to taste success in Europe’s top club competition.

“Chelsea have the ammunition to score from four or five positions going forward – but they’ve lost goals at the back and they can’t afford to do that,” added Osgood.

“They’ve got to sort that out, especially in the Champions League where they’ll need to be very, very sharp at the back.”