Ferdinand beats Ndidi of Leicester for Chelsea’s FA Cup goal

Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand criticized Wilfred Ndidi for his poor defense which led to his goal in the 1-0 FA Cup defeat in Leicester City against Chelsea on Sunday.

Ross Barkley scored the goal that led the Stamford Bridge group to the FA Cup semifinal, thus extending the poor Foxes race, failing to guarantee victory since the restart of the season.

Ferdinand believes that the Nigerian international could have done better in the match and probably prevented Barkley’s goal.

“The gap between the central defenders starts to develop. When that happens, when that big gap comes, the big job is for Ndidi, who has had excellent reviews on how he has played over the years, and rightly so,” Ferdinand told BT Sport .

“Once you see the gap between the central defenders when the ball is wide, his job is to fall, fall here and be the guard in there. If you keep an eye on Ndidi here and see how many times he looks over his shoulder to see where Barkley is.

“One glance, two glances – when he looks there – he has to fall there and cover the run from Barkley. He knows he can come in behind Ndidi because he’s not looking.

“Jonny Evans, one of my old teammates, sees this but he is scoring his man – Tammy Abraham – once he sees him he will come to him to try and cover up. But once this happens at this level, he is too fast , the quality is too good, it is an excellent cross and the timing eliminates the defenders.

“Barkley sees space, throws us, great ball, excellent result. Defensive defense from Ndidi and from the midfield.”

Ndidi has offered solid defensive performances for the King Power Stadium outfit this season.

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His impressive exhibitions have seen him linked to a number of European clubs including Arsenal, Real Madrid and Manchester United.

The midfielder has made 32 appearances in all competitions for Brendan Rodgers’ men in this campaign.

Leicester will face Everton in the next Premier League game on Wednesday.