Former England goalkeeper David James insists there is very little that Chelsea No2 Asmir Begovic could do to improve the club's fortunes this season.
Jose Mourinho’s side strolled to the Premier League title last season, but now find themselves languishing in 16th place with just 11 points from their opening 12 matches.
First choice goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois has not played for the club since the end of August after suffering a knee injury, meaning summer signing Begovic – who arrived following the sale of Petr Cech to Arsenal - has deputised in goal.
But James believes the constant chopping and changing in front of the Bosnian is to blame for Chelsea’s defensive fragility, not the man between the sticks.
"No (Chelsea's struggles aren't down to Courtois' absence). If you look at Courtois last season there were a number of occasions when he conceded a lot of goals,” argued James. “I thought last season they controlled the Premier League very well.
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"The situation with (Asmir) Begovic is there's been so many changes in front of him, and if you look at Courtois at the beginning of the season, I don't think he had any clean sheets either so it wasn't a goalkeeping situation, it was to do again with the team set-up perhaps."
