Gary Neville tells Chelsea board they must 'intervene' after Newcastle draw

Do Chelsea need to change their plan to succeed? (Picture: Getty Images)

Gary Neville says Chelsea are lacking ‘beasts’ and they will not achieve what the owners want them to unless they sign some.

The Blues are fourth in the Premier League table after a 2-2 draw with Newcastle on Saturday.

It was a memorable game at St James’ Park which saw the home team go 2-0 ahead and look very comfortable at half-time.

Then the Blues turned things around and were far better after the break, with Reece James and Joao Pedro scoring to secure a point.

Under owners BlueCo, Chelsea have built a very expensive and very young squad, signing prospects on long contracts and hoping to build into a world-beating team.

There has been some success, with manager Enzo Maresca winning the UEFA Conference League and the Club World Cup in his first season in charge.

However, Neville thinks they must invest in some experience and guile down the spine of the team if they are to progress to the next level.

Robert Sanchez remains Chelsea’s first choice goalkeeper (Picture: Getty Images)

‘It’s really obvious that Maresca is a fantastic coach and it’s really obvious that there’s a group of players who are really young with fantastic potential,’ the Manchester United level said on The Gary Neville Podcast.

‘I just wonder whether Maresca could just change the model slightly, he’s been brought in to work with these players, but you do need an experienced spine.

‘You watch Chelsea first half and they look like an academy team that’s playing in a participation game. It’s not really a serious, aggressive, horrible fixture. You watch them in the second half and they look like a thrill.

‘If you had some more experience down that spine and some higher quality in certain positions they would be a very different proposition.

Reece James was the Blues’ standout player at St James’ Park (Picture: Getty Images)

‘They’re doing well together, but I get the feeling like they’re not going to get to where the ownership want and it’s not the fault of the manager or the players. I think they should have built a squad to win now. They built a squad to grow. The problem is you grow and you grow and you’re never quite there because the other teams are cold hearted killers at times.’

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Neville recalls players of successful Chelsea teams of the recent past, believing the current side lacks similar stars.

‘Chelsea need some beasts. You think of teams Chelsea had with the likes of [John] Terry, [Claude] Makelele, [Frank] Lampard, [Didier] Drogba, Diego Costa. They were battering rams, they were massive physical presences, leaders and big presences.

Chelsea legends John Terry, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba celebrating the 2012 FA Cup win (Picture: Getty Images)

‘I don’t see the players in centre-forward or centre-back or goalkeeper being those characters. I think they’re going to have to intervene and give them a spine of real fierce, physical characters.

‘Just interesting watching them. I feel like sometimes I’m watching them and it’s quite frustrating because they could be further ahead.’

Chelsea are back on home turf for their final two games of 2025, hosting in-form Aston Villa on Saturday and then Bournemouth on Tuesday December 30.