Liam Rosenior has £30m Chelsea enigma as Alan Shearer fumes at Hull City moment

Liam Delap frustrated Chelsea supporters during Friday night's FA Cup victory at Hull City yet the Blues striker ended the tie with three assists to his name

Liam Delap put in an enigmatic performance for Chelsea in their comfortable victory over Hull City on Friday evening.

The 23-year-old striker, who made his return to former loan club Hull, ended the match with a hat-trick of assists, yet if you ask Blues supporters how he fared at the MKM Stadium, you may well get contrasting answers. If you fast forward a year or two and refer to Chelsea's FA Cup fourth round win over the Tigers, people might remember Pedro Neto's first hat-trick for the club, but they might also be able to recall a huge chance squandered by Delap.

In the first half, Hull goalkeeper Dillon Phillips looked to kick the ball long but Delap did well to get in the way of it. The ball then came off Delap's leg and came off the underside of the crossbar, flirting with going over the line. Chelsea's No.9 thought he had scored and even put his arm out to celebrate - that got a furious reaction from Alan Shearer on BBC's coverage of the tie - but it spun back out to the striker. Delap then tried to round Phillips but was dispossessed.

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Liam Rosenior cut a very frustrated figure on the touchline - and understandably so with the game goalless at the time. With the benefit of hindsight, Delap's miss proved to be fairly insignificant but if he had been more alert to the situation, he would have had himself his third goal for the club.

After Chelsea signed Delap for a fairly modest £30million last summer, there was excitement at Stamford Bridge for a very promising young striker. Though it has been a frustrating start to life in west London for the former Ipswich Town centre-forward.

Joao Pedro is not an out-and-out No.9 but looks a much more impactful option for Rosenior in the striker position at the moment. After his embarrassing miss, Delap then showed the role he can play for Chelsea. He ended the match with three assists. The first one for Neto's opening goal of the game was more down to the finish than the lay off from Delap, but his second and third were much more impressive.

Delap put the ball on a plate for Estevao Willian to make it 3-0 to the Blues, with the physical striker barging his way through the Hull defence before squaring it to his teammate, who had an open goal. He used his physicality again for Neto's hat-trick goal. Neto played a one-two with Delap, who backed into the defender before teeing the Portugal international up in the box.

There is certainly a way Rosenior can use Delap and the second half in Hull is a sample. It seems unlikely now, but a really strong run of form from Delap in the coming weeks gives him an outside shot of Thomas Tuchel's World Cup squad. England are not exactly blessed with options outside of Harry Kane, though Delap seems to be behind the likes of Ollie Watkins, Ivan Toney and Dominic Solanke at the time of writing.

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