Reece James holds crunch Chelsea talks as John Terry slams inexperience

Chelsea captain Reece James has held a private meeting with his teammates to address their struggles against lesser sides after club legend John Terry highlighted the squad's inexperience

Chelsea captain Reece James has reportedly held a private discussion with his teammates to address their recent run of poor form, particularly in matches they should be controlling.

The Blues have failed to secure a win in their last three outings, suffering a defeat to Atalanta in the Champions League, drawing with Bournemouth, and losing to Leeds United.

As per the Daily Mail, following their most recent disappointment, James has been engaging with his Chelsea colleagues about their struggles against supposedly weaker opposition, compared to their performances in games where they are not necessarily the favourites.

Before this disappointing haul of just one point from a possible nine, Chelsea had convincingly beaten Barcelona and secured a 1-1 draw against Arsenal, despite being reduced to ten men for nearly an hour after Moises Caicedo's dismissal. His absence, along with injuries to Liam Delap and Wesley Fofana, has undoubtedly affected Enzo Maresca's side.

Both Delap and Fofana were part of the starting line-up in the 3-1 defeat to Leeds that initiated this poor spell, a performance that club legend John Terry criticised heavily. His remarks about the squad's lack of experience seem to have been borne out in the past week.

Terry voiced his concerns on TikTok, stating: "Everything I said about Leeds, they were going to be aggressive, fans were going to be up for it, it was going to be a hostile place to go. You either go there and match them or you take the sting out of it completely, and by looks of it we certainly didn't do that in the first half.

"We cannot follow up two unbelievable performances with a performance like that, it's certainly not going to make you title contenders. Unfortunately that's what's going to cost us, we are inexperienced and if you can't go Leeds away and know what to expect then.."

Whether James and his colleagues have worked out why they struggle against supposedly weaker opposition will be tested this weekend when Chelsea welcome Everton to Stamford Bridge.

It marks the final fixture of Caicedo's three-match suspension, with the midfielder set to be available again for the subsequent Newcastle United encounter.

Cole Palmer is anticipated to return to the starting XI after missing the midweek trip to Italy, with Maresca confirming it was a decision based on workload management.

Speaking on Monday after Palmer's absence from training, Maresca explained: "Cole, it's part of the process at the moment. He can't play two games in three days. It's a way to protect him."

The Blues' key man started in the Bournemouth stalemate before being withdrawn shortly before the 60-minute mark. Liam Delap picked up another injury setback during that encounter, though appears to have escaped another lengthy spell on the sidelines.

Addressing the shoulder problem that ended Delap's afternoon early, Maresca commented: "Liam, as I said, he has not fractured anything. How long he will be out? Not sure, to be honest."

Fofana remains doubtful for the weekend fixture following his eye injury, while James may be given a rest despite completing the full 90 minutes against both Atalanta and Bournemouth.

When asked if he could field him against Leeds after clocking 172 minutes in the preceding eight days, the Chelsea manager said: "No, it is a no, the reality is no. It was a fantastic performance [vs Arsenal], but we need to manage."