Carragher singles out Chelsea man who ‘doesn’t want to defend’ after Man City defeat
Jamie Carragher insists Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella showed on Thursday night that he “doesn’t want to defend” as they lost 1-0 to Manchester City.
A single Riyad Mahrez goal was enough for defending champions Manchester City to see off Graham Potter’s side, who have now won just one of their last eight Premier League matches.
Chelsea gave City plenty of problems, especially in the first half, despite Potter facing numerous injury problems with Reece James and Mason Mount two of six players missing.
Raheem Sterling and Christian Pulisic also limped off during the match but Carragher thinks Chelsea could’ve earned more if Cucurella – who signed from Brighton for £63m in the summer transfer window – had defended better.
Carragher said on Sky Sports: “I wasn’t happy with Cucurella right throughout that second half until he came off.
“When we talk about the price tag…
“If someone doesn’t want to defend, it’s actually worse. It looked to me like he didn’t want to defend in one-vs-one situations.
“When I see defenders diving in constantly all the time and the fella keeps going past him, it makes me think they don’t want to defend. Get low and be twisting and turning and get those legs burning.
“Sometimes you think ‘I can win the ball and I can go and get it’ but when that’s your plan against every winger that comes up against you, that can’t be right.”
But Carragher’s fellow pundit Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink disagrees and reckons Cucurella “wants to defend” but just had a “really bad game”.
Hasselbaink added: “I don’t agree, I think that he wants to defend, but I think he just struggled today. Man City targeted him.
“His defending is bad but a lot of the time he was overloaded as well. He didn’t get the help that he should get.
“He wants to defend. I just think he had a really bad game and Man City acknowledged that. Their attacks on that right-hand side was 50 per cent. That’s targeting him.
“He had a really bad game, he is just not a good defender.”
But Potter thought his Chelsea side put in a convincing performance in the circumstances against a “top side” like City, who they will face again in the FA Cup over the weekend.
Potter told the club’s official website: “It was a much better performance when you consider we lost Raheem and Christian.
“The lads gave everything, it was spirited and we had some opportunities against a top team.
“I liked what we tried to do against a top side. We were competitive and had spirit on the pitch, courage in attack and took responsibility at the back. Apart from the result, as we hate to lose, I’m proud of the players.”
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