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Jamie Carragher hit out at Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella for his performance in the second half of the Blues’ 1-0 loss against Manchester City – claiming the Spanish defender “didn’t want to defend”.
City won when Riyad Mahrez got ahead of Cucurella at the back corner to tap in Jack Grealish’s cross as City closed the gap on Premier League leaders Arsenal to five points.
Carragher was not impressed with the £60m defensive ability of the summer. “I didn’t like Cucurella in the second half until he came out,” he said Sky Sports. “When we talk about price…
Marc Cucurella watches as Riyad Mahrez gets better at scoring for City
“If someone doesn’t want to defend, it’s actually worse. I look like they don’t want to defend in a one-on-one situation.
“When I see defenders keep diving and the guy keeps going past them, I think he doesn’t want to defend.
“Sometimes you think ‘I can win the ball and I can get it’ but if your plan is to fight every winger who goes against you, that’s not true.”
Former Chelsea striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink disagreed with Carragher’s verdict on Cucurella and insisted the 24-year-old wanted to defend – but had a poor performance against the Premier League champions.
“I don’t agree, I think he wants to defend, but I just struggled today. Man City are targeting him,” Hasselbaink said.
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FREE to watch: Highlights from Manchester City’s win over Chelsea in the Premier League.
“His defense isn’t good, but a lot of the time he’s also overloaded, he doesn’t get the help he should.
“They want to defend. I just think they had a bad game and Man City conceded.
“He has a very bad game, he is not a good defender.”
Grealish: I thought Kepa would stop my cross
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Jack Grealish reflects on Man City’s 1-0 win over Chelsea and gives an honest assessment of his City career so far and how difficult it has been compared to his time at Aston Villa.
Another Chelsea player whose role in goal was questionable was goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga, who saw his cross find the six-yard box before Mahrez tapped in.
After rewatching it with Sky Sports’ team of experts, City winger Grealish felt the Spaniard could have stopped an early cross to Mahrez.
“You know what? It’s weird because I was just talking to Riyad there and he told me he thought the keeper would get it at one point. And so did I,” Grealish told Sky Sports.
Manchester City’s Riyad Mahrez celebrates in front of Kepa Arrizabalaga
“I think the goalkeeper will get it at one point. I don’t know, I want credit for my cross!
“The first time I saw it, I thought: ‘I’ve played something close to him.'”
Hasselbaink agreed with Grealish, saying the Chelsea goalkeeper was also responsible for conceding goals like Cucurella.
“For me, the goalkeeper could be better,” he said. “The starting position of the goalkeeper is very good, but he can get this and if Cucurella is in the right position and the goalkeeper misses, then he can shoot with his right foot.”
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