Chelsea have won just once in their last eight Premier League fixtures after suffering defeat against Manchester City at Stamford Bridge. The Blues face City again this weekend in the FA Cup third round with Graham Potter's side hoping to get revenge.
Raheem Sterling and Christian Pulisic are doubts for the trip to the Etihad Stadium after both being taken off with injuries in the loss to Pep Guardiola's team. The Blues have shipped 19 goals in 17 fixtures this season, highlighting the issue they are facing in defence.
Benoit Badiashile completed a £34million transfer from Monaco to become Chelsea's second January signing as Todd Boehly looks to correct the issues Potter is facing with his squad. The Blues spent over £100million on defensive reinforcements in the summer, bringing in Kalidou Koulibaly, Wesley Fofana and Marc Cucurella.
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The latter was signed under Thomas Tuchel but was soon reunited with Potter after he placed the German as Chelsea boss in September. Jamie Carragher has slammed Cucurella claiming the £60million summer signing "can't defend" after he was at fault for City's winning goal against the Blues on Thursday evening.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the match, Carragher said: "For me I was not happy with [Marc] Cucurella in that second half, right until when he came off. When you’re talking about the price tag: he can’t defend.
"I was watching him in the game, one vs one, and when we talk about someone who can’t defend, I think someone who doesn’t want to defend is actually worse. It looked to me like he didn’t want to defend in one vs one situations."
Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink interrupted Carragher and disagreed, believing it was Guardiola's tactics to target the Spanish defender as a weak point. The former Chelsea star said: "I don’t agree, I think he just struggled because Manchester City targeted him."
Carragher responded: "But when someone dives in, Jimmy, let me tell you from a defender’s point of view. Defending, and when you actually dive in, a lot of the time is because you don't actually want to defend.
"If you keep diving in and the fella keeps going past you, you've got to defend properly, you've got to stay on your feet. When I see defenders diving in constantly it makes me feel like they don't want to defend. Get low, be twisting and turning."
Hasselbaink added: "I think the defending was bad, but a lot of the time he was overloaded as well. He didn't get the help he should get. I'm not disagreeing with you, I still think that he wants to defend.
"I just think that he had a really bad game and Man City acknowledged that. It was 50%, Man City’s attacks on that right-hand side, and that’s targeting him. He had a really bad game, but I still think he wants to defend. He is just not a good defender.
Carragher finished his point by highlighting a key point that Cucurella must improve if he is to help Chelsea improve their defensive record this season. The former Liverpool defender said: "The reason I say that is when I see defenders diving in constantly - sometimes you think I can win the ball I'll go and get it - but when that's your plan against every wide player that comes up against you, that can't be right.
"You're saying he was overloaded, and I think it was one vs one. Man City's full-backs don't go forward, it wasn't like a two vs one, where he's got to take a chance."
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