Marc Cucurella has been slammed for his performance against Arsenal, in particular his role in the only goal of the game.
Gabriel Magalhaes put the Gunners 1-0 up in the second half after Graham Potter's Chelsea side made an almighty mess of clearing a corner and the Blues never truly responded. They had been second best until the hour mark and the loss has put pressure on Potter after four league games without a win.
The former Brighton manager is working with a depleted squad due to injuries in the backline and midfield, and his decision to play Ben Chilwell against Dinamo Zagreb has already backfired. Not only is the England fullback now ruled out of the World Cup with a 'significant' hamstring injury, he will likely miss matches even upon the return of domestic football in late December.
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Chelsea suffered a similar fate last season after Chilwell's ACL injury kept him out from November until May. That meant Marcos Alonso was forced to play as a starting wingback during an intense schedule and the Spaniard's lack of fluidity in the system posed serious questions for Thomas Tuchel.
In order to combat that this term the Blues signed Marc Cucurella from Brighton for £60m. The Seagull's player of the season has had a shaky start at Stamford Bridge and has failed to impress as a left-side centre-back. Chilwell's injury, along with the return of Kalidou Kouliably to fitness, means he is likely to be used as a fullback or wingback once more, but he had a poor time of it against Arsenal.
Often isolated one-on-one with Bukayo Saka and without the confidence to effect the game on the ball, Cucurella shrunk into his shell and was dealt the blow of being caught out in the corner that ultimately decided the game.
Cucurella, instead of engaging properly with Granit Xhaka, held onto the Swiss international and hugged him tightly whilst the ball whizzed into the box and landed with Gabriel at the back post. The ball should have been cleared before it got there, but Cucurella's statue-like defending didn't help and has been drawn out for heavy criticism.
Speaking on Match of the Day 2, Micah Richards says: “He literally says my man is not going to score, but he has taken that literally. “The ball is an inch from him! All he has to do is move to his left and he can clear it!
“I don’t know what he’s thinking at all.”
Alan Shearer didn't hold back either and slammed the entire team for their poor defending. "It’s embarrassing from a Chelsea point of view," the former Newcastle striker said. "So many players could have cleared it, whether it’s [Kai] Havertz or [Thiago] Silva. The keeper [Edouard Mendy] isn’t given a chance. It wasn’t even a great ball in.
"Look at Cucurella in there with Xhaka. He doesn’t move at all. He just holds Xhaka, there’s nothing at all from him!"
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