“They didn’t find the right pass” – Joe Cole slams two Chelsea players for defeat to Manchester City
Following Chelsea’s 1-0 defeat Manchester City, Chelsea legend Joe Cole has slammed the performances of both Christian Pulisic and Hakim Ziyech.
However, according to Cole, while Arsenal youngsters Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka took the game to the City defenders in the Gunners’ defeat to City earlier this month, Chelsea’s attackers struggled to make an impact.
“The difference between the Arsenal performance and Chelsea performance was the performances of Martinelli and Saka in the Arsenal game.”
“On them transitions, being able to get the ball, drive and do something.
“Today, Pulisic and Ziyech weren’t at their very best and I think when you talk about the structure of the team, that’s where Chelsea were lacking a bit today.
“When they got the ball in midfield, Kovacic made some excellent challenges and won the ball, then it went to Pulisic and Ziyech and they didn’t find the right pass.
“You have days like that sometimes as a No.10, I’ve had plenty of them myself.”
Meanwhile, Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel was impressed with the performance of Romelu Lukaku against Manchester City.
Asked if Lukaku was getting the service he needs, Tuchel replied: “Sometimes he needs to do the service. I think he’s included.
“He had many ball losses without any pressure, many ball losses in very promising circumstances. He had a huge chance – so he’s included in this.
“Of course we want to serve him but he’s part of the team and the performance up front, especially in the first half, we can do much, much better.
“We need to do much better because we had a lot of transition chances in the first half already.”