“Things are going right before this happened to Chelsea” – Daniel Sturridge blasts Chelsea man after what he did in 1-1 draw against Manchester city
Daniel Sturridge claims that during Chelsea’s 1-1 tie with Manchester City, Mauricio Pochettino committed a grave tactical error.
At the Etihad, Raheem Sterling had given Chelsea the lead until Rodri salvaged a point for City late on.
On Saturday night, the home team had the majority of the possession, but it worked perfectly for the visitors, who were always posing a threat when they counterattacked.
That was all up until the last twenty minutes or so, when Pochettino substituted Trevoh Chalobah for center-back Cole Palmer after taking Sterling out for Christopher Nkunku.
Just seconds before Rodri equalized, midfielder Cesare Casadei replaced final starting attacker Nicolas Jackson.
Sturridge feels Chelsea need to have continued using their counterattacking strategy instead of.
Sturridge feels Chelsea need to have persisted in their counterattacking strategy instead than merely attempting to stave off City’s hegemonic assault.
‘See for me, things are going nice, counter attacks, chops and changes, combinations, all these types of things…,’ the former Chelsea, City and Liverpool forward said on Sky Sports.
‘I’m thinking as the attacker we can get more chances. They didn’t have a shot after 70 minutes. They had gone to five at the back.
‘They were so threatening in the second-half with Jackson still doing his thing and the two most threatening players [Sterling and Palmer] came off the pitch!’
Pochettino defended his choice to bring another defender on however, saying post-match: ‘It was in a moment when we needed to try and score the second. I think we decide to not give too much space to them and bring another centre-back on.
‘Playing with a back four they find a good channel and we wanted to try and stop this run. It was difficult because we were not able to score the second goal and they got the goal and the draw.
‘In the second half I think they dominated and they forced us to defend deeper. I think we sustained the effort and had some chances to win the game.
‘I am so happy. It is a good draw for us and when you face this type of team I think it is important to be brave and fight in every aspect.’