Alejandro Garnacho was accused of 'falling asleep' by Jamie Redknapp after the former Manchester United star left Fabio Carvalho free in the box to plunder a 93rd minute equaliser for Brentford in their dramatic 2-2 draw with Chelsea.
The Blues went in at half-time 1-0 down courtesy of a fine goal from Kevin Schade but looked to be heading back to Stamford Bridge with all three points and bragging rights after goals from Cole Palmer and Moises Caicedo, with the latter netting a scorcher from the edge of the box in the 85th minute.
But the unmarked Carvalho popped up right at the death to prod home an equaliser and burst the Blues' bubble following a long throw. Focusing on the incident during his post-match analysis on Sky Sports, Redknapp then pointed out the role Garnacho played in the goal after seemingly failing to track his man at the back post.
“What happens as it develops is this is the key battle. Garnacho has a job to do, he’s got to mark Carvalho,” Redknapp said, pointing out the winger and Carvalho on screen.
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“That’s your job. Simple as that. Don’t lose him, you’re now one of the defensive players in here. If he gets in behind you, it’s on you. Everybody else is trying to win that first contact; it's not easy, Brentford have got some big guys. But Garnacho just falls asleep at the vital moment. Ball comes in, Garnacho’s not concentrating, they get that contact and there [Carvalho] is at the back post.”
Garnacho moved to Chelsea from Manchester United in a £40million deal and had earlier marked his maiden outing in a Blues shirt by teeing up Caicedo for his late blockbuster.
When Enzo Maresca was asked if he felt his side did enough to win the match, he told reporters: “I think so, yeah. I think in the second half, we scored twice. We could have scored two or three more goals. Cole had a chance, Pedro [Neto] had a chance. So I think we did enough. Unfortunately, we lost two points just in the last two or three minutes.”
The Italian added: “We were much, much better in the second half. For different reasons, we struggled in the first half. In the second half, we scored twice, so we could have scored more. But unfortunately, we lost two points in the last two or three minutes.”
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