Alejandro Garnacho was criticized for “falling asleep” in Chelsea’s debut after former Manchester United winger allowed Fabio Calvalho to ghost the unmarked box and rob Brentford’s dramatic equalizer. Chelsea caught up with intervals following Kevin Shade’s great opener, but looked destined to return to Stamford Bridge at the biggest point after a strike from Cole Palmer and Moises Caseco.
But the completely unmarked Carvalho realized at a critical moment, bringing back the Leveler and shattering Chelsea’s dreams following a long throw-in. Analyzing the incident during a post-match assessment on Sky Sports, Jamie Redknap highlighted Garnacho’s contribution to the goal after the winger appears to have failed to track down his man in a distant post.
“What happens during development is this is an important battle. Garnacho has a job. He has to mark Calvalho,” explained Rednap, identifying the winger and Calvalho on screen.
“It’s your job. It’s easy. Don’t lose him, you’re one of the defensive players here now. If he goes behind you, it’s on you. Everyone else is trying to win that first contact.
“It’s not easy. There’s a big name in Brentford, but Garnacho falls asleep at key moments.
“The ball comes in and Garnacho is not concentrated, they get that contact and there (Carvalho) is in the back post.”
Garnacho, who recently joined Manchester United’s Chelsea on a £40 million contract, made an impressive debut by establishing Casedo due to the shock of his death.
When we quized whether his team had done enough to secure a victory, Enzo Maresca replied. “I think so. I think we scored twice in the second half.
“Cole had a chance, Pedro (Neto) had a chance, so I think we did it well. Unfortunately, we lost two points in the last few minutes.”
The Italian continued: “We were much better in the second half, and we struggled in the first half for a variety of reasons.
“We scored twice in the second half so we could score more. But unfortunately, we lost two points in the last 2-3 minutes.”
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