Alejandro Garnacho made his Chelsea debut in the 2-2 draw with Brentford on Saturday afternoon
Former Manchester United star Alejandro Garnacho
Former Manchester United star Alejandro Garnacho
(Image: Getty Images)
Alejandro Garnacho was slammed for 'falling asleep' by Jamie Redknapp after the former Manchester United star allowed Fabio Carvalho to roam free in the box and snatch a dramatic 93rd minute leveller for Brentford in their thrilling 2-2 stalemate with Chelsea.
The Blues trailed 1-0 at the interval following a superb strike from Kevin Schade but appeared destined to return to Stamford Bridge with maximum points and local pride intact after strikes from Cole Palmer and Moises Caicedo, with the latter firing home a thunderbolt from the edge of the area in the 85th minute.
However, the unmarked Carvalho emerged in the dying moments to poke home a leveller and deflate the Blues' hopes following a lengthy throw-in.
Analysing the incident during his post-match breakdown on Sky Sports, Redknapp highlighted Garnacho's contribution to the goal after apparently neglecting to follow his marker at the far 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 explained, identifying the winger and Carvalho on screen.
"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 switched to Chelsea from Manchester United in a £40million transfer and had previously celebrated his debut appearance in a Blues jersey by setting up Caicedo for his stunning late strike.
When Enzo Maresca was questioned about whether he believed his team had done sufficient to secure victory, he responded to journalists: "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 continued: "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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