Jamie Carragher has defended his stinging criticism about Chelsea, having said that Maurizio Sarri has turned the Blues into Arsenal.
Carragher made the remark at half time of Chelsea‘s 6-0 humiliation against Man City at the weekend when the score was already 4-0, with Sarri’s men conceding four goals in 19 first-half minutes at the Etihad.
However, the Blues were also beaten convincingly in their previous away outing, a 4-0 loss against Bournemouth, with all four goals coming in the second half in what was another capitulation.
Speaking on Monday Night Football about his comments at the weekend, Carragher defended his statement that Chelsea have been turned into Arsenal, by saying there is a ‘lack of intensity’ from Maurizio Sarri’s side.
“I stand by my comment about Sarri turning Chelsea into Arsenal. The reason I said it was that in the last few years, Arsenal have been rolled over in big games. There has been an 8-2 at Manchester United, 6-0 against Chelsea, 5-1 at Anfield,” the former Liverpool defender said on Sky Sports.
“What we are seeing from Chelsea now is very similar. It’s not just losing big games, it’s how they are losing them.
“In the last two-and-a-half months Chelsea have probably put in four of the worst away performances that they have had in the Premier League.
“Starting with the Tottenham game [a 3-1 defeat at Wembley] and there’s a recurring theme.
“The lack of intensity from Chelsea is unbelievable. As the ball comes into Harry Kane there’s nobody engaging him or being aggressive. Still, it’s like he’s in a cage, there are five players around. If I tell you that he will take five touches and score a goal… that was in a derby game.
“There’s talk that with Sarri-ball they want to press high and press from the front. There’s nothing wrong with that, a lot of the top teams in world football do it. But he hasn’t got the players to do it. Eden Hazard is 28, Olivier Giroud, Pedro, Willian and Gonzalo Higuain are all over 30. They can’t do it.”