Danny Murphy slams Chelsea star who switched off in Bournemouth draw: ‘It can’t happen again’
Danny Murphy has criticised Alejandro Garnacho after Chelsea’s disappointing draw with Bournemouth on Tuesday.
Chelsea drew 2-2 with Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge, with both of the visitors’ goals in the first half coming from long throw-ins.
The Blues fought back well after going behind, with Cole Palmer converting from the spot before Enzo Fernandes scored, but they were level again just minutes later.
Chelsea have been predicted to finish just outside the top four this season, and such results are exactly why.
Enzo Maresca‘s side have won just one of their last seven Premier League games and it could have been even worse, with Moises Caicedo narrowly avoiding a red card against Bournemouth.
Danny Murphy not surprised Alejandro Garnacho was hauled off
Chelsea started in the worst possible way on Tuesday, when David Brooks capitalised on a flick-on to poke past Robert Sanchez and give Bournemouth the lead.
The Blues responded well, and, after a review by the video assistant referee, were awarded a penalty after Antoine Semenyo had brought down Estevao inside the box.
Palmer put it away, and Chelsea would be ahead less than ten minutes later when Fernandez found space on the edge of the box and fired into the top corner.
| Chelsea | Match stats | Bournemouth |
| 67% | Possession | 33% |
| 17 | Shots | 17 |
| 3 | On target | 6 |
| 2.31 | Expected goals (xG) | 3.14 |
| 12 | Corners | 3 |
But then another long throw-in from Bournemouth, with Trevor Chalobah, this time, flicking into the path of Justin Kluivert to level.
Maresca’s side huffed and puffed in the second half, but could not find a route past former Blue Djordje Petrovic.
Speaking to BBC Match of the Day on Tuesday, Murphy said: “Semenyo, we know where he’s trying to throw it, as far as he can. There’s lots of bodies in there for Chelsea, they don’t get the first contact, which is crucial.
“And then, they don’t follow runners on the back post. We can see [James] Hill gets the first contact and then Brooks runs off the back of Garnacho, who’s not watching the man, he’s watching the ball.
“And then they give themselves a mountain to climb, which they climb and do well and get back in the game at 2-1, and then what happens? Once it’s happened once, it can’t happen again.
“The target is the same, there’s nothing different. Misreads the ball, Chalobah there, but it’s the back post that’s the problem, it’s the second ball, the runner.
“Again, unfortunately, it’s Garnacho and no surprise he was taken off at half-time, I think probably because of these two lapses in concentration. You’ve got to be switched on, you can’t give teams goals like that and expect to win football matches.”
Garnacho has cost Chelsea four points this season
Maresca felt unwell after Tuesday’s draw, and was not able to hold a post-match press conference.
In his absence, assistant coach Willy Caballero attempted to explain Chelsea’s issues with long throw-ins.
“It’s such an issue because now every single game and every other team has got not just one, sometimes two or three players that can deliver a very long throw,” he said.
“It means that all of the other teams invest a lot in long throws and they create many set pieces about that and it just gives us information that we have to deal quickly because we need to improve in any set pieces.”
It is not the first time this season that a long throw-in has cost Chelsea two points. When they met Brentford in September, Fabio Carvalho poked home in the 93rd minute to see the points shared.
The winger had found space at the back post after drifting off the back of – guess who? Garnacho.