“Looked like he didn’t know where to be”, “They’ll look for an alternative” – Ex-Chelsea player urges Graham Potter to ditch Chelsea duo
Former Chelsea forward Tony Cascarino has claimed that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Marc Cucurella could find it difficult to thrive at Stamford Bridge. Cascarino believes Aubameyang will be quickly replaced by someone better and hinted that Cucurella might struggle to get acclimatized to a club as big as the Blues.
Chelsea signed Aubameyang from Barcelona and Cucurella from Brighton & Hove Albion in the summer, with neither player managing to live up to expectations thus far. Aubameyang has featured in 10 games for the Blues across competitions, scoring thrice. Cucurella, on the other hand, has claimed two assists in 15 appearances.
Marc Cucurella with single handedly the most comical half I’ve seen an opposition player at the Amex. Solly March has burned him to a crisp.
Both Aubameyang and Cucurella featured in the Pensioners’ embarrassing 4-1 defeat to Brighton on Saturday (October 29), and Cascarino was left disappointed with both. Analyzing Aubameyang’s performance on talkSPORT, he said (via Teamtalk):
“I’m not even sure Aubameyang is a player Chelsea will be looking at into next season. I think what will happen is what happened to him at Barcelona. They brought him to the club, got a big signing, then realized quite quickly they need to move away to a better striker.
“I think Chelsea will have to do that as a football club. They’ll come away from Aubameyang by the end of the season and they’ll look for an alternative without a doubt.”
On Cucurella, he added:
“Even players like Cucurella [were] all over the place, he really was. He looked like he didn’t know where to be. He’s a £62million signing that Chelsea have made. He may have suffered a because Graham Potter brought him off before half-time [against Manchester United] and changed systems with him.
“He looks like a guy that’s completely lost being at a big club at the moment.”
Conor Gallagher was Chelsea’s only bright spark against Brighton
Academy graduate Conor Gallagher was arguably the Pensioners’ best player on the pitch against Brighton & Hove Albion. The former Crystal Palace midfielder took players on, created opportunities, made encouraging runs, and helped out at the back whenever possible.
Conor Gallagher on our defeat. https://t.co/LQsfqTaNJf
Before being taken off in the 79th minute, Gallagher lodged two shots on target, completed 26 passes (89.7% accuracy), and completed a cross. He also created a big chance, played two key passes, won three duels, and cleared the ball thrice. Had his teammates been at his level, the west London outfit probably would not have succumbed to such an embarrassing defeat in their own backyard.