“Looks worse with every passing match” – Fans convinced ‘awful’ 24-year-old star is a ‘liability’ for Chelsea after 1-0 Man City loss
Chelsea left-back Marc Cucurella has come in for heavy criticism from fans following his performance in the side's 1-0 defeat to Manchester City.
Graham Potter's men suffered their fourth loss in six league games after second-half substitute Riyad Mahrez's 63rd-minute effort proved decisive.
The Blues were in the contest throughout, showing desire on and off the ball, but City's strength in depth made the difference.
However, one Chelsea player who had a night to forget was Cucurella.
The Spanish left-back struggled against City's attackers, losing possession on 12 occasions and being dribbled past on five occasions.
He arrived at Stamford Bridge from Brighton & Hove Albion in the summer for £60 million after a fantastic campaign at the Amex Stadium.
Cucurella was named Brighton's Player of the Season for his debut season in the Premier League.
Yet, the Spaniard has failed to live up to expectations at Chelsea and was left scrambling to try and prevent Mahrez from slotting in from close range and scoring the winner.
He has made 20 appearances across competitions, providing two assists and helping the side keep five clean sheets.
Many Blues fans believe Cucurella's strengths lie in attack rather than defensively, and even then, he hasn't set the world alight with his presence going forward.
Potter's side remain 10th in the league table, 10 points off of fourth-placed Manchester United.
The English coach made plenty of changes in the second-half, including taking Cucurella off for 18-year-old Lewis Hall, who impressed.
Here are some reactions from supporters on Twitter who may wish to see Hall continue in the Spaniard's place:
Hall has to start if Azpi is playing. Gives balance to the team. Cucurella does not attack.
Since Lewis Hall came on, all our Cucurella problems came to an end. twitter.com/lincoln_sneh/s…
Re: Cucurella, I think the signing looks worse with every passing match, especially for the price.
I'm not confident he's world-class at any aspect of FB/WB play and he has the type of brain-freezes that would make young players apologize. It's not looking good.
The positives for Chelsea from this game are Zakaria’s energy and ball carrying skills in midfield and Chukwuemeka’s confidence for a young man. Cucurella is a defensive liability. #CHEMCI
Decent performance in the end.
GP needs to give the younger players more minutes.
Someone find the receipt for Cucurella
#CFC twitter.com/chelseafc/stat…
Cucurella is awful, Romero ended his career
I've seen enough of Cucurella tbh. He's not amazing going forward and simply average at defending at best. Plays a decent pass from time to time, maybe.
If he was Marcelo level going forward ok fair enough but he's not, we have to admit this now #CFC
Brighton have pulled our pants down for Cucurella
Chelsea's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang suffers a horror showing against City
Another Chelsea player who had a nightmare outing against the reigning Premier League champions was Aubameyang.
The Gabonese striker started on the bench but came on in just the fifth minute after Raheem Sterling suffered a hamstring injury.
The former Arsenal frontman was lackluster and never got a foothold in the game.
He was so ineffective that Potter opted to substitute him in the 68th minute alongside Cucurella for teenager Omari Hutchinson.
Aubameyang arrived at Stamford Bridge this past summer from Barcelona for £10 million as the Blues were in dire need of a center-forward.
They allowed Romelu Lukaku to join Inter Milan on a season-long loan and Timo Werner to return to RB Leipzig for £25.3 million.
He has scored just three goals in 16 appearances, with his last league goal coming on 1 October.
The Blues are being linked with Benfica midfielder Enzo Fernandez, but a new striker should be considered amid Aubameyang's poor form.