Former Blackburn Rovers goalkeeper Paul Robinson reckons Chelsea attacker Alejandro Garnacho’s performance in Chelsea’s 1-0 Premier League home loss to Manchester United on Saturday (April 18) wasn’t up to the mark.
The Blues lost despite dominating possession (60%) but had only one shot on target, while United scored with their only shot – through Matheus Cunha on the cusp of half-time.
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Garnacho didn’t start the Stamford Bridge game but came on in the 16th minute for the injured Estevao. However, Robinson told Stadium Astro (via the Metro) that the £40 million summer arrival from United didn’t pose much of a threat.
“That he’s not good enough to be a regular starter for Chelsea and Manchester United may have done some good business. I think the season that he left Manchester United, I was surprised that they let him go because you look at his stats that season at Manchester United, he was their most creative player.
“You look at the goals he scored, the assists that he got, but somebody saw something at Manchester United that we saw tonight.”
Robinson elaborated:
‘He was supposed to be a game changer off the bench, obviously not that early on in the game, but for me, he runs down dead ends too many times. He gets the ball and immediately his head’s down, and he’s gone. He’s very, very one-dimensional in the way that he attacks. Yes, he’s an attacking threat, but he’s quite easy to defend against.”
“He kept doing the same thing tonight, and he didn’t change it. It was either a blind run at his full-back, which was so predictable, or he turns, rotates and keeps possession into the middle of the field.”
A fourth straight defeat keeps the Blues sixth in the standings, trailing fifth-placed Liverpool (52) by four points, having played a game more.
How did Chelsea’s Alejandro Garnacho fare for Manchester United?
Alejandro Garnacho came up through the ranks at Manchester United, playing nearly 150 times across competitions in four seasons, since arriving from Atletico Mineiro in October 2020.
He contributed 26 goals and 22 assists, with nearly half of those strikes – 11 – along with 10 assists – coming in the 2024-25 campaign, which proved to be his last at the club.
During his Old Trafford stint, Garnacho won the FA Cup and EFL Cup and also bagged the 2024 FIFA Puskas award for best goal for his acrobatic effort against Everton in a Premier League match, before moving to Chelsea last summer.
Edited by Bhargav
