Kalidou Koulibaly’s role in Chelsea’s wall as Man City take the lead leaves fans furious

On Nov 9, 2022

Fans were fuming with Kalidou Koulibaly for his role in Chelsea’s wall after Manchester City went ahead in the Carabao Cup.

Koulibaly was drafted in by the Blues in the summer from Napoli to shore up their defence following Antonio Rudiger’s departure. But the £33million signing seemed to forget his purpose as he shirked his defensive responsibilities against the Cityzens on Wednesday night.

The scores were level in the cup tie with the game approaching the hour mark when City won a free-kick on the edge of the Blues’ box. And Blues keeper Édouard Mendy could only watch in awe as Riyad Mahrez’s sweetly struck effort evaded Chelsea’s wall and flew past him into the back of net.

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But Blues fans were furious with Koulibaly’s lack of effort in preventing Mahrez’s rocket. The centre-back appeared to duck as the ball soared past him, to the dismay of Chelsea’s supporters who flocked to Twitter to vent their fury towards the 31-year-old.

Koulibaly shrunk into the mix as Mahrez’s piledriver headed towards him

Fans felt he should’ve atleast jumped to try and prevent Mahrez from scoring

One fan raged: “Koulibaly man why aren’t you jumping??? Goes right by your head ffs.” While another lambasted the Senegal international saying: “This Koulibaly performance is killing me why didn’t he attempt to block the shot?”. And a third fumed: “Why that Koulibaly guy no jump for there?”

More fans shared their frustration with a fourth user complaining: “This Koulibaly guy is embarrassing.” Things got even worse for Chelsea when Julian Alvarez doubled City’s lead in the 58th minute, giving Pep Guardiola’s side a 2-0 win on the night.

Do you think Koulibaly is to blame for Manchester City’s opening goal from Mahrez’s free-kick? Let us know in the comments section

But Koulibaly’s inadequate reaction resulted in Mahrez scoring City’s first goal
(Image: Manchester City FC via Getty Ima)

Another bright moment for City was the introduction of Kalvin Phillips to the game. Phillips has been out injured but came on as substitute for Ilkay Gundogan ten minutes into the second half.

Phillips’ return gives his chances of being called up by Gareth Southgate for England’s squad for the World Cup a boost. The Three Lions boss will announce his final squad for Qatar in a few days, and Phillips was a doubt before tonight’s cup appearance.

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