Gary Neville criticizes three Chelsea failures for not being ‘good enough’ in Man City defeat

Gary Neville has criticized players he believes were a big part of the reason Chelsea lost to Manchester City on Sunday.

Frank Lampard’s team was beaten 3-1 by City at Stamford Bridge after three goals from the Sky Blues in the first half put them in full control.

And Manchester United legend Neville insists the three midfielders failed to prevent City from dominating.

“I have to say that Kante, Mount and Kovacic’s midfield has not been good enough,” Neville told Sky Sports.

“It hasn’t been good enough these last 20 minutes. They have allowed Manchester City to have real control in this game.

“The backs of Chilwell and Azpilicueta have really struggled, but it’s that midfield that has really struggled to hold on.”

Blues boss Lampard admitted his team failed to stop City where they knew they could hurt them, but insisted his players had the ability to bounce back from their recent three-game streak without a win.

Lampard said after the loss: “Everyone was saying for a month that we could win the league, I was pretty sure in terms of rebuilding, sanction and youth that there were going to be periods of pain that we were going to go through.

“When a team gives you a problem, you have to solve it, but we didn’t.

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“We have character, we have 16 undefeated games. A month ago, people asked where this is going, when will you sign a new contract and now they say otherwise.

“I’ll be the first to look at myself today, but I know where we are and I know what it takes to get to the level City were at today. It’s normal for us to take hits, but now it’s a test.”