Jamie Carragher Heavily Criticises Performance ofLamine Kone

Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher has branded the performance of Sunderland defenderLamine Kone, in a recent match against Arsenal, as unacceptable.

Arsenal enjoyed a 4-1 comfortable win over Sunderland, but they were given a major scare in the second half when Jermain Defoe scored a penalty. At that point, the game was just 1-1 with less than 30 minutes left on the clock. It looked like David Moyes, who has endured a terrible run upon his return to the Premier League, as they dispatched an unlikely point or two against the gunners.

It was not to be after Arsenal came back in the best possible manner through goals from Olivier Giroud and Alexis Sanchez. Giroud had just come on as a substitute after a lengthy spell on the sidelines, but he scored two goals in the space of five minutes to put Arsenal comfortably in front. Sanchez’ late goal, which was also his second of the evening, made the scoreline look glossy. Carragher says that one of the reasons for Arsenal’s comfortable victory was the unacceptable performance ofLamine Kone, who allowed the Giroud and Sanchez to score extremely easy goals by Premier League standards.

Sunderland remain the only team in the division without a victory in the league, and Carragher reckons that it may take a while for the first win with players like Kone performing at this level.

"There's one player on the pitch whose attitude has been nowhere near acceptable and that's Kone at the back.He was a man mountain last season, him and Jermain Defoe virtually kept them up. Defoe at one end and Kone at the other, but he's nowhere near where he needs to be.He's causing Sunderland a massive problem," said Carragher. Incredibly, Sunderland refused to sell Kone in the summer when there was an offer from Everton.