How do you explain what happened last night other than we all saw it coming! At 1-0 up, we all knew we needed that second goal to kill the game off and we all hoped we would get it but it never came. Credit to Sunderland for punishing Chelsea and for their never say die attitude.
I have to agree with Jose Mourinho about our play up to the final third. We are playing some lovely football and moving the ball well. At lengthy stages in the game, we had Sunderland pinned back as we dominated possession of he ball. The problem comes when you can do little with it.
Let's be honest here, Chelsea were a goal up early in the second half and cruising. It looked like they were there for the taking (despite heroics from Wes Brown) and all we needed was that second goal. As soon as Samuel Eto'o picked up that loose pass in on goal and the missed, you had an idea that the game was far from over!
For me it's still the same problem and that's our tempo in the final third. We we moved the ball quickly, we put Sunderland on the back foot, just look at the Chelsea goal for example! How many times after that did we slow the ball down and not attack them at pace?
Chelsea in possession in and around the box were too slow and lacked a killer ball. We would hold onto it instead and delay a pass meaning that the door was closed and we would pass it backwards!
At 1-0 up, we had the ball down the flanks in the final third but again, passed the ball backwards or left a pass too late, letting Sunderland get back and defend in numbers and the moment to play that final ball was gone!
It's another one of those games that has gotten away, another goal shy performance from Chelsea in a game that was more than winnable last night!
However, for Sunderland you have to be proud of how your boys fought for the shirt. Inspired substitutions from Poyet and players that simply never gave up!
Poyet has got his players playing to their strengths and last night, each one of them did exactly that. We can sit and moan about the goals we conceded but we could see it coming.
Michael Essien isn't to blame as he isn't a natural right back. He was caught out of position and allowed too much space between him and Gary Cahill twice and we were punished for it once with the Borini goal and got lucky the second time.
Their winning goal was a shambles at the back again. I can go on about it all day long but, it's the least of our priorities this season. We move on!
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