Chelsea boss Liam Rosenior’s reaction will be interesting after his Blues slipped to a second-straight defeat, a rare home setback to Newcastle United.
Rosenior’s overseen consecutive losses for his first time in charge of Chelsea, this loss joining a midweek loss to Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of a UEFA Champions League last 16 tie.
MORE — Chelsea v Newcastle recap, video highlights
The Blues were flustered by a new-look Newcastle midfield. The Magpies had a very active group without a traditional defensive midfielder and so organization was the key to limiting Chelsea’s danger.
And Anthony Gordon punished the Blues on a first-half counterattack to make sure the Magpies had further impetus to simply deny Chelsea chances.
So how did Rosenior see it? The boss looked upset with Newcastle’s second half pace but also had to be dismayed by the lack of solutions in their final third.
Liam Rosenior reaction — What did Chelsea boss say after home loss to Newcastle?
Thoughts on the game as a whole? “Frustration — the first 15-20 minutes we dominate the game, attack. Waves of attack. We switch off on the press and it’s a really poor goal. It gives them a goal and something to hold onto. The rest of the game was attack versus defense and credit to Eddie and Newcastle. They sat back and we didn’t have the freshness in attack.”
What happened on the Newcastle goal? “There was an issue in cover and understanding on the press. That’ll come. It’s new in terms of what we’re asking the players to do but we’re talking about one moment when the rest of the game our press was very good. The problem with us wasn’t without the ball. The problem was the final third. We got there many times. Created chances but weren’t ruthless enough to take them.”
What went wrong in the final third? “I just felt every time the ball bounced in the box, it fell behind our player instead of in front of them, or they defended it with blocks.”
“We had three wide players who were out. Jamie Gittens who is almost back. Estevao. Pedro Neto was suspended. It’s not an excuse it’s reality.”
How do you pick up the pieces for PSG? “We need to assess where the players are at and we need to pick a team that can go out against PSG and play with real intensity.”
“Football’s really amazing, isn’t it? Up until 15 minutes to go at PSG, winning at Villa in the FA Cup with a changed team. At the moment in the last two games we haven’t managed to take advantage of the moments or the margins.”