Chelsea manager Graham Potter was left frustrated with “cheap goals” conceded despite a promising performance against Everton last weekend.
On two occasions Potter saw his side take the lead, through Joao Felix’s first goal at Stamford Bridge and a Kai Havertz penalty, only to allow Everton back into the game each time, as they equalised first through Abdoulaye Doucoure and Ellis Simms.
“We’re really disappointed because we dropped two points at home,” Potter the Chelsea website. “We wanted to win, I think you saw the intention of the team. There were a lot of positive things in the performance, but ultimately we haven’t defended well enough and to concede two goals means it’s not so easy to win the game. So that’s the disappointing thing for us.
“I think you have to credit Everton. They do what they do well and they use their physicality, they use the set-pieces, they ask you a question. But I think we controlled most of the game really well, as much as you can at this level.
“Ultimately the first goal was really disappointing, from a set-piece perspective, we spoke about that before the game. Then the second goal we haven’t attacked well enough and then exposed ourselves to a big space to defend and haven’t done it well enough. So these little small things when you look at how much we put into the game and how much we tried to attack, to be cheap with the goals we conceded is really disappointing.
“I think Everton used their strengths well. They’ve got physicality, they used Doucoure and Onana on long balls and second balls and throw-ins and set-pieces, to create danger, to create pressure. Sean’s sides have always done that well. So it’s not easy to control it as well as you’d like, but I think we lost a little bit of control for a short period of time and when we did we conceded. That’s the frustrating bit.”
Despite the disappointing result Potter was encouraged by many of the individual performances from Chelsea.
“I think result-wise it was a step back because we wanted to win, but performance-wise it was a step forward. I think there was a lot good in the game. We attacked well, Joao, Kai, CP were positive in the first half, certainly. Reece and Chilly used the width well, Enzo I thought was creative in midfield, Wesley drove the game well. So individual performances were positive, the team intention was good, but again the feeling is frustration because we dropped points.
“The boys are disappointed. I’d like to keep the conversation private but the boys were frustrated because they put a lot into the game and the intention was there, they wanted to win. Performance-wise it was quite a strong performance I thought but ultimately we’re really frustrated because we can’t concede the goals we did and expect to win games.”
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