For the second time we’ve made mistakes against the top sides
Frank Lampard got a win in his first game as a manager against Burnley with Chelsea beating us 4-2 yesterday at Turf Moor.
Chelsea had won in Amsterdam against Ajax in midweek, a journey from London probably shorter than the one the one to Burnley. He’d made reference to that pre-match and the need for his players to recover, and after they’d beaten us he said: “It was really pleasing because it’s a worry. You travel back, you’re aware the other team doesn’t have that situation.
“That was a really taxing game, it was our toughest physical game of the year, so credit to the medical staff and everyone that works around the players. They put a lot of hours in, and in the last two or three days, the players themselves have been professional about how they have recovered and picked themselves up to come to Burnley.
“We knew it would be a tough match. It’s easy to take the small gloss of it with two goals late on, but it doesn’t take any gloss off for me. For the 95 per cent of the game we played some outstanding football at a really tough place to play, was what made me very happy.”
“There were a lot of things going on in the game with people going down under no real contact, their bench wanted everything. Ashley Barnes, every time he had contest in the air, he falls to the ground, they want to get a free kick to stick in the box.
“Let’s be clear, these things still happen all over football when it’s a fast game and people are trying to win. So if it was a dive I will address it for sure. I need to look it back but I don’t think it’s as clear cut as that.”
Sean Dyche saw his team beaten in successive games for the first time this season and said: “It was an odd night in that I don’t think there was too much in the game, especially in the first half. We’ve created some good chances, but we ended up 2-0 down when mistakes were punished.
“It’s poor from us for giving the ball away in those positions, and credit to them for taking those chances, but you come in 2-0 down and you’re scratching your head. Then we started the second half quite bright and took the game on again, but we gave away a third and then it’s really tough. At four it certainly didn’t feel like a 0-4 game, because we created some really good chances tonight and that’s pleasing.”
With the Clarets facing a mountain after those second half goals, Dyche admitted: “We changed the shape and it didn’t suit us, so I changed it back and that’s kind of pleasing. If you’ve got it wrong, sometimes you have to admit that, so we changed back to the two strikers and we looked more effective again.
“Credit to the players because the mentality kept us going and we nicked two late on to leave people wondering what might have happened if we’d nicked another. So, I’m disappointed, but also pleased because we are making better quality chances against these top sides now. But for the second time this season we’ve made mistakes against the top sides, similar to when we played Liverpool, and we’ve been punished.
“The second goal, just before half time, was the real killer. At 0-1 down you always have a chance, but it changed the half time feel and then you are looking for a miraculous recovery, especially against the top teams. But I can’t brush under the carpet that we’ve given them three goals from mistakes and tonight that has cost us.”
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