Conor Gallagher makes a honest assessment after Chelsea got humiliated by Brighton
Speaking to club media after the game (h/t Football.London), Chelsea midfielder Conor Gallagher honestly assessed the performance of his team and admitted to a personal mistake in the humiliating defeat at the hands of Brighton and Hove Albion.
The Seagulls won the game 4-1 in what turned out to be a horror return to the Amex Stadium for boss Graham Potter. The home side fired themselves into a three-goal lead at half-time, before seeing the game out in the second half despite Kai Havertz’s goal pulling it back slightly.
Gallagher admitted that Brighton wanted it more than Chelsea and rued the fact that he missed a simple chance when the score was 2-0 in the first half. He was clean through on goal but only managed to hit his shot straight at the keeper.
Here’s what the Englishman said regarding his and his team’s performance (h/t Football.London):
“It’s a tough one to take. At the end of the day, we were not good enough individually or as a team. It seemed like they wanted it a bit more than us.
“We have to look at ourselves. We’re to blame and we are gutted, very disappointed in ourselves as a team as we know we’re so much more professional than that.
“Credit to Brighton, they were very good. They’re a top team, their fans were up for it.
“We were always in the game, even at half time when we were three down. It shows we did have chances and I should have scored in the first half which could have changed the game. It didn’t go that way.”
With Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur winning, the Blues, who were fifth at the start of the weekend on goal difference, are now three points behind the former and five behind the latter.
After a gruelling schedule of games, a performance like this wouldn’t have been beyond possibility. The team has done well under Potter so far. Now, they need to make sure this result was just a blip and not a pattern form.
Having qualified for the next round of the Champions League and also sealed the group, the manager can rest some of his key players before the key game against Arsenal next weekend.
More Chelsea News:
- Transfer News: Arsen Zakharyan confirms his wish to come to Chelsea
- Manchester United join Chelsea in the race for Bayer Leverkusen right-back Jeremie Frimpong
- Graham Potter reveals why he took Chelsea goalie Kepa Arrizabalaga off
It would be a welcome break for some of the players after playing every three or four days since the start of this month, despite squad rotation from Potter. The World Cup break is not far away, hence the next two league games are important for the Blues to win and go into the season interval with momentum on their hands.