Club News: Graham Potter gives his verdict on Chelsea loss against Newcastle United
Chelsea were below par against a dominant Newcastle United side and ultimately paid the price with a 1-0 defeat at St. James Park. Joe Willock scored the only goal of the game to pile the pressure on Graham Potter and his side.
The Blues came into the game after losing three games in a row in all competitions. Eddie Howe’s side were arguably considered favourites, but the west London club were expected to provide competition.
Speaking after the game to BBC Match of the Day, Potter gave his verdict on his side’s loss against the Magpies.
“In a game of few chances, they got a winner. We changed things but we didn’t have enough. You could see in the first half they were pushing us back. We could not get out of the defensive third as much as we like. So we put on an extra man in the middle of the pitch.”
“We have a break now and we need to re-energise. For us in terms of what we’ve had with an incredibly intense period, it is what it is. We need to take the positives. A lot of the boys will be away but we can get away, regroup and go again when we come back.”
It was a tough evening for Potter at Tyneside. Ruben Loftus-Cheek had to be substituted in the 7th minute after picking up an injury. The boss will hope that it is not something serious as there are a host of players on the sidelines.
Newcastle piled up the pressure very well throughout the game and the Blues did some excellent defending. Conor Gallagher came close to giving his side the lead but was excellently denied by Nick Pope.
The Magpies’ pressure finally paid off when former Arsenal midfielder Willock opened the scoring for his side with a beautiful curl shot from the edge of the box that landed on the right side of the net past Edouard Mendy.
Despite the Blues giving their all till the last minute of the game, the Magpies stood firm and claimed all three points. This loss sees Chelsea remain in the seventh position on the table with 21 points, eight behind fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur.
The league will now go into a month-long break due to the World Cup which starts next week. Maybe this break will help the club to regain their form and win games in the second half of the season. The Blues will now return to action on 27th December, when they will play host to Bournemouth.
More Chelsea News:
- Chelsea manager Graham Potter has played down the chances of signing players in January
- Brighton transfer guru Paul Winstanley placed on gardening leave amidst talks with Chelsea
- Chelsea winger Callum Hudson-Odoi snubs Ghana World Cup chance amid England hope
The Blues have a lot to think about after this defeat – and a lot of time where Potter and co. can sit down and figure out where things are going wrong.