Marc Cucurella has admitted Chelsea need to learn to manage games better after they slipped to a last gasp defeat against Sunderland.
The Black Cats ran out 2-1 winners at Stamford Bridge thanks to Chemsdine Talbi’s 93rd minute winner, which Chelsea defended terribly.
Alejandro Garnacho had given Chelsea an early lead, but the Blues created nothing after that, before Wilson Isidor equalised from a long throw, and Talbi grabbed the winner.
Marc Cucurella speaks on Sunderland loss
It felt like Chelsea were starting to build some momentum and the Blues headed into Saturday’s game looking to make it five wins in a row in all competitions.
Enzo Maresca once again made a number of changes to his line-up, but Chelsea were really poor once they took the lead.
The Blues really struggled to break Sunderland down, and offered next to nothing in attack, and were rightly punished at the end.
It’s not the first game Chelsea have struggled in against a team sitting deep, and it’s something Maresca needs to find a solution to quickly.
Cucurella admitted it was a tough defeat to take and everyone was disappointed, but emphasised the team must learn from moments like this.
“It’s a really tough one to take,” he told Chelsea’s official website.
“We are all very disappointed, of course, we need to improve with these matches. I think we need to learn to manage the game better.
“We scored early, dominated at that stage but then we let the opponents back into it and I think we need to learn to kill games off when we are on top.”
Chelsea not killing games off
It’s not the first time Chelsea have taken the lead and then allowed their opponents to come back into the game, and Cucurella bemoaned that fact.
“We scored the first goal, and I think we should have scored a second one when we had the chance. We need to learn to be better against teams that come with a game plan such as Sunderland, where they stay very narrow and compact.”
“The good thing is that it is still early into the season. We have many games where we can improve and we have plenty of time to do this, and secure more points.”
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