3 hours ago
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Enzo Maresca delivered a brutally honest verdict after Chelsea’s surprise loss to Sunderland, saying his attackers lacked creativity and his defenders did not do their jobs to prevent the defeat in stoppage time.
The Blues lost to a winner from substitute Chemsdine Talbi, which Maresca said should have been an ‘easy situation’ for his centre backs to clean up as they were two on one with a long ball. Instead, the Black Cats temporarily sent themselves up to second in the Premier League.
Speaking afterwards, Maresca did not try to make any excuses for his side being humbled by Sunderland, who were promoted from the Championship last season.
‘We were not good enough,’ Maresca said. ‘When you are not good enough in the Premier League, we know that the consequence can be the bad one.
‘The second goal we conceded, when you are not able to win, it's important you don't lose. It's just one long ball in behind. We are two-v-one with the two central defenders and we didn't defend properly.
‘It can be an easy situation because we are two-v-one. The striker is facing his goal. The first goal came from a throw-in. Overall, we were not good enough.’
Enzo Maresca has weighed in on what he believes was a disappointing Chelsea performance
Neither attackers nor defenders like Trevoh Chalobah were safe from the manager's criticism
Chelsea took the lead initially through Alejandro Garnacho, only to concede twice. The Blues have now dropped eight points from winning positions in the Premier League this season.
Maresca continued: ‘We were not good enough. Lack of creativity. We didn't create a lot, apart from the goal. We struggled.
‘We need to perform. We need our players to perform 100 per cent. Even with 1-0, we lost some duels, we lost some second balls. Against this team, you need to win that.’
