Frustration.
The one word that best sums up just about anything and everything Chelsea after the 3-0 loss to Arsenal on Saturday. Frustration.
It’s a sentiment also shared not only by the head coach, but the players as well. While reactions from them has been slower in coming than after most games, a few them have been brave enough to poke their heads out from behind the curtain and say a few words.
Here’s Eden Hazard, often accused of being "spineless" by amateur behavioural analysts, voiced his dissatisfaction with the result in English, after doing so in French over the weekend.
"There are no excuses. It was not good. We lost too many duels. We came to win the match but we made mistakes, for the first goal, another for the second and then before we knew it we were already 3-0 down."
"Every weekend at the moment we having to come back and score. We did it at Leicester but against Arsenal, who were playing at home, it was not possible. They played well. We need to be better. In the last three games in the league there have been nine points available and we have got one. It is disappointing."
"We need to go away and work on what we are doing wrong ahead of the big matches that are coming up."
-Eden Hazard; Source: Chelsea FC
Midfielder Nemanja Matic, who’s started every single match so far, was just as disappointed and spoke of the need to trust Antonio Conte to find solutions to our problems. That he’s the second player to specifically mention this sentiment, after vice-captain Branislav Ivanovic, is perhaps a bit worrying. Or maybe it just speaks of the confidence they have in the new boss.
"It was a very disappointing night for us. We are not happy. Arsenal played very well, they pressed very well, and the result shows they were better."
"We have to see where we made mistakes and what we can do better to improve. We have to know we play for a big club and we have to recover as soon as possible and be focused on the next game. I’m sure the coach will see where the problem is."
"Every game is a different story. The next game is very hard for us, Hull are a good team, but we have to be ready."
-Nemanja Matic; Source: Chelsea FC
It's a bit off-putting to see our players overly wary of Hull, a team that finished 4th in the Championship last season and were promoted via playoffs, but in light of our recent results and performances, this amount of caution might be just what we need not to fool ourselves once again.