Chelsea’s long-awaited return to the Champions League last night was a massive letdown, especially after the five-star performance over the preceding weekend, with the Blues failing to convert over a dozen shots from inside the penalty area in the 1-0 loss to Valencia. This wasn’t part of the plan!
And things don’t get any easier next, with Liverpool, who also lost, albeit away from home to Napoli, coming to the Bridge on Sunday. They are unlikely to suffer two defeats in a row in all competitions.
But for Tammy Abraham, the frustrations of yesterday — not to mention the Super Cup defeat on penalties last month — can be channeled into something special against the Reds.
“We have a massive game on Sunday. We look forward to that, and making things right. [...] We just have to take our anger out against Liverpool!”
We had all been hoping for a bit of smooth sailing after Saturday’s win over Wolves, but that wasn’t meant to be. At least not yet. Chelsea are very much a work in progress, and there are going to be bumps along the way. The key, as ever, is finding the proper response to any setback.
“You’re going to have a lot of ups and downs in a season, but the way you go for it is to have more ups than downs. We have to move on; we can’t dwell on it. We have to focus on Sunday. [...] Both teams are going to go for the win. We just have to back ourselves all the way, and hopefully get three points.
“Obviously we’re fuming that we lost today, but we can’t dwell on it. It’s our first game of the group stage. We still have another five games to go; we just have win our next five.”
-Tammy Abraham; source: Hayters TV
Winning makes everything better. Let’s get back to it then and get Lampard his first home win as Chelsea head coach already!