Gallagher: ‘We were not good enough individually or as a team’

Not sure why it’s young Conor Gallagher who got trotted out for some quotes after the embarrassment of a 4-1 defeat against Brighton, but I suppose it shows good maturity and leadership from the 22-year-old. And it’s not like we would ever expect anything more than the usual perfunctory words anyway, and Gallagher certainly delivered in that regard.

“It’s a tough one to take. At the end of the day, we were not good enough individually or as a team. It seemed like they wanted it a bit more than us. We have to look at ourselves. We’re to blame and we are gutted, very disappointed in ourselves as a team as we know we’re so much more professional than that.”

“We were always in the game, even at half time when we were three down. It shows we did have chances and I should have scored in the first half which could have changed the game. It didn’t go that way.

“We had chances, but we need to defend better as a team. We shouldn’t be conceding that many goals so we’re very disappointed. We’re at fault. We need to look at the mistakes, learn from them, dust ourselves off and go again.”

-Conor Gallagher; source: Chelsea FC

And Gallagher also delivered on the pitch. While he did miss that one chance, he also set up Chelsea’s only goal of the day, and he continues to show that he belongs at this level and also the level that we’re striving towards achieving.

Here’s to a few better results as we finish out the (daunting) pre-World Cup schedule: after Zagreb, it’s Arsenal, Manchester City (League Cup), and Newcastle — the three best teams in the Premier League at the moment.