Gary Cahill, while disappointed with the result and performance in the 2-1 defeat to Crystal Palace on Saturday, is not totally surprised and believes the players will turn their form around ahead of an important Champions League clash in midweek.
“I’ve never had a comfortable game here,” admitted the Blues skipper, pictured right.
“I looked at their line-up and felt they had dangerous players. For us, the disappointing thing was the performance. We know we can do better than that. The first goal was scrappy and obviously a disaster start for us.
“We have more than enough experience to deal with that and we got back to 1-1 and that's when you find a second and third gear and you push on. “We have done that time and time again but on Saturday, we could not do it, for whatever reason. In the second-half, we tried and had loads of possession but I can't remember their keeper pulling off any major saves for all the possession we had. We pushed and pushed but it wasn't to be.”
Chelsea face Roma, on Wednesday night in the Champions League at Stamford Bridge, and the game cant come quickly enough for the centre-back.
“When you have had a bad performance or bad result, you want to put it right as soon as possible,” he said.
“It doesn't help the feeling we have right now because we are disappointed. We are disappointed with the performance.”
In the space of a couple of week, the Blues have put on a sublime display against Atletico Madrid and a woeful one against the Eagles - which is the current state of the Chelsea side?
“You saw the real Chelsea last season and it is important we try and emulate that sort of form this season. It's about consistency,” he said.
“The consistency against Atletico was fantastic but then Man City came around very quickly which impacted that game. You saw one fresh team and one that was not fresh. That was disappointing but coming into this game, we had more than enough in the changing room to go and get a result. They were fighting for their lives and started very quickly.”
Following back-back defeats last season, the Blues went on an extended winning run that saw them eventually become champions.
Do they need to go on a similar run to last season?
“Yeah, potentially,” said Chill.
“City are blowing teams away. Outside of our game against them. They put seven goals against Stoke at the weekend. They are in a rich vein of form, we know what's that like and to have the confidence of winning and wining and winning. So yeah, in answer to your question, we need to go on a run. Without getting carried away, it's early and if you can be in and around by January time, then it's a decent position. Saturday’s opportunity has gone by though and we let that slip. That's disappointing. We are in a bad bit of luck, too. Victor has come off, everyone knows the squad is not absolutely massive and we are missing key players. We have to hope Victor's not too bad.”
Moses went off with a hamstring injury and is a doubt for Wednesday - the same injuries befalling N’Golo Kante and Alvaro Kante.
Cahill laments that too: “Yes, it seems that it never rains but it pours. We were lucky to have not too many injuries but we have recently picked up a few. Now it's a little sticky moment but we need to come through that together and we have a chance to respond on Wednesday.”
As skipper, how does he react to the defeats?“When you have a performance like we had on Saturday, you do not need to read or listen to things. You know yourself as a player when you walk off the pitch whether your personal performance has gone well and whether the team has played well. You know that. On Saturday, we all felt the same. '“My role as a skipper is not to brush over the cracks but it's to be positive and go again. You work to produce performances that we know we can to get the winning feeling back.”
Cahill is hoping, like Antonio Conte to have Morata back to face Roma.“I saw the manager's press conference and he said he hoped he would be. He is back out on the pitch and hopefully he keeps progressing okay.“At this moment in time we have two strikers. One is down and one striker is left. They are both important.”