Chelsea's 2-0 defeat at home to Brentford on Saturday was their third at home this season and leaves the Blues a point behind their west-London rivals, but manager Mauricio Pochettino was upbeat after the loss at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea started the game well, dominating the first half as they sought to continue their good recent form, which had seen them record three victories in a row and a draw to Arsenal which should really have been a win.
But they came unstuck against a very organised Brentford side, who kept a second clean sheet in a row, and Chelsea lacked a cutting edge, something Pochettino admitted afterwards.
“I think in the first half we should score and we didn’t score. I think it is easy when you dominate and create chances and you not concede chances and the opponent doesn’t cross the halfway line, I think you should score,” he said after the game.
“If you do not score, you need to blame yourself, because we were not clinical in front of the goal. We create chances, but we didn’t score.”
Brentford manager Thomas Frank agreed about Chelsea being the better side in the first half.
“Our first half was not that good, I think it was average, if not a little bit less than that. I think Chelsea was good the first half,” he said.
“At half time I said to my players: ‘we need to believe.’ I didn't see enough belief in the first half. I think we hanging in there, we defended well, I don’t think we gave big chance after big chance away to Chelsea, but we gave too much away to what we normally do if we perform at a high level. On the ball, I don’t think we were cool enough, only in short spells.”
But Frank saw many positives as well. He added: “I think our defending was so much better and of course the first goal always change the dynamic a little bit in the game. But the way we defended was fantastic.”
Chelsea couldn’t really get through and Pochettino admitted that they are missing goals at the moment, with forwards Christopher Nkunku and Armando Broja injured at the moment, but the Argentine indicated that it is sometimes down to luck as well.
“Sometimes you need some luck to score and after the game changed in the second half, but I think we give the belief,” he said. “Because we didn’t score and the second half I think we cannot concede this types of goals, how we conceded, that was our mistake. That is why we lose the game.”
Brentford’s win means they are the first visiting team ever to win each of their first three games against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
Frank praised his players for their tactical flexibility after they played in a different formation last week, saying his players were “very switched on”. He also complimented his side for their defensive qualities.
“Of course we know we are going to Stamford Bridge, against a very good Chelsea side that we knew in spells we would defend a lot. We know when we do that in the structure, we normally do that well. But big credit to the players.”
Frank also said he sees improvement at Chelsea, pointing to their performance in the first half.
“I think it's clear what they want to achieve. They won three in a row and then drew against Arsenal, that's a clear improvement. I think first half, you could see they came with a lot of confidence and they troubled us. I would take a lot of positivity out of the first half. I know it's a bad result [for Chelsea] and all that, but I’m convinced that will come.”
Pochettino also sees positive signs in the season so far.
“We played really well against Liverpool and Arsenal,” he said. “Of course, when you see these types of games like today, or Nottingham Forest, we dominate, but we struggle to score.
“We need to move on, of course we need to win Wednesday [against Blackburn in the League Cup] and then prepare the game against Tottenham.”
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