Chelsea ratings
No surprises that Marc Cucurella got a poor score given his early troubles – although it could have been lower given his response.
Here’s how SunSport’s Lloyd Canfield rated the rest of the Chelsea players after the 4-3 win.
More from Ange
Postecoglu also appeared unimpressed by the decision not to send off Moises Caicedo – and spoke on yet more injuries.
He said: “That’s what is happening in the game now, referees are leaving it to other powers that be to make decisions.
“There were a couple that didn’t go our way but there’s nothing we can do about that. It’s out of our control.”
Cristian Romero, Brennan Johnson and Van de Ven all went off seemingly nursing injuries.
Ange added: “Obviously Romero was really disappointing. He felt something in his quad after 20 minutes and couldn’t continue.
“Brennan [Johnson] wasn’t well and he tried to sort himself out at half time but he just wasn’t up to going out there.
“Micky [van de Ven] was just a bit of tiredness. The plan today was always to try and give him 60 or 70 minutes.”
‘A painful one’
Ange Postecoglu cut a rather more forlorn figure after that defeat with pressure continuing to mount given the recent poor run in form – bar that brilliant Man City win.
He told the BBC: “It is a sore one, a painful one.
“We started the game really well but as our season has been going, we lose [Cristian] Romero after 20 minutes and that disrupts us a bit and they score straight after.
“We had moments to get our third and at half-time we were in a decent position. The second half is a ding dong, especially at the start, they scored but we had a big chance with Son, we didn’t take it and then they go 3-2 up.
“I thought both penalties were poor decisions by us, we have to show more discipline. In the end the critical moments got us.
“I think there were quality opportunities but I don’t think there was an abundance of them. I can’t remember the keepers making a load of top quality saves.
“We more than matched a good side in that department and when there is quality out there you are going to have moments.
“There were things we could have done better for sure.”
More from Maresca
On the peerless Palmer, he said: “I know Cole from a long time ago and I always trust him in every aspect. He is a fantastic guy.
“He is learning how to play games when he is marked man-to-man, [Yves] Bissouma was with him all the game.
“He is learning, improving and scoring goals. That makes him happy and makes us happy.”
Maresca also said the team want to keep high levels and claimed Chelsea are far away from teams like Man City, Arsenal and Liverpool: “The plan or the idea is to not let the players slow down. They can not drop because they know another player is waiting to come in.”
On keeping pace with title rivals: “Arsenal, City and Liverpool probably don’t slide – like Cucurella did. To be serious, we are not ready, we are far from these teams but we focus on day-by-day and trying to improve the team.”
‘We deserved to win’
Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca was clearly delighted with the win – and could even joke around about Cucurella’s boot issue.
He told Sky Sports: “For the fans and for us, I said in the week that we were working to make the fans happy, and today they can be happy.”
On Cucurella, he added: “He said to me after the game that he was trying to bring emotion to the game.
“No, being serious, to come this stadium against this team and be 2-0 down, but continue then with the same plan on and off the ball and then second half we changed things tactically. I think overall we deserved to win.
“It’s more a question for Marc. They are mature enough to decide what boots they need for the game. The most important thing is that we were 2-0 but we continued the same way to create chances.”
In the bin
Marc Cucurella endured a nightmare first 10 minutes at Tottenham, slipping over TWICE in the build up to two Chelsea goals – then immediately switching boots after the second goal.
With Chelsea earning all three points, the Spanish left-back could have a laugh about it after the game…
