Enzo Maresca acknowledged his pre-match plans went out the window following Chelsea's early red card but was pleased with the way his team responded to the early set-back during our 2-1 defeat to Manchester United.
Chelsea found themselves down to ten men within five minutes when Robert Sanchez received a straight red card for a foul against Bryan Mbuemo.
The hosts were then totally dominant during the first half and took a 2-0 lead through goals by Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro.
The dynamic of the contest changed just before the break when Casemiro also saw red for a second yellow card, meaning the Blues dominated the final stages of the opening period and enjoyed more of the possession in the second half.
Wesley Fofana had a goal ruled out for offside and Trevoh Chalobah made it 2-1 with a header in the final ten minute but the Blues were unable to snatch an equaliser, as Andrey Santos had a goal-bound effort blocked in the final moments.
Maresca said: 'After three or four minutes, it was rough for the way the red card became difficult not only for Chelsea, it [would] become difficult for any club.
'For sure we could have started the game better, then the [Casemiro] red card gave us the chance to come back in the game. We had two-three moments inside the box [in the second-half], but all the game changed after the red card, all the planning and everything, it doesn't exist anymore.'
Sanchez's red card was immediately followed by the introduction of Filip Jorgensen and Tosin, in place of Estevao Willian and Pedro Neto, before a third alteration was made on 21 minutes when Cole Palmer made way for Andrey Santos.
Maresca was asked about the substitutions during his post-match press conference, explaining: 'The reason why we changed Pedro [Neto] and Estevao [Willian] was because they attack with the five players always, and we defend with the four, and we can defend with the four when we are 11 vs 11, but 11 against them, I think we need to defend on the width, so we decided to go with the back five, this is the reason why.'
On Palmer, he said: 'Cole tried this morning, he had a test this morning to play this game, he was not 100 per cent fit, he made a fantastic effort to play this game, but he was not 100 per cent.'
Before later adding: 'He did this morning a test, he wanted to play this game for the team, to be close, so the effort has been huge from him, but then after 20 minutes he started to feel something, so we decided to change him.'