For just the second time since the start of 2024, Chelsea Under-21s tasted defeat in the Premier League 2 on Friday evening, when we were beaten 3-2 by Nottingham Forest at Kingsmeadow.

The Blues were on the backfoot early on after the visitors opened the scoring just five minutes in. Although Dujuan Richards equalised with a fine individual effort, we allowed Forest to take the lead again before half-time and went further behind after the break, meaning Tyrique George's goal wasn't enough to avoid a second defeat this month.

Head coach Mark Robinson found the result especially disappointing given it represented a significant drop in performance following some strong showings recently, most notably during a gruelling run of fixtures, underlined by the 7-1 thrashing of Newcastle United in our previous match.

'We made five changes from the victory at Newcastle but that’s all part of the individual development, you’ve got to have that rotation so that everyone is getting an opportunity,' he insists. 'The players know that. Although changes can sometimes bring a bit of a lack of cohesion, there have to be certain principles which remain.

'We give the players the freedom to show off their individual talent, but at the same time there has to be a base of collective cohesiveness, with and without the ball. We didn’t have that, which meant we couldn’t control the game the way we needed to.

'At our best, like all good sides, we are a high-energy team with and without the ball. Unfortunately, in the first 25 minutes that wasn’t the case. This performance was very low in physical output. We got through a difficult run of five games in 16 days so, with a week’s break before the Forest game, that is also something we need to address.

'Off the ball we gave them far too much time, which gave them a foothold in the game and the belief to get the start in the game they wanted. Their rotation was causing us all sorts of problems, but it didn’t need to be like that and we showed that 25 minutes in, when an injury gave us a chance to talk to them and regroup.

'But they have to take responsibility themselves because if we hadn’t gotten that opportunity then it could have ended up far worse and the game could have really gotten away from us.'

Looking more closely at what our performance was missing against Forest, Robinson highlighted the off-the-ball work that is needed to manage a game, with the balance between creative freedom and tactical discipline key.

'We don’t want to restrict them but there are certain things, particularly without the ball, which they need to do week in, week out, otherwise we leave ourselves open to this sort of result.

'The players have to do their jobs and see them through relentlessly. That means defending as a team, how we press from the front, making sure when we haven’t got the ball we’re still in control to a large extent. That was missing in the first 25 minutes.

'That includes winning individual duels, winning the second balls. We believe we’re the best side in our league at picking up second balls and all those sorts of things which are important to a real team performance, so that was disappointing.'

However, he believes the improvement over the course of the game shows the players have received the message and know that kind of drop in performance cannot be repeated.

'To be fair, in the last 20 minutes of the first half we got back on top and got the equaliser through some really good individual play by Dujuan.

'But then, yet again, not being competitive enough meant that we went in 2-1 behind. I thought in the second half we certainly had the better of things, but a great individual goal made it an uphill struggle.

'The players have got to recognise how important it is to have that collective cohesion, with and without the ball, because you don’t win games consistently without it. That was the issue, so we’ve got to make sure it was a one off.'

That is a message Robinson is sure to be drilling into his squad over this week's international break, before our Under-21s return with a Premier League Cup quarter-final against Leeds United and the crucial final three fixtures of this season's PL2 league stage.