Reece James believes Chelsea have ‘ourselves to blame’ for not taking all three points against Qarabag in the Champions League.
The Blues drew 2-2 with the side from Baku in an entertaining affair, with Estevao Willian’s opening goal cancelled out by a quickfire Qarabag double before half-time.
Enzo Maresca made a treble substitution at half-time with one of those changes, Alejandro Garnacho, netting the equaliser eight minutes into the second period.
As the game wore on, both sides had chances to win the game with Chelsea going close through Enzo Fernandez and Facundo Buonanotte but in the end, both sides had to settle for a point. Something the skipper was left frustrated about, feeling we should have ‘adapted better’ and secured the win.
‘Yes it’s disappointing,’ a frustrated James said when speaking post-match in the media zone. ‘Coming here we wanted to win, of course.
‘We set up pretty strong and we started well, got ourselves in front and then it’s disappointing to let it slip. The goals we conceded weren’t good from our perspective. We gave away a penalty and a goal that we really gifted them.
‘It’s disappointing. We didn’t adapt well enough to certain situations and the goals we’ve conceded, it’s from our own sloppy play. That’s something, collectively, we need to improve on going forward.
‘The momentum changed with their goal and simply, we didn’t do enough. We had chances towards the end to win the game, but we didn’t take them and we only have ourselves to blame in not taking all three points.’
A real positive from the game, however, was the performance of Estevao Willian. The teenage Brazilian opened the scoring with a fine first-half finish and was a constant thorn in the Qarabag side, tormenting their defence with his direct running and tricky.
James was pleased with the efforts of his team-mate, while reminding him that he still has a lot of room to improve as the season progresses.
‘Estevao is an amazing player and he has the world at his feet,’ James said of our first goalscorer.
‘He’s still so young and it’s on us to keep him grounded, protect him and make sure he stays healthy. He’s got a lot of development sill to come but we’re super happy with his performances and to have him here with us.’