LONDON — Chelsea coach Calum McFarlane has said that the way his side started the game in their home defeat to Nottingham Forest on Monday was “not acceptable.”
Taiwo Awoniyi put Forest in front after just two minutes before Igor Jesus doubled the visitors’ lead after a quarter of an hour as Chelsea found themselves with a mountain to climb early on.
They then missed the opportunity to get back into the game as Cole Palmer saw his penalty saved just before the break.
Awoniyi scored his second of the game in the second half as Forest, despite a late João Pedro consolation, went to a comfortable victory at Stamford Bridge and condemned Chelsea to their sixth straight defeat in the league.
And McFarlane said that Chelsea were “nowhere near the level” in the first 15 minutes of the game.
“Yeah, really disappointed with the performance, disappointed with the result. I don’t think we’ve ever got to our level today that we know we’re capable of,” McFarlane told reporters.
“I thought the first 15 minutes we were nowhere near the level we needed to be. I thought the early goal was a bit of a sucker punch and we didn’t seem to really recover from that moment.
“When we did recover and we had moments, Enzo [Fernandez] hits the post, Cole misses a penalty, Joao’s offside goal.
“When you start that badly, you need those moments to go your way to give you a chance to fight back into the game.
“But ultimately the first 15 minutes was not acceptable.”
The defeat also saw Chelsea’s hopes of finishing fifth mathematically come to an end, leaving their only hope of securing Champions League qualification in sixth, in the hands of Aston Villa winning the Europa League.
But McFarlane doesn’t believe that will have any effect on his players’ motivation levels as the season draws to a close.
“I know the group. I’ve known them for a little while now and they are driven,” McFarlane added.
“They want what’s best for themselves. They want what’s best for this club.
“And we’re going to do everything we can to try and win every single game we can from now to the end of the season.
“All l I can focus on right now is we’re in tomorrow, we’re training tomorrow, we’ll review the game, we’ll try and find the reason why, and try and make sure that the performance level is of a higher level against Liverpool in five days time.”
Joao Pedro, who scored a stunning overhead kick late on in a goal that ultimately was too little too late for Chelsea, said that the players must take it upon themselves to improve after another sobering defeat.
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“We need to find a way to undo these mistakes every game, and start to win games because this is the Premier League. If you concede too early it is very difficult to come back,” he told Sky Sports.
“I think everyone needs to look to themselves, me also included. We need to find a way to do better.
“I feel sorry for the fans, and we need to see where we can improve.
“I don’t think it is about the coach. It is about us players to improve. Everyone needs to step up. Me included. It is difficult to say something at this moment.”
