Thibaut Courtois says there is ‘no excuse’ for Chelsea losing to Crystal Palace

Big response | Courtois calls on Chelsea to bounce back against AS Roma
REUTERS
Simon Johnson16 October 2017

Thibaut Courtois says there is no excuse for Chelsea’s poor display in their 2-1 defeat by Crystal Palace.

Antonio Conte’s side were without striker Alvaro Morata and midfielder N’Golo Kante, while wing-back Victor Moses limped off with a hamstring problem.

The majority of the squad had also been away on international duty, meaning there was little time to prepare for the trip to Selhurst Park.

But goalkeeper Courtois said: “The international break is no excuse. We had some injuries, we missed some important players, but that doesn’t explain everything.

“We lacked intensity and also our way of football. They started well. The first goal [an own goal from Cesar Azpilicueta] was just bad luck. A ball that bounced from a knee. It was probably just what they needed to get the match in their hands, but we just haven’t played our game.

In Pictures | Crystal Palace vs Chelsea | 14/10/2017

1/20

“The second goal was too easy too. Loss of possession, a player [Wilfried Zaha] who could run at two defenders.

“In the second half, the game just wasn’t going our way. We weren’t intense enough. Not at our best level.

“We just have to keep on working. We have an important game on Wednesday against Roma and some important ones after too.

“We wanted to win against Palace to stay in touch with the top teams in the table. We have to make sure that we start our next games better than we did at Palace.”

Chelsea are already nine points behind League leaders Manchester City having lost three of their first eight games.

The defending champions bounced back from a disappointing start last term by going on a club record 13‑game winning streak to put themselves in control of the title race.

Photo: Dan Istitene/Getty Images
Dan Istitene/Getty Images

Captain Gary Cahill believes they need a similar streak to get back into contention.

He said: “Manchester City are blowing teams away. They are in a rich vein of form, we know what that’s like and to have the confidence of winning and winning and winning. So we need to go on a run. Like last season? Yes, potentially. If you can be in and around the top by January time, then it’s a decent position.

“You saw the real Chelsea last season and it is important we try and emulate that sort of form this season. It’s about consistency.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in