Andreas Christensen believes our Champions League trip to play Juventus provides the perfect opportunity to put the disappointment of our first defeat of the season behind us.
The Blues came out on the losing side of a fixture for the first time in 2021/22 on Saturday, as we were beaten 1-0 by Manchester City in the Premier League, with Christensen and his team-mates obviously unhappy with the result and our performance.
However, with another big match coming up so soon, as our attention switches to the Champions League and our visit to Italy on Wednesday evening, Chelsea have the chance to quickly respond to that defeat and get back to winning ways.
‘It’s the perfect game to respond, absolutely,’ said Christensen. ‘It’s not nice to lose our first match, but now we have another game coming up very quickly and it’s another tough game as well.
‘It will be a tough game but it’s a great opportunity to get back to playing football the way we want to play, the way we see ourselves, playing on the front foot again. It’s a tough game but there’s no better way to recover from a defeat than to beat another good team.’
The manner of our performance against Man City seems to have disappointed Christensen almost as much as the result, after we struggled to create chances or attacking momentum at the Bridge, leading him to underline the fact Chelsea are a side who want to be the ones taking the initiative in matches.
‘I don’t think we see ourselves as a defensive team,’ he added. ‘We’ve shown in other games we can play with a back five or a back three with quality. We want to be on the front foot.’
Looking back at Saturday’s loss to Manchester City, the Danish international was quick to admit that the Blues were below our usual standards and is disappointed to have missed an opportunity at home against another side with title ambitions this season.
‘I think you always feel like that when you play at home. It was a tough match to get into and it was only after their goal that we came alive, but by then it was too late really.
‘We came into the game quite strongly, but they were better on the day. It was always going to be a tough game. We feel like we gave the first half away a little bit and we got into the game too late. It felt like we lacked a bit of everything, especially in the first half.
‘As soon as we got on the ball in the first half, we had no options really. We lacked a bit of intensity, energy going forward, a bit of composure on the ball. We lacked what we usually have on the ball, so it was a bit of everything and it’s disappointing but we’re looking forward.’