While admitting the nature of the way this weekend’s game against Manchester United was drawn made it feel like a worse result than it was, Ruben Loftus-Cheek also set out Chelsea’s next stage for improvement when talking after the game.
The midfielder had actually exited the action shortly before the two goals, one for each side, which swung the contest back and forth in the very late stages, but while he was on the pitch he was part of what he admitted was a grind of a game.
‘It was scrappy, both teams weren't clean on the ball,’ Loftus-Cheek admitted. ‘It was just one of those games but I thought we had it [the win], we were defending well and then to be honest I don't know how Casemiro's got the power on that header to send it up and down. It feels like a defeat.’
Returning to the nature of much of the play, Loftus-Cheek said if the game was not flowing easily, the players knew they had to make sure they still put in the hard yards.
‘We had to win the duels, both teams went toe to toe like that and sometimes it is what happens in these games.
‘There's two sides to the game and you have to do both if you want to be a good team. We want to match any team that comes here and it was unlucky for us to concede in the last minute. But we're not losing, we're winning and we are drawing which is a good sign.
‘We want to be solid as a team first, that's the foundation going forward. You want to be good defensively and then on top of that have a freedom and a flow to go and score goals and create. That's the next step.’