There were words of optimism from Graham Potter about the remainder of our Champions League knockout tie against Borussia Dortmund, although our head coach lamented the manner in which his side went behind in the tie. He also had an update on a knock to Ben Chilwell.
Chelsea had the greater number of chances to score in Germany on Wednesday night and looked increasingly cohesive in our attacking play, but lost the first leg to a lightning counter-attack from the Bundesliga side in a second half during which we had been pressing hard to score ourselves.
‘Overall, we were pleased with the performance for big parts of the game,’ was Potter’s general verdict
‘It is complicated away from home in the Champions League, in a hostile environment against a team that's in a good moment. It was an even first half, we managed the game quite well with good opportunities to counter-attack and we hit the bar.
‘Then in the second half apart from the one decisive action where we didn't do well enough, we were the dominant, the better team and created some good chances. We needed a little bit of luck maybe and a little bit of final execution. We deserved a goal but have to keep going. It's half-time. It's a tight tie. We look forward to Stamford Bridge.’
Talking specifically about Karim Adeyemi’s goal which followed a Chelsea corner, Potter described it as a poor one to conceded and added:
‘We have to do better. We were pushing at the time and were the better team so to concede in that manner is disappointing. But the players are honest, they know they can do better with that. We have to help them of course but we have to focus on the positive which was the performance. Another step forward for us.
‘Before the game you look at Reece and Ruben and Ben and Kalidou and it is their first or second game for quite some time. It isn't easy to pick up the speed of the Champions League but they managed it really well, and we still have three new players coming in, playing against a team that's in a good moment.
‘So hopefully, I think we will improve and in three weeks’ time we can retake the game at Stamford Bridge.’
Going into more detail about Ben Chilwell’s return to the starting line-up for the first time since November, Potter had reassuring words about any discomfort the left-back was in at the end.
‘About five minutes before he came off he had a run down the side and got a kick on his ankle. I haven't been down and checked it over but I think it is more a kick than anything else and probably a little bit of fatigue after his first start for quite some time. The idea before the game was to take him off after 60 to 70 minutes max.’