Chelsea interim manager Bruno Saltor says he cannot fault his players’ attitude and efforts in their goalless draw against Liverpool at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday evening.
Chelsea dominated possession and chances against Liverpool at Stamford Bridge, even putting the ball in the back of the net twice, only to have Reece James and Kai Havertz’s goals ruled out by VAR, while we failed to convert our remaining opportunities into three Premier League points.
Bruno felt that, given the events of the past few days, the team’s performance could not have been better. However, he identified confidence as one of the primary factors preventing us from turning performances like this into victories.
‘We created enough chances to win the game, had two goals disallowed,’ said the Spaniard. ‘The boys gave everything, they played with their heart and you can’t ask for more.
‘It’s just the executions in front of the goal. They’re human beings and the confidence has to be there. Sometimes, if just one doesn’t go in, after it’s just a consequence and we just need to keep helping the boys.
‘They’ve been going through a lot, it’s been a tough season for them. As I said, they’re human beings and still I know they missed chances but where they could affect the most, the attitude and the effort was there.
‘They score a lot of goals in training. Always coming into a game it’s completely different and it’s something that, yes we’ve been speaking about it and working on it, and we need to keep going.”
He added: ‘It’s been really difficult for them because it’s not the first time they’ve been in this situation this season and as a player you invest a lot in the manager as well. There have been some great relationships created with the players and the players suffer.
‘But Graham has been really supportive with them after leaving and you could see that on the pitch tonight. The boys gave everything and they fought.
‘It’s been really difficult for me to enjoy this experience, truly. It’s been really difficult, sad with disappointment, but I’ve just focused on being the best version of myself, trying to help the boys, be supportive and just focusing on hour after hour, day by day.
‘It was a four in midfield because Joao was more of a 10. It was a little bit more like a diamond and it’s something that before we’ve been working on, trying to understand the spaces.
‘I thought the boys did it really well, we had good possession, we had counter-attacks, I think we affected the game good enough. It’s not been a massive change, just obviously personnel affects the game a lot and affects the boys.’
Photo by EPA/ANDY RAIN
