Petr Cech was a frustrated figure at the final whistle against Stoke, lamenting our lack of cutting edge at the bet365 Stadium.
We missed the chance to build on our opening day win over Leicester, and the goalkeeper spoke to the media after the 1-0 defeat.
on the performance…
We wanted to get another three points under our belt after the great turnaround against Leicester. We wanted to keep the momentum going. I thought that we had done enough in terms of creating chances today and putting them under pressure too, but unfortunately we didn’t take those chances. The difference was that they probably had two and a half chances and scored one. We had plenty and we didn’t.
on the team’s defending…
We were in place and it was a counter-attack where we were not exposed, we were there. It ended up in the back of the net which is obviously disappointing because this is one of those moments where you can do better as a team to stop the counter-attack coming. We could have defended it better, but this is only one thing. Another thing is if you create so many chances, you need to score. Today we scored a goal which was disallowed and that’s the way it went today.
on whether Hector felt it was a penalty…
I don’t know. I’m too far away to know and I haven’t spoken to Hector about it yet, so it wouldn’t be right for me to comment.
on whether three at the back is still a work in progress…
We have the options now to play three or four at the back. Obviously today we needed to change for the last 20 or 25 minutes when the manager put extra attacking players on the field. That’s why we went to four. It’s good to have this option when you can be flexible and use the players the way you want. We can play either way.
on the defeat…
We controlled the game, we were putting them constantly under pressure and they were just waiting for the counter-attack. We created enough to score the goals but unfortunately we couldn’t score today. It made a difference because they created some chances on counter-attacks, and put in one of them.
on Stoke…
They did what they could. They put a block of eight or nine players in front of the box and they knew that they were under pressure. Sometimes when you are a team under so much pressure, you do desperate defending and wait for your chance on the counter-attack. Credit to them, they managed to get the clean sheet even though they were under so much pressure.
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