Enzo Maresca has said Chelsea were ‘not good enough’ after his side lost at home to Sunderland.
Chemsdine Talbi scored a dramatic winner as Sunderland snatched a 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge in the final seconds.
Chelsea had led through Alejandro Garnacho’s goal inside four minutes, though conceded a soft equaliser to Wilson Isidor after failing to deal with a long throw into the box.
The Blues were unable to find a route through an organised Sunderland side, who silenced the home crowd late on with a last-gasp goal.
Defeat is a major setback for Chelsea, who have won just two of their last six in the Premier League. Maresca demanded at full-time that the standard must improve from his squad.
“I think we were not good enough, we lacked creativity, we didn’t create a lot, apart from the goal probably, and we struggled,” he said.
“We need our players to perform 100 per cent. Even at 1-0 we lost some duels, we lost some second balls, and against this team we need to do better.
“When we arrive in certain areas of the pitch we cross because we expect to have four or five players in the box but today when we crossed we had players in the box but probably the quality of the cross was not the best.
“We have scored many goals from crosses, the last one I think was against Benfica at home, when Garnacho forced the own goal. Probably today was more about the quality of the cross than the players who were in the box.”‘
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