Chelsea FC began their pre-season with a humbling defeat at the hands of a second-string New York Red Bulls side on Wednesday night, but manager Jos Mourinho did take some positives from the performance
MLS side New York Red Bulls completed a remarkable turn-around at the Red Bull Arena after coming from a goal down to beat Premier League champions Chelsea FC 4-2. Sean Davis capitalised on some poor defending to bag himself a brace, whilst 16-year-old Tyler Adams also got on the scoresheet.
Although Chelsea FC boss Jos Mourinho was not happy with his team’s performance in the second half, he did appreciate the performances of returning loanees Victor Moses and Bertrand Traor , and confirmed that the two will stay at the club next season.
“We needed to play better than we did in the second half defensively”
After a solid half of football from Chelsea FC in the first 45 minutes, it all unravelled in the second half when defensive errors allowed a much-changed Red Bulls side to plunder four goals against a hapless Blues defence.
Mourinho was, understandably, not best pleased with the display, but did concede that the result was not the most important take-away from the game. Speaking to the media after the game, the former Real Madrid manager said (via Sky Sports): “They gave us a good training session. If we came here and won 10-0 I would not be happy because it would mean it was too easy. We needed the game they gave us.
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“Obviously we needed to play better than we did in the second half defensively, and there were also too many missed chances, but the intention of pre-season matches is to play, to run, to bring intensity back, so no problem.”
Mourinho confirms Moses and Traor will not be loaned
The Blues’ manager did have words of praise for teenager Bertrand Traor and Nigerian international Victor Moses, both of whom will – according to Mourinho – stay at Chelsea FC for the coming campaign.
Mourinho said of the Burkina Faso youngster (via chelseafc.com): “Hea s 19, hea s a kid. He was in Africa, then Vitesse, and now hea s at Chelsea. Hea s not going on loan. We want to keep him and improve him.”
Meanwhile, the Chelsea FC boss also had words of praise for former Wigan Athletic winger Victor Moses: “Victor is strong, hea s experienced and he knows the Premier League well. Hea s fast and aggressive.
“Okay, he has to learn how to play with us but Ia m happy with his week and his 45 minutes. Leta s see what happens but Victor had an evolution in the last couple of years.”
Chelsea FC will now head back to their training base in Montreal to prepare for the game against Paris Saint-Germain on Saturday, with the Blues’ faithful were fairly circumspect in defeat – seemingly just glad to watch their team back in action after a long break.
Some did, however, feel the result could cause the Blues to intensify their efforts to sign Everton defender John Stones.
I’d rather lose to a decent MLS side in pre-season than smash a Malaysia XI 5-0 though. The players will know what they have to do better.
a Chelsea HQ (@Chelsea_HQ) July 23, 2015
Watched the highlights of the Chelsea game, we lost through bad defending and stupid mistakes. a Future Trunks (@clints_prospect) July 23, 2015
Chelsea has had difficulty with MLS clubs in the past, losing twice in pre-season friendlies that doubled as MLS All-Star Games.
a Jake Cohen (@JakeFCohen) July 23, 2015
Tomorrow: Chelsea bid A?150m for John Stones. a Chelsea Youth (@chelseayouth) July 23, 2015
After a lost last night, Chelsea is arguably need a very good centre back to replace John Terry in the future and that guy is John Stones.
a Azri Zulhilmi (@Azri_Zulhilmi) July 23, 2015
