Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech admitted that the shock result against Bradford City in the fourth round of the FA Cup was somewhat hard to explain despite the gulf in quality between the two sides.
Chelsea surrendered a two-goal lead and let their league one opponents equalize in the second half. From then on, it was anyone’s game as the FA Cup is rarely a competition where results can be predicted.
Cech told the club’s official website, “Ita s one of the biggest ever surprises in the FA Cup. Ita s one of those where it can always happen. Obviously we are not proud of the result but I wouldna t want to take anything away from the Bradford team because they came here, they fought hard for their luck, they got chances and they scored four goals. Credit to them.
“Ia ve been here for more than 10 years and every year you can see these kinds of results in the FA Cup. Thata s why I have always said ita s special. This can always happen and unfortunately for the first time I was on the wrong side of that. Thata s the way it goes.
“Sometimes ita s hard to explain why things happen. We came out for the second half perfectly aware the game was far from over and it was going to be difficult. They came out, had a number of set-plays and corners and gained some confidence. We let them feel they might have some chances. When we conceded the second goal we lost control of our game. We forced everything and it was not working for us.
The 32-year old had a good game despite conceding four goals. All of Bradford’s goals were excellently worked as Chelsea’s defense did not know what hit them. Cech also said that there is no point thinking about it now as they have two key games coming up. Chelsea host Liverpool in the League Cup semi-final and then play against Manchester City in the league. Both the games will be played at home and Cech has urged his teammates to pick themselves up, “We need to take it on the chin and pick ourselves up. Ita s up to us. We have put ourselves in this position and we only have ourselves to blame for what happened.
“We play at home on Tuesday and we would like to use that as an advantage. We need to clean the mess up,” he said.
