Chelsea went into yesterday’s game against Tottenham knowing they were coming up against really fragile opposition who could be a threat – but could also be broken mentally if they went about things the right way.
So conceding two early goals was the opposite of what the Blues wanted. But for a young team they looked remarkably confident even from that bad position, and they soon forced their way back into the game.
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Cole Palmer after scoring a screamer against Aston Villa. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
Jadon Sancho celebrates his first Chelsea goal. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)
Cole Palmer scores for Chelsea against Spurs. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Speaking to Chelsea TV after the game, Cole Palmer explained a little about how his team were able to keep their heads up despite having let two in. The strange circumstances from which the Spurs goals came convinced Chelsea team that they were still in with a chance in the game – as indeed proved to be the case:
“We knew they were just two mistakes, slips, can’t do anything about it. They didn’t create much apart from our mistakes,” Palmer explained.
It seems the whole side had that perspective on things.
You can see the attacker speaking in the clip embedded here, with this question coming after 3 minutes:
Marc Cucurella changes his boots on the sideline after slipping twice against Tottenham.
Marc Cucurella changes his boots on the sideline after slipping twice against Tottenham.
Chelsea building the library of mentality moments needed to be a top side
The mental strength required to take two goals from mistakes on the chin, away from home, then come back and score four is really impressive, and a huge area in which this team has improved on last year. These moments and these results also serve to help the team in the future – next time they’re two goals down, they’ll remember yesterday’s game and take heart.
Either you win, or you learn, as someone once said. In this case, Chelsea managed to do both.
Let’s hope Marc Cucurella and the kit-man have learned some lessons about stud length.