Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has admitted his team was “not good enough” after they lost 2-1 to Sunderland in the Premier League on Saturday.
The Blues knew that a win would have taken them up to second place in the table.
They took the lead within the opening five minutes through Alejandro Garnacho’s solo effort, but Sunderland drew level in the 22nd minute thanks to Wilson Isidor.
The Black Cats then sealed victory with a breakaway goal in stoppage time from Chemsdine Talbi.
Speaking afterwards, Maresca said: “In general, we were not good enough. When you are not good enough in the Premier League, we know that the consequence can be a bad one.
“I said already many times, when you are not able to win, it’s important that you don’t lose. It’s not a transition, because in transition, you are open or it’s one versus none, it’s just one long ball in behind. We are two versus one with the two central defenders. We didn’t defend properly.
“The first goal came from a throw in. But it’s difficult to deal [with] because they bring six, seven, eight players inside the six-yard box, so it’s difficult. But overall, I think we were not good enough.”