Poor quality - Maresca blames Chelsea attackers for Sunderland defeat

Chelsea lost 2-1 to Sunderland at Stamford Bridge in the shock result of the weekend.

The Blues dominated possession and forced Sunderland keeper Robin Roefs to make six saves (compared to Robert Sanchez's two), but it was the lack of quality in the final third that angered Maresca.

"We were not good enough," the Chelsea head coach said in his post-match press conference.

"Lack of creativity. We didn't create a lot, apart from the goal, probably."Maresca stressed the need for his players to perform at their highest level and highlighted fundamental weaknesses outside of creativity.

"We struggled. Also, I think, you know, we need to perform. We need our players to perform 100 per cent," he stated.

He added, "Even at 1-0, we lost some duels, we lost some second balls. And against this team, you need to win that."

Maresca's frustration was evident in his substitutions, as he used four attacking players—Jamie Gittens, Estevao, Andrey Santos, and Tyrique George—in the second half. However, instead of finding a winner, Chelsea conceded a stoppage-time goal.

The Blues resorted to launching numerous crosses against Sunderland's tight defence, but only a poor 14% (four) found a teammate, and none led to a goal.

Maresca, however, defended the strategy, laying the blame on execution. "No, when we arrived in a certain area of the pitch, we crossed because we expected to have four or five players inside the box," he explained.

"Today, when we crossed, we had players inside the box, but probably the quality of the cross was not the best."