“The football was first class, we kept the ball and they were tough conditions; windy, rainy and with a lot of zip on the surface”.
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2015 was a year that Chelsea fans will have mixed emotions about, as they experienced extreme highs and lows.
“Guus has been great since he came in”. It was unfortunate what happened. “We feel like we’ve let everyone down”. It was a bit easier last time because we weren’t down the table and there were players with big worldwide experience. If we can put a good run of games together, who knows? In fact we went away from our game plan and started forcing things.
An early, match-ending injury to Eden Hazard didn’t stop Chelsea romping to victory at a rain-soaked Selhurst Park, with Oscar putting the champions ahead in the 29th minute before Willian – with a long-range effort – and Diego Costa scored in the second half.
Just before kick-off, Mikel had revealed Hiddink told his players to “play like Chelsea” and bring back some belief without changing a lot.
“It’s hard because this league has become so strong; everyone can win from everyone”, said Hiddink, 69.
“But if we play like today with our discipline and using the quality of the players, we don’t know”.
It seemed to be working, with Costa scoring on Sunday his third goal in his last two matches after just four in the first five months of the campaign.
“If the team hasn’t been doing well for a long period then it is important to look for security”.
But speaking about the possibility of working with Drogba again, Courtois said: “I had a good relationship with him”.
The Eagles are keen to add creative reinforcements in the transfer window but McArthur believes the side will also improve when key players return.
“When they got the goal you could see their spirit lift and ours diminish”, said Pardew.
“You could see when he was warming up, looking at me saying, ‘Bring me, bring me (on).’ That is an indication he can get back to the performance levels we are used to”. He can recover [the ball].
The Dutchman added: “He knows where the strength of the opponent is”.
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“He has very good sense, he doesn’t do it in a brutal way, he’s very elegant”. Not just a quality player, but one who can defend so smoothly, is for me lovely to see. He doesn’t lose many balls, he’s good in short passing.
