Chelsea coach Enzo Mariska appeared in press statements after the 2-1 loss against Sunderland in the ninth round of the Premier League.

The coach said: "We were not good enough. When you are not good enough, the consequences are severe. When you cannot win, it is important not to lose. The second goal did not come from a counterattack but from a long ball, and we did not defend properly, while the first goal came from a throw-in because they had six or seven or eight players inside the penalty area. It was difficult. We were not good enough."

He added: "Sunderland's second goal? It could have been an easy situation because we were two against one, and the striker had his back to the goal. It could have been an easy situation to defend, but in that case, we had to perform better."

He followed up: "Losing 8 points after leading this season? We are always looking for a reason when things are not going well. We always try to analyze each match individually. We need to be better."

He emphasized: "We lacked creativity; we did not create many chances except for the goal, perhaps. We need our players to perform at 100%. Even when the score was 1-0, we lost some second balls, and against this team, we need to win them."

He clarified: "If you want to be in [the title race], you need consistency; something like winning four consecutive matches can show that. But today, when we dropped points, we did not show that. If we have this level and that level, we need something in between. But overall, I think we performed much better from the start compared to today's match."

He concluded: "João Pedro does not train every day because he is managing an injury issue. Caicedo is the same, and Enzo too. We have four or five players suffering from some problems and cannot train every day. They are trying to put in the effort and play in the match. João struggled a bit today, but all the players struggled today, so it is not limited to João only."