Chelsea head coach Liam Rosenior admitted he was hurt by another defeat after labelling the 3-0 loss at Everton as “the most disappointing evening so far”.
The visitors were out-fought and out-thought in a chastening experience as Hill Dickinson Stadium enjoyed its best performance of its short history.
Chelsea have lost four matches in 10 days, which included an 8-2 aggregate humbling to Champions League holders Paris St Germain, to leave Rosenior clutching at small positives after Manchester United and Liverpool both dropped points in the race to finish in the top four.
“It’s a disappointing time for the club at the moment in terms of the way we lost in the Champions League and the way we’ve lost the last two games,” said Rosenior, who welcomed the firebreak of the forthcoming international window.
“My job, it hurts. Regardless of your position, it hurts to lose games of football.
“Yeah, the most disappointing evening so far in terms of the things we’ve spoken about, not gifting goals away and making sure we’re in the game, getting control of the game.
“It wasn’t there and it turned into a really difficult evening where the result and performance was nowhere near what we expected or wanted.
“In terms of moving forward we’re one point away from the Champions League position. We need to keep working in this way.”
After recording their first back-to-back home league wins of the season courtesy of two goals from Beto and a brilliant strike from Iliman Ndiaye, Everton manager David Moyes is daring to dream of European football.
With his side only three points behind Liverpool in fifth, which is likely to get Champions League football next season, the Scot could barely comprehend the prospect of joining Europe’s elite.
“I’d love to say it was (a possibility) as I’m trying to be more positive than I would normally be, but for Everton to even be in the mix for Europe is unbelievable, whether it is Conference League or Champions League,” he said.
“We were sitting here last year just beginning to edge ourselves away from relegation and still had lots of money to pay off, new ownership and 10 or 12 players out of contract so for us to be in the position we are now is just great.
“I can imagine, if we could possibly do it, what it would do for the crowds here as Evertonians are desperate to get back amongst it.”
On the manner of the performance, Moyes added: “Our goalkeeper (Jordan Pickford) made a couple of wonderful saves which could have changed the game, but I think it is hard to say we didn’t deserve to win that game.
“Chelsea were playing in the last 16 of the Champions League so the level they have got is good, we may have just caught them [after] playing in midweek and got an advantage from that.”
