A disappointed Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca gave a brutal verdict after the Blues' last-gasp defeat at the hands of Sunderland in the Premier League on Saturday. Alejandro Garnacho scored his maiden goal for Chelsea to give them an early lead but Sunderland bounced back, riding on Wilson Isidor's equaliser and Chemsdine Talbi's last-minute winner.
Chelsea drop down the table
The loss against Sunderland was their third defeat in the Premier League in their last five outings, which saw them drop to ninth position in the league table while Sunderland leapfrogged the Blues to grab second place. The newly-promoted club have made a dream start to the 2025-26 campaign as they have won five out of their first nine matches and have secured 17 points, two behind league leaders Arsenal.
The Blues have been inconsistent in the league this season as they have already dropped 13 points in their first nine games. In comparison, their performance in Europe has been exceptional as they registered back-to-back wins over Benfica and Ajax and have scored seven goals in the competition.
AdvertisementGetty Images Sport'Not good enough' – Maresca shares verdict
Maresca looked visibly frustrated at full-time after the loss at home against Sunderland. Later in the post-match press conference, the Italian coach dissected his team's performances as he said: "I think we were not good enough in general. We know that in the moment you drop a little, we dropped a little bit, you can lose points against any team in the Premier League. That is so difficult."
When asked if he expected from his substitute players, Maresca replied: "No it’s always difficult for the ones that they go inside. At least they tried. But again, overall we were not good enough."
On Sunderland's long throws causing problems for Blues, Maresca added: "It is always difficult to just bring seven or eight players inside the box. Almost inside the six-yard box. It is difficult to deal with that. We tried to prepare that but it can happen."
'We start well'
Garnacho's fourth-minute strike was Chelsea's quickest goal in the 2025-26 campaign, but Maresca was far from impressed with the team's effort, as he said: "Yeah, absolutely. We start well with the goal but even with that the feeling was that were losing, in terms of physicality, duels, second balls, these kind of things. Against these teams, it is always dangerous. It is just that we were not good enough. When you are not good enough you can drop points against any team."
Getty Images SportGarnacho finally finds his footing at Chelsea
After a terrible 2024-25 campaign on the field and major fallout with manager Ruben Amorim, Garnacho was allowed to leave Manchester United in the summer as Chelsea paid £40 million ($54m) to sign him. The Argentine missed most of pre-season at Old Trafford as Amorim had put him in his 'bomb squad' alongside other outcasts, including Marcus Rashford, Antony and Jadon Sancho. Naturally, the winger took some time to get back to his best shape since completing his move to Stamford Bridge.
Until the Sunderland clash, the 21-year-old had featured in just six matches across all competitions and had started in only two Premier League games. But on Saturday, the winger finally looked in good shape as he scored a brilliant opening goal from Pedro Neto's assist. After scoring the goal, Garnacho even pulled off a Manchester United celebration by sitting on the advertisement board with Neto. He also emulated his idol Cristiano Ronaldo's celebration of pointing towards the ground after scoring the opener. He looked comfortable with the ball throughout the 58 minutes he was on the pitch, before being replaced by Estevao Willian.
The Blues are scheduled to take on Wolves next in a Carabao Cup encounter on Wednesday before meeting Tottenham Hotspur in a key Premier League fixture on November 1. They need to get back to winning ways if they want to continue to fight for a place among the top five teams in the league and secure a Champions League slot for next season.