Chelsea were beaten by Legia Warsaw at Stamford Bridge to spark discontent from their supporters and captain Reece James questioned his team’s application in the European fixture
Reece James has claimed that Chelsea ‘disrespected the competition’ after their Europa Conference League defeat to Legia Warsaw. The Blues captain appeared to question his team’s preparation for the tie as the west London side lost 2-1 at Stamford Bridge, but still qualified for the semi-final.
Chelsea have come under pressure in recent months as their form has tailed off after a promising start to the season initially saw them nearer title contention. Enzo Maresca’s side now face a battle to secure Champions League football next term after winning one of their last four Premier League matches.
The Blues were booed on Thursday evening and have faced an edgy atmosphere as discontent among the fanbase grows around the team’s performances. Chelsea’s Italian coach even appeared to take aim at the environment fans created following the draw with Ipswich.
A home defeat to a side who were comfortably put to the sword seven days before will have done little to quell any frustration. And while James believes the team have progressed, the 25-year-old could only criticise their efforts against Legia.
“For sure we are making progress,” he said following the game. “Today that was for sure not progress; if anything, it was a step back. Maybe we disrespected the competition today, but this is football; if you don’t prepare right, you will pay.
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“Of course it’s going to have an affect on the mindset going forwards, it’s going to bee in the back of people’s heads that we lost when we shouldn’t have lost. We need to put it behind us. We have another game on Sunday which is a must-win game, we can’t dwell on this too long, regroup, stay strong and keep pushing for our goals.
“I understand the frustration to be honest,” he added. “I understand fans come to games to see excitement, to see goals. Today we were frustrating to watch. “
James’ comments were put to Maresca following the game. The former Leicester boss could only push back to a small degree on his charge’s disrespect claim.
“Probably not the competition, but probably the other team tonight,” he said. “Because I think we respect the competition all season, probably tonight, as I said, because of the first result, 0-3, so you can manage in the wrong way the result, so for sure Reece is right, but more than the competition probably the opposite.”
Maresca accepted the result was a setback after he had attempted to allay fan fears heading into the match. “No, for sure in terms of setback, for sure it’s a setback tonight for us, no doubt, first of all because we lost the game,” he said in his press conference.
“But I said yesterday, I think probably the other clubs, as you said, in this moment they can feel more confidence around them, not only Aston Villa, Newcastle, all the clubs around us, but this is football and can change very quickly, so it depends a lot on us. As I said, Sunday for us is one of the finals, and winning that game can give us a final boost to reach our target.”
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