Chelsea captain Reece James expressed frustration at the outcome of the match against Aston Villa on Saturday in the Premier League.
The England international, who has spent a large portion of the season in the hospital but remains the captain and the first name on the team sheet when fit, spoke to the media after his side allowed Aston Villa to come back to a 2 – 1 victory at Villa Park.
The Blues took an early lead through Enzo Fernandez but two goals from loanee Marco Asensio, both created by another loanee in Marcus Rashford, ensured that the hosts kept all three points in their stadium.
It was not a good night for Enzo Maresca and his team, who had already begun to face scrutiny for how they have handled games in the last three months despite starting with a bang.
Speaking to the media on the disappointment of the loss, James said: “It’s really disappointing to leave with nothing,’ James stated from the media area at Villa Park. ‘Especially when you consider had the lead at half-time, having started the game so well.
“In the second half, it was a different game. That’s what is frustrating I think. We worked hard all week on analysing Villa and where we could exploit them and I think we created many chances in the first half. In the second half, it was a totally different game.
“We’re very disappointed because I don’t think we deserved to lose the game. We created more than enough chances to add to Pedro’s opener and we’ve conceded two goals from our own collective mistakes as a team.”
James also spoke about being deployed in midfield for Chelsea in the game despite being a right back by training. However, he had no issues with being deployed there as he proclaimed that he would play there or anywhere else if asked, especially with important games coming up.
“Yes. it was a completely different position to what I’m used to but that doesn’t worry me, it’s somewhere I have experience playing in so it wasn’t anything new to me,” said James.
“Wherever the manager needs me, I’ll play there and give my all to help the team.
“We have a big game on Tuesday, in front of our own fans, and now it’s time for us to stick together and come through this patch,” the skipper added.
“If we put in a performance on Tuesday like we did in the first half, then I’m sure we can take all three points.”
