Cucurella: Chelsea did not have enough patience against Flamengo
Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella thinks Chelsea can improve a lot with the ball after their defeat to Flamengo in the Club World Cup.
Marc Cucurella believes Chelsea must be more "patient with the ball" following their defeat to Flamengo in the Club World Cup.
Chelsea lost 3-1 to the Brazilian side despite taking the lead through Pedro Neto. Bruno Henrique scored and assisted another before Wallace Yan completed the win, while Nicolas Jackson was sent off as the Blues finished with 10 men.
Enzo Maresca's side are now second in Group D, behind Flamengo, meaning they would likely face Bayern Munich if they qualify for the next round.
Chelsea had 48.5% possession in the match, as Cucurella said the Conference League champions looked to play more directly in this match, something that may need to change heading into their final group game.
"We can have the ball more," Cucurella told DAZN.
"It's true that we tried to play more direct, and did not have enough patience with the ball. That is something we can improve a lot. Now we have time to see the clips of the things we can do better in the next game.
"For the majority, we controlled the game well. When we conceded the first goal, I think they had this good feeling because their fans started to be loud, and immediately after, we conceded the second one. This is a thing that we have to improve.
"We need to control the game more, suffer in some moments, but the most important thing is that we have another game and if we win, we go through and that's it."
Flamengo's 3-1 win over Chelsea is the second time a South American team has defeated a European team by multiple goals at the Club World Cup (all formats) after Vasco da Gama's 3-1 win over Manchester United in 2000.
And former Chelsea and Arsenal midfielder Jorginho believed it was their trust in Filipe Luis' game plan which gave them the win.
Jorginho said: "For the game and how it was, we played good football and did really well on the pitch.
"When we had to wait, we waited. When we had to press, we put them in trouble. We worked a lot on how we could hurt them. We believe in what we do, and we push all together.
"We were really confident, and we know in these big games the details make the difference. Overall, we were really good in the first half, so we said, 'let's keep pushing'.
"We pushed in the first half, and it worked, so we knew we needed to do more in the second half, and that is what we did. We found the little spots that could hurt them.”
Chelsea's final group match is against ES Tunis, while Flamengo face Los Angeles FC, with both games taking place on June 24.
