Chelsea deflated by title loss - Cech

16 May 2011 17:00

Goalkeeper Petr Cech has admitted Chelsea suffered a hangover from surrendering the Barclays Premier League title in their disjointed draw with Newcastle.

There was a sense of transition Sunday's 2-2 draw, with Chelsea parading their new kit, manager Ancelotti making six changes which seemed to hint at next season's line-up, and a subdued lap of honour in which the Italian waved at the end of what looks set to be his final home game in charge.

"It seemed to me that in each of us there was still disappointment from not winning the title, as on Saturday Manchester United captured it," Cech told his personal website, www.petr-cech.cz.

"We wanted badly to win the last match of the season at Stamford Bridge and conceding in the last minute is not the best way to reward our fans, who have supported us all year. It somehow sums up our season in the way that there was always something missing for us to finish the job."

If the team that started against Alan Pardew's hinted at the shape of things to come, serious work is needed during the summer to improve on their performance.

Nevertheless, Cech insisted it was not all doom and gloom, with a draw ultimately proving enough to secure second place the league.

Josh McEachran also made his long-awaited first league start, the 18-year-old clearly possessing the talent to become a regular for many years.

Cech said: "Despite the bad result, I found two positives in it. The first one was that Arsenal were beaten, which means we have definitely secured second place in the league.

"The second positive is the performance of our young midfielder, McEachran. He started the game and did really well.

"Josh only recently turned 18 but if he follows the path he has been on, he is surely destined to become a big player at Chelsea. He is enormously talented, so it is up to him."

Source: PA