Christian Pulisic said Manchester City caught Chelsea by surprise with their quick counter-attacks, as the Blues’ disappointing run continues.
It took Pep Guardiola’s men just 34 minutes to grab a three-goal lead over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
The visitors were quick and looked dangerous every time they had the ball, particularly in the first half.
The Chelsea players who were expected to perform after recent disappointing results, on the other hand, looked far from threatening.
They had just one shot on target in the first 45 minutes while Manchester City had four.
Pulisic admitted that they struggled to cope with City’s quick counters.
“We conceded goals with a lot of counter situations, and we weren’t prepared to stop that, so the first half really let us down,” he told Chelsea’s official website.
“They were able to beat us on some transitions where we needed to defend better and be a little smarter.
“And then we allowed them to dictate the tempo of the game.”
Pulisic said Chelsea “showed character” with their effort in the second half, but it was far from enough to secure any points from the game.
“It’s not easy to come back from three goals down but it’s happened before so we gave it everything and managed to get one back,” he added.
“Unfortunately, it was just too little, too late.”
Chelsea will have a week to prepare for Sunday’s FA Cup third-round clash against Morecambe, before their trip to Fulham on January 16.
Receive a digest of our best Chelsea content each week direct to your mailbox
