Speaking to us afterwards, Thomas reflected: “First and foremost, I think Chelsea performed very well. We were the second-best team today. There's no two ways about that. It was bad performance. So, we’re frustrated about that in a London derby against Chelsea, a game that means the world to the fans, we're very irritated about it.
“I think we lacked the energy and intensity. We couldn't match, for whatever reason, Chelsea on the day. I think that was part of it. Then I think the way they solved their high pressure, the way we solved our high pressure, the two solutions, I think they got more in the game than us.”
Thomas was asked if losing Lucas Bergvall with a little over two minutes on the clock – the midfielder struck on the head by the ball – affected his plans. “Yeah, there was definitely something in that,” he said. “We wanted to keep the energy up against them, the pressing. So, that affected it a tiny bit, but if we get an injury, we need to be able to adapt to that.”
Also speaking to us afterwards, Vicario said we needed to be ‘braver’ on the ball. “We spoke about it, wanted to be brave, wanted to be good on the ball,” said Thomas. “I think that I need to look back on it. What I will say is that we definitely lacked some of the solutions to get out of the pressure and I think there were too many bad decisions.”
Thomas said there would be a tough period of reflection on Sunday. “I'll say this will be a tough 24 hours, no doubt about that. This is extremely painful, of course. I feel the supporters' pain. It's just burning inside my body because we need to find solutions, we need to find them quick.
“Again, I know it sounds crazy after a bad performance in a big derby, but it's never as bad or as good. We've had two, let's say, good performances against Everton and Newcastle, won one, lost one, then it was bad today. So, we need to get around it quickly because we need to be ready for Copenhagen (in the Champions League on Tuesday night).
“One big thing is how we react to it. So, it's how we bounce back. I think that's the key thing because you're going to have good games, bad games, but how do we react to it?”