Enzo Maresca told what Chelsea must improve as Marc Cucurella gives honest verdict

Marc Cucurella has called on the Chelsea squad to learn to manage games better after the Blues' 2-1 loss to Sunderland on Saturday. The west Londoners have chucked away eight points from winning positions already this season and led the Black Cats through Alejandro Garnacho’s fourth-minute strike at Stamford Bridge.

Sunderland never looked like being overwhelmed and equalised in the 22nd minute through Wilson Isidor. A balanced, fiercely contested fight ensued with both sides playing to win, but it was Regis Le Bris’ visitors that struck a definitive late blow, Brian Brobbey setting up substitute Chemsdine Talbi to roll in the winner and ensure Sunderland finished the day second in the table.

“It’s a really tough one to take,” Cucurella told Chelsea’s website. “We need to improve with these matches. I think we need to learn to manage the game better.

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“We scored early, dominated at that stage but then we let the opponents back into it. We need to learn to kill games off when we are on top. We need to learn to be better against teams that come with a gameplan such as Sunderland where they stay very narrow and compact.”

Enzo Maresca’s side sit in mid-table after their four-game winning run in all competitions was ended. For the second time this season Chelsea were undone by a long throw-in as Nordi Mukiele’s launch into the six-yard box created havoc and Isidor poked home the equaliser.

“We know that a lot of teams are trying to use long throws more and we need to manage them better,” said Cucurella. "We worked on them yesterday because we knew Sunderland will look to use long throws and be direct from set-pieces.

“I think maybe we relaxed a little bit and they punished us. It’s no excuse. We need to learn from this and make sure this doesn’t happen again.”