“I take responsibility” – Potter speaks on Chelsea’s defeat to Aston Villa
Chelsea’s manager, Graham Potter has said that he’s taking the blame for his side’s 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, April 1.
Ollie Watkins gave Villa the lead in the first half before captain John McGinn’s long-range effort in the second period doubled the advantage for the away side.
The result has piled pressure on Potter, with Chelsea now 11th in the table. Speaking after the match, Potter told BBC Sport:
 “In both boxes we were second best. The first goal for them is disappointing from our perspective.
“There were a lot of good things in the game, a lot of attacking entries and shots. If you look at the stats of the game it was a positive performance, but in terms of the scoreline it’s not. We’re all really disappointed.
“The most important number is the one that goes against us. We have to do better. In terms of the game, you can see the players gave everything, they took on the responsibility, they tried, they had lots of entries into the box and shots and attacks.
“Ultimately we conceded a poor first goal which makes everything very emotional and rightly so. We’re disappointed because we’re 1-0 down but the players responded well they kept on responding throughout. The second goal is disappointing because we started the second half well.
“But if you look at the stats apart from the main one there is a lot of positives there. But at the moment into doesn’t feel too positive.
“Defensively we’ve left ourselves too open but again if you look at the stats of the game we had chances ourselves, we had one-v-ones, but the most important thing, putting the ball into the net, we were second-best.
“I don’t like to blame anybody, I have to take responsibility. We are a team, we have to stay together, we are together. We win or lose together.”
Chelsea will be facing a crucial home game against Liverpool on Tuesday, April 4, with the Champions League quarter-final later this month potentially a make-or-break tie for Potter.
