Chelsea boss Graham Potter is appreciative of the fact that his side needs to learn to cope with opposition players being prepared to “run through a brick wall” to beat them and to follow that up with asking for their shirts after matches.<\/p>\n
The Blues’ unflattering away form continued on its not so merry way as they ended up second best at the City Ground, despite having surged ahead through Raheem Sterling’s first Premier League goal since August to eventually settle for a 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Potter\u2019s side was undeniably outplayed in the second half by a resolute Forest that leveled deservedly through Serge Aurier, making it four games without a win on the road in all competitions.<\/p>\n
Having had gto labor in tough environments,Potter is cognisant that these are extenuating circumstances he and his boys have to learn to deal with.<\/p>\n
“That’s the Premier League for you,” he said. “Away from home teams are not going to make it easy for you.<\/p>\n
“On one hand you have players asking if they can have the players’ shirts and before the game they are thinking they are going to run through a brick wall to prove they can be good enough to beat Chelsea.<\/p>\n
“With that comes the responsibility on us. We have to be humble enough to know that is the challenge we face and we have to do better.”<\/p>\n
Despite having the clear opportunity to take full control of the game after Sterling’s early opener, the Blues failed to capitalise and were actually fortunate to even end up with a point in the end.<\/p>\n
“Overall when the game was controlled for us in the first half I don’t think we did well enough,” Potter said. “Our level wasn’t good enough, we didn’t move fast enough, didn’t have enough movement.<\/p>\n
“You have to credit the opposition – they played a good version of themselves. I think it would have been unfair if we had taken more than a point.<\/p>\n
“You look at their recent results here – they make teams suffer, and we suffered today for sure.<\/p>\n
“Over the course of the game, understanding the responsibility we have, we could have done better.”<\/p>\n
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