‘That’s going to cost us’ - Chelsea legend John Terry blasts ‘poor’ Blues after shock defeat at Leeds

Leeds United v Chelsea - Premier League

Chelsea’s “poor” defeat against Leeds United will end up costing them in the Premier League title race, according to club legend John Terry. The Blues icon has bemoaned his former side’s lack of experience as they slipped to a damaging 3-1 loss which leaves them nine points behind leaders Arsenal, who they held to a 1-1 draw in their previous match.

Chelsea had been in fine form before surprise Leeds defeat

After picking up a point following an admirable 10-man performance against Arsenal last Sunday, Chelsea travelled to struggling Leeds just six points behind Mikel Arteta’s Gunners on Wednesday.

However, while Arsenal got back to winning ways against Brentford on the same night, Chelsea suffered a surprise defeat at Elland Road. Enzo Maresca’s men found themselves 2-0 down at the interval following efforts from defender Jaka Bijol and midfielder Ao Tanaka, before Blues winger Pedro Neto pulled a goal back early in the second half.

But Chelsea were unable to find an equaliser in an abject performance which was capped off by centre-back Tosin Adarabioyo’s costly mistake in the build up to Leeds’ third goal through striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

The result was Chelsea’s first loss in their last eight games in all competitions, but the manner in which the defeat was registered has caused frustration amongst a fanbase who are hoping to see their side improve upon last season’s fourth-place finish.

Chelsea v Sunderland - Premier League

Blues legend Terry could not hide anger after final whistle

Deflated after the final whistle, Chelsea icon Terry could not hide his anger at a display which - in his opinion - will come back to haunt the west Londoners towards the business end of the title race.

Speaking on TikTok, Terry - who won 15 major trophies including five Premier League titles and one Champions League crown after 19 seasons at Chelsea - said: “What a poor performance that was.

“Everything I said about Leeds, they were going to be aggressive, fans were going to be up for it, it was going to be a hostile place to go. You either go there and match them or you take the sting out of it completely, and by looks of it we certainly didn’t do that in the first half.

“We cannot follow up two unbelievable performances with a performance like that, it’s certainly not going to make you title contenders. Unfortunately that’s what’s going to cost us, we are inexperienced and if you can’t go Leeds away and know what to expect then…”

We can’t follow two great performances with that performance tonight. Some tough away games coming up and we need to be better than that tonight. 💙 #chelsea #chelseafc #premierleague #cfc

Former England captain urges Maresca to end rotation policy

Still irritated by both the result and the performance, Terry also criticised what he perceived to be a lack of “fight” from Chelsea, urging manager Maresca to end his rotation policy and stick with players who he believes will dig in every week.

“You need to go there and show the fight, match Leeds in every single way and then earn your right to play,” former England captain Terry added. “After 15, 20 minutes you play your football once you’ve earned that right.

“Set piece, individual mistakes defensively, clearly not good enough, maybe that’s an opportunity for the manager to look at the squad and go ‘okay rotations not for me moving forward, I know my best 11-14 players and I’ll stick with that and the other players are just going to have to deal with it.”

Leeds United v Chelsea - Premier League

Chelsea head coach expected better performance against Leeds

Chelsea will look to bounce back when they travel to out-of-form Bournemouth in the league on Saturday afternoon. Maresca’s men then head to Serie A side Atalanta in the Champions League on Tuesday, 9 December.

Looking ahead to the Bournemouth match, Maresca said after the Leeds game: “I think they [Leeds] were better than us in all the aspects. They deserved to win the game.

“There’s nothing we can take from the game. The only thing we can do is try to understand the mistakes we’ve made and try to reset. In 48 hours we’ve another game [against Bournemouth].

“When you play the way we have in the last two games against Barcelona and Arsenal, you expect a better performance. But for many reasons it’s not going to be possible. We changed players and when you change players the level drops because the reality is they’re important players for us.”