“Chelsea just sat back” – Paul Merson with some home truths after Blues lose to Fulham | OneFootball

Known Chelsea fan Paul Merson has delivered some home truths on Chelsea after they lost 2-1 to Fulham on Boxing Day this year.

As we head past Christmas and into the second part of the busy festive period for clubs, Chelsea will now be needing a win more than ever after the last two games scuppered their progress a bit.

Sources: Chelsea’s January transfer plans – Meetings scheduled!

I always knew the title talk was way too much and Chelsea were being over-hyped; we are not there yet, as Enzo Maresca and the players kept saying. But the progress has been there and there will be more ups and downs to come too.

But pundits and media moguls have heaped the pressure on Chelsea in the last couple of months because they got to second place in the league and everyone wanted to get ahead of themselves and call them title challengers.

Merson gets it spot on

Maresca faced defeat yesterday

“Chelsea just sat back and let Fulham dictate the game after going a goal up. Fulham looked the most dangerous team. Chelsea kept sitting back. Since they have gone second in the league, I don’t know if the nerves have hit them and they’ve got a little bit tight, because against Everton they weren’t great either,” Merson told Sky Sports Soccer Special after the game.

“It ups the expectation, 100 per cent. Now all of a sudden we’re talking about Chelsea getting top four, whereas before it was, ‘Chelsea are in the title race.’ It’s all be built up and I just thought today they looked nervous. They’ve got too many good players to sit back like that. For me, they are not really a major counter-attacking team. You’ve got to go and close games down. I thought Fulham thoroughly deserved it in the end.”