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The full transcript from interim Chelsea head coach Calum McFarlane's post-match press conference after the Blues were beaten against Fulham at Craven Cottage
Calum McFarlane has just completed what is likely to be his final press conference as Chelsea interim head coach. McFarlane's Blues side were beaten 2-1 away at Fulham on Wednesday evening as newly-appointed boss Liam Rosenior watched on from the stands at Craven Cottage.
Marc Cucurella gave the visitors a mountain to climb when, on 22 minutes, he dragged Harry Wilson to the floor. The Wales international was clean through on goal and referee Peter Bankes did not hesitate in pulling out the red card for Cucurella.
Raul Jimenez handed Fulham the lead in the second-half before Liam Delap levelled with his first Premier League goal for the Blues. Wilson, though, had the final say for Fulham with a wonderful winning goal to move his side level on points with Chelsea.
We just heard McFarlane's thoughts on his team's defeat. Here is every word he had to say:
How much did the red card impact the game?
Probably really disappointed with the fact that we were probably just getting into our rhythm in that moment and starting to have a feel for what the solutions were against Fulham and how they set up defensively. It's come at a really bad time for us. So, yeah, I think it's affected the game massively.
Another red card. Is there a discipline problem at the club?
Obviously, there's been a lot made of the red cards this season. I don't think this red card is ill-disciplined. This is football. This happens in football. You get caught one-v-one and Marc is one of the best defenders in the world. So, he would defend that situation nine times out of 10. Harry Wilson's clever and he shows quality as well. He's a very good player. So, we got caught from a football and structural standpoint. So, that red card is not a lack of ill-discipline. The three yellow cards directly after is something we'll have to look at, but I would argue that we don't want that to happen, obviously. I would then argue that they showed discipline to not get another yellow card in a tough game with 10 men. So, you can look at it either way. So, it's definitely something we have to look at. I'm not shying away from that. But that red card wasn't down to ill-discipline.
Is it a cultural issue?
Is what a cultural issue?
Discipline, in terms of the team's culture, do you think?
In what way?
Well, in terms of the red card was given and the players were arguing with the referee. Is that something that you or Liam [Rosenior] can take away from the team culture and address?
It's not a cultural issue. It's probably the emotion of the game. It's probably the feel of the game. These guys want to win so much. They're competitors. They've let their emotions boil over, just like I did when I got a yellow card, which I don't want to do. So, it's not the culture. These lads are great lads, great fighters, great competitors. They will learn from that. We talk to them about that and we learn and we get better.
What have you seen from Liam Delap in the time that you've been working with him and how important is that going to be?
I thought Liam was brilliant when he came on at the Etihad. You can see that he had the bit between his teeth against his old side. He gave us a real outlet. His link-up play, his hold-up play was exceptional. Tough circumstances tonight, being the single No.9 and down to 10 men. But even then, you see him fight, bully, control centre-backs and get us up the pitch. He had a big chance that he would be disappointed to miss, which was great play from him and Cole Palmer. I'm delighted he got his goal. He deserves it. He'll take confidence from that and I hope his performances stay at this level.
It feels like Chelsea have improved when playing with 10 men this season...
They've had a lot of practice!
What was your message at half-time in terms of how you wanted them to approach the rest of that game?
It changes your plans in and out of possession and what you want to do. If you watch the first 20 minutes, we were really aggressive on the press, really embracing man-for-man presses, man-for-man structures. We nicked it three or four times in the first 20 minutes. That changes. You can't really press like that with 10 men. We had to be a little bit more compact, defend, fight, defend our box and wait for moments. I thought we did that really well. I thought we had a lot of moments in the second half where we scored the goal, where we could have scored the goal. I thought we defended our box really well, other than, to be fair, a really high-level bit of quality from Harry Wilson to win the game. That was the message at half-time. We're going to have to fight. We're going to have to dig in. The game plan is different, but let's embrace that.
Can I just check what you were actually booked for?
I'm not sure. Complaining about the referee's decision.
Will you go back to the Under-21s now?
As I'm aware, we're back with the Under-21s tomorrow. They're playing tonight. I actually don't know the score. I'd love to know the score, if anyone knows?
They lost 6-2...
Okay. I'll be back with the Under-21s and we'll be preparing for Crystal Palace in the PL2 on Saturday.
We saw Rosenior arrive with the team and the coach. How much of an influence has he had on the game?
Liam came in yesterday, probably an hour before we were training. We were having a team meeting to outline what training looked like. He came in before that. He spoke to the players about how excited he is to be at the club, his values, what he wants to bring to the team, what the objectives are. He then stepped away, he watched training. I caught up with Liam after training to go through where he'd seen the game plan from the meetings, because he'd watched the meetings back at another point. He saw training, he watched us train. I spoke to him afterwards about what we're going after today. Because he's come in so late, we've already done the prep, so he's left it to us.
Other than encouraging words, other than being really complimentary about the work that we've done, he's given us free reign to pick the team, to decide the tactics. We're pretty aligned in how we think about football anyway, so if it was completely the other way, maybe it's different. He's been really, really respectful and trusting and let us get on with this job before he starts with the group tomorrow.
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