Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino was happy with their 1-0 win against Fulham on Saturday.
A Cole Palmer penalty earned the Blues their victory.
Pochettino later said: “The first half wasn’t the first half that we planned. Something happened before the game that I cannot explain. I think that affected the team a little bit. We started the second half really good. I think we played really good football for 30 minutes and should score another goal or one or two and kill the game. When the game is open like this and you don’t kill the game, always in the last minutes we concede a few actions, set pieces and wide free kicks and they have good potential in these situations. We defended well and I think it was good for us to suffer a bit at the end. I think this type of game will make us grow and to build confidence in the way we are working.
“If you see the last period of different competition, we were one of the best teams performing and talking about result. Only the result we didn’t get against Middlesbrough effected our run and the perception of people. If you go back the last month, we were one of the better sides. Three games in a row in the Premier League, four at Stamford Bridge, important thing for the team in the way we are building this process to feel the confidence, the trust and even accepting the criticism.
“Accept when you are Chelsea and you are defeated by a Championship team. Previous years in cups, big sides were also defeated but that is part of the process, part of our reality. Most important is we are strong and we know very well the way we need to keep working and the players today were very professional. Very happy with the first 30 minutes of the second half and I think that is the way we need to play with more freedom and we performed and linked very well.
“Then it was good to see this young team defend the last 15 minutes in the way we did, fighting and doing everything to try and get the result.”
