Middlesbrough boss Chris Wilder says they can be proud after their FA Cup defeat at home to Chelsea.
Thomas Tuchel’s Blues ran out 2-0 winners at the Riverside thanks to goals from Romelu Lukaku and Hakim Ziyech. But Boro far from disgraced themselves in a battling display full of bravery and positivity against the reigning European champions.
Wilder said after: “I think it’s been a terrific effort. You were there at Mansfield and you saw there that it took an incredible effort to even get to Old Trafford. We then pull Spurs out and pull Chelsea out, so it’s not been easy has it?
“It could have been a lot more comfortable but it wasn’t but it was what it was and we had to deal with that. I think the club generally goes about its business in a way that represents what we’re all about. This is a working-class football club, the supporters get behind the team, off the pitch we do things in the right way.
“I think the way the club have handled things recently with another club in the division, sticking up for what it believed in and being strong and positive about that, and then this week as well, I think the statement the club put out on Tuesday and the way the owner as he does speaks from his heart. I think we’ve dealt with it all in a really humble way and we’ve gone about it in the right way. We hold our heads up high.”
Offering his verdict on the game, Wilder added: “We’re a little bit disappointed. It’s tough when you go 2-0 down against the quality that we’re up against but I thought we stuck in there and we didn’t let the game get away from us. But it was always going to be difficult from that point.
“I said to the players I thought we were nearly in terms of a lot of aspects of our game. We nearly got the press right, but if you don’t they can play through you. We gave the ball away cheaply for the first goal and when you give the ball away to world-class players the ball goes from one end to the other pretty quickly. Bit Disappointed with how Lukaku has managed to find the space in the box for the opener. I think that’s a poor goal from our point of view.
“The second one, it is difficult when you play the likes of Chelsea because you do want to go and initiate the press and make contact with them and win the ball high up the pitch. But if you don’t get that right like we didn’t on the second one then it quickly goes from where I’m looking on the right to where I’m looking on the left. A little bit of detail on that too. You let Ziyach onto his right and send him down the outside rather than let him come onto his sweet left peg and all of a sudden it finds the bottom corner and you’re 2-0 down.
“It becomes a long night for everybody at that point, players, staff and most importantly supporters. We were a little bit more aggressive second half, even though, they’ve possibly done their work for the night already.”
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