Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate admits his side were 'annihilated' by Chelsea.
Boro were never in the game at The Riverside as Chelsea romped to a 5-0 success.
Salomon Kalou fired Chelsea ahead on 14 minutes and it remained 1-0 until after the break when the Blues put Middlesbrough to bed.
Juliano Belletti fired a spectacular second before Kalou added another. Frank Lampard headed the fourth and Florent Malouda scrambled home the final and fifth goal.
"You lose at home and it is hard to take," said Southgate.
"But when you are beaten like that, it is a very humbling experience for all of us.
"There's a danger when you play a side of Chelsea's class that that can happen, but I don't think they had to be at their best, and yet they annihilated us."
Southgate admitted he could have few qualms about the home crowd's reaction as they booed their side off the pitch.
"It's a lonely place when you are standing on the touchline and your own fans are very disgruntled with things, and understandably so," he added.
"It's painful, but we have to learn from the experience as a group."
0 comments:
Post a Comment