Cech hits out at Chelsea blunders - 7M sport

Cech hits out at Chelsea blunders



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Posted Thursday, November 03, 2011 by The Sun

Cech hits out at Chelsea blunders
BATTLE OF THE BELG ... Cech (left) and Chelsea's defenders look stunned after handing Belgians Genk a leveller

PETR CECH fears Chelsea's trophy chances are being killed by a string of basic errors.

And he warns that they cannot afford to fall any further behind runaway Premier League leaders Manchester City after failing to close the gap on Manchester United last season.

Chelsea are already nine points behind Roberto Mancini's pace-setters following back-to-back defeats by QPR and Arsenal.

Keeper Cech has not kept a Premier League clean sheet since the opening day of the season at Stoke and says there can be no margin for error away to struggling Blackburn on Saturday.

The big Czech Republic star said: "At the moment we are getting punished almost every time we make a mistake — and we have been making too many mistakes.

"If you keep giving good opportunities to the opposition then, of course, they will score goals.

"We keep coming back to the same problem. We are creating chances but we're not killing the game off and it comes back and explodes in our face.

"It is frustrating for everyone because we're going through a period where we are playing well and having a lot of possession, but it's just not happening for us. That is difficult to accept.

"The sooner we are over this period, the better because we cannot afford to drop many more points in the Premier League.

"Obviously there is still a long way to go, but Manchester City have made a brilliant start and we cannot allow them to have too much of an advantage.

"That's what happened to us last year when Manchester United opened up a big lead and although we managed to close things later in the season we could never quite catch them.

"We have to start cutting back that advantage and put the leaders under more pressure, so the game at Blackburn on Saturday could be a turning point for us.

"We have had two results that we didn't wish for — a 5-3 defeat by Arsenal and then a 1-1 draw in the Champions League in Genk.

"But the best way to forget about this is to start winning games again."

Cech, 29, who captained the team in Genk while John Terry and Frank Lampard were rested, was disappointed that the Belgian champions escaped with a draw after being thrashed 5-0 at Stamford Bridge last month.

He added: "We cannot be happy with their equalising goal because it was a simple cut-back that we didn't cope with.

"We didn't cover the box well but the point is we could have been 3-0 ahead by then and that goal wouldn't have mattered.

"We had chances to put the score beyond the reach of our opponents but we didn't take them and in the end we got punished by dropping two points.

"Genk had nothing to lose after the game at Stamford Bridge. I think they were expecting more or less the same thing on Tuesday night.

"In the first game we scored four goals in the first half and the game was already over.

"But we only scored one on Tuesday so they started the second half full of confidence that the match was still alive.

"Then all of a sudden the crowd gets involved, everyone is enjoying the moment and they sense that they can get something from the game. But we are working very hard on the training ground to put things right and our confidence has not been affected even though our last couple of results have not been what we wanted.

"We have to keep fighting, start winning games again and then we will see what happens."

Cech, who has kept just four clean sheets all season, said: "We are making too many mistakes in terms of team defending and individually.

"There is a point where if you give good opportunities to your opponents, they will score goals.

"We have been unlucky, too, on many occasions, but that's the way it is and we have to fight against it.

"Just over a week ago, everything was fine. We had a really unlucky game against QPR — we could have won the game with nine men.

"We got a great result away at Everton and nobody would believe that, eight days later, some people are saying there is something wrong.

"I don't think there is. It is just a period of the year which can happen and as soon as we get over it, it will be better."

Meanwhile, Real Madrid are set to complete the £48million signing of Chelsea target Neymar in January.

The deal will make the Brazilian striker, 19, the third-highest paid player at the club.

Santos star Neymar rejected a move to Stamford Bridge in the summer of 2010 and he has since become arguably the world's most sought-after player.

But, according to reports in Spain, Madrid have now won the Europe-wide chase for his signature and are currently ironing out the details on the deal.

It has been reported Real will pay Santos an initial £20m before the end of the year and pay the rest of the fee in instalments.

And the La Liga giants are also ready to hand Neymar a huge salary behind only Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka.

The contract will also include substantial performance-related incentives and an estimated £2m-per-season in image rights alone.



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