‘Newcastle were a lot stronger than us’

CHELSEA midfielder Conor Gallagher paid Newcastle United a big compliment amid the backlash of defeat at St James’ Park on Saturday, writes Lee Ryder.

The clash may have ended in controversy as Kai Havertz had to be restrained and other Chelsea staff and players needed to be calmed down at the final whistle, but the England man could not deny Newcastle their moment.

Speaking after the 1-0 loss on Tyneside, Gallagher emerged to say: “I don’t think we were good enough and I think Newcastle deserved to win.

“We’ve got to be better and we need to take a look at ourselves.

“Physically, they were stronger than us and a lot more intense and that’s something we need to improve on.

“If we want to be challenging for titles and things like that, then we need to be so much better and Newcastle showed that.

“So we need to look at ourselves because we know there’s a lot to improve on.”

Gallagher thought he had came close to an equaliser when Nick Pope made the save of the game late on, and he reflected afterwards: “I thought it was a bit of a soft shot to be honest and knowing how big Pope is, he got across to cover the goal well.

“I was obviously hoping it would creep in, which would have been nice.

“When you’re not playing that well and you get a goal, it brings you back in the game and gives us a chance to go on and win the game.

“As it turned out, we conceded soon after that chance and that’s really disappointing from our perspective.”