“Get behind them” – Newcastle player surprised at how open Chelsea were against them

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the Chelsea News

·15 March 2026

“Get behind them” – Newcastle player surprised at how open Chelsea were against them

Newcastle attacker Anthony Gordon has admitted his surprise at how open Chelsea were in the game against them.

The Blues lost 1-0 at home to Newcastle yesterday in their latest Premier League game, and it was not a good outlook for Chelsea and Liam Rosenior.

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Chelsea’s pressing was very intense high up the pitch, and they didn’t give a single Newcastle player any time to breathe or think. This can be effective, of course. But it can also leave a team pretty open, especially if you go man for man.

It seems that Gordon knew Chelsea would play like this and knew what it would mean for them if they could get in behind Chelsea’s high line – and they did just that to score their winning goal, the only goal of the game.

Gordon on Chelsea

Anthony Gordon celebrates scoring for Newcastle. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

In words picked up on X after the game, Gordon said:

“Chelsea were playing man-for-man so we knew we could get behind them, but it did seem very open.”

I think that pretty much says it all about Chelsea under Rosenior and to be honest, this tactic in general. Coaches and teams are learning how to play against it and learning new ways to hurt teams who play this high risk and high intensity style of football.

In other news…

Rosenior also summed up Chelsea’s issues after yet another defeat on the pitch by saying they could be contained in two main “aspects.”

In a situation that has caused a lot of drama and debate, the manager also got side-tracked talking about the ridiculous pre-match huddle situation.

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