Cahill bemoans simple mistakes

Chelsea defender Gary Cahill felt his side got the basics wrong in their 3-1 Champions League loss to Napoli on Tuesday.

Cahill – signed from Bolton in the January transfer window – was disappointed that his side made rudimentary errors, which allowed Napoli to win well in the first leg of the round-of-16 match.

“The most disappointing thing today was that the goals came from a lot of long balls, which is bread and butter really for people like myself,” Cahill said.

“If you were getting cut open then it would be different. We were frustrating them early doors, they made a mistake and we got the goal. We should have shut the door from then.”

“For some reason it seemed really open after that instead of really solid, which we should have been. We should have just shut the door and made everything compact and gone in at half-time 1-0 up, but it wasn’t to be. Like I said, we were too easily cut open tonight.”

Juan Mata was the man who gave Chelsea the lead after he benefited from Paulo Cannavaro’s mistake at the back.

And the Spaniard feels his goal has kept the English Premier League outfit alive in the tie ahead of the second leg at Stamford Bridge.

“There was a bad bounce for the centre-back and I just had to score,” Mata said.

“It was an important goal, but with their three goals, we have to win 2-0 at least. I think we are able to do it.”

“It was a good start 0-1, but we didn’t keep the score. I think an away goal was important for us, but they are a very strong team here in (Stadio) San Paolo and now we have to win the second leg.”