Every word Calum McFarlane said on FA Cup final defeat, Chelsea penalty shouts, positive signs

The full transcript from Calum McFarlane’s post-match press conference following Chelsea’s FA Cup final defeat to Manchester City on Saturday afternoon

Calum McFarlane has just finished his post-match press conference following Chelsea’s FA Cup final defeat to Manchester City.

The Blues have now been beaten in their last seven finals at Wembley Stadium, with Antoine Semenyo’s second-half goal enough to defeat the west Londoners this time around. Chelsea had plenty of attacks in the second period but a lack of cutting edge in the final third ensured a fairly comfortable time for the City defenders.

McFarlane has just reacted to the final defeat in his post-match presser. Here is every word the interim head coach had to say:

FOLLOW OUR CHELSEA FB PAGE! Latest Blues news, analysis and much more via our dedicated Facebook page

What did you think of the game? Should you have had a penalty?

I thought it was an even game, I thought both teams had moments of control, both teams had momentum at different times. Two really good sides, got a lot of respect for Manchester City and what they’ve done over their period of success, so congratulations to them first. Disappointing result but a very evenly matched game. In terms of the penalty incidents, I thought they’re tough calls but for me the Jorrel Hato and Khusanov collision in the box is a penalty, Jorrel gets in front and it’s a collision in the back, if that’s anywhere else on the pitch it’s a foul. Very similar to last week at Liverpool with Joao Pedro and Frimpong, I said the same, thought that was a penalty as well, so sometimes you get them, sometimes you don’t.

Anything you could have done to prevent Semenyo’s goal?

Not for me, no, not personally for me, I think we held the line really well, Semenyo goes into an offside position, the ball is meant for him, Bernardo’s trying to slide Semenyo in, Haaland reads it, gets onto the ball, we make him play an awkward right foot cross under pressure, Semenyo finishes from outside the line of the front post under pressure, so for me it’s a 1 in 100 goal, it’s a really low xG goal, so for me there’s not much more we could defend in that moment better.

Can I just ask you what it was like for you personally to lead the side out at Chelsea today considering your own journey as a coach?

The same as any other game, we prepared the same, I wasn’t thinking about the occasion or that there’s enough to think about with Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, so that was my focus, I’m just disappointed that for me the lads didn’t get what they deserved today and sometimes football can be cruel.

Encouraging performance?

Yeah it’s hard at this moment in time to think like that because of the recent form and losing a cup final but I felt we went toe-to-toe with one of the best teams in the world and I thought there was very little between the sides and in those sort of games against a really good side when you have momentum, I thought we had momentum at the end of the first half, I thought we had momentum at the start of the second half, if you get that moment of quality and you get yourself in front it makes the game very different and we didn’t manage to do that.

We know what this team’s capable of, they need to produce that on a more consistent basis and they’ve shown that this year that when they’re at their best they’re a very difficult side to play against.

Good signs for the new head coach?

It’s a really talented group, lots of quality in that group, the fight and heart has been questioned at times but the last two performances I don’t think you can question that, I think they gave everything today to try and win that trophy for the club.

What would it mean if Chelsea didn’t get into Europe next season, what would be the implications for the club?

You’re asking an interim coach what the implications of the club are going to be, I’m not privy to that information, my job is to prepare the team for games and training which I’ll be doing on Tuesday for Spurs which is a massive game for this club.