"It's difficult to explain. We are as surprised as you, controlling game for 85 minutes. We had chances to kill the game. The team did a perfect job for 85 minutes. They had their first shot after 78 minutes. We all have to take responsibility. These little things make the difference."
Those were Rafa Benitez's words after Chelsea threw away a two-goal lead in the English Premier League against relegation-threatened Reading with just five minutes remaining in the game.
That result gave the already angry fans, baying for Benitez's blood, more reason to want the former Liverpool manager gone from Stamford Bridge as soon as possible.
However, the beauty of the English Premier League is, with games coming thick and fast there is room to turn things around quickly, even if that might not change the Blues fans' minds in this case.
Newcastle at St. James' Park is Benitez's next test. Not easy, when you consider the fact that the Magpies are equally desperate for a win, being only four points clear of the relegation zone.
Demba Ba will grab the initial headlines, and as he will hope at the end of the game as well, with the striker set to return to his club just a few weeks after making his move to the Blues.
Alan Pardew will be doubly motivated to get a positive result and has brought in a French legion capable of disrupting any team on their day.
Mathieu Debuchy, Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, Yoann Gouffran, Massadio Haidara and Moussa Sissoko signed for Newcastle in the January transfer window with a few of the already making an impact in the win over Aston Villa in midweek.
"We have worked really hard on integrating the new players into things," Pardew said after the Villa game. "They are not here to save us, they are here to help us. That was my message to the established players.
"We had a nice night in the hotel the night before the game, a nice meeting, and you sensed there was a good feeling amongst them all.
"It was a terrific day for us because we were under a lot of pressure to win at Villa."
Chelsea need a win to get their season back on track after a miserable run which has seen them draw four of their last five, while getting knocked out of the Capital One Cup semifinals, and also surviving by the skin of their teeth against Brentford in the F.A. Cup fourth round.
St. James' Park is as tough a place to go as any in the Premier League, and the onus will be on Juan Mata yet again to produce those moments of magic, while Ba might just prove to be the difference maker.
Chelsea will be without Eden Hazard, who will serve the final game of his three-match suspension, although he will face no further action. John Obi Mikel and Victor Moses remain on duty with Nigeria for the Africa Cup of Nations, while David Luiz and Petr Cech, who missed the last game, are doubtful.
Expected lineups: Newcastle: Krul; Debuchy, Taylor, Coloccini, Santon; Perch, Cabaye; Gouffran, Sissoko, Guttierez; Cisse.
Chelsea: Turnbull; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Cole; Ramires, Lampard; Oscar, Mata, Bertrand; Ba.
Prediction: 1-1
