Chelsea defender Levi Colwill has called on his teammates to share responsibility across the team following their 3-0 defeat at Brentford, which marked the Blues’ first goalless match of the season. The loss came on Friday night and highlighted areas where the squad needs to improve as they prepare for their next fixture against Bournemouth after the international break.

Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso was without several key players, including Joao Pedro, prompting him to field a forward line consisting of Danny Welbeck, Cole Palmer, and Morgan Rogers. Despite Welbeck’s efforts, the attacking trio was unable to make a decisive impact. Colwill, 23, who captained the side in Moises Caicedo’s absence, emphasized that success cannot rely solely on the front three.

“We can’t rely on the front three to pull us out of danger – the rest of us have to try to help as much as possible,” Colwill said. “The defence, the midfield and the attackers, we all need to help each other much more. We’ve definitely got a lot of room for improvement.”

The match was level at halftime, but Brentford pulled ahead in the second half. Jaidon Anthony opened the scoring on the hour mark, followed by goals from Igor Thiago and Fabio Carvalho later in the match. Colwill noted the team’s struggles, particularly conceding from a set-piece and becoming overzealous in their attempts to equalize, which left them vulnerable on the counterattack.

“It was tough. First of all, conceding from a set-piece isn’t the best, and then we tried to push and maybe over-exposed ourselves and played some passes we shouldn’t and forced it,” he observed. “I feel we needed to relax and not push too hard for the equaliser. We needed to believe it would come if we continued playing our football. But we pushed too hard to get it, and they hurt us on the counter.”

In response to the defeat, Alonso switched to a back-four formation late in the game in an attempt to stabilize the team, but Brentford extended their lead nonetheless.

Looking ahead, Chelsea will use the international break to regroup and make tactical adjustments as they prepare for their next Premier League encounter with Bournemouth. Colwill’s comments underline a shared sense of responsibility among the squad to improve cohesion and collective performance going forward.