West Brom completely nullified Chelsea in the first half at Stamford Bridge and led at the interval thanks to Shane Long's second goal in as many games. Hodgson said: "The shape of our team enabled us to win the ball back. "Because Chelsea are a team that push forward, we had the opportunities on the counter-attack to cause them problems, which we did." Chelsea hit back in the second half, however, with Nicolas Anelka and Florent Malouda earning the home side the win. "In the second half, I don't think we looked after the ball as well as we'd done in the first half, Hodgson said. Nicky Shorey made errors that led to both goals but Hodgson said: "To be fair, Nicky Shorey is a very, very confident player on the ball and very, very rarely gets caught in possession. "That led to the first goal and for the second goal, unfortunately, he and James Morrison didn't get their positions right." Hodgson admitted he was left feeling "deja vu" after his side's similar 2-1 defeat against Manchester United the previous weekend, although he took comfort from the fact the Baggies avoided a repeat of last season's 6-0 drubbing at Stamford Bridge before he joined the club. "That's nice to hear," he said.
