Chelsea were beaten 3-0 by Brentford and there was no mystery about why. They lost the physical battle, they defended set pieces badly and, when the game got away from them, they made poor decisions in possession. Levi Colwill summed it up with unusual honesty. “We have not been good enough, at times we have been bullied and we need to improve at that, but we trust in out set-piece coach, we are still adjusting to new things, but we do need to improve as a team.”

That is the headline. Chelsea were second best where it mattered most. Brentford saw weakness and kept attacking it. Jaidon Anthony opened the scoring, Igor Thiago added the second and Fabio Carvalho wrapped it up, a 3-0 result that sent Brentford up to third in the Premier League table and left Chelsea heading into the international break on a three-match winless run.

Brentford have built a reputation on organisation, aggression and clarity, especially from dead-ball situations. Chelsea knew what was coming and still could not stop it. Marking was loose, reactions were slow and too many duels were lost. Austin MacPhee, Chelsea’s set-piece coach, will have plenty to review.

Brentford were direct about it too. Vitaly Janelt said: “We did target it at half time,” and added, “We had gone to the front post twice and then said there was a big gap at the far post. We targeted that and I think it was our first corner of the second half.” That is as clear as it gets. They spotted the space and punished it.

Colwill, wearing the armband in Reece James’ absence, did not hide behind excuses. “It was tough,” he said. “First of all, seeing the set piece, obviously we weren’t the best. We tried to push and maybe overexpose ourselves, play some passes we shouldn’t have and forced it.

“They hit us on the counter, which they’re so good at, and got the second goal. The third goal really hit home and hurt.

“In the second half, we weren’t good enough, obviously. We’ve got a lot to work on over the international break.”

That is a fair reading of the match. Chelsea chased the game without control, opened spaces for Brentford and paid for it.