"I decided to come here and have a go. Every player today deserved a lot of plaudits because they worked their socks off but you get undone by the little bit of quality their guys have.
"We regrouped after conceding an early goal and stuck to our gameplan when they were in possession.
"We grew in confidence and their keeper pulled off some fantastic saves. But as the game went on they imposed their quality.
"It gives us some credit that Ancelotti brought on his big guns. Great credit to our lads though.
"Chelsea is the best club in their division at the moment but when you look at the players they have got, it was a great achievement from our players.
"I cannot fault them in anything they have done, they were magnificent. It looks like a drubbing but it was far from that. This result is done and dusted now it is back to the bread and butter on Tuesday.
"I've come here with players that wanted to play. You don't come to places like this and play as well as you have and be downhearted, we go again.
"Even when they lose, they have never let me down. I've now got to get them up again for a big one against West Brom but we have great camaraderie."
And the Chelsea reaction from assistant boss Ray Wilkins.
"It was tougher than we thought," he said.
"We anticipated having a hard game. Cardiff played exceptionally well and gave us a lot of problems in the first half.
"But thankfully we managed to up the tempo in the second half and it became a tad easier for us. But we have got to give Cardiff credit as well. For an hour they gave us a tough old game.
"Our team was changed but we took quality out and quality came back in. It is the professionalism of our players that shines through.
"Some people might have thought this was going to be a bit of an easy game for us but those guys took it by the throat and pulled us through when we were not playing particularly well.
"I would include Frank Lampard in that as well. Full credit to those guys."