Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel is not happy after his side threw away a one-goal lead against Southampton. The blues lost the game by 2-1.
The blues had only two senior midfielders for the trip to Southampton after N’Golo Kante was ruled out for more than a month after sustaining an injury in their 1-1 draw against Tottenham. Conor Gallagher was as also suspended for Tuesday’s match after receiving a red card against Leicester City.
Reece James, who has been one of Chelsea’s top performers of the season so far, missed the game because of a short illness and we expect him to be back for the London derby against West Ham.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek was substituted after the break against Southampton because of a keen injury, and the extent of his injury is still unknown.
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Thomas Tuchel seems concerned by Chelsea’s current injury issues as the same problem happened last season after an injury to Ben Chilwell, Reece James and N’Golo Kante affected Chelsea’s performance in the Premier League.
What did Thomas Tuchel say?
“It reminds me of Juventus last season. We played a fantastic match at Stamford Bridge, and after that, we had Chilly offed for eight months and Kante for eight weeks,” Thomas Tuchel reflected.
“It was the same against Tottenham this season. We had a fantastic performance and after that our key player says goodbye for six weeks minimum, and then it’s red cards, and Ruben is off injured, and Reece is off with illness.
“It’s key player after key player. But more importantly, if these key players are missing, we need to show a different mentality. It’s not enough at the moment to win at Leeds and Southampton.
“We’re humble enough to know we can lose football matches, even if we hate it, but it’s too easy to push us off the track.
“The line is so thin between excuses and explanations,’ added the boss. ‘I don’t want to go down this road and give any room for excuses to anybody.
“The closing of the transfer window will help. We will know who has the full commitment and what role everybody needs to play and fulfill, and everybody, including myself, needs to step up our level of performance. It’s an okay performance, not a disaster, but okay is never good enough.”
Thomas Tuchel added when asked if the change in ownership is still affecting Chelsea: “Maybe, maybe. But the line is so thin between excuses and explanations, so I better not go down this road because I don’t want to give any chance to anybody—myself, staff players—any room for excuses. We need to find solutions. What will help is the closing of the transfer window.
“We will know then who has the full commitment, what we demand, what role everybody needs to play and fulfill. And then everybody, including myself, needs to step up to a new level of performance because these are ok performances, not a disaster, but they are ok, and ok can never be enough for us.”
