Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has refused to create drama out of Chelsea’s shock defeat to Brentford at Stamford Bridge as they prepare to take on Real Madrid on Wednesday in the first leg of the Champions League.
Antonio Rudiger’s 40-yard long-range screamer in the 48th put Chelsea ahead before Vitaly Janelt equalized in the 50th minute, Christian Eriksen scored the 2nd goal which was his first goal in a Brentford shirt. Janet scored again in the 60th minute before Yoane Wissa netted at the death as Thomas Frank’s side all but clinched their top-flight status.
Speaking after the game, the German tactician claimed that Chelsea did not lose the match because they are focused on the upcoming Champions League tie with Real Madrid but just a bad day at the office.
He said: “After so many wins and so many good results, I will now refuse to make a drama out of it… why should we?”
“Brentford made a lot of the 10 minutes we gave them.
“After the third goal, we had a disallowed goal, a pressing situation against the goalkeeper, and another big chance from Kai Havertz.
“We missed all three of them and there was a feeling that it wasn’t our day. So it’s a mixture of everything.
“I don’t know why that has happened. We gave a big chance straight away after our goal, and then the next one was a goal.
“From there, we did not defend maturely enough. We were not aware of the danger at these moments which is also very strange for us.
“We got punished. They made the most of these 10 minutes which is maybe not normal.
“So it’s a summary of strange events but it’s on us and it’s our fault.
“I would not rely on it being destiny or it happens. We will dig in and try to find out why it was like this.
“There are some reasons which we can put on us and we will analyze and digest it. There is nothing else.
“It’s hard to take because it’s very unusual for us what happened today – so we will refocus on Monday.”
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Tuchel dismissed claims that Chelsea was thinking about facing Real Madrid, claiming instead that his players were exhausted following the international break.
“Maybe if we lost 1-0 or 2-0, or starting too late,” he said. “But this was not the case.
“We struggled in the beginning but I felt [we] more tired mentally”.
“Yesterday, we were wearing gloves and it was snowing in training. Today it was very, very warm. It’s more difficult for us than them to play as the underdog and be well prepared for this match. We are well prepared but are in one half of a training session. It is more difficult, but in the context of all this, I am OK with the first half. The half-time speech was like this. A reminder to keep on going and it would come with more fluidity. And it did. We started very well”.
“Why should we be distracted and think about Real Madrid when we are one goal ahead? Maybe it was the general feeling that now we are ahead and have it and we got punished for that.”
Brentford’s boss hailed their win against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge as one of his best as Coach of Bees.
“I would say that we timed it perfectly to score at that end four goals in front of our fans,” said Frank.
“That made it even more special. In football, you work so hard so many hours, every day, month, and year. A lot of time maybe you don’t feel you get the rewards”
“But today everything clicked and managed to be part of a team of fantastic players and staff members”.
“And winning here at Stamford Bridge against the European champions is huge.
“Normally they defend unbelievably well. But today we managed to create these opportunities and fully deserved the win.”
