Thomas Tuchel has instructed Chelsea to “toughen up” within the wake of a chastening 2-1 Premier League defeat at Southampton.
Romeo Lavia and Adam Armstrong fired Saints to a fully-deserved St Mary’s Stadium victory, inflicting Chelsea’s second defeat of their first 5 league encounters.
Raheem Sterling slotted his third aim in two video games to place Chelsea into an early lead, however the guests’ dominance evaporated in regarding style as Saints swept to victory.
Frustrated Chelsea boss Tuchel lamented two “soft, soft, soft” objectives, earlier than difficult his gamers to harden their mindsets.
“We are not tough enough to win these matches at the moment, away from home,” stated Tuchel.
“It’s a bit the same story like in (the 3-0 defeat at) Leeds. In Leeds we thought the problem was that we did not score in the first 20, 25 minutes.
“They put us off balance with two goals in two minutes at Leeds and we could not find answers.
“Today we scored so we thought everything was okay, but one set-piece again, one sloppy defending again, and we are off balance.
“And today we did not react to it; we were lucky not to concede the third goal.
“We were not tough enough as a team to react or to push it over the line for us.”
Asked to assessment the objectives Chelsea conceded, Tuchel continued: “Soft, gentle, gentle. What stops that? Stop it by pure mentality. Stop it by pure mentality.
“There isn’t any superiority for the opponent, there isn’t any must get pictures away, there isn’t any want.
“Just toughen up as a staff. And present the mentality. This is immediately my evaluation.
“I don’t like to speak about it usually since you can’t show it with the info, physique place or with the tactical place in defeat. But it’s like this.
“Both objectives are low cost objectives, gentle objectives, and shouldn’t occur if you happen to anticipate to win a Premier League match, an evening sport and an away sport.
“With our demands and the ambitions we have, it’s even more important if key players are missing that we need to show a different mentality.
“It’s not enough at the moment to be defeated in Southampton. There’s no shame in it, we are humble enough to accept that we can lose football matches.
“But it’s too easy to push us off the track, it’s too easy to win challenges, it’s too easy to bully us.”
Southampton had been left to toast a well-known win, with a raucous crowd delighting in upending the 2021 Champions League winners.
Defender Armel Bella-Kotchap summed up Saints’ youthful exuberance with a advantageous, exacting efficiency, to go away supervisor Ralph Hasenhuttl delighted.
“When you see the physical quality he has it is perfect for the Premier League,” stated Hasenhuttl. “And this is what we hoped for in the summer.
“I was more questioning if he had the right mindset but it seems the Premier League is so interesting for him and he is fully focused.
“The atmosphere tonight was sensational. That carried us over the last 15 minutes when we were sometimes under pressure.
“Everything is very positive except a worrying hamstring injury for Romeo (Lavia), who hopefully will not be out for too long.”
Source: www.impartial.co.uk