Soft Chelsea need to toughen up, says manager Tuchel

Thomas Tuchel has told Chelsea to "toughen up" in 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 in their first five league encounters.

Raheem Sterling slotted his third goal in two games to put Chelsea into an early lead, but the visitors' dominance evaporated in concerning fashion as Saints swept to victory.

Frustrated Chelsea boss Tuchel lamented two "soft, soft, soft" goals, before challenging his players to harden their mindsets.

"We are not tough enough to win these matches at the moment, away from home," said 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.

"We scored so we thought everything was okay, but one set-piece again, one sloppy defending again, and we are off balance. 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 review the goals Chelsea conceded, Tuchel continued: "Soft, soft, soft. What stops that? Stop it by pure mentality.

"There is no superiority for the opponent, there is no need to get shots away, there is no need.

"Just toughen up as a team. And show the mentality. This is today my assessment.

"I don't like to talk about it normally because you cannot prove it with the data, body position or with the tactical position in defeat. But it's like this.

"Both goals are cheap goals, soft goals, and should not happen if you expect to win a Premier League match,