'They did not do enough' - Thomas Tuchel names three Chelsea players who struggled

Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel says his three attackers struggled in the first half of Saturday’s 4-0 win over Burnley and had to ‘step up’ – though he did not get the hairdryer out at half-time.

The Blues looked lethargic and passive in the first 45 minutes at Turf Moor, going in level at the break, but flew out of the traps after the restart and quickly took a commanding lead.

Reece James, back in the starting XI after his long injury lay-off, broke the deadlock and then Kai Havertz netted a quick-fire brace before Christian Pulisic put the game to bed in the 69th minute.

But Tuchel was far from happy with two of his goalscorers – Havertz and Pulisic – for their performances in the first half, also calling out Mason Mount after the trio lacked invention and attacking intent prior to the half-time break.

‘They had to step up, all three attackers had to step up, it was not enough,’ Tuchel told Chelsea TV after the match.

‘We did not ask enough questions to the defence and we struggled a little bit to be intelligent in the spaces: when to be in the spaces, when to attack with a run, when to stay in the half space.

‘This was better in the second half. It was a calm half-time, it was just a reminder to do things better and with a bit more patience in the opponent’s box.’

Expanding on that in his press conference, Tuchel said: ‘It was very calm [at half-time]. We just reminded everybody what we want to do.

‘Reminded everybody where the spaces are, where we want to find the acceleration and where we need to step up.

‘That was clearly upfront. We need to ask questions and make life more difficult for the back four. The goal then opened the game up for us and gave us more belief and more confidence and then our attacks were more