Thomas Tuchel embraces Jose Mourinho's Chelsea stance to deliver candid Southampton concerns

As I took the first sip of my morning coffee on Thursday, I did not expect Thomas Tuchel's post-match interview to be stronger than my daily dose of caffeine. In an unreserved and unfiltered two minutes with BT Sport's Des Kelly, Tuchel was not shy for once in directing criticism at his own squad.

"If we play like this, we will lose in Southampton and then we don’t need to think about Bernabeu because we will get hammered in Bernabeu," he said.

In what was a quite tense and slightly awkward interview with Kelly, the German was not afraid to challenge the interviewer back. "What do you expect from me? To smile? Of course I am down. No, we don’t have to go to Madrid, we have to go to Southampton. I think this is very, very important we process this. It’s crucial we go to Southampton, and I will make sure everyone processes this."

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Tuchel's calm and collected off-field demeanour has been one of the traits that has gained him much affection and praise since taking the Chelsea job almost 15 months ago.