Thomas Tuchel gets his message across and Chelsea players must respond

I was once told by a highly respected head coach that they treat every interview and press conference as if they are speaking directly to the players. That theory, it would seem, is being put into practice by Thomas Tuchel after he told his Chelsea squad to “toughen up” after their latest Premier League loss to Southampton on Tuesday.

It was Chelsea’s second defeat in five games this season and they have conceded eight goals. Tuchel will want them to be more resilient because their flaws have been highlighted. At St Mary’s, the winner came in first-half stoppage time. Spurs snatched a point at Stamford Bridge because Chelsea could not hold out for the final few seconds in that game either.

Tuchel has always been very open and honest with the media; he knows his words will be heard by his players. Maybe he went into the dressing room at St Mary’s and said nothing to the team, instead using his post-match interviews to get his message across and make everyone aware that things need to improve. He will know fans read those words and they will want to see the same reaction.

Lapses in concentration have been costly: from Édouard Mendy’s dallying on the ball at Leeds, allowing Brenden Aaronson to score, to failing to close down Southampton’s Roméo Lavia for his perfectly struck equaliser on Tuesday. These are errors that need to be eradicated if Chelsea are to progress from last season, when they finished 19 points behind the champions, Manchester City.

Leeds outran Chelsea, put them under pressure, forced them to make mistakes and capitalised on them. If the players fail to match a Premier League opponent they will come unstuck and great credit goes to Leeds. I saw Chelsea at the other end of the performance spectrum against