Thomas Tuchel plays down significance of Leeds’ work rate after Chelsea beaten

Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel said his side’s dismal 3-0 defeat at Leeds was nothing to do with being outrun by more than 10 kilometres.

The Whites put in their best performance under boss Jesse Marsch to dismantle Chelsea, who ended the game with 10 men following Kalidou Koulibaly’s red card.

They were given a helping hand as a calamitous piece of goalkeeping from Edouard Mendy, who was tackled in his own six-yard box, allowed Brenden Aaronson to open the scoring in the 33rd minute, before Rodrigo headed home a free-kick four minutes later.

Jack Harrison completed the scoring after the break and the scoreline was sweet reward for the way Leeds hunted down their opponents, outrunning them by 10.5km.

Tuchel, however, said that was not a contributing factor.

“We scored an own goal (Mendy’s error) and gave an awfully cheap set-piece away. It is nothing to do with pressing, nothing to do with running less kilometres and nothing to do with the style of Leeds,” he claimed.

“We should not confuse the two things. We were able to cope with that style and be the better team and we were able to be in position to be 2-0 up.

“Giving an own goal and set-piece away has nothing to do with it. I don’t see the connection, because we lost the game it is to do with the style of Leeds. The two goals that cost us the match had nothing to do with the style.

“You think that they are on 11km more and that is why they won 3-0. It is a set-piece and a huge mistake – until then we were the ones who created more.