Thomas Tuchel slams ‘soft and sloppy’ Chelsea defending and snaps at reporters

Thomas Tuchel has slammed his Chelsea side’s defending and lack of resilience in Tuesday night’s 2-1 defeat to Southampton, while he also hit back at criticism of his striker-less setup.

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The west Londoners took the lead on the south coast after 23 minutes through Raheem Sterling but conceded an equaliser just five minutes later when Romeo Lavia was left unmarked on the edge of the box from a corner.

A slick move from the hosts saw Adam Armstrong fire into the back of the net on the stroke of half-time and, in truth, it was Southampton who looked more likely to add to their tally in the second half.

Tuchel’s side have now dropped eight points after just five games, also having suffered a humbling 3-0 defeat at Elland Road, and he has slammed his players’ latest display saying it lacked fight.

‘We don’t have the answer to every question now so quickly after the match, but obviously we were not tough enough to win these matches away,’ he said at his post-match press conference.

‘It’s a bit the same story as against Leeds. In Leeds we thought the problem was that we did not score in the first 20 or 25 minutes, and then they pushed us off balance with two goals in two minutes and we could not find any answers.

‘Today we scored, so obviously everything was OK but one set-piece again, one sloppy defending again and we were off balance and today we did not react to it.

‘We were lucky not to concede a third goal in the beginning of the second half. We were not tough enough as a team to react or push it over the line for us, that’s how I see it.’

He added: ‘Soft, soft, soft defending. There is no need to give shots away. Just toughen up as a team and show a different mentality.’

Tuchel also snapped back