Tuchel reads riot act to Chelsea stars after dismal week

Chelsea’s German head coach Thomas Tuchel speaks to journalists after the English FA Cup fifth round football match between Luton Town and Chelsea at Kenilworth Road stadium in Luton, central England, on March 2, 2022. (Photo by Adrian DENNIS / AFP)

Thomas Tuchel laid into his Chelsea stars during a crisis meeting after a dismal week that featured damaging defeats against Real Madrid and Brentford.

Tuchel publicly criticised Chelsea’s underachieving players following Wednesday’s 3-1 loss to Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-final first leg.

The German admitted holders Chelsea have no chance of progressing to the semi-finals and claimed his team’s performances in that defeat and their 4-1 home loss against Brentford last Saturday were unacceptable.

As if that was not a strong enough message from a manager usually careful to be composed in front of the media, Tuchel called his squad together on Thursday to deliver another reality check ahead of Saturday’s game at Southampton.

“It was not a discussion type of meeting, it was more that I gave my point of view and that’s sometimes also necessary,” Tuchel told reporters on Friday.

“We always take the players’ view into account. But over the last two games we felt it was maybe necessary to give our point of view.

“It was behind closed doors in an atmosphere where everybody can take criticism.”

Tuchel took off N’Golo Kante and Andreas Christensen at half-time against Real, having dropped Hakim Ziyech, Timo Werner, Marcos Alonso and Ruben Loftus-Cheek following the Brentford debacle.

But Tuchel said he did not single out players for personal criticism in a meeting which included a focus on their recent defensive failings.

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