Chelsea had two late bids rejected for Brighton starlet Zak Sturge in the winter transfer window.
Speaking in his post-match press conference (h/t football.london), Thomas Tuchel expressed his dismay after Chelsea lost out on the top spot in their UCL group following a 3-3 draw against Zenit St Petersburg.
It was always going to be a tough game, but the Blues made it harder for themselves on the night. Although Timo Werner gave us the lead in the opening minute of the game, the Russian champions scored twice before the end of the first half.
Chelsea retaliated in the second half and scored twice, which was enough to secure the top spot in the group. However, a 94th-minute equalizer from Zenit ruined those chances as Juventus held on to a 1-0 victory against Malmo in the other game.
Regardless of what the result meant, the concern was that our side put on one of the worst defensive performances of the season. Tuchel expressed his disappointment in depth after the game.
“If you are a coach of Chelsea and you concede six goals in two matches, four times we have given the lead away, my ambition to talk about individual performances is not so high. We cannot be happy today or against West Ham. It is like that now not to talk about individual performances. Nobody can be happy.”
Since Tuchel arrived at Stamford Bridge at the start of 2021, his success has been based on defensive resilience. Any player could come in, and we would have the tenacity to keep a clean sheet. There would have been the odd defeat, but we are now experiencing a rough patch of form.
It would be alarming to the German boss, especially since the injuries are piling up. None of our three main central midfielders in Jorginho, N’Golo Kante, or Mateo Kovacic were available for the game. Even Trevoh Chalobah and Ben Chilwell are out of action.
The situation was so dire tonight that Reece James and Ross Barkley started in midfield. Saul Niguez was also being experimented in the left wing-back role. The only silver lining was that Werner found his shooting boots, as did Romelu Lukaku. The attack is not the worrying area at the moment, given our depth in that zone.
We need our midfielders to be back as soon as possible to provide some protection to the defence. We lost the lead at the top of the league table on the weekend, and we failed to win the UCL group tonight. There are signs of worry now, but a victory against Leeds United on Saturday shall do a world of good for the players and especially Tuchel.
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