Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel to give players a rest after tired performance at Brighton
As per the club’s official website, Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel believes tiredness was a major factor in the team’s inability to capitalise on scoring the opening goal, as the Blues ended the game 1-1 against Brighton & Hove Albion at the Amex Stadium.
The Blues had taken a lead through Hakim Ziyech in the first half but were pegged back by an equaliser when Brighton defender Adam Webster scored on the hour mark in the second half as Chelsea came back from the south coast with a draw in hand.
Tuchel believes that his team have been mentally and physically tired after games in quick succession over the past few weeks, and now is not the time to make snap judgements about the team’s performance.
“We tried everything, we tried hard, but it’s a certain level of fatigue that you can feel. We weren’t able to press home the advantage after our goal because we are tired. We are mentally tired and physically tired and you can see it in our performance. It’s as easy as that.”
Tuchel felt it was difficult to judge last night’s performance given the impressive and passionate showing from the Seagulls, but acknowledged the fatigue in his team. He claimed that any game against Graham Potter‘s high-flying Brighton is tough even if his side is at full strength and is not tired, and refused to be angry at his side’s display at the Amex Stadium.
Tiredness playing a part?
Chelsea have played three away games in the space of a week, and Tuchel insisted that his team would get on with the job and not complain, despite all the travelling and lack of sleep the players have had with their tight schedule. The London club is also dealing with a defensive crisis, with several players out due to injury and Covid concerns.
Ahead of the Blues’ next game against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, the German confirmed that he would give his players two days’ rest, in an attempt to ease the fatigue and recharge batteries.
“They need this rest so badly. You can say it’s an excuse or whatever but it’s like this, look at our schedule. We need to recharge the batteries and we need to disconnect. This is my feeling, this is why we give the players two days off and then we will prepare for two days.”
Amidst a packed winter schedule and injury as well as Covid concerns, it is evident to see that our players are struggling on the pitch amidst news of fatigue in the squad. We have to remember that although these are elite athletes, our team has been playing several games across multiple competitions in quick succession, which would take a toll on even the best in the business.
Long-term injuries and Covid concerns have also not helped, with returning players finding it difficult to adapt to the pace of the Premier League after spending so much time on the sidelines. This upcoming break proposed by Tuchel will do the squad a whole lot of good, so they can take time to recover and rest in time for the Spurs game on Sunday.
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Players like Romelu Lukaku, who has been criticised for his form of late, will look to benefit from the break and come back reinvigorated after a few hard weeks for him on the pitch. Along with available players, we can also hope that defender Andreas Christensen returns for the Spurs clash after dealing with Covid.
We have dropped crucial points in the past couple of weeks while navigating through this hectic schedule, but with the players getting a well-deserved break this week, we can hope to see the squad come back against Spurs fully recharged and ready to grab as many points between now and the end of the season.
