Thomas Tuchel stated that Chelsea must improve “as soon as possible” after claiming that “it does not take much” to beat the Blues at the moment after their poor Premier League start continued at Southampton.
Chelsea took the lead on Tuesday through Raheem Sterling, but goals from Romeo Lavia and Adam Armstrong turned the game around as Southampton won 2-1.
Chelsea have now suffered back-to-back away league defeats for the first time since December 2020, after being thrashed 3-0 by Leeds United on their most recent road trip.
Meanwhile, Tuchel has suffered consecutive league road losses for the first time since taking over as coach of Paris Saint-Germain in August 2019.
Tuchel was at a loss for words after Southampton drew level with the disjointed Blues in the early Premier League table.
“I’m not sure if concerned is the right word; I absolutely despise losing, especially so early in the season,” he told BT Sport.
“I don’t think it takes much to beat us. This is what bothers me. We are humble enough to recognize that we can lose games, especially away games.
“We don’t like it, and we try to win every game, but the way we do it is something we need to understand and change as soon as possible.”
“I don’t know why it’s difficult; we start well in almost all of the games, and obviously we struggle with our focus and consistency in matches.”
“It’s not enough to play well for 20 minutes; we did the same in Leeds.” Then something goes against us, and we struggle to find solutions and fight our way back if things do not go our way.”
Meanwhile, Sterling has scored each of Chelsea’s last three goals, and while Tuchel is concerned about his teammates’ attacking struggles, he emphasizes the importance of them regaining their defensive composure.
“It is what it is, and it is the truth.” “We’ve played with four offensive players many times now,” Tuchel said.
“I think in the first 20 minutes we created chances, half-chances, but we struggled to score, which is nothing new for us and does not always have to result in losing matches.”
“No problem, you can also win 1-0 or 2-0 with a late goal.” However, you must start with a blank slate and be more focused.
“The number of individual errors and lack of concentration is simply too high at the moment to consistently win football matches.” We can win, of course, but not consistently.”
Chelsea were already missing Reece James due to illness and the injured N’Golo Kante on the south coast when Ruben Loftus-Cheek was withdrawn at half-time due to discomfort.
Tuchel was visibly frustrated with Chelsea’s injury woes, adding, “It’s a hamstring injury, so the next midfielder is out and nobody is left.”
“We took 45 minutes out of Mateo Kovacic’s recommendation of 20 minutes.” That is the case.
“I also don’t understand why we’re in this situation with injuries, and injuries that affect all midfield players.” But that is the case, and we must find solutions.”