- Thomas Tuchel has expressed dissatisfaction with the club’s lack of signings after suffering a 4-0 defeat by Arsenal in Preseason.
- Goals from Gabriel Jesus, Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka, and Albert Sambi Lokonga put Tuchel’s side to the sword and ensured back-to-back defeats
Thomas Tuchel has admitted he isn’t surprised by Chelsea’s lack of clinical edge following their 4-0 defeat to Arsenal in pre-season due to the fact the Blues haven’t added enough quality in the transfer window.
Goals from Gabriel Jesus, Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka, and Albert Sambi Lokonga put Tuchel’s side to the sword and ensured back-to-back defeats for Chelsea after their penalty shootout loss to Charlotte FC.
New owner and interim sporting director Todd Boehly has been negotiating with clubs and agents throughout the summer window but has so far only sealed deals for Raheem Sterling and Kalidou Koulibaly.
On the other hand, the pursuits of Matthijs de Ligt, Nathan Ake, and Raphinha all ended poorly, while Jules Kounde still hasn’t been secured amid interest from Barcelona.
Romelu Lukaku hasn’t been directly replaced, although Sterling has taken his place in the forward line, while Kai Havertz and Timo Werner both struggled again against the Gunners.
Gabriel Jesus celebrates after scoring; photo/GOAL
Tuchel has admitted that problems in the attacking third haven’t come as a shock to him. Following the humiliating pre-season defeat to Mikel Arteta’s side.
The German said: “We have the same issues because we have the same players.”
Manchester City scored 99 Premier League goals last season and have added the services of Erling Haaland, while Liverpool scored 94 goals last season and have replaced Sadio Mane with Darwin Nunez, who already has four Reds goals to his name.
Meanwhile, Chelsea scored 76 league goals in 2021-22 & hasn’t strengthened as much as Tuchel wants. As a result, the former Paris Saint-Germain head coach has reiterated that looking to the big two in the Premier League isn’t realistic.
“Given our last two weeks, our game today, we should not mention the two teams in front of us,” Tuchel admitted. “We got absolutely beaten by a team that does not play Champions League football next season and finished behind us. But at the moment, they seem far ahead of us.”
What else has Tuchel said?
His post-match press conference saw Tuchel delve into the issues plaguing his side this pre-season. Here is the rest of what the German said.
“I am far from relaxed. I think we deserved to lose – which is fair enough – because we were simply not good enough. We were absolutely not competitive. The worrying part is the level of commitment, physically and mentally, for this match was not the same, it was far higher for Arsenal than for us.
Thomas Tuchel wants Club to sign more players; Photo/Football. London
“We can argue they played with I think their strongest line-up; they’ve had now together several weeks and for more than one year. They’ve strengthened their line-up, played the same structure, and this is the line-up they’ll try to start Premier League games.
“It was not our strongest lineup and this is part of an explanation but only a little part. The other part is worrying.
The one positive for Tuchel was Kalidou Koulibay’s debut, who played his first minutes in pre-season following his €40 million move from Napoli. “He was the best player on the pitch for us,” said Tuchel. “On an evening where nothing felt good, this felt very good.
“My personal feeling, I don’t know if I ever lost a match in pre-season 4-0. I can’t remember not winning two matches in a row in pre-season. I’m a huge fan of a strong pre-season in everything: atmosphere, feeling, performance, belief.
“I am superstitious but not in a way that I say bad pre-season has to mean a bad season. That makes no sense to me. I am in it, a part of it, and need to find solutions.” He said.
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