By Betsefy
Head coach Thomas Tuchel has stated that his Chelsea side are ‘too easy to confuse” as they suffered a 2-1 defeat at Southampton in the Premier League.
Tuesday’s match had started on a positive note for Chelsea as Raheem Sterling put the visitors in front with a close-range finish after good work down the left-hand side.
However, Romeo Lavia soon equalised for the Saints as he found the bottom corner from 18 yards, before Adam Armstrong‘s effort was deflected into the far top corner just before half time.
Despite chasing the game, Chelsea were second best for large periods of the second half, Southampton only being denied a third goal through the timely interventions of Marc Cucurella and Thiago Silva.
During the final 30 minutes, only a header at the back post from Armando Broja threatened an equaliser for Chelsea as Southampton comfortably held on for maximum points.
Like they did against Leeds United earlier this month, Chelsea failed to build on a promising opening quarter, and Tuchel was not shy in criticising his team after the defeat at St Mary’s.
© Reuters
Speaking to BBC Sport, Tuchel said: “It is not enough to win away matches, it is not enough to play 20, 25 minutes on the level we want. It is too easy to put us off balance, to beat us, to confuse us. It is too easy. It happened against Leeds. We need to understand why and find solutions.
“We lose concentration, we lose our plan and lose consistency, it is too easy to beat us. A lot of key players are injured, it is something I don’t really understand. You can always lose football matches and I am humble enough to admit this but in a match where you are in the lead there is no need to give away half chances. To have no answers in the second half was disappointing.
“We need to have answers, we need to step up and play a level higher if needed. We struggled to do this.”
Southampton have now moved ahead of Chelsea in the Premier League standings, relegating the West Londoners into eighth position ahead of the remaining six fixtures on Wednesday and Thursday.
Chelsea are back in action on Saturday afternoon when they play host to West Ham United at Stamford Bridge.
