We should have been sharper – Thomas Tuchel demands cutting edge from Chelsea

Federico Chiesa’s sucker-punch strike just 11 seconds into the second half floored the Champions League holders in Turin.

Chelsea slipped to a second straight 1-0 loss, following Saturday’s Premier League defeat by Manchester City.

And manager Tuchel held up his hands afterwards in an honest appraisal of Chelsea’s shortcomings.

“We were so good yesterday in training, and not good enough, not free enough today,” Tuchel told BT Sport.

“I felt us slow, tired, mentally slow for decision-making. It’s a strange one to analyse, but OK.

“I think we started not sharp enough, we had possession and possession, but the first 12, 15 minutes we could have harmed them much more.

“We should have been much, much sharper.

“We should have asked more questions.

“We had two big ball losses where we almost gave goals away. You cannot have this.

“We struggled to create our own rhythm, because they were so deep and so passive.

“We struggled to find our own intensity, to find the spaces.”

Chelsea’s loss leaves their Group H situation in the balance, but the Blues can still easily reach the knockout stages should they sharpen up performances and results.

Federico Bernardeschi missed a gilt-edged chance to double the hosts’ lead and kill the contest, before Romelu Lukaku blazed a fine opening wide for Chelsea.

Kai Havertz headed over from a corner at the death as the Blues pushed hard late on, but Juventus were good value for their win.

Caught napping for the goal with collective minds clearly still ruminating on half-time team talks, Chelsea were punished by Juve’s superior sharpness.

Lamenting the manner of the goal, Tuchel said: “It should be impossible to concede an easy goal like this at this level in the first seconds of the second half.

“You know what’s coming, you have defensive organisation like we have, so normally at all times it should be possible to defend it.

“And we got punished for it, of course.”

--

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper whenever you are able to do so.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world.

But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper when you can safely.

You can also enjoy unlimited access to the best news from across Northern Ireland and the UK by subscribing to newsletter.co.uk

With a digital subscription, you can read more than five articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.newsletter.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.

Thank you