Thomas Tuchel has urged Chelsea players to focus more after squandering the lead against Zenit on two occasions
Speaking in his post-match press conference, as quoted by the Daily Mail, Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has urged his side to concentrate after taking the lead on games following a subpar performance against Zenit.
The Blues had to win their game against Zenit to win their UCL group. They even got off to a rocking start as Timo Werner scored in the opening minute of the game. However, two goals before half-time by the Russian champions dissolved our early joy.
The reaction in the second half was commendable as Werner inspired a come-back by assisting the equalizer and scoring what should have been the winner. Unfortunately, we squandered possession in the final minutes of the game and Zenit equalised in added time.
Tuchel urged his players to focus after taking a lead and claimed the same incident happened against West Ham on the weekend.
‘We had a very good first 15 minutes, and we stopped doing the things we did in the first 15 minutes. We were forgetting why we were the better team because the level of concentration and physical investment was high enough to be the better team.
‘Once this drops, five, 10 per cent, and it does; once we start managing results and changing our behaviour from what the score is, we get punished at the moment. It happened to us at West Ham, and it happened again today… But once we have the lead we give it away again, like today.’
Tuchel knows what he is talking about
The gaffer has led the Blues to two titles in his 11-month managerial tenure at Stamford Bridge. He is obviously doing something right, but his instructions have been falling on deaf ears in the past couple of weeks.
The performance in the 4-0 victory against Juventus was splendid, but we have suffered since that game. To put things into perspective, Chelsea had conceded only eight goals in all competitions up until facing Man United at the end of November.
Since then, we have conceded eight more in the last four games. The problems are clear as our midfielders are crucial to us and the protection they provide to the backline has been missing in their absence.
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Regardless, the winning mentality should not change, and the ability to hold on to a lead should be instilled into every player. We are competing on five fronts this season, and if we hope to lift each of those titles, the players need to avoid making such mistakes time and again.
Zenit trailed twice but were allowed to get back into the game by us on both occasions. Thankfully, we are in the knockout rounds of the UCL this season but the club needs to work on their recent shortcomings if we want to defend our Champions League crown.