Thomas Tuchel on Juventus defeat: We lacked the sharpness

Thomas Tuchel was unhappy with the soft goal Chelsea conceded within seconds of the restart against Juventus. He also bemoaned their lack of sharpness, as the Blues suffered a Champions League defeat at Juventus. Federico Chiesa’s strike just seconds after the interval proved crucial as Tuchel’s side drew a blank for the second time in five days. After the final whistle in Turin, the Chelsea manager reflected on a difficult night for the reigning European champions. “It is impossible when you’re at this level to concede an easy goal as what we did tonight, especially in the first seconds of the second half. We have to be able to defend this and be set up but we were punished and it was very frustrating,” he added.

Tuchel was also not particularly pleased with a lack of incisive pressure in the final third. “We had a lot of possession but we did not start sharp enough. In the first 15 minutes or so, we had plenty of opportunities to counter and put the rhythm on the opponents much, much higher in the pitch and in dangerous parts. We needed to ask much more questions than we did tonight,” he explained.

“We gave away two crucial ball possessions that could have hurt us and we can’t have this at this level. They were so deep and so passive and we struggled to find our rhythm and apply our intensity. It was slow in our decision-making and we lacked that sharpness. We didn’t look fresh today and that surprised me in the moment because yesterday in training we looked sharp.”

‘We wanted to give fresh legs and new energy’

Explaining his substitutions, Tuchel said, “I just wanted to give an impact from the bench. We had five substitutions and we wanted to use them. We have trust in the players who were on the bench and we wanted to give fresh legs and new energy.”

Thomas Tuchel then discussed the continuing lack of shots on target. “Maybe it’s a shooting problem because if you don’t shoot then you cannot be on target. When you play against a deep block like today, it is allowed to take shots,” he added. “We found the spaces but it was not easy to get a lot of shots, even though there were some chances late in the game where it’s not so hard to find the target.”

‘There is a lot to improve on’

Meanwhile, Callum Hudson-Odoi, one of the changes made by the Blues boss, took over at right wing-back. It was he who crossed for one of the chances his side had late in the game, but Romelu Lukaku headed that one wide.

“We came with the mentality and determination to win and we gave it our best but it was not good enough,” said Hudson-Odoi. “We know that and we have to go back and reflect on it. There is a lot to improve on and a lot to work on.

“We did well in certain aspects but we can always do better. We were disappointed to concede a goal so quickly after the start of the second half and we reacted well, but we didn’t get the goal we should have got.”