Chelsea star Mason Mount has revealed that all players played against Southampton with a 'fire' in their belly after Thomas Tuchel's 'frustrated' message filtered through after the Real Madrid Champions League display.
Mount, 23, registered his ninth and 10th goals of the season with an inspired performance that has been missing for a long while. It was a performance of real authority from the Pompey born player who loves scoring against their South Coast rivals. His player rating on football.london read: "The England international revealed a new hairstyle pre-game, and it appeared to make the difference. Or perhaps it was just playing Southampton, given his Portsmouth connections. Either way, Mount was brilliant at St Mary's, playing behind Kai Havertz and Werner. He teed up Alonso's opener and then got on the scoresheet himself with a fine long-range drive. Mount then added his second after the interval. His off-the-ball work was also flawless. This is very much a return to form. 9."
High scores which were the order of the day from a manager who demanded a response after having to eat chocolate and re-watch the horror show defensive performance against Carlo Ancelotti's Los Blancos midweek. "Yes, it was a very good performance offensive-wise but also defensive-wise. The percentage of won challenges at half time was extraordinary and was also key to this performance because it's not only a passing game, it's not only a possession game against Southampton, it's about winning the duels, accepting the physicality," Tuchel said in his post-match press conference.
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"By winning challenges, we had chances to be dangerous in offensive transition and not only through a ball-possession game. There was a good mix in all areas of the pitch: mentality and commitment. It was very, very good." The 23-year-old was given the man of the match award in this Saturday afternoon contest and post-match, he revealed how the players took on Tuchel's frustrated message that was conveyed to the squad after their recent dip in form that came at the wrong time.
"I think you saw maybe a frustrated performance," Mount told BBC Match of the Day. "A performance that had a lot of fire in it and we needed the win and that was all that was on our mind today.
"You could see in the first half what it really meant to us."
