Thomas Tuchel has been heavily criticised for his 'whiny' Chelsea 'excuses' after the Leeds Premier League defeat as new owner Todd Boehly has been urged to consider a new contract U-turn and to put those talks on hold.
The Blues suffered their first defeat of the new season at Elland Road against Jesse Marsch's inspired Leeds United side. Individual errors coupled with poor mentality after conceding and lack of ruthlessness in front of goal sum up Chelsea's current problems with two weeks remaining in the transfer market. "I think you do, all of you, make the mistake, and I feel it that they run 11km more, and we lose 3-0. It is a set piece, and a huge mistake and only one team should have led 1-0, and that was us. So everybody knows that they run more. It is nothing to do with mentality," he summarised on the mentality issue question in his post-match press conference.
"I don't think it is the mentality that Edou doesn't take the right decision. I think it is the mentality in set pieces at the moment. But not the big mentality as a headline, please. The mentality in set-pieces is not good enough. Mentality comes down to discipline and doing what we should do and what makes us strong in the first 15-20 minutes. It was enough to kill the game and bring it into a direction where it was last season. If they scored the opening chance did what they did, and a win is possible. Maybe you don't believe me, and I don't see a connection that we have a huge mentality problem and that we are not ready for what's coming."
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In a separate interview with Sky Sports post-match, the Champions League winning manager also was annoyed about the fact his team had to take a coach up to Yorkshire instead of flying out. Preparation which he believed affected his players and therefore the outcome of the result.
Remarks that alongside his tactical nous, drew heavy criticism from Graeme Souness and Simon Jordan who made some bold claims about the Blues boss in a week in which the manager himself confirmed he was in talks for a new contract under this Todd Boehly regime.
Souness kicked off the conversation on talkSPORT in regards to the bus excuse: "It’s not a factor, so what if they were to go up on a bus, I’m sure it’s a five-star bus with a drinks machine and a microwave and everything you want with it. Leeds to London, what is it three hours, it’s nonsense. I’ve not idea (why he said it) the thing that matters on the matchday is the players, not the manager or coaching staff, the players making sure they’ve rested properly. It doesn’t make any sense that, it doesn’t matter what mode of transport the coaching staff use.
"You find with football managers are two different people, when you win you’re an open book you want to talk to everyone, on TV generally you can’t get them off the camera I was the same. But when you lose everyone's the enemy and you withdraw. You’re seeing the other side of Tuchel, it’s as simple as that, two different people win or lose."
Jordan then followed up with his total assessment of the situation: "There’s an element of deflection in there, parts of that game, he didn’t want to talk about Conor Gallagher, he didn’t want to get into that or get into individual performance. Chelsea at this moment in time have a litany of reasons why they’re not in nick, they’ve got an owner who is far too busy buying far too many players which I’m assuming the manager wants but not withstanding that, that’s the reason Chelsea aren’t together.
"Leaders lead and when you’re in a situation and you have an opportunity to show strength you don’t start whining and football managers sometimes sit there and make excuses for a situation. Everyone can kiss the first baby when you win but it’s about how strong you are when you lose but the bottom line is, Thomas Tuchel hasn’t gone from being a very good manager to a very bad manager, Chelsea will not not be competing this season, they got done by a very, very brilliant Leeds side.
"You don’t micromanage people to say he’s a hero to zero. I don’t like some of the observations he makes and they’re a little whiny but that’s football managers, that’s what they do when they have a little bit of pressure put on them, they deflect."
The former Premier League owner then finished off on his assessment of Tuchel's post-match comments: "There’s probably an element of that but I also think Chelsea were ratted out by Leeds in terms of Leeds were so much sharper to the ball, worked so hard, they pressed Chelsea, gave them none of the ball. The atmosphere I can attest to, not being a player, but sat there albeit next to Ken Bates which wasn’t the most enjoyable experience.
"The atmosphere at Elland Road is one of the most hostile places you can go to, it’s a big, proper football club and the fans certainly know that. The goalkeeper was affected by the fans, got him nervous, jumpy but he embodied certain aspects of Chelsea’s performance, they can’t scroll through games at Leeds, they have to be at it, they’ve got to compete then have the better players to have competed and match Leeds. Leeds were an irresistible force and Chelsea were not an immovable object."
These comments came after a section of Chelsea fans on social media urged Boehly to hold off on a contract decision, especially after some were infuriated with his admission about the transfer window and especially the midfield situation.
Chelsea fans - Would you hold off handing Thomas Tuchel a new contract or has he done enough in your eyes to warrant it? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below!
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