Thomas: I’m angry with myself - I just didn’t see it coming
THOMAS TUCHEL admitted he did not see Chelsea’s shock Champions League defeat at Dinamo Zagreb coming and that everything is missing from his side.
Tuchel delivered a scathing assessment, which included self-criticism, after Chelsea were stunned in Zagreb by the Croatian champions. And he bemoaned the ‘same story’ as his side lost for the third time this season in just seven games. He said: ‘I’m angry with myself and I’m angry with our performance. I’m angry with myself because I did not see it coming. ‘Obviously I was in the wrong movie. I thought that the last game helped us. I thought we showed a reaction in a very difficult moment against West Ham, got the reaction, got the result in the moments when you need a bit of luck in the situation we were in. ‘We had good training sessions, I thought the team was prepared, I thought we know what this is all about. I didn’t see it coming, that’s why I’m angry with myself.’ Tuchel’s 100th game in charge of Chelsea turned out to be an occasion to forget and he added: ‘There is too much to analyse — I’m a part of it. We’re clearly not there where we need to be and where we can be, so it’s on me it’s on us. At the moment everything is missing. ‘This is a huge underperformance from all of us. It’s not precise enough, not clinical enough, not aggressive enough. ‘It’s not determined enough and not enough as a team and that’s why we lost.’ Asked how many players were at the top of their game, Tuchel said: ‘Not a lot at the moment. It’s for me to find the solution and find the reason why. ‘Obviously they are underperforming individually and I don’t really know where this performance comes from. ‘A lack of determination, a lack of hunger and a lack of intensity to do the things we need at the highest level. We are clearly not where we want to be. ‘We expected what we got. It was the same story of the last few games — we start OK for 15-20 minutes but then lacked determination, precision and maybe even lacked the smell of blood. ‘We need to be much better. We are not finished, we are not happy with our results, we are not happy with the way we play in general, but I thought we were on a good way. I’m surprised by this performance’. When it was put to Tuchel, who has accused his players of being too easy to beat already this season, that they shrank against Dinamo after going behind, he said: ‘It’s hard to argue against it, if it seemed like this then this is how it is. You can analyse it like this, of course.’ n CHELSEA’S off-the-field revamp under their new American owners has continued, with Damian Willoughby to join the club as commercial director. The new hire — who will have a big role as Chelsea seek to maximise revenues — joins from gaming giants EA Sports, having also worked for Blues’ rivals Manchester City previously.