Worn-out players ‘have had to do a Tuch too much’

THOMAS TUCHEL has hit out at the football schedule which has left his Chelsea players feeling tired and lacking ‘joy’.

The European champions are yet to hit the form which saw them win the Champions League last season but still sit top of the Premier League and have lost just twice in all competitions so far.

But Tuchel (right) acknowledged club and international commitments are taking their toll before tonight’s Group H clash with Malmo.

‘We lack a little bit of form and enthusiasm in the last per cent and one big reason is we play too much, not us as a club but the players play too much,’ said the Blues boss.

‘I’m a big fan of quality not quantity but this is nothing new and the next international break is coming. It’s difficult at the moment but we find ways to win. We lack a bit of form, we lack a bit of freshness, we lack a bit of joy and the key reason is not the mentality, the attitude.

‘If you travel through time zones, you’re in a hotel, you change hotel, you are at home for a day, see your family, go back to the hotel, play at Brentford and then the Champions League, it can be tiring. This is simply too much football.’ Summer signing Romelu Lukaku has gone six games without scoring for his club, having played 13 times for Chelsea and Belgium this term.

Tuchel pointed to Lukaku’s commitments with his country, and those of England’s Mason Mount and Jorginho of Italy, as the cause, adding: ‘I feel Romelu is overplayed. I think he played too many competitions over the summer with the national team.

‘It is the same with Mason and Jorgi, they have a lot of weight to carry for their countries. If you play a thousand matches a year, it can become heavy.’

Christian Pulisic again misses out after picking up an ankle injury while playing for the USA last month but Tuchel insisted he had not had a ‘major’ setback and that the forward is ‘really suffering’ on the sidelines.