UP PEREI-SCOPE!
THOMAS TUCHEL’S honeymoon period is well and truly over after his Chelsea side were blown to pieces by fabulous West Brom.
The Blues boss (below) could scarcely believe his eyes as his previously untarnished record in the Stamford Bridge hotseat was left in tatters.
Yes, they played an hour with 10 men after Thiago Silva was sent off, but that cannot explain how such a mean Chelsea rearguard could concede FIVE against apparently doomed Albion.
Prior to this thumping they had let in only two goals in Tuchel’s marvelous 14-game unbeaten start – and had just kept seven clean sheets on the trot.
The German, whose side are stuck on 51 points, said: “I don’t know why we couldn’t cope after the red card. Everything that could go wrong did.
“It’s a big wake-up call for us, myself included.
“That is very disappointing and I didn’t see it coming. I didn’t feel we were over-confident beforehand.
“It’s not typical for us to concede like this. But we made big mistakes. We don’t like this result but must accept it.”
Next up for Chelsea is a Champions League last-eight clash with Porto on Wednesday. As for Sam Allardyce’s strugglers, they face Southampton in eight days’ time, with their boss predicting they are still five wins short of a great escape.
Big Sam said: “Even five might not be enough, but let’s try and get another fantastic victory against Southampton.
“Chelsea had an off-day, not because they were poor but because we were so good. The quality of our finishing fully deserved the 5-2 scoreline.”
One factor in the visitors’ favour was that they had troubled several big sides before in their otherwise dismal return to the elite.
The Baggies had drawn against Manchester City and United, ended Liverpool’s top-flight Anfield winning run in a 1-1 draw, and held yesterday’s opponents 3-3 at The Hawthorns.
Tuchel should have warned his team against complacency . From the off, they produced a sloppy, disjointed display. Recalled Silva, put in trouble by Jorginho, received his first yellow for tripping Costa Pereira (above) after three minutes. But in the 26th minute when Kyle Bartley gave away a free-kick, tripping Timo Werner, it was the Blues who broke the deadlock.
Marcos Alonso’s 25-yard thunderbolt hit the post and while the West Brom defence watched, Christian Pulisic nipped in to tuck away the rebound.
The normal order lasted 60 seconds – until Silva took out Okay Yokuslu and was heading for an early bath.
That forced Chelsea to reshuffle with Hakim Ziyech replaced with a defender, Andreas Christensen, only for the hosts to collapse in first-half added-time.
The equaliser came from keeper Sam Johnstone’s long pass finding Pereira, whose deft chip over Edouard Mendy nestled in the net.
And after Matt Phillips had smacked the bar, Allardyce’s side went ahead. Chelsea failed to clear their lines, allowing Pereira to control and calmly slot in his second.
Tuchel had seen enough. Time to add some energy. Cue Mason Mount.
It almost did the trick as Alonso’s shot struck the post – before West Brom went into overdrive with another quick-fire double.
The killer third was a beautiful move from defence to attack, rounded off with Darnell Furlong crossing for sub Callum Robinson to rifle home.
Five minutes later it was 4-1. Pereira turned creator for Mbaye Diagne to drill past Mendy. There was to be no stunning fightback even after Mount’s tap-in, and Robinson completed the rout at the death.
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I don’t know why we couldn’t cope after the red card... Disappointing – it’s a big wake-up call for us, myself included...
Torpedoed Tuchel: ‘I didn’t see THAT coming’ ... as he’s sunk by Pereira’s brilliant Baggies