Orlando: Head coach Thomas Tuchel questioned Chelsea side’s commitment “physically and mentally” after they were hammered 4-0 by Arsenal.
First-half goals from Gabriel Jesus and Martin Odegaard put the Gunners in complete control at the Camping World Stadium in Orlando before Bukayo Saka tapped in during the second period and Albert Sambi Lokonga rubbed salt into the wounds with an injury-time header.
“I am far from relaxed,” Tuchel said after the match.
“We deserved to lose, which is fair enough because we were simply not good enough. We were simply not competitive,” he said.
“The worrying part is that the level of commitment physically and mentally for this match was far higher for Arsenal than for us. They played I think what is their strongest line-up and structure that you see now for several weeks. This was the line-up they will try to start for Premier League games. It was surely not our strongest line-up. This is a part of an explanation but only a little part and the other part is worrying,” Tuchel was quoted as saying by the official website of Chelsea.
“I cannot guarantee we will be ready in two weeks. I saw today a team from Arsenal that had an idea of how to play to a level of exhaustion and a level of physical commitment that we could not match, and also a level of mental commitment which we lack because we have a lot of players who think about leaving, are looking for other options, and we have players who left. I think this at the moment is obvious,” Tuchel added.
The coach also highlighted the lack of dangerous situations created in attack even during the second half when Chelsea were the better team for a lengthy spell. He addressed the question of recruiting players.
“My analysing of the season does not change because of this game. Unfortunately, it proved my point. The last week proves my point. I would absolutely prefer not to be right. I did everything to prove myself wrong but at the moment I feel that I was right,” he said.
“I look at the last season and parts of the game where we struggled, parts of the season where we struggled, and then we got sanctioned and players left us and some players are trying to leave us, and this is where it is,” he added.
–IANS
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