Thomas Tuchel bemoans lack of attacking signings after 4-0 drubbing by Arsenal
Cameron Smith
- 24 Jul 2022 02:40 CDT
- 5 min read
Thomas Tuchel has admitted he isn't surprised by Chelsea's lack of clinical edge following their 4-0 defeat to Arsenal in pre-season due to the fact the Blues haven't added enough quality in the transfer window.
Goals from Gabriel Jesus, Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and Albert Sambi Lokonga put Tuchel's side to the sword and ensured back-to-back defeats for Chelsea after their penalty shootout loss to Charlotte FC.
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New owner and interim sporting director Todd Boehly has been negotiating with clubs and agents throughout the summer window, but has so far only sealed deals for Raheem Sterling and Kalidou Koulibaly.
On the other hand, pursuits of Matthijs de Ligt, Nathan Ake and Raphinha all ended poorly, while Jules Kounde still hasn't been secured amid interest from Barcelona.
Romelu Lukaku hasn't been directly replaced, although Sterling has taken his place in the forward line, while Kai Havertz and Timo Werner both struggled again against the Gunners.
Tuchel has admitted that problems in the attacking third haven't come as a shock to him. Following the humiliating pre-season defeat to Mikel Arteta's side, the German said: "We have the same issues because we have the same players."
Manchester City scored 99 Premier League goals last season and have added the services of Erling Haaland, while Liverpool scored 94 goals last season and have replaced Sadio Mane with Darwin Nunez, who already has four Reds goals to his name.
Meanwhile, Chelsea scored 76 league goals in 2021-22 & haven't strengthened as much as Tuchel wants. As a result, the former Paris Saint-Germain head coach has reiterated that looking to the big two in the Premier League isn't realistic.
"Given our last two weeks, our game today, we should not mention the two teams in front of us," Tuchel admitted. "We got absolutely beaten by a team that does not play Champions League football next season and finished behind us. But at the moment, they seem far ahead of us."
What else has Tuchel said?
His post-match press conference saw Tuchel delve into the issues plaguing his side this pre-season. Here is the rest of what the German said.
"[I am] far from relaxed. I think we deserved to lose – which is fair enough – because we were simply not good enough. We were absolutely not competitive. The worrying part is the level of commitment, physically and mentally, for this match was not the same, it was far higher for Arsenal than us.
"We can argue they played with I think their strongest line-up; they've had now together several weeks and for more than one year. They've strengthened their line-up, played the same structure, and this is the line-up they'll try to start Premier League games.
"It was not our strongest lineup and this is part of an explanation but only a little part. The other part is worrying.
"I can not guarantee [we will be ready for the season]. I saw today a team in Arsenal who are mentally committed to an idea of playing, a level of exhaustion, a level of physical commitment that we could not match.
"Also, a level of mental commitment that we lacked because we have a lot of players who are thinking about leaving and looking at their options. We have players that have left and I think at the moment that's obvious.
"The analysing of the season does not change because of this game. Unfortunately, it proved my point and the last week proves my point. I would prefer to not be right and I did everything to prove myself wrong, but at the moment I feel I was right when I look at the last season and at the parts of the game where we struggled and how we struggled.
"We got sanctioned and players left us, we know that some players are trying to leave us, and this is where it is. We had an urgent appeal for quality players and a huge amount of quality players. We've got two quality players – that is no doubt – but we are not competitive like this and unfortunately, we could see it today."
"If you look at the first half, it was even hard to escape our half in a productive way and to play in the opponent’s half in a positive way and create chances – we had one chance with a shot [that hit the post].
"But the amount of dangerous situations, the amount of one against ones, the amount of accelerations in the second half, where we dominated the game and were the better team in the first 22 minutes, but with their first action they score and we didn't have too many dangerous situations [after that].
"Listen, it's the same players, so why should anything change? We will see hopefully development but at the moment, we have the same issues because we have the same players.
The one positive for Tuchel was Kalidou Koulibay's debut, who played his first minutes in pre-season following his €40 million move from Napoli. "He was the best player on the pitch for us," said Tuchel. "On an evening where nothing felt good, this felt very good.
"My personal feeling, I don’t know if I ever lost a match in pre-season 4-0. I can't remember not winning two matches in a row in pre-season. I’m a huge fan of a strong pre-season in everything: atmosphere, feeling, performance, belief.
"I am superstitious but not in a way that I say bad pre-season has to mean a bad season. That makes no sense to me. I am in it, a part of it, and need to find solutions.
"We fly home now and we have one-and-a-half days only, on Tuesday we need to present solutions, we need to present actions. Me and the coaching staff, together with the team, need to step up and find a way through this because it hurts at the moment."
Read more about: Premier League, Chelsea
