Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel has called out his players again after they got thrashed 4-0 by Arsenal in a pre-season game on Sunday. The former Paris Saint-Germain coach said that his players are not competitive which was why they lost against their rivals.
Thomas Tuchel’s boys looked way off the pace in the friendly game and the manager spent most of the time shouting at his players during the game.
After the embarrassing preseason game, the coach continued to complain about his players’ performance stressing that his squad is not ready to start the English Premier League in August.
“I can not guarantee it [that they will be ready]”, he said. “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.”
The Blues have made just two signings this summer in the form of ex-Manchester City star Raheem Sterling and former Napoli stalwart Kalidou Koulibaly but Tuchel wants more players before the next season begins. According to him, the poor performance showed that they need more quality players even though they have signed two quality players. But the team is not competitive enough because it’s filled with the same players from last season.
He added that he’s hoping that more players will come into the squad before the summer transfer window closes. Although Chelsea needs new players, the ones that are expected to leave could cause more problems because many first-team players want to depart this summer. Thomas Tuchel who’s aware of his players’ desires to leave said that some of them may have been suffering from a lack of “mental commitment.”
Thomas Tuchel:
— Absolute Chelsea (@AbsoluteChelsea) July 24, 2022
“I think we deserved to lose, which is fair enough, because we were simply not good enough. The worrying part is the level of commitment physically and mentally was far higher for Arsenal than us.”
[via @AdamNewson]
His team captain Cesar Azpilicueta is among the players likely to leave Stamford Bridge this summer as he dreams of playing for Spanish La Liga giants Barcelona.
Also, left-back Marcos Alonso is interested in a move to Barcelona while winger Hakim Ziyech wants to join AC Milan. While both Timo Werner and Christian Pulisic want regular playing time in the squad.
On the other hand, Chelsea have been linked with a move for Sevilla defender Jules Kounde. This is coming after they missed out on signing Matthijs de Ligt from Juventus who eventually joined Bayern Munich and Manchester City defender Nathan Ake decided to remain with the English Premier League champions. But the deal with Jules Kounde may not happen if Barcelona succeeds in signing the top defender.
According to multiple reports, Chelsea have sent a £55million offer for the player but it hasn’t been accepted. The Blues have also shown interest in signing Man United target Frenkie de Jong from Barcelona this summer. However, the player is still reluctant to leave the Spanish club but Barca are ready to let him go for a good offer.
