Date published: Tuesday 18th January 2022 10:44 – Jason Soutar
Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel insists his side “need some days off” following their 1-1 draw against Brighton on Tuesday.
The German previously voiced his concerns over the midweek fixture, saying that he couldn’t understand the date of the fixture.
He said on Monday: “It is very hard to understand; it’s nothing to do with City, but there are three away games in a row. Both Brighton and we have our next game on Sunday, so there was no need to have it on a Tuesday.
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“Actually, Brighton played on Friday so it makes a huge difference (in their favour) also. We have the schedule that we have.
“We can play Saturday and Tuesday, we have done it before, but if you widen the focus then we could have done better for sure.”
After the 1-1 draw at the Amex Stadium, Tuchel explained that his team are “mentally and physically tired”.
“We looked tired, and we are.”
“Stadium celebrates like a victory, that’s what we face.”
Thomas Tuchel reflects on Chelsea’s struggle to hold on to a win against Brighton…
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“We looked tired and we are,” the Chelsea boss told BT Sport. “It’s like this.
“We knew they were well prepared, had more time to prepare and you saw at the end that the stadium celebrated like it was a victory. That is what you face. We tried everything but you could see we were mentally and physically tired.
“We need some days off. The boys need some days off there is no other solution.
“I did not see many teams control Brighton over 90 minutes. They play brave and bring people to your box to create chances. Of course if you can take a half-chance for a second goal you can go out and win and this is what we normally would be up to. At the moment it is difficult to be too harsh on our players as I know what is going on.
“I am happy. He can score 20 more and not celebrate I have no problem. It is normal that they talk, are not happy and don’t like it if we say we want more from them. Even in the reaction for the goal you can see they are tired. It is relief. That is my feeling of the team just now.”